Managing Culture at Solaris

Managing culture is an important way in which Solaris tries to help employees cope with the nature of their work. As Kimberly Bell, the team leader of the human resource department, explains: “work in a call-centre can be extremely mundane and monotonous, so we have to make it a rewarding experience in order to be successful”. Solaris therefore spends a lot of time making their workers feel as if they are “heroes” and it is this sense of self that hopefully energises workers to go the extra mile for the company. The inspiration for many of Kimberley’s ideas can be found stacked on her office bookshelf. Pop-management classics about culture building abound: Peters and Waterman’s In Search of Excellence, Peter’s The Pursuit of Wow!, Deal and Key’s Celebration At Work among others. Kimberly believes that because customer satisfaction is a product of good customer service, and Solaris must therefore invest a lot of resources in the construction, dissemination and maintenance of a ‘strong’ corporate culture. As a result, employees will hopefully perceive their work as fun and exciting, as well as develop feelings of loyalty, devotion and responsibility toward the company and its clients. This type of management targets the values and internal thought processes of employees and it is the role of the human resource department to design and promulgate the right values and practices with the aim that employees view work more like a ‘party’ than a lifeless chore. According to Kimberly, the buzz words you hear the most among team members are “creative”, “dynamic”, “motivated”, “innovative”, “partners”, “vibe”, “trust” and “attitude” and this is what is “unique” about Solaris in the call-centre industry. Solaris employs the following culture management techniques.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 1275