Shaking Up Culture

At Karla's Kitchen, the company culture has declined, and Karla is considering how to make changes.

In this exercise, please read the mini-case and answer the questions that follow.

At Karla's Kitchen, the company culture is negatively affecting business. Karla cannot deny that employees enjoy each other's company, but their "good time" at work is at the expense of customers' dining experiences. Employees routinely goof off, wasting time gossiping and finding ways to waste time. Even when the employees are serving customers as they are required to do, their lack of interest in and energy for the job does not make customers feel welcome.

To make it worse, when Karla hires a new employee with a spotless work record showing conscientious behavior, the employee either becomes a part of the time-wasting culture, or the person leaves because of frustration with the lack of work ethic. Currently, Karla sits with the new employees for about an hour, showing them around and the job tasks, but has no formal processes.

Karla figures that she should have some type of program to orient new employees in order to introduce them to a positive, productive work climate she wants to strive for. However, once on the job, how will Karla keep the new employees productive? Karla does have two valuable assistant managers who she depends on and trusts to set a good example. But how can she control the lower-level workers and turn their behavior around? In short, how can Karla "shake up" this bad culture and make it good?

When considering ideal types of company cultures ...

1. When considering ideal types of company cultures, Karla should consider which of the following as fitting her business best?

a. Customer service culture

b. Diversity culture

c. Safety culture

d. Mercenary culture

e. Sustainability culture

2. If Karla wants to start to build a new culture ...

If Karla wants to start to build a new culture, she should consider

a. dropping hints about what good employees are like.

b. using examples of current problems in orientation.

c. allowing new employees to discuss how they will change the culture.

d. separating new employees in orientation from other employees.

e. being honest about the negative current culture.

3. In order to reduce early turnover, Karla decides to tell

In order to reduce early turnover, Karla decides to tell potential employees that working at her restaurant can be challenging and customers are occasionally rude. This honesty would be called

a. orientation.

b. enculturation.

c. realistic job preview.

d. socialization.

e. mentoring.

4. What phenomenon explains why high-performing employees ...

What phenomenon explains why high-performing employees are leaving Karla's Kitchen because of the laziness and negative attitudes of other employees?

a. Attraction-selection-attrition

b. Socialization

c. Mercenary theory

d. Mentoring

e. Culture strength