Volcanic Eruption - The Seething Corporate Culture in Medium-Sized Companies

It is December 9, 2019, a huge cloud of smoke and ashes can be seen off the coast of New Zealand. Whakaari, the volcano on White Island has erupted. 47 people, including tourists from Germany, are on the island as smoke and ash are thrown 3,500 meters into the air. Tragically, seismologists had already detected increased volcanic activity in November. However, the daily trips to the island were not stopped. Predicting the eruption of a volcano is one of the most difficult tasks of experts, but also one of the most important. Data must be collected and correctly evaluated, measurements must be taken continuously. It must be evaluated what is bubbling under the surface, especially when people are affected. The right approach can save lives.

What does all this have to do with your corporate culture? With the existing structures, hierarchies, and behaviors in the organization? With the smaller and larger problems in teams?

Insufficiently considered, not taken seriously enough, labeled as a "triviality," the human side of business in many companies is often hidden beneath the surface of hard metrics of performance measurement and budgeting. This also includes organizational behavior, i.e. knowledge about the human factor in companies. It provides a concrete assessment of conducive and obstructive behavior on the way to achieving goals and of the moods and dynamics in the team. If minor dissatisfactions, silo thinking, and fluctuation are not taken seriously enough, sooner or later this will lead to a corporate culture that is not conducive to success, which in the worst case can destroy the entire company and its success.

Problems often arise when the team is operationally "overloaded" or too homogeneously structured. The main problem here is silo mentality. If entire departments place their power and prestige motivated self-interests above overall success, far-reaching problems arise. If communication structures do not work, if the management style does not fit the personalities and behaviors of the employees, and if there is ultimately a lack of appreciation within the team, all those involved will not only be dissatisfied and less willing to deliver full performance, but will also be more willing to put their own interests first by acting opportunistically. Agency-problems are well known. They are reflected in a prevailing culture of self-justification in which mistakes are frowned upon and deliberate concealment or lying about one's own performance is common. If there is little sense of responsibility or commitment to the values of the company, to the culture, it is not long until managers are more inclined to act selfishly, manipulate data, or take short-term measures for better performance that have a value-destroying effect in the long term.

Just as important as knowledge about organizational behavior and the existing corporate culture is the knowledge about personalities and skills of candidates when filling vacant positions. This allows us to determine whether and how well a candidate fits the expectations and scope of duties. In the job search, just as in the selection of candidates, this fit between person and task is still insufficiently taken into account. This is mainly due to the fact that the alleged competencies, achievements, and characteristic values in resumes and performance records are still the main basis for decisions in the recruiting process. In most cases, however, this information is not very meaningful and does not help to correctly assess the actual character traits and behavior of candidates. However, it is precisely this knowledge that makes it possible to create a high level of fit between the task, the company, and the candidate. If this fit is missing, people do not perceive their activities as value-creating. They then search in vain for the meaning of their actions.

Recruiting methods and personnel development strategies that are no longer up to date lead to dissatisfaction, loss of motivation, and increased decisions to quit. Such organizations resemble a volcano that will erupt sooner or later. So we need appropriate seismographs that identify drivers and barriers and measure organizational behavior. At the same time, we need to increase the visibility of people in the company by correctly monitoring and assessing moods and opinions.

In order to be able to retain employees in the long term and find the right personalities in the so-called "war for talents", all companies, whether start-up, hidden champion or family-run medium-sized business, must focus even more on the human side of business. PREDICTA|ME believes that predictions about current and future business potential that start with the people in the business can be made. Get insights into how people can be better integrated into the organizational culture and addressed in an individually motivating way, how they can work together even better - to ensure that every individual experiences a sense of purpose and enthusiasm at work.

PREDICTA|ME follows the intention to create awareness for the human side of business, the human factor in the company. From recruiting, to the development of teams and executives, to organizational development, we ensure that unused individual and organizational potential becomes visible and that economic success is generated. To do this, we use our system of "organizational behavior". This makes drivers and barriers in the company visible and increases commitment.