Banking on Diversity:
Familiarity
Breeds Contempt at Security First Bank
Introduction Tossing the report summary she had just read for the third time onto her desk, Susan Respess leaned back in her chair and squeezed the small nerf basketball. It was difficult to believe an employee could write about Security First Bank, "I hate this place. I wish to God that I could win the lottery and walk away from this "hell hole." But someone had. The evidence was staring her in the face in the text of this preliminary report on communication in the organization. Whatever the other communication issues may have been, what caught her attention and focus was the harshness of many of the comments made about fellow workers, supervisors, and managers from different cultures. The existence of problems with the working relationships of the nonexempt workers, as well as their reactions to management, was a shock to the system. Disappointing Results It was clear that Susan's previous efforts at improving morale and team building in the operations group (OG) of Security First Bank were not as successful as she had expected. In fact informal indicators pointed to a steady decline over the past few months. As vice-president and manager of personnel, Susan was responsible for benefits, affirmative action, and training, which, by default, put her in charge of company morale. This also gave her the unpleasant task of going into the office of her boss, Chester Blanchard, executive vice-president for operations (EVP), with a set of reasons why her department's past efforts had not brought about the anticipated results. In addition, she needed some significant insights into the current problems among the nonexempt workers, as well as ideas for rebuilding morale. Susan looked across her office and glared through the wall at the EVP's office. Chester had been EVP here at "3rd Street” for only six months and had become fascinated by the cultural diversity in the organization. He had encouraged the project that led to the report she had just finished. He believed that the employees in the group should be "one, big, happy SFB family" and expected her to make sure that happened. Slowly shaking her head, Susan asked herself how you maintain, let alone improve, morale in an organization with 2,200 people, in two locations, who speak 64 different languages and dialects, many of whom are first generation immigrants? Things were a lot easier when her expected focus had been the white collar folk on the top eight floors. She threw the nerf ball at the backboard on her wall and hurried out the door to her third affirmative action complaint meeting this week. Chester will have to wait until tomorrow; in the meantime, she had better come up with something good — and soon. Operations Group, Security First Bank The Operations Group (0G) of SFB was the operational service facility for the hundreds of branches of SFB throughout the state of California. The OG ran on three shifts, 24 hours a day, though the night shift was a skeleton crew. Its personnel handled customer accounting, counted the daily cash transactions, moved the mail for the bank, and did all the electronic and paper handling. A semi-independent company of the bank, the OG was expected to run at a profit providing income into the overall banking organization. Of the total work force of 2,200 employees at two locations, about 1,700 people worked at the major facility located near downtown Los Angeles, and approximately 500 worked at the northern California facility near San Jose. Operations for the main facility in L.A. were organized into six divisions- commercial market services (CMS), retail market services (RMS), check processing services (CPS), electronic product division, management service division, and personal financial management. The San Jose facility housed departments from RMS, CPS, and CMS only. All the divisions are structured around the needs of the OG, branch customers, and individual financial customers. Personal financial management was the smallest division and consisted of white collar professionals who sold financial products to individual and corporate clients. Management service division personnel included exempt (salaried) employees responsible for the overall management of the group, plan and control, as well as administrative project support. Offices for these two divisions were on the floors two through eight of the 3rd Street facility. Also above ground were interbank compensation, product support product management daylight overdraft, branch control, automated clearing house, money transfer operations, and cash management departments of the CMS. The RMS departments of duplicating and consumer credit are above ground as well. The remaining two divisions were below ground, as were the rest of the departments of the CMS (customer services, lockbox, and overdrafts) and RMS divisions (returned items, adjustments, microfilm branch services production support statements, cash vault and publications). The electronic product division handled telephone banking. CPS was responsible for mail and distribution, proofing, reconcilement, batching, sorting, high-speed processing, and receiving and dispatching. OG Employees The operations group of SFB was a culturally diverse work environment, though this diversity was reflected in particular divisions of the organization rather than the OG as a whole. This diversity was pointed to with some pride by the OG management as an indication of the fair hiring practices of SFB. The concentration of cultural groups was not noticed by upper management. The personnel of the management service and personal finance management divisions were primarily of European descent. For clerical and support staff positions, a high school education was important. Middle and upper managers were college educated, many holding business degrees. Managerial positions were usually filled through recruiting or