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Unpopular opinion... you can make almost anything sound awful with the right tone of cynicism, and the intended substance of this article is just a cynical tone
by riazrizvi 7y ago
Unpopular opinion... you can make almost anything sound awful with the right tone of cynicism, and the intended substance of this article is just a cynical tone. Looking at the observations presented I'm inclined to side with the university president.
1. The university staff were mostly sullen at a culture workshop, enthusiasm was low.
2. Disney is an entertainment world leader.
3. Disney attributes its leadership position to its corporate culture, evidenced at Disney sites which are in a world of their own compared to other entertainment sites - if you've ever been to a Six Flags (USA) or Alton Towers (UK) you'll know that they don't compare to the all around experience at Disneyland.
4. Disney is selling a consulting service to other enterprises to improve cultural coherence, it costs millions.
5. The author objects to the suggested focus of culture. In their words:
> We were introduced at the beginning of the workshop to the university’s brand new slogan: “Only at GW, we change the world, one life at a time.” Hold on. We change the world only at GW? And we achieve this absurd ambition how? The answer, it turns out, is pretty vacuous—by being nice. “Care,” we were told, is one of our three “Service Priorities.”
The author shows no evidence of understanding the purpose of a mission statement, which is a guiding principle that cuts across all aspects of an organization's basic deliverables, to help guide all staff on what service delivery would look like if more than the bare minimum service were to be offered. "Only at GW, we change the world, one life at a time". How is this not vacuous? i) it helps you understand you are looking to create change that is remarkable and identifiable to GW, not just any old university, ii) it reminds you the changes being made are to change a young student's life, it's not just to teach them factoids, iii) it reminds you that the goal of GW is to change the world through it's teaching, not train people to pass exams and get certificates.
6. The author is combating the university's efforts to get a common aspirational purpose, instead they are trying to create a common rebellion against leadership, so they must want something else that leadership is offering. Because no alternative aspirational purpose was offered, the author is de facto trying to rally people behind ... nothing, inaction, rebellion for rebellion's sake.
- hfdh434535 7y agoDisney is an entertainment world leader. There's no reason to think their approach would work well for a university. Disney's corporate culture encompasses more than what the company believes. Rather, their culture encompasses everything about the company's approach. It doesn't sound like that's what's being discussed at these workshops. If the slogans aren't being matched with changes in leadership or changes in policy, they are just slogans. You're right about a mission statement's intended purpose. But in practice, mission statements usually have no impact on a company. You say the author must want something else that leadership is offering. That is not necessarily the case. It sounds to me like the author thinks the university's culture is already good, and doesn't need work.
- pdonis 7y ago> Disney is an entertainment world leader. So basically you're saying universities are in the entertainment business and they should look to the world leader to see how things should be done? I'm not sure I would disagree with this, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't what the president of GW was thinking.
- riazrizvi 7y agoIn the academic community a seminal work on performance is Anders Ericsson's The Road To Excellence. It is based on a premise that excellence in one field is pertinent to excellence in another.
- pdonis 7y ago> The university staff were mostly sullen at a culture workshop, enthusiasm was low. Maybe they would be happier if the administration would just let them do their jobs?
- jimbokun 7y ago> i) it helps you understand you are looking to create change that is remarkable and identifiable to GW, not just any old university, ii) it reminds you the changes being made are to change a young student's life, it's not just to teach them factoids, iii) it reminds you that the goal of GW is to change the world through it's teaching, not train people to pass exams and get certificates. This is still vacuous and not very applicable. "remarkable and identifiable to GW" which means what? "change a young student's life" in what way? "to change the world through it's teaching" to change the world how?
- riazrizvi 7y agoIt seems that ‘vacuous’ is being used here to indicate questions-remain-unanswered/instructions-are-not-explicit-enough? All high-level/aspirational objectives leave room for interpretation. The question, How is our service distinctive to GW as opposed to any old university will help all staff strive for a higher goal. That’s as vacuous as a question like, What do you want your life to have looked like on your deathbed, ie not at all IMO
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- voxl 7y agoYou can't force people to adopt a culture, it's as simple as that.
- riazrizvi 7y agoAnd neither should you, no one is advocating that. The understood context here is that you can’t compel people to work for you, all Americans are free to choose their employment at will.
- backupcavalry 7y ago> guiding principle that cuts across all aspects of an organization's basic deliverables, As lovely as a thought this might be I have never seen a company that actually used it as anything other than a marketing tool. Maybe a charity (and not even all of them). At best they'll try to when the company's first founded before it gets swept away in a tide of shareholders and market strategies.