The company's robust corporate culture has been at the center of Zappos' incredible development. The business thinks that if the culture is established correctly, providing excellent customer service will come as easily as breathing. This is the primary explanation for why the business continuously invests in employee training initiatives designed to raise awareness among staff members of the value of the corporate culture. This essay will look at how the company indoctrinates workers with its culture and weeds out those who may not be a good match. The piece will also assess managers' contributions to culture creation and upkeep.
It is important to note that Zappos requires its employees to accomplish an intensive four-week training program. Although running the program is expensive, Zappos ensures that all its employees go through the training which is critical in enhancing the corporate culture of the firm (Rosenbaum, 2010). During the first week of the program, topics like phone operation in special seminars on the diverse core values and culture of Zappos are introduced. In the second week, employees engage in an intensive call center training. They are trained on various qualitative means of offering customer service. Delivery of quality service to employees is engrained in Zappos’s culture. Moreover, in the hiring process, Zappos focuses on identifying cultural-fit applicants. The management considers corporate culture as an essential element of its hiring plan.
The ‘weeding’ out of employees who are fit for the company’s culture is done on the basis of failure to embrace the set core values. Some of these values include embrace and drive change, be humble, be determined and passionate, and build honest and open relationships with communication. When an employee fails to adhere to these values, he is deemed as not fit for the company culture. Such a worker is paid to leave. During the training, the employees are offered to be paid for the time they have spent in training with an inclusion of a bonus to quit and leave the company if they do not feel to be part of the team. Although the hiring and paying these employees is costly for the firm, "the goal of that originally was to weed out the people that are just there for a paycheck" (Rosenbaum, 2010, n.d.).
Role of Managers in Culture Training and Maintaining
The managers have a key role to play in training employees about the company culture. They also have a role to maintain company’s culture and reputation. To enhance culture training, managers are expected to share their knowledge and learning experiences which will be critical to the success of the company. Furthermore, they are required to build trust and eliminate barriers to the growth of employees. According to Boyle (2008), managers are also needed to encourage mentoring in their organizations. The approach is aimed at building the cultures of excellence and maintaining the culture of continuous learning (Hu et al., 2012). It is through mentoring that the employees will understand the importance associated with maintain of company culture.
From the analysis, it is evident that culture plays a critical part in the success of a company. Zappos acknowledges this fact and has employed measures to ensure that all its employees are aware of its culture. The employees of the firm have to go through an intensive four-week training program where they are trained about the core values and culture of the firm. Firm managers are required to follow the same in maintaining their company's culture.
References
Boyle, R. (2008). Understanding and managing organizational culture. Institute of Public Administration.
Rosenbaum, S. (2010). The Happiness Culture: Zappos Isn’t a Company – It’s a Mission. Fast Company.
Hu, Q., Dinev, T., Hart, P., & Cooke, D. (2012). Managing employee compliance with information security policies: The critical role of top management and organizational culture. Decision Sciences, 43(4), 615-660.
