Journal Critic

Waubonsee Community College

Mgt 215 : Human Resource Management

Taking the Pulse of Workplace Culture ' by Kate Milani

P . Hladik

October 12 , 2007

Miroslava Cadena

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Journal Critic

In her article entitled Taking the Pulse of Workplace Culture published in The Wall Street Journal Online , Milani writes about the importance of organizational culture and how a business enterprise could encourage its development . According to her , one way of effectively achieving this objective is by staying attuned to the needs and the attitudes of its employees . To prove

her point , she cites as a specific example the human resource practice which is being employed by Healthwise , Inc : the employee surveys which the Boise , Idaho-based non-profit health-information provider conducts two times a year since 1990 to measure its employees ' job satisfaction

Milani explains that the company has been utilizing the employee surveys to provide it with valuable feedback when its workforce started growing from its original strength of 12 (it now has a present complement of 215 employees . In her article , Milani underscores the value of a strong workforce culture by quoting Don Kemper , the 61-year-old founder of Healthwise : You can 't be great without a great employee culture , and the survey helps you get there ' Milani 's reason for writing the article is undoubtedly to persuade small businesses to replicate what Healthwise has been doing , knowing that a strong organizational culture is essential to the life of a business

Pursuing such objective , Milani proceeds to present the six-point advice which she was able to obtain from Mr . Kemper . First , keep the survey simple . Kemper says that the survey which they have been using since 1990 consists only of nine questions which ask employees to rate the level of their overall satisfaction with the company as well as their perception regarding the extent of their freedom of speech concerning company policies and procedures . The survey also utilizes some open-ended questions like : What can Healthwise do to improve ' and What is valuable to you at Healthline ' Second , Ask for constructive feedback ' While warning employers and managers to expect criticisms from employees , they should also do their best to explain that the survey should not be used as a dumping ground for their complaints . Rather , they should treat it as a place for respectful constructive suggestions for improvement ' Third , the survey should assure the anonymity of the respondents to ensure frankness of responses . Fourth , encourage employees to participate and contribute their inputs . A survey is not successful if participation is low . Fifth management should promptly act on the employee suggestions collected from the survey . This will give them the feeling that their comments and suggestions are not taken for granted and will result to greater participation in future surveys . Finally , after acting on the recommendations of their employees , the company should track the outcome ' According to Kemper , they are conducting the survey two times a year utilizing the same set of questions in to see which of the recommended solutions are or are...