Meaning & Purpose of Work – Workplaces

The Meaning & Purpose of Work –Workplaces Professor Dr Veronica Hope Hailey Dean and Head of the School of Management, University of Bath, UK.

Good University Guide 2016 - First for Business Studies

Leaders And Institutions Are Under Greater Scrutiny Since The Financial Crisis

So – what to do?

External Context 2015

Trust Meaning Confidence

Change Reinvention

Old Dutch Saying “Trust comes on foot but leaves on horseback”

Pillars of Trustworthiness

That’s a disaster

Key trust relationships – which one is most fractured?

Trust in Leaders

Trust in the Organisation Trust in each other

Trust in the Line Manager

Trust in External Relations

• "Companies may find themselves under pressure to "give back" to wider society.....the tale of the relative decline of the Western corporation will also be a tale of the reinvention of capitalism as new forms of companies arise to seize opportunities from the old." Schumpeter Death and Transfiguration. The Economist.

September 19th 2015.

Climbing out of the valley of distrust

If you are falling into in the valley of distrust, what do you do to repair trust….

• Immediately…..

• 1. apologise and take responsibility • 2. express regret for others • 3. order an immediate and independent investigation • 4. exit all those involved or tainted at senior levels by the scandal • 5. visibly work tireless to demonstrate trustworthiness

• Medium term….

• 1. publish the results of the investigation and face Q and A • 2. Decide, based on the investigation, whether this is a “blip” or a whether this is a need for wholesale systems wide cultural transformation • 3. if transformation, overhaul selection, promotion, reward, career development systems for leaders.

But what did successful organisations do to get people across that bridge and reestablish new meaning?

Key Learnings – 25 case studies 2011 - 2014 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Create a Trust Fund – pre-crisis manage trust as a precious commodity in all relationships Leadership as Visible Service – serving employees as well as other stakeholders throughout the change process Kill spin – honest communications – uncomfortable truths rather than comfortable lies.

Reengage the Middle and the Local Levels – the local manager is the key trust relationship and so engage them in planning and designing the future Certain organisational models did better than others – partnerships and family business.

Leaders demonstrating a new meaning for the workplace– renegotiate employee expectations – change as evolution

Some sources of meaning .....

Organisations and Leaders as Architects of Meaning 1. Create a higher and shared sense of purpose.

2. Use the organisation's history to demonstrate the future's continuity with the past.

3. Emphasise the need for leaders to demonstrate their benevolence in the present but also for the future.

4. Practise "relational" leadership rather than putting on your red cape!

5. Tell your personal leadership story …but listen attentively to their story as well...

1. Create a Higher and Shared Sense of Purpose.

2. Use the organisation's history to demonstrate the future's continuity with the past.

Netherlands

GKN Headquarters, Ipsley House, Ipsley Church Lane, Redditch, Worcestershire.

3. Emphasise the need for leaders to demonstrate their benevolence in the present but also for the future.

4. Practise "relational" leadership rather than putting on your red cape!

Pope Francis

Andy Street, JLP

Kirit Patel, Day Lewis Pharmacy: “No one carries a bigger stick than me and I don’t carry a stick…”

How we can help people write a new chapter for their working lives....

Veronica Hope Hailey Dean and Head of the School of Management University of Bath vhh20@management.bath.ac.uk Professor of Management Studies twitter.com/bathsofm