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.

1. Interdepartmental competition, with a traveling department trophy as the prize, had created a lot of enthusiasm.  Most departments really pulled together to try to win.
2. The two Fridays a month designated as causal clothes days seemed to break down barriers among the suits and between suits, clerical and exempt personnel, making people feel more comfortable with each other.
3. It had taken many hours to gather the birthday dates of all the employees so that they could be recognized.  People always enjoyed seeing their names in the newsletter.  This allowed fellow workers to get involved in the lives of their peers.
4. The various theme months she instituted got people drinking about their relationship to one another and the bank.  Coming up with themes that were both fun and encouraged the growth of the "SFB Team” usually was very rewarding, especially when she saw how people got enthused about the theme and began really incorporating it into their work.
5. Maybe the latest morale booster had been a little much, creating a SFB Team Mascot, a rabbit, and sending it around to push the latest theme and lighten the mood around the various offices.  But, people seemed to get a kick out of it as it broke up their day a bit. Many times she had heard comments from folks wondering if the rabbit would show up today.
6. She had even talked the food service into starting ethnic food days, twice a month, so that everyone could try eating some of the foods from the different cultures in the company.  She was sure this would help people get to know a little about the culture of the people they work next to.  She hoped it led to conversations in the cafeteria about various cultures.
7. One of the best ideas had been to have upper management, starting with the EVP, eat in the cafeteria for lunch one day a week to demonstrate their availability and ownership in the idea that all of the employees were part of the SFB Team.

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 Styles

Listen/fair

Not accusing

Show respect and not make person feel small

Supportive

Accepting of mistakes

State appreciation

Polite

Give reasons

Calm and private

Supportive, explain mistake, why it happened, and what should happen

Seek facts and ask questions before judging

Made inquiries privately

Willing to apologize when wrong

“Poor" Management Styles

Powertrip

Won't listen and intolerant

Favoritism

Don't hear both sides and takes sides quickly

Lack of understanding and compassion

No one to complain to without jeopardizing job

Public questioning and humiliating others

Supervisors takes sides

Unorganized

Lack of common skills

Don't show concern for problems, nor offer solutions

Accuse and discuss in private

Assume the negative instead of checking it out

Too strict with procedures

Unfair

Manipulative

Stop listening when don't like what is said and marked as trouble maker

Won't let me explain

Don't question performance in public, do it in private

Abuse of power; humiliating

Inability to say when wrong, put blame on others

Condescending

Commanding

Third party comments; indiscretions

Inconsistent

We are forced to work with groups or races not qualified to do job; they work at lower pay; all pay goes down

Our management doesn't listen to a "clerk" because we're not important; fail to see we have feelings, not fortunate enough to go to college; we "employees" make managers shine; hearing "you're doing a good job" would be a miracle

Managers and assistants talking bad about employee mistakes

Don't check things out

Maintaining first impressions

Threats

Yelling vs. requesting information

Jump to conclusions, unwilling to work together

Lack of trust in worker given authority

If you disagree with superiors, they say you don't understand

Expect extra time

Make people feel guilty without checking on it

Misuse and abuse; long hours expected; no respect for individual needs

Don't listen to employees

Check out, don't assume

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 Anglos

We speak English

Don't always feel superior because we're white

Others should learn our language; many managers unfair and stop listening

I'm an individual

All basically equal

Speak English during work

Should treat people with respect

Make our decisions, agreements made when company policy differs from cultures

Judge myself not my culture

All people should be treated fairly indifferent, apathetic

Knowing other cultures more important than knowing one's own

Everyone’s an individual

Speak English, in my opinion of all, if in superior position polite and considerate

They are just like everyone else, hate, discriminate

Individuals are more important than cultures; too much emphasis placed on cultures

Don’t always think alike or react like minority

Diverse people

No opinion on their culture

We are all equally, white is not better

They should speak English; it's America

Some things said and done are part of culture and not to be taken personally

American culture should be first in America

Not superior to other cultures

Evaluate by work, not culture

Good values, hard working

Honest, helpful, respectful

Have adverse feelings about them

Traditional, value on family and ethics

Afro American’s Perceptions of Anglos

Majority good

Feel superior

Oppressive

Professionally deceiving

Are ok, I guess

Get away with more

Rude, insensitive, unjust

Feel better than others

Filipino’ Perception of Anglos

Eager

Curious

Aggressive

Don't keep grudges

Prejudiced

Hypocritical; don't mean what they say; don't like outspoken humor

Nice and friendly

Tough, have no feelings; too business-like

Inconsiderate

Frank, straightforward, overlooks human side of employment

Hispanics' Perceptions of Anglos

Think they are superior

Fair, if fair with them

Prejudiced

Professional

Overconfident, cocky, disrespectful, except to other whites, lazy and manipulative

Given best opportunities to succeed

Domineering and discriminating

Give more merit to Anglo than to Hispanic ideas

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 Filipinos

Friendly

Proud

Honest

Industrious

Helpful

Religious

Sympathetic

Conservative, closed minded

Competitive

Courteous

Nosey

Good manners

Educated (more than others)

