Open organisations a window inside Viewpoint careers advice blog

Open organisations a window inside As the world emerges from global recession, organisations are questioning and challenging their leadership behaviours and organisational cultures, and HR must prepare the business for such a change, helping to develop an open culture that listens to the organisation and the outside world. “We are seeing a large-scale movement towards openness among organisations. This is a reaction not just to recession, but to a decade or so of crises of corporate governance where we saw scandals such as Enron have a devastating impact on the trust that people had placed in these major organisations,” says Dr Jonathan Trevor, Lecturer in Human Resources and Organisations at Judge Business School, Cambridge University in the UK. One only has to look at the recent woes of the British banking sector for a recent example. From bankers’ bonuses to Libor fixing, a succession of scandals have destroyed public trust in the industry and seriously damaged its reputation. In a speech last year at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, António Horta-Osório, Chief Executive of Lloyds Banking Group, outlined the impact the financial crisis has had on the perception of banks, particularly among young people. According to Lloyds, an organisation’s reputation would influence the career decision for 58 per cent of students. Twenty-eight per cent said they would be too embarrassed to tell friends they were going to work in a bank, while 41 per cent actively distrust banks and financial services providers. “Take my own students, for example,” says Trevor. “Five years ago, 50 per cent of them would be looking at careers in the banking sector. Today it is closer to 15 per cent. The sectors that are grabbing their attention are the charitable and not-for-profit sectors, and the start-up sector. The fact is that talent is discerning and they would rather go it alone and start their own business.” Some businesses are naturally open and collaborative, encouraging staff to have more say in the way their organisations are run, and allowing their customers to see more deeply into the businesses they support.  One is CH2M Hill, an employee-owned American engineering company that provides a wide range of business services including consulting, design, construction and operations services in the private and public sector. The company has appeared in Fortune magazine’s Best Company to Work For list six times. Lee McIntire, its CEO, posts his personal development plan on the company’s intranet. Its culture of openness and transparency dates back to the 1950s, when it was founded by a professor and three students, all veterans of the Second World War, who shared the determination to use their negative experiences to build a better world. CH2M Hill’s European HR Director Juan Coto says: “Since then, the company has grown and evolved, but one thing that has never changed are those core values. About 18,000 of our 28,000 employees are shareholders, so sharing information is easy â€" our employees and our shareholders are the same.” Within the organisation, employees have almost unprecedented access to the leadership teams. This is done through regular live interactive meetings in which staff in locations all around the world can put questions forward, make suggestions, share information and engage with each other in a direct and effective way. But this open style of operation is not restricted to the firm’s internal stakeholders. Coto says: “You need that same strong engagement and transparency for a whole raft of stakeholders.” The nature of construction means and good communication and understanding can be the difference between a swiftly delivered project and a costly failure. “Our relationships with our customers tend to be very long-term; they represent a significant commitment,” says Coto. “Procurement processes at this level can be over two years. By the time we get to sign the contract, the people we are working with have had a real window into our organisation.” View the full article from issue 7 of our bi-annual publication the Hays Journal, providing global insights into the world of work. You can view the article in the Hays Journal online, via the Hays Journal iPad app or request a printed copy from haysjournal@hays.com Engage with fellow HR professionals across the globe and stay up to date with the latest HR news, by joining our LinkedIn group. Join the conversation