transfer from bank branches. Promotions were often from within the management personnel. Lower level managers were often promoted from supervisory personnel. Those workers who followed directions and worked hard were promoted from the "line" to be supervisors over the areas in which they worked. A high school education was helpful for earning promotion to these levels in the company, but not essential if other extenuating circumstances existed. These positions were filled mostly by Anglos, African Americans, and Filipinos, depending upon department. (Filipino supervisors were especially prevalent at the San Jose facility.) The cultural diversity of the work force was seen in the labor intensive services of the departments of the CPS, RMS, and CMS, such as cash vault, batching, reconcilement, statements, etc. Because these jobs involved machine loading, counting, matching, sorting, and other manual skills, employees were able perform adequately without much formal education nor a command of English. In fact, in several areas, such as the cash vault where the cash is counted, most workers had minimal English ability, if any. In areas such as the mailroom, where knowledge of English was essential, most of the workers were Anglo or Chicano. Major cultures present in the departments on the lower levels were Filipino, Mexican, Salvadoran, Chicano, African American, Anglo, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Armenian, Eastern European, Indian, Vietnamese, Thai, and Middle Eastern. Most of these were immigrants. Operational Structure of the OG The OG was structured hierarchically. Upper management was headed by the executive vice-president, and reporting to him were division vice-presidents and managers, area directors and some special project assistant vice-presidents. Middle management included assistant vice-presidents, assistant managers, and some area managers depending on division and program. Lower management consisted of line managers and supervisors. Upper and middle managers were expected to attend management training programs. Lower management was encouraged to go, except for supervisors, who were kept on the line when promoted, and were given basically punitive responsibilities over their workers. OG Customers The several hundred local branches of the SFB made up the primary customer base for the OG. To serve most effectively the needs of the branches, a goal of twenty-four-hour turn-around of all paper work and cash transactions was considered essential. Also crucial was the accuracy of the information flowing through the OG departments to and from the bank branches. The individuals and companies who banked at SFB branch offices only dealt with local branch personnel; the OG operated, unknown and unseen, behind the scenes. Bank customers assumed that any problems they had with their banking transactions was the responsibility of the branch itself, even those services provided to the branches by the OG. Therefore, the accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness of the operations group were important to the branch managers. As a result, the branches put significant pressure on the OG management for timely and accurate service. OG Physical Environment At both facilities, the physical plant and layout were similar except for size. The Los Angeles facility had eight floors above ground and three levels below ground; San Jose had four floors above ground and three levels below. The offices of most of management and exempt support staffing, with the exception of the training department, were housed on the upper floors. Basically, white collar and clerical support personnel were housed above ground, menial and blue collar jobs were performed on the lower levels. As with most hierarchical institutions, the more significant positions, such as upper management, essential support services and financial customer services, had offices on the higher floors. Most "floor” work stations consisted of five-foot-high movable cubical walls within large open department areas. Most department managers had individual offices with large windows for easy eye contact with the floor. All the floor areas and offices were carpeted. Elevators were convenient, as were drinking fountains and restrooms. Windows brightened the work areas, and offices had windows as well. interaction among employees was encouraged. Lower "levels" flooring, with a few exceptions, was exposed cement. Access to the levels via elevators was limited, for security reasons. Restrooms and drinking fountains were inconveniently placed and their use was limited outside of break periods. Fluorescent ceiling lamps were the sole source of light in this windowless environment. Most work areas were open, broken-up by heavy machinery, or rows of work tables or desks. The noise from the operation of much of the mechanical equipment, such as check sorters, was extremely loud. Managers had private offices with one or two glass walls for observation of work areas. Supervisors had separate desk areas, but remained on the floor. Morale and the VP In the late night silence of the empty eighth floor, Susan heard only the buzz of her fluorescent lamp as she turned from the window where she often reflected on the events of the day while enjoying the lights of L.A. Her eyes searched for the cover of the report she had tossed on her desk earlier. Carefully sipping the scalding black coffee she had just brewed, she thought back to the implications of the report. Somehow she was missing the boat in her current morale/team building program. HR Morale Boosters Susan slowly sat down in the chair at her desk and a wry smile crossed her face as she mentally listed some of her previous efforts at morale and team building. These had been fairly well-received by all the employees, or so it had seemed. The morale boosters she used were tried and true, not only in this organization, but every other she could think of.
