The Practical View describes “managers’ desires for practical advice and specific communication strategies for enhanced competitiveness and increased employee satisfaction.” (137) Culture is an essential part of this type of organization because managers can influence employee’s commitment, organizational outcomes, and other cultural elements in the organization such as rituals and stories. According to Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy’s “Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, strong cultures have the following elements: supportive business environment, dedication to shared vision and values, corporate heroes, effective rites and rituals, and formal and informal communication networks.”(137) When I think about these elements in a successful corporation, I think of Pike’s Place Fish Market in downtown Seattle.
Pike’s “World Famous” Fish Market began as a small company that sold fish. In 1965 it was purchased by one of the employees who worked at the fish market for several years. The new owner, John Yokoyama, wanted to make Pike Place Fish Market a special place for employees and customers. His vision, along with the assistance of his employees was to figure out what they wanted the business to be. Te employees participated in the process of deciding where to take Pike Market. They collaboratively decided that they wanted to be “World Famous.” From this point on the company has worked on goals to meet the expectations of their new reputation as “World Famous.” To the Pike Market organization, “World Famous” meant stepping out of the box and working directly with the customer in a fun, enthusiastic, customer service way. The business and the goal of the company are all about the customer. The employees have most of the influence in deciding the direction of the company. From this participation the employees have personal “buy in” and stake in the organization.
Pike Market Fish employees love their job. They sing, they chant, they play pranks on their customers with fish, and they toss fish all over the place in a show like fashion. People buy the fish just to see the show! Pike Market employees and owner, Yokoyama, continue to strive to be the very best organization they can possibly be. They continue to have workshops, brainstorming sessions, and team exercises to continue to build the organization and each other.
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What a great example- Pike’s Place Fish Market! The employees all DO seem to love what they do, so it is great to now know the back story. Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy’s “Corporate Cultures” elements for strong corporate cultures struck me as well. “…Supportive business environment, dedication to shared vision and values, corporate heroes, effective rites and rituals, and formal and informal communication networks…” I think back on all of the jobs that I have had and very few have the elements described. I also think back to Chapter One where the authors talked about employee “quality of life” and the changing meaning of work. I think that employers are increasingly recognizing that the work force is much more transient that it used to be. Keeping good people on board means improving the corporate culture and incorporating the aforementioned elements.
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