Very sensitive

Respectful

Loyal

Fun

Need more respect for superiors

Value politeness, consideration

Patient

Insecure; afraid of losing jobs to others

Easily offended

Welcome constructive criticism

Stubborn

Bad tempered

Willing to learn

Bright

Open minded

Witty

Have diverse culture

Can get to top, if work hard

Treat us as equals

We are no different than any other culture

Want more understanding

Should be allowed to speak Tagalog at work

Should be given same opportunities

Use Tagalog to express selves and show respect

Culture teaches not to offend

High boundary of Filipino, but only if you speak the language

Bring old attitudes; don't change old behaviors

Afro Americans' Perceptions of Filipinos

Untrustworthy

They need to speak English in work area

Pushy, greedy for power

Some nice

Talk too much in their language

Anglos' Perceptions of Filipino

Outwardly open, proud, men are flirts

Intelligent, hardworking try too hard when in authority

Clean, easy going

Can't take constructive criticism; see you as dumb get defensive, accused of prejudice

Petty; play favorites

Very rude; try to get away with as much as they can

Abuse power; treat other races unfairly when in majority

Favoritism; give each other best work

Close knit, insular, unwilling to confront problems-, talk about you in Tagalog

Try to get away with as much as they can

Don't speak English around others

Hispanics' Perceptions of Filipino

Nice people

Friendly, cooperative

Proud, brag, ambitious, hurt others

OK

Considerate; mind own business

Arrogant

Friendly

Good workers

Kind people

Get mad easily

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 Hispanic

Want respect for customs

Timid, easily embarrassed

We aren't different; we are equal; treat us equal

Have feelings, educated, sensitive, knowledgeable about job

Not as bad as media claims

We are a people, not a minority

We have rights

Good workers; good leaders; trustworthy, sincere, people-oriented

Friendly

Smart (I can do anything others can do)

Have more knowledge than given credit for

Not lazy and dishonest

Not thieves

Value respect and professionalism

Not second-rate citizens; have feelings, ideas have values

Proud

Sincere

Afro-Americans' Perceptions of Hispanics

Cocky and pushy

Anglos' Perceptions of Hispanic’s

Very fine

Need consideration and respect

Friendly and fun loving

Same as others

They are different from anyone else

People same as others; we're different and same as non-Hispanic

Filipinos' Perceptions of Hispanic's

Helpful

Understanding

Lack of intellect

Similar in culture

Hardworking

Vietnamese Perceptions of Hispanic’s

Friendly and open minded

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 Americans

Equal or better than other

Like everyone else

Have dreams and ambitions

Very intelligent

We are all human

If qualified, should get job, we speak English and are not inconsiderate

No different than any other group; good and bad people

Our history

Want respect; don't favor others; don't look down on us

All people created the same; people with money the same as those without it

Pride in ourselves, give people second chance

Responsible and trustworthy

Just as competent as next; give us same chance as next

Other races hate us; words not said in right manner can upset us

Are ok, I guess

We hate being stereotypes

Need more recognition for contribution to organization

Anglos' Perceptions of African Americans

As American as I

Very prejudiced

Positive opinion

Lazy, dishonest

Exploit race, emphasize their color; hide behind color, use as weapon or excuse

No different from rest of us

Filipinos' Perceptions of African Americans

Educated are good and friendly

Uneducated are rude and mean

Not different

Professional managers

Easy to get along with

Talk too much; talk too loud

Get envious; don't repay when borrowing anything

Hardworking

Hispanics' Perceptions of African Americans

Don't trust others

Competitive

Good and bad

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 Chinese

Positive

Polite shrewd, intelligent, accurate

Anglos' Perceptions of Thais

Very rude

Anglos' Perceptions of Japanese

Efficient

Chinese Perceptions of Chinese

Hard working and dedicated

Friendly and easy to talk to

We are not lazy, are intelligent and hard workers

We are not all shy and good at math

Filipinos' Perceptions of Chinese

Strange, not friendly, no consideration, defensive

Filipinos' Perceptions of Vietnamese

Have English problems

Filipinos' Perceptions of Japanese

Sad except with Japanese

Sounds like they're mad, even when not

Hispanics' Perceptions of Chinese

Don't understand, not clean, don't listen, nosey

Vietnamese Perceptions of Vietnamese

Keep feelings inside

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 Armenians

Intelligent and educated; have old culture

Know my tradition to know how to treat me

We are very nice people

Afghans' Perceptions of Afghan

Love freedom, proud of country

Afghans' Perceptions of Chinese

They do not care to know about others

Chinese Perceptions of African Americans

Bad

Eastern Europeans' Perceptions of Eastern European

Aristocratic

Hot blooded, don't hold tempers well

All stuck up

Eastern Europeans' Perceptions of Filipinos

Very sensitive

West Indians' Perceptions of West Indians

Proud, hard workers

We're just like everyone else

West Indians' Perceptions of African Americans

Well behaved, willing to help

Friendly

Koreans' Perceptions of Filipinos

Not professional

Koreans' Perceptions of Koreans

Respect others; respect elders and superiors

Proud of who they are

Very honest, hardworkers, hate making mistakes, sensitive to criticism

Middle Easterners' Perceptions of Filipinos

Have to show and prove their power; don't care if you're hurt

Middle Easterners' Perceptions of Anglos

Literate

Are phoney and insincere

They discriminate against foreigners

Middle Easterners' Perceptions of Middle Easterners

Don't stereotype us

We are friendly

Normal people; high sense of morality; honest

Male chauvinist; don't treat women with respect

Treated fairly by our performance

Respectful, treat foreigners with respect; don't shout and scream like Americans do

Honest, respect others

Middle Easterners' Perceptions of Armenians

Industrious, hardworking, mutual respect

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.

        Braaten, David O. ( 1994). "Banking on Diversity: Familiarity Breeds Contempt at Security First Bank."  International Business
                Case Studies for the Multicultural Marketplace.  Eds., Robert T. Moran, David O. Braaten, and John E. Walsh, Jr.
                Houston:  Gulf Publishing.