CEO Administration at Umpqua Bank - Essay Example

Unpqua Bank A Critical Assessment Umpqua Bank Introduction Umpqua Bank is a uniquely branded bank with a unique attitude that started in the State of Oregon. It is known as the #1 large company to work for (Umpqua Bank, 1996). They thought their culture was unique for a bank and they were correct. The problem was that it was a time for bank mergers and their board did not in any way want that to happen. Therefore they decided it was time to step out of the box and make a hire of a different kind for their CEO. Risky yes, but so was the things they had in mind for the bank. They hired Davis for their CEO who was not from the banking industry at all. They were growing and they wanted to remain unique. This paper will discuss the culture at Umpqua in relation to Steins theories of organizational culture. The bank as it sat when Davis took over was starting into its midlife. It had grown and was popular but it was also fighting the possibility of a buyout. Their culture of a small town friendly bank was already ingrained and now they needed to move on. As they said, their present culture was stretched. They needed someone to come with a new plan, make the changes needed and move the culture forward rapidly and that is exactly what Davis did. This new CEO had a vision and was in no way afraid to tell everyone about it, bringing many on board right away. Then to assure that others could see his vision, he sent staff out to popular shopping areas and ask them to look around and figure out what was popular about them. He started calling the bank a store and the thought process about the bank began to change all together. Without them even realizing it, he had put together his change team and the ideas that came out were theirs which was even better. He brought in designers to help the change team figure out how best to put together areas that would meet the needs of their customers. They began to see the things that were most important about customer service such as getting people who could not serve the customer out of sight and cross-training everyone else so they could move the customer through quicker. Schein asks first, "Why change" This is exactly the question that Davis put to the staff and then he ask them if changing the outside was good enough. Did the inside not also need to change The second question is "What does the future need to look like" By this time, Umpqua was on a roll. They had a unique name and a unique concept and now they wanted a building design that met all those needs and that is what they got. The building itself was like no other bank building had ever been. It included all kinds of services for customers including use of the internet and financial counseling. All of the things included created a win-win situation for the customers and the bank. Assessing the present state according to Schein (2009) is important so the change team can evaluate where the present state is as compared to where the new state needs to go. This is often one of the most difficult tasks for a change team to manage due to the fact that the present state according to Schein (2009) is often difficult for them to see. They decided that the only way to get what they wanted was to spend their time 100% making the customer happy and they were only doing that 1/2 of the time now. To solve this problem they put together training sessions for all new managers and for anyone inside the business who felt they might want to move up eventually and trained them in what the new culture was, how it worked and how to please the customer 100% of the time. They also sent these people out to other stores that they felt were doing very well and were within the cultural dynamics that they wanted so they could see firsthand how it was supposed to work. They talked about the "wow factor" and roll played how the customer should be treated and it would feel to them if they were a part of that service. Shein (2009) often says that the administrative staff must be fully onboard to assure a culture change occurs. Davis was in all kinds of ways. He often showed up for support of the staff to show them importance. He required daily motivational moments and often gave the "walk the walk" speech, never allowing the thought of the new culture to leave their minds. In doing this Davis was managing the transition of the culture and assuring that his staff was doing the same. It becomes clear that Shein's theories of involving the employees has never been better than it is here. The employees became so involved with the shift in culture that they were excited every time it was time for the new numbers to come out. Davis believed that sales would follow service and set out to change the culture of the service provided. He then incentivized his stores to compete on who would do best and that led to a constant culture of improvement. Then once they got their numbers, even if they were the best, they were never satisfied and automatically set goals for the next release, set their own goals to achieve their part and set in. The results of this great a culture change, of course, was awesome. One month after opening the new customer friendly store, they had attracted $30 million in deposits. A year later, they were still growing and continued to grow. The newly designed building met all the customer's needs as well as the employees. The only concern that kept nagging at them was that they were a community bank with that reputation and did not want to lose that status . They set out to fix that too. In order to continue to keep this piece of their reputation, employees were encouraged to volunteer and were also given 40 hours per year off to participate in volunteering. This kept the bank very involved in the local market and continued the one core value that they felt was important in their image. Shein would then ask, "was there really a culture change" This really happens when no one wants to go back to the old culture and most times cannot remember exactly how the old culture worked. Bottom line, is this is definately a true culture change. The reasons why are listed. The employees became so involved they drove the new culture themselves The new culture became the core culture In this case, there was essentially nothing left of the old culture, including the fact that this was no longer thought of as a bank but a store. Conclusion The Umpqua Bank is an excellent example of a complete culture change. One in which the Shein theories are easily applied. This was not a failing organization when it undertook change which is important to note. They knew that it was time to push forward and in order to move forward, they needed to change their culture. This is what they did even though it was risky for a community bank. They approached it well and the culture change became the core of their business which is quite successful. References Design Management Institute Case Study: Umpqua Bank: Managing the Culture and Implementing the Brand. Schein, EH (2009). The Corporate Culture Survival Guide: San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Read More