There are two members posts pertaining to this discussion question asked below...could you come up with a thoughtful, well supported response for each member discussion. They only need to be about half of a page to one page in length for each one. And cite references in support agreements of or arguments. Expand upon the original point or provide an outside source that illustrates it. You can always disagree as well [as long as it is done in a respectful manner]. Provide a counterpoint or outside source to refute the original comment. Discussion question asked: Discuss the main points of the video. Suggest at least one idea that you got from the video and share whether or not it applies to the organization you work in. YOUR POST TO DISCUSSION question: There are a number of important factors that Ann Rhoades has highlighted regarding organizational culture for successful organizations that are worth consideration. Especially her ideas on employees' motivation and participation as well as the HR's strategic role are highly important. However, there are two key things that are very important for any and every organization and apply to my organization too. Employee motivation is important and companies should do everything they can to keep their employees motivated. It is directly related to productivity since motivated employees mean high productivity. Employee motivation affects the bottom line and therefore should be any organization's priority. Apart from salaries and benefits there are other factors too which ensure that the employees would remain motivated. A healthy work culture and a great work environment also keep people motivated and help organizations retain the most productive workers for longer. Another key thing is employee participation. Employee participation gets to affect the work environment and also leads to job satisfaction and employee motivation. In this regard by ensuring employee participation, the companies happen to gain a lot. However, the important thing is to not to limit their participation but to include the employees in nearly every part of work including decision making. By involving the employees in decision making the companies will be giving every employee a say in important matters. This can be highly beneficial in terms of creating job satisfaction. As Abdulai and Shafiwu write, \"Participation in decision making make employees gain self-actualization hence increases employees' motivation and job performance. The practice of employee participation was not practiced seriously until the mid-1980s when major works such as Lawler started to emerge and made some significant impact on both academic and business cycles. By allowing employees to be participating in decision making helps improve communication, increases commitment level hence increases productivity\" (Abdulai & Shafiwu, 2014). Employee participation in this regard is also important for employee empowerment and gives rise to a healthy organizational culture. The strategic partnership of HR is also an important factor in the modern business environment. HR can do a lot by being a strategic partner and help organizations be highly productive and grow. HR can be a contributor and leaders should encourage HR in their organizations to take the strategic partner's role to build a solid organizational culture. Organizations cannot be highly productive without the contribution from the HR. Ann Rhoades has provided some insightful points which can be highly important for organizations focussing on culture and productivity. References: Abdulai, I. A., & Shafiwu, A. B. (2014). Participatory Decision Making and Employee Productivity. A Case Study of Community Banks in the Upper East region of Ghana. InBusiness and Economics Journal. Retrieved May 27, 2015, from http://omicsonline.com/open-access/business-andeconomics-journal-2151-6219.100099.pdf MEMBER #1's POST TO SAME DISCUSION: eg In the interview with Ann Rhoades there were many points of interest that all seem to focus on an A player, and what I found interesting is that the same standards for what they expect from employees would need to be demonstrated by the organization in order to attract and retain the A Player. So A player + A organization = formula for successful organization. Many points of the video remind me of raising children; if you want to raise a successful human being then most of the points that Ann made about a successful organization are relevant. In raising my children, they were held accountable for their actions, if they made the mess they had to clean it up. When they did well they were rewarded, sometimes in a monetary way, but more often than not the praise and recognition for their efforts was what they sought. Instilling the values that I hold near and dear into my children was worth the effort because I can say in my opinion that my children are ethical, contributing, and valuable employees in the workforce now. Unfortunately, in the organization where I'm currently employed, valuable employees receive the very same benefits as every other employee in their salary grade. The only difference is the A player gets more demands and responsibilities put on them and advancement is tied to technical skills, degree held and scores on examinations instead of values, knowledge of the job and being an A player. MEMBER #2's POST TO SAME DISCUSION: Thinking of this, I know that the Agency that I work for has its own core values. But, our Agency has multiple different Departments and different programs that branch out. My program in particular, has been under one Agency, than switched to another. We almost feel like the "step child" We are now implementing as Ann stated, performance evaluations with tasks and standards. We are working with our new office of professional development to work on that. Another thing that was stated that left a mark on me is that " Keep people motivated by making sure that we are telling people they are doing a good job and reward people, value people and build a systems of rewards" I find this to be somewhat difficult in public sector, because we don't have the luxury as private does to give rewards. We have to abide by City Government guidelines and its a bit more complex than private. Thats why some Agency's don't even want to be involved in developing a reward system. What we have done is currently they are working with the Office of Professional Development to provide different ways to create a better working environment. Now there will be performance evaluations, tasks/standards and professional development initiatives to keep our employees engaged. Its a start but i feel more needs to be done. Reference : http://www.cultbranding.com/core-values/ MEMBER #3's POST TO SAME DISCUSION: After watching the interview of Ann Rhoades, we can infer the main objective throughout the interview was organizational culture. Ann emphasized and believed that culture is significant to an organization. Organizational behavior also brings those corporate values to life. Ann throughout her interview, continuously discussed the importance of "A players" in other words during the recruiting and hiring process, you want to make sure you find those candidates who shadow or mirror the values you have created for that organization. Also, a rewards and recognition system for employees was mentioned during her interview stating the significance of employee engagement. Another main point discussed during Ann's interview was workplace culture and the importance of trust and loyalty. Finally, Ann discusses continuous discipline throughout the organization. She suggested that managers have a right to run their offices accordingly, that they do not have to be "right by the book". Thinking outside the box to help resolve workplace issues is a suggested idea and that these managers, the one's in authority and leadership role must execute those simple principles to sustain a value-centric culture. Briefly she also shard with us the role of hr professionals and how one of the things hr professionals tend to do is say no, but now with limited staffing for one, hr professionals should seek the employees as customers and find every-way possible to say yes and help the employees the same way they would help their clients as well