Brian - week 10

This week, I interviewed Amy Zizelman, teacher, Prevail Academy, a National Heritage Academies  (NHA) school.

Since Prevail falls under a corporate umbrella rather than the authority of a public school system I thought that this would be an interesting opportunity to see how corporate culture is perceived and affects the teachers who work in this unique environment.  

Q: If you could describe your company’s culture in a few words/phrases, what would they be?

A: Strong relationships, accountability and doing everything we can to promote student growth.

As teachers, it is imperative that we work as a team, help each other out and also hold ourselves and each other accountable to provide our students with the opportunity and knowledge to achieve things they might not have thought were possible.

Q: How does management contribute to this culture?

A: By building meaningful relationships with the entire staff and getting to know us all on an individual level. All teachers meet with the dean (assistant principal) once per week for 30 minutes: the first 10 minutes are about our lives outside of school and it really provides an opportunity to get to know each other on a personal level; the final 20 minutes are spent on constructive, work-related dialogue. Our team also gets together outside of school and that definitely helps strengthen our sense of community and culture.

At the beginning of the school year, as a team, we talk about how we want to be treated by one another and how we agree to treat all staff members in the building. We then create a social contract including conditions like “listen when others are talking,” “do not use sarcasm” and “respect everyone,” and we all sign it at each staff meeting. It is displayed in our lounge to remind us all not to lose sight of creating a fun and loving community that has a direct impact on the bigger picture.

Teachers at Prevail are taught early on that they are not only responsible for their class; they are part of a bigger, equally important picture, too. Just because I teach eighth grade does not mean that I am responsible for only eighth grade success. We are embedded within other grades and departments in activities like tutoring and coaching and take active roles in helping our colleagues come up with effective teaching strategies.

Q: Is your company culture widely understood by teachers?

A: Yes. We begin each staff meeting by discussing our mission statement and reviewing our social contract that we all agreed upon so it’s pretty well engrained.

Q: Are there some who might understand it less than others?

A: Not in my opinion. I believe that all staff members, not just teachers, understand our culture.

Q: Do you believe that the majority of teachers have “bought in” to your company and school culture?

A: Yes. I truly do. Most of us are there for the same reason: to help children grow and learn.

Q: What types of resistance to conforming to company culture have you observed?

A: The only resistance that comes to mind is from a few teachers who are never happy and always looking for a reason to complain.

Q: On a scale from one to 10, how instrumental do you believe your company culture is in achieving your objectives?

A: Our goal is to academically grow each child 1.25 years in a single school year and we accomplish this because we all work together as a team to achieve it. We also take ownership in the area of enrollment as well. As a direct result of our culture and wanting to constantly grow and improve our school, teachers attend marketing events to learn how to get and keep people interested; we also do fun things like ice cream socials, helping at the local soup kitchen, volunteering in the community and passing out literature to increase awareness and enrollment.

Q: What do you see as the most positive aspect of corporate culture in your organization?

A: Working together and sharing each child’s success. I think that the majority of new teachers want to do well, but if they don’t come into a loving, nurturing environment, their attitude and priorities can be affected; that doesn’t happen at Prevail. We bounce ideas off of each other constantly and are always there to support each other. There is no unhealthy competition and people do not step on each other to get to the top; I believe that this is a direct result of our corporate and community culture.

Q: Is there anything else that you think would be important to mention about Prevail’s culture?

A: Everyone, regardless of seniority, takes part in making decisions that relate to improving our school.

Conclusion

It seems that social influence processes certainly play a role at Prevail as leadership and existing employee transfer their culture to new hires through informal interaction and formal methods like social contracts and one-on-one meetings with the dean. Since the majority of teachers strongly believe in the culture that has been created within NHA and Prevail, there is little resistance to it (Sorenson, 2009). In turn, a relatively harmonious environment exists and has a positive influence on team effectiveness, leading teachers to work toward a common goal (Denison & Mishra, 1995) that benefits the children that attend school there and will go on to benefit society in the future.

References

Denison, D., Mishra, A. (1995). Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede Model in context. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, unit 2, 204-223.

Sorenson, J. (2009). Note on organizational culture. Harvard Business School, CMGT 500 course pack, 183-188.