For this week’s assignment, I interviewed Heather
Artingstall, Human Resources Specialist at The Hub TV Network. During the brief
amount of time I was given for the interview, Heather and I discussed the
organizational culture of the network. Artingstall said that to work at a
children’s television network, in particularly The Hub, employees are generally
very playful (e.g. have random Nerf wars or play practical jobs on executives),
open-minded and creative. I can attest to this because as an employee, we are
literally big kids doing major things in the television world. She also said
that when searching for new employees, she looks for those individuals with “upbeat
friendly attitudes” that fit into the company. This is very common not only for
our network, but any company in general. No company ever wants to disrupt the
culture it has already established by bringing in an anomaly.
When asked why she believes this culture works for the
network, Artingstall said that in order to understand the children’s landscape
in television, employees have to share a common belief, set of goals and
overall fun personality. This enables the network to create and produce the
best possible outcome, leading to both its short and long term success. Sørensen (2009) article speaks to this by saying “an
organizational culture is said to be strong when the basic assumptions of the
culture are widely shared and deeply held by members of the organization. Strong
corporate cultures have higher levels of performance than firms in the same
industry with weaker cultures” (p. 2).
When thinking back to a previous application
assignment, I mentioned that each employee goes through an extensive selection
process before working at the network. In talking to Artingstall, she believes
that since the culture for The Hub was established from day one (prior to
launching in 2010), that it’s important to uphold the values, behavior and
expectations that represent the company everyday despite the bumps it may
encounter. The turnover rate is very low within the company because the purpose
is to grow with the existing employees and add to the environment, not decrease
it. Within the last year, the company has reinforced the continuous need to be creative,
successful, innovative in its programming and more, by reminding employees of
the big milestones, but also challenging everyone to continue the hard work
while having fun too.
I wish more time could have been available for
this interview because I find organizational culture interesting. From the
readings to interviewing Artingstall, and even talking to my friends,
organizational culture varies in different fields.
Reference
Sorenson,
J. (2009) Note on Organizational Culture, Harvard Business School, pp.
1-6 (full article)
Sounds like a fun place to work! You note that there is a strong organizational culture at The Hub. Sorensen talks about two primary tactics for promoting a strong culture: selection and socialization. If sounds like the selection strategy is very much in place at your organization. How about the socialization piece? Thinking back to when you joined the company, were there any socialization strategies in place that helped you to internalize the culture?
ReplyDeleteHi Jessica, I agree that the selection strategy exists. In terms of socialization, the window of "learning" the culture was very short and at the time and there weren't as many activities then that immersed employees in the culture. Instead employees would take it upon themselves to play board games during lunch, start random Nerf wars during the day and do a bunch of kid-related things just to be in that fun zone. That all still happens, but now senior management and even the President & CEO get involved in promoting this kid-friendly culture.
DeleteIt does indeed sound like a great place to work!
ReplyDeleteSorenson noted that building a strong culture through selection is not an easy task. Kudos to your HR department for achieving this.
I'm curious as to how many people are on staff at The Hub? One of the constraints on promoting from within is that in order to promote someone a vacancy or a new position needs to be created. This sometimes doesn't happen fast enough to allow key people to earn a promotion in their expected (hoped for) time frame and attrition starts to happen. Being that The Hub is still a young network, this may not be an imminent issue, though it is a possibility in the future. Do you think the HR department at The Hub has a plan in place to facilitate professional growth for employees as time goes by?
Hi Felipe, we have a pretty big network, so if I tried to count I'd probably have to start over. The HR department does try to implement yearly goals for each employee to achieve. This enables them to track personal growth and development within the company. We are still young, so I think that as time progresses, the HR departments strategy to nurture these goals will continue to grow.
DeleteI wish The Hub were around when I was producing t.v., it sounds like my kind of "playpen." What type of socialization activities are in place to keep that fun vibe going and generate creativity and freedom(things we lose from our childhood as life's challenges beat us up) You mentioned the Nerf basketball(which I remember fondly at BET(even though some managers preferred I not start games), it brought fun and release to difficult days. Are their any set rituals(like those that disney uses to instill the culture of the Hub and keep it at the forefront of people's minds?
ReplyDeleteHi Lauren, our overall environment is a fun one, but our workloads do take over sometimes. In terms of activities, we have company meetings to reinforce goals, the importance to be creative and to be the best possible person we can be in our given positions. From the board games to decorating each other's office for birthdays, the kid friendly culture is a constant reminder.
ReplyDeleteAre they hiring? j/k. Your company appears to be one that is doing it right. Do you think as the company grows and they need expertise that the current employees don't have that they would offer training to the existing employees or change their policy and hire outside the company? I think it is very important to promote from within. This gives employees the opportunity to grow by offering a mechanism for them to do that. In my experience, the most effective managers are ones who have started from the bottom and worked various jobs to get to the top. This ties into culture, because from my experience the longer a company maintains its employee base the more likely the culture will be established and maintained. When a company gets into a constant turnover situation the culture is compromised.
ReplyDelete