James describes how HP measures employee morale, this way:
> Morale here is measured in a couple of ways. The most obvious method
> is an annual employee survey. It asks all of the standard questions
> about satisfaction with employee benefits (pay, health plans, etc.),
> work conditions (facilities, amenities), and then many questions
> regarding the effectiveness of direct supervisors to top-level site
> management.
Novell performed the same type of measurements, and I found them to be
wildly inaccurate. People would sit around the lunch table and bitch and
moan about all the "problems" in the organization, and then when the
annual survey came around they would answer the question dishonestly. Or,
perhaps, their bitching and moaning was dishonest. Either way, there was
dishonesty involved.
I couldn't figure out why people behaved like this. The surveys were
anonymous. The results were kept within the department (of course,
everyone shared their department results with their friends in other
departments). And so the threat of retribution was, theoretically, quite
low. Given that environment, why didn't people express their true
feelings?
Managers would interpret the results of the survey as a sign that they
were healthy and that their employees were satisfied with their work. Then
when big, nasty issues would erupt, the managers would all sit around,
scratch their heads, and say, "Hey, I thought the survey said everyone was
happy. What's going on."
An example: Right after one of these surveys a bunch of people in my
department decided they wanted to start a labor union, because the work
conditions were to stressful. This divided the department, and almost
started a fist fight between a couple of people. The managers were baffled
why this was even a topic of discussion, because, after all, the survey
showed everyone was happy.
I have a couple of theories:
1) People bitch and moan to feel powerful, when they're actually cowards
2) People bitch and moan to attract their peers attention
3) People bitch and moan because they don't know any other way to talk
4) Some people are just plain stupid
Take your pick. I never once lied on a survey. I'm proud of that fact.
> The HP management considers the level of quality to be a
> direct function of employee satisfaction (morale).
I think that's a great theory; I've seen a group, with high morale,
perform at outstanding levels. And then, after morale has sunk low, they
can barely produce. This leads to a couple of questions:
1) Is morale a direct reflection of how an employee feels about the
organization?
2) Isn't morale also tied to a person's own emotions?
3) Maybe low morale is a sign of a person who doesn't want to be where
he/she is at?
But all three of those questions would lead to an isolated person, not to
an entire group or team.
For some reason, I could guess but I won't, people liked coming to my
office to bitch and moan. Some of their comments excited my mind, and led
me in new directions. Other comments just pissed me off. But I listened
the same to both types of comments, just so people would know they had
been heard.
When I would go to managers meetings I would do my best to convey the
frustrations of the people in the department. And the managers would wave
their survey results and say, "Ben, you just don't know what you're
talking about. The survey shows everyone is happy. You seem to be a
negative person. Why don't you try to change your perception."
OK, and while I change my perception, would someone please explain why the
department had:
30% of the employees quit within a two month period
40% attrition rate last year
A bunch of employees want to start a labour union
Two people fired (not layed off) for asking questions about our business
practices
And the list can go on and on. . .
James, I'm glad things at HP make you happy. That is an experience I long
for, but which has evaded me. I worked at Novell because I believed in
what I was doing was important, and was contributing to society in a
positive way. I was willing to put up with the garbage because I thought
that if enough of us rallied around a few good ideas we could change the
culture and the business. There were a number of us who did rally around a
few good ideas, and now we're all working somewhere else.
-- Benjamin B. Compton bcompton@enol.comLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>