Corporate Manners - Part Two Case Study: MIND YOUR MANNERS - By Kathleen Hogan

In Part One of Corporate Manners, I referred to a paper that contrasted two different workplace environments in two different companies within the same industry.  Although the comparison involved banks, the findings are applicable to companies conducting business across industries and countries.

I believe that corporate manners are especially applicable in the hospitality industry whose primary purpose is to deliver customer satisfaction daily.

In Corporate Manners - Part Two,  I share the case study of two companies and how their corporate manners affected their respective team members.  I encourage readers to reflect on their own personal experiences in dealing with past and present employers.

Case Study: MIND YOUR MANNERS

The following is a personal case study of two banks where I have worked and how their corporate manners affected their respective team members.  This case study research was compiled in 2002.  Since then, Fleet Mortgage was acquired by Bank of America.   

Personal Case Study of Two Banks

Machias Savings Bank and Fleet Mortgage

Machias Savings Bank was and is a regional, state-chartered, retail bank headquartered in Machias, Maine.  Fleet Mortgage, regionally located in  East Providence, Rhode Island, was a lending arm of an international, retail bank known as Fleet Bank.  (Profiles of each were pulled from their respective websites at the time of this report.)

Both banks were successful, as evidenced by the annual growth in assets and profits shown in their 2001 Statement of Condition and earnings summaries. Machias Savings Bank had expanded to 10 branches, operating in 4 counties of the State of Maine.  Fleet acquired Bank Boston in 1999 and was heavily entrenched in New England. It also had international operations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

Both banks utilized advanced technology.  Machias Savings Bank has been computerized for many years (switching to Windows in the mid 1990s) while Fleet Mortgage converted  to a computerized system for home mortgage processing in 1999.  (Fleet Bank's computerization history was unknown at the time of this study.)  Both banks had internet websites with online banking services.

Both were responsive to their respective shareholders and investors.  Machias Savings Bank  was and is governed by a shareholder board while Fleet Bank was a public company with international investors.

Both were competitive in their product offerings and interest rates.  Both were aggressively expanding their markets + market shares.

Both professed customer service as their number one priority and aspire(d) to deliver faster, better service.  Their Mission Statements reflected their customer focus and defined goals.

Both organizations had a team structure with hierarchal authority at the time of this study. They were managed from the top down, but employed horizontal management as well.

Both encouraged continued education by subsidizing college level courses taken by their employees.  Both offered in-house training and cross-training to maximize individual skills. 

Both offered similar employment benefit packages with good healthcare, insurance, retirement, vacation and sick pay.  Machias Savings Bank had profit sharing for all employees.  Fleet offered an opportunity to buy company stock.

Both had employee handbooks and new employee orientation covering proper behavior standards.

Both conducted annual evaluations of their job positions and salaries in relation to their industry and market.  Both conducted annual evaluations of their individual employees.

Both strove to be good corporate citizens investing in their communities.  For instance, Machias Savings Bank offered a scholarship fund for local school children.  Fleet encouraged its employees to do volunteer work in the community and retained a high profile with such diverse activities as funding the corporate name on Boston's premier sports facility. 

What really differentiated one bank from the other was the way business was conducted internally. Reflecting back on my time working in each bank, corporate manners created two distinctly different environments.  (Whether the work environments changed with time and/or mergers is unknown.).  Those two environments made different and lasting impressions for their employees.  

Machias Savings Bank emphasized professionalism. Professional dress was viewed as a prerequisite to professional attitude and behavior.  Senior management led by example in dress, word and deed.  Respect and politeness towards each other and the public was expected at all times.  The president was highly visible throughout the bank  and communicated in person or by letter any important announcements.  Senior management  was accessible.  The team was Machias Savings Bank and professional performance the standard. 

