I have a personal experience to share this week that deals directly with one of the topics that we have covered in this class, and that is synergy. We have learned that synergy is the good that comes from bringing a team tougher. The team is more proficient than any signal member of it. Synergy does not come easy as it takes the right mix to come together. I experienced what I felt was synergy in visiting a company over the last couple of days. I felt the experience would be good to share.
I am writing this blog on a flight back from California, where I fortunate enough to visit a sister company within my organization. The company had been facing operation and financial difficulties for many years. The cultural of the company was not in line with a successful origination. It was then when the general manager focused on fulfilling his vision of having a successful organization through continuous improvement. The origination hired a CI professional who had years of experience in manufacturing as well as continuous improvement. The journey to change the culture and improve the organization was long and hard. It took almost 3 years before they were able to see a change. However, they CI director and the team did not give up on their vision. In doing this they began to see change within the organization. Slowly the culture shifted to support the company and its vision. As the company culture shifted, so did the success of the business. The company was able to return to profitability as well as host a healthy and enjoyable work atmosphere.
The example of synergy came to me while I was here learning from their journey. I was able to see how the culture of the company was synergized as it brought member together from all over the originations to achieve a common goal. “Common work practices and work procedures offer practical ways of establishing culture sharing and cultural synergy” (Strøbæk, P., & Vogt, J., 2018,) Strobaek and Vogt suggest that organizational change and cultural synergy are directly related. It is suggested that an organization can create strong synergy if they change together. The company I visited uses CI board to host GEMBA walks to support the organizational goals. I was able to see the synergy as the team came together to discuss and solve obstacles they were having in their daily work. It was quite impressive.
The division has been recognized within our corporation as a leader in continuous improvement. The company has different divisions all over the world, however, the vision is to synergize all of the companies to achieve corporate goals. Synergy can happen between people, teams, companies, and cultures. “High-synergy cultures tend to be highly cooperative, community-oriented, and have the good of all in mind”(PSU, 2019). The company objective is to synergize the cultures in each business segment so that they are all working as one. What I witness in the California plant was synergy at a business culture level. What I hope to see moving forward is global synergy throughout all of the operations.
With what I have been exposed to and have learned I am hoping I can take it back to my organization and lead the drive on continuous improvement in efforts to fully the organizational goals.
References:
Pennsylvania State University. (2019). Leadership in a global context: Diversity. OLEAD 410. Retrieved January 19, 2019,
Strøbæk, P., & Vogt, J. (2018, August). Cultural Synergy and Organizational Change: From Crisis to Innovation. Journal of Business and Media Pyschology. doi:https://journal-bmp.de/2013/06/english-cultural-synergy-and-organizational-change-from-crisis-to-innovation/?lang=en
mjs749 says
It’s great to see that your hope to see moving forward is global synergy throughout all of the operations. Wondering what you might have noticed from your trip that would be useful in your organization? Many places that have around the globle locations run differently than others. Does culture play a role in the differences between sites? “High-synergy cultures tend to be highly cooperative, community-oriented and have the good of all in mind”(PSU, 2019) Understanding that the US as more of an individual culture we tend to want to do our own thing when making a company have synergy. Any suggestions on if you make a master plan for synergy and how to change per location? Trying to answer one way or another, comes down to the typical response of depends. Any times, I have to use building blocks and reorganize them different for each location.
References:
Pennsylvania State University. (2019). Leadership in a global context: Diversity. OLEAD 410. Retrieved January 19, 2019,