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The Disneyfication of a University

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Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#171

Post by ImaCake »

AWildC182 wrote: post #143
Seenso wrote: post #25

Several years ago, I had to attend a full day "culture training" session given by Senn Delaney (a division of Heidrick & Struggles) [1]. It was also a massive waste of time. Our company actually has a really great culture, and what I remember of the training amounted to a somewhat subtle attempt to indoctrinate employees to be more blindly obedient to management change initiatives. There was some other stuff, but I h…

I used to work in a facility that was doing manufacturing as well as software/engineering. The manufacturing techs were generally treated like cattle and subjected to this stuff as most of them were max high school level education and/or foreign and while plenty intelligent, didn't have the financial capability to tell them to fuck off. As such they were generally able get them to play along with all the synergizific…

What a waste of time! People doing processing of any kind, be it biology, chemical, or mechanical, require certain spaces of time through the day to be free so they can do their job efficiently. This kind of bullshit is the worst possible interruption for such workers and would certainly produce the maximum possible resentment towards management.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#172

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

reggieband wrote: post #97

When I was a high-school student I hated pep rallies [1]. The entire school was dragged into our gym, sat on the bleachers while the football team ran into the room through a paper banner and various students on the pep squad would juggle, dance and force everyone to make some noise. It felt like a gigantic waste of time. Nearly 30 minutes for 450+ people. When I joined in the corporate drudgery I hated all of the eq…

Absolutely agree. It reminds me of people who claim they are immune to advertising.

Personal anecdote, I am not a sports person, but I was at a baseball game once. The crowd briefly got wild and I could literally feel that weird elation of being part of a cheering group.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#173

Post by zwieback »

riyadparvez wrote: post #48

As someone who is not from North America, this positive/good vibe culture really baffles me. You are a human being. Negative emotions are part of life. World is full of pain and sufferings. You are supposed to feel empathy for other people and feel bad for their misfortune even if you have the good luck of not going through suffering. I just don't understand this obsession of feeling good all the time. I don't know h…

I moved from Germany to the US a long time ago and at first I was confused by what you call "good vibe culture". I've come to appreciate it, though. When I visit Germany now I notice that people make less of an effort to keep surface interactions more polite and often make a point of spreading their bad mood around.

Beyond the surface interactions there's not much difference, though. Interactions with people you know better, be it friends, family or coworkers, are pretty similar.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#174

Post by ahi »

smoyer wrote: post #144

Hey GW ... I hear that "Don't Be Evil" is available again and seems like it would be suitably generic. On a more serious note, I'm on staff at a relatively major university having spent the previous 30 years in private industry. One of the things I (now at least) appreciate is that the university isn't supposed to have a corporate culture. There isn't a profit motive, it provides a safe-haven for "new thoughts", and…

I am an '05 alum of GW. GW disqualified itself from using "Don't Be Evil" a long time ago. e.g. https://www.propublica.org/article/george-washington-univers...

But GW isn't really an academic institution. It's a real estate developer that uses rich kids from Long Island to fill it's square footage.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#175

Post by mcphage »

downerending wrote: post #73
Animats wrote: post #44

The funny thing is that Disney actually could teach a university something, but that's not it. Disney is really good at a few things, like line, crowd, and parking management. Disney could probably make a school's football stadium and parking run better. Disney creates the illusion that they're better than they are by over-maintaining the visible stuff. So they could help create a culture that makes a school look les…

Actually, just got back from a trip there and was absolutely shocked at the lack of cleanliness of one of their restaurants (Oga's). Maybe it was a one-off.

> was absolutely shocked at the lack of cleanliness of one of their restaurants (Oga's). Maybe it was a one-off.

That's definitely not the norm for Disney's parks.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#176

Post by jdmichal »

bumby wrote: post #99
jdmichal wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't mean to nit, just curious about meaning: Did you mean "culture should be emergent"? Culture has this really interesting property. It's really the cumulative effect of all the decisions and actions taken by every member of the culture. However -- here's the fun part -- the history of those decisions and actions informs future decisions and actions. It becomes somewhat cyclic and self-reinforcing. And because of…

It comes across as you've given this some thought, so what are the best ways for adjusting an organizational culture?

Make expectations clear and start issuing consequences for not following them. Sounds much easier than it is...

The key is to turn that feedback cycle to your purpose. Once consequences start flowing, word will start to get out that "this one has teeth". You want people to get dirty looks and comments about bad behaviour. That negative response will then feed forward into future decisions.

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#177

Post by ACow_Adonis »

nabla9 wrote: post #138
Seenso wrote: post #25

Several years ago, I had to attend a full day "culture training" session given by Senn Delaney (a division of Heidrick & Struggles) [1]. It was also a massive waste of time. Our company actually has a really great culture, and what I remember of the training amounted to a somewhat subtle attempt to indoctrinate employees to be more blindly obedient to management change initiatives. There was some other stuff, but I h…

When Japanese companies came to the West some of them tried to push the Japanese company culture into their subsidiaries without any modifications. Starting workday with everyone standing in attention outside and singing company song when company flag was hoisted did not go well.

If by not go well, I'm assuming you mean adopted by many American firms. I'm assuming you're unfamiliar with "the Wal-Mart cheer".

I'd love to say it was isolated, but my wife worked for a big 4 consultancy firm straight out of university. Just do a Google search for "Ernst and young happy day". I'd paste a link, but I'm afraid I'd actually have to watch it again...

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#178

Post by roland35 »

JackFr wrote: post #150
riyadparvez wrote: post #48

As someone who is not from North America, this positive/good vibe culture really baffles me. You are a human being. Negative emotions are part of life. World is full of pain and sufferings. You are supposed to feel empathy for other people and feel bad for their misfortune even if you have the good luck of not going through suffering. I just don't understand this obsession of feeling good all the time. I don't know h…

A saying I learned from a Russian coworker: "The only people who smile all the time are idiots and Americans." As an American, I find that quite amusing. I'd say it brings a smile to my face, but there's likely one there already.

Russians certainly have a funny and direct way to answer questions!

My grandma (came to the US from the USSR during WW2) would always answer a little too honestly when we asked "how are you doing?" Sometimes she would say "Still walking" and sometimes she would talk about how the neighborhood is going downhill. I would laugh and say "you know in America we just say 'good'!"

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#179

Post by chihuahua »

bobthechef wrote: post #83

On a related note, I worked with a guy once who actually said that perks like free snacks were more important for him than a raise because "it's nice" and that it shows the company appreciated you. Now, I'm not saying having snacks is bad, but you must have drowned in the koolaid to think that a couple of bags of chips in place of a raise shows the company appreciates your work. One in a while I meet a poor guy like…

Imagine how surprised that guy would be if he figured out that if he got a raise he could buy lots of snacks and still have money left over for other things

Re: The Disneyfication of a University

#180

Post by pdonis »

riazrizvi wrote: post #92

Unpopular opinion... you can make almost anything sound awful with the right tone of cynicism, and the intended substance of this article is just a cynical tone. Looking at the observations presented I'm inclined to side with the university president. 1. The university staff were mostly sullen at a culture workshop, enthusiasm was low. 2. Disney is an entertainment world leader. 3. Disney attributes its leadership po…

> Disney is an entertainment world leader.

So basically you're saying universities are in the entertainment business and they should look to the world leader to see how things should be done?

I'm not sure I would disagree with this, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't what the president of GW was thinking.

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