Fleet Mortgage emphasized performance results.  Closing loans was priority number one and managing large account pipelines a must.  Pressure to meet management's monetary goal  each month was great.  Senior management was removed due to the size and geographic locations of the organization.  The on-site manager was more visible when new directives or major announcements needed to be made, but frequent broadcast e-mails delivered progress  updates in reaching set goals.  The team was our unit of eight people working on New York/New Jersey loans for Region Three.  Go Fleet! was the battle cry. 

Two different corporate cultures were created by senior management's manner of conducting business.  One emphasized professionalism while the other emphasized performance results.

Kenneth Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale, two noted authors, collaborated on a book about ethics and management, stating that top management guides by example and sends the clear message about what kind of company they want to be. They stress the importance of separating results (profits) from process (operation) when analyzing an organization.   The operation of a company revolves around interrelationships of purpose, pride,  patience and perspective as it pertains to the people involved.[1]

The following events illustrate the profit-orientation of senior management at Fleet:

Two major layoffs occurred at Fleet Mortgage in 1999. Management gave advance notice for the first layoff, which involved approximately 200 employees. The remaining people were told there would be no other layoff.  The work left behind was divided among the remaining staff, increasing the average workload by 30 percent or more.  Management announced there was no unauthorized overtime.  In reality, this increased workload necessitated extra hours that were not paid. 

At the next quarterly meeting, which was  held off-site for employee recognition awards, the spokesman from the Corporate Office ended the program with a financial recap. His closing speech told the employees that the profit gain did not meet the set goal, the investors expected a better return and many in attendance would not be present at the next quarterly meeting. 

The second layoff happened without explanation or warning, though rumors abounded after the quarterly meeting. Management split the entire staff into two groups with separate meeting times on the same afternoon.  The first group was let go,  the second group was informed of the first group's  layoff.  (This author was relieved to be among the retained group of employees.)  Again, the work from those leaving was divided among those remaining.  Again, all overtime had to be authorized in advance.

In the following months, management increased the responsibilities of the loan processors to include customer service, loan processing and junior underwriting. Role conflict and overload resulted.

Both banks expected strong financial performance.  Senior management at Machias Savings Bank focused on process and financial results, while Fleet Mortgage focused only on profits.  Morale was high at Machias Savings Bank while morale was low at Fleet Mortgage.  Relationships were cultivated dramatically different in these two banks.

Author’s Conclusions

"Managing only for profit is like playing tennis with your eye on the scoreboard and not on the ball".[2] Company manners either foster or undermine positive relationships in the workplace.

People do not innovate and create if they are fearful of losing their jobs and mistrust management's motives. In the aftermath of a layoff, everyone experiences grief, loss and disconnection as if the value of their work is stripped away. Work is not just about money, it is also about self-worth and the achievement of shared goals.[3]

"As members of a leadership group, managers are professionals.  Like all professionals, they have one fundamental ethical principle that should guide them: ‘Above all, do no  harm."[4] Senior management sets the tone for how business will be conducted and this is defined by their company manners. 

Bibliography

Arbinger Institute, Leadership and Self-Deception - Getting out of the Box, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, CA, 2000, 2002

Autry, James A., Life and Work – A Manager's Search for Meaning, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1994

Bardwick, Judith M., Danger in the Comfort Zone – From the Boardroom to Mailroom, How to Break the Entitlement Habit That's Killing American Business, AMACOM – a division of the American Management Association, New York, 1991

Blanchard, Kenneth, and Peale, Norman Vincent, The Power of Ethical Management – Integrity Pays! You Don't have to Cheat to Win, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1988

Champy, James, Reengineering Management – The Mandate for New Leadership, Managing the Change to the Reengineered Corporation, Harper Business – a division of Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1995, 1996

Madsen, Peter, and Shafritz, Jay M., Essentials of Business Ethics – A Collection of Articles by Top Social Thinkers, article: The Ethics of Responsibility by Peter Drucker, A Meridian Book, published by the Penguin Group, Penguin Books, USA Inc., New York, 1990

Naisbitt, John, Global Paradox, Avon Books, New York, 199

Schermerhorn, Hunt, Osborn, Organizational Behavior, seventh edition, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2000