Employee Perspectives on Cultural Differences Leafing through the report for a fourth time, Susan saw a world of frustration, anger, and pain enfleshed in the comments of the folks from the lower levels of the OG. Frustration and anger were aimed at supervisory and lower level managers. Pain was expressed in the distrust and hostility people felt for one another. Sure, many positive comments were given about one culture for another, and it would be easier to focus on those, but taken as a whole, people did not get along, and it was clear it would get worse. Susan skimmed the lists of negative comments to get a picture of how the people of the OG SFB world saw one another. In so doing, she tried to summarize the negative perceptions she had read about the major cultural groups and about work- er perceptions of management. She wondered how much of these observations were the result of stereotypes, how much personal experience, and how much the work environment. Perceptions of Management Susan was amazed at the anger directed towards management. Described as hostile, unconcerned, accusatory, intolerant, too task-oriented, condescending, and superior, to name a few, it was clear that people did not see management as any sort of supportive group. This did not sound like the group of managers she knew and worked with. If these comments were a true reflection of how management treated the workers, Susan was surprised anyone was down in the lower levels at all. The general comments she received about "good” versus "poor" management styles were as follows: “Good” Management StylesPerceptions of Anglos“Poor" Management Styles Overall, Anglos treated their counterparts in a way that was overbearing, arrogant, superior, unfair, and disrespectful of most groups of people. But, how many of these comments were actually about management? Anglos' Perceptions of AnglosPerceptions of FilipinosAfro American’s Perceptions of Anglos Susan noted that the Filipinos were perceived in a very negative light. Their coworkers were suspicious of them, their clannishness and ambitiousness. They were seen as taking advantage of their work positions and did not treat others fairly or with respect. People very much resented their use of their native language, Tagalog. Filipinos Perceptions of FilipinosPerceptions of HispanicsAfro Americans' Perceptions of Filipinos To Susan, the comments about Hispanics seemed to display more of a reliance on stereotypes than interaction, as they were viewed as either fun-loving, hardworking, or pushy by nature. Hispanics' Perceptions of HispanicPerceptions of African AmericansAfro-Americans' Perceptions of Hispanics Susan was surprised by the comments on African Americans, because there were not that many in the OG. But again, certain stereotypes were expressed such as lazy, distrustful, and used race as a weapon to manipulate the race issue. African Americans' Perceptions of Afro AmericansPerceptions of AsiansAnglos' Perceptions of African Americans The various Asian cultures were quite a mixed bag. She let the comments speak for themselves. Koreans proud; Chinese not friendly, defensive, nosey, polite, shrewd, hard working; Japanese angry-sounding; Thais rude. Anglos' Perceptions of ChinesePerceptions of Other CulturesAnglos' Perceptions of Thais Opinions by and about many of the other, less represented groups, were quite mixed. There was either respect or animosity. It was hard to tell whether any groups really Red, accepted, or even tolerated each other. Susan chuckled at one observation that jumped off the pages. People certainly saw themselves quite differently from the way others saw them. It was like two different people with the same name. She wondered why. A second observation made her feel sad as she noted how many of the comments asked for respect and acceptance. Armenians' Perceptions of ArmeniansConclusionAfghans' Perceptions of Afghan People were not getting
along,
that was clear. Susan felt frustrated and angry. "You can't force
people to like one another," she thought. "It isn't my job to overcome
centuries of hostilities. After all, these people chose to work
here,
so they better start working together." But even as she thought
this,
she knew that something would have to be done. But what?
She
did not relish the idea of going into Chester's office and telling him
that his dream of one big, happy SFB family was just that — a dream.
Chester's aspiration of
having "Individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds working together
to produce a common objective," sounded like a great goal. But,
it
appeared to Susan that the productivity and morale on the upper floors
demonstrated the utility of a more homogeneous work force. The
supervisory
task on the lower levels seemed more to be one of controlling the
problems
caused by differences and opinions than managing behavior to reinforce
similarity of action; but this didn't feet right either.
Susan looked over at her
daily calendar and was reminded of the appointment the EVP had set for
tomorrow afternoon to talk about the report. She had a handle on
the problem, however vague, so she could go home tonight. But,
now
her task was to determine the best way to deal with it. She made
a note for her secretary to clear the morning calendar. Tomorrow
she would develop a preliminary, but clear framework to analyze the
morale
problem, its causes, and how to relieve them.
Source Braaten, David
O. (
1994).
"Banking on Diversity: Familiarity Breeds
Contempt
at Security First Bank." International Business
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