Harley-Davidson's Culture

This blog post will be exemplifying the process I took in researching Harley-Davidson's corporate culture, as I will be using this information on my compare/contrast page. 

Angie Ziegler

Angie Ziegler, Director of Leadership Development at Harley-Davidson touched a bit on culture when she spoke to the class. She talked about how Harley values mean that  personal goals are tied to organizational goals. However, in the 1990s, Harley was at the height of its success, and instilling and upholding values  was a low-priority task. In fact, Ziegler said that when management approached line workers about Harley's values, they laughed; values only role was the sign they were on the wall. This is an example of the different kind of values: espoused and enacted. Espoused values are what the company says they value, and enacted values are the values that are shown through behavior (Nelson/Quick). As a result, cultural change was imminent. According to the article, "Making Corporate Culture Work," culture change means changing people's "attitudes and beliefs about the company and its values" (Bird). In order for this to occur, there needs to be clear communication of what the company's values are, and continuous feedback from leadership is necessary. This is why leadership has been so important to Harley in recent years, as they are "creating culture and making changes" (Ziegler). 


Many of the changes Ziegler mentioned made a great impact on Harley's culture. For example, the line workers were not happy when Harley deunionized, but were obligated to accept the changes or risk the plant moving. Additional changes meant that Harley let go over 3200 employees, which as previously discussed is strenuous on morale. This unhappiness was reflected when Harley decided to bring in an outside party to evaluate their culture and they were placed in the 6 percentile. Ziegler reflected how it was a time of "constructive versus undermining behavior" (Ziegler). 

So the question remained, how could Harley change? 

Ziegler discussed how Harley needed to change leadership behaviors. The idea behind this was that leaders need to be evaluated on how they do their work, not just that they complete it. In addition, there needed to be an expected behavior or set of standards that all are upheld to. As a way of putting these new ideas into place, senior directors and all higher positions are assessed on these behaviors and their raises/bonus'/etc. are based on their qualitative performance. 

Another element that complicates Harley-Davidson's culture is their "stick it to the man" mantra. For a company that markets to the bad guy, whose homepage states "the refusal to conform both sets us apart and unites us," having a uniform corporate culture would be an obvious challenge among these values.

How Does Harley-Davidson portray their culture?

To gain more insight into the Harley culture, I looked at their prospective employee portion of the site, and found many interesting elements: 

• "Our team-based collaborative approach to work place individuals in an interactive environment that fosters growth while promoting teamwork." -Howard Salazar, Manager, Human Resources.
  

This quote refers to the work circles Harley-Davidson is organized by. It is a very horizontal work structure (lecture, 3/21/12). View an image of this type of organization system on my Harley page. 

• Our Values..."Telling the Truth, Keeping our Promises, Respecting the Individual, Encouraging Intellectual Curiosity, Be Fair"

This statement says a lot about how Harley answers the "nonconformist" challenge in their culture, and Ziegler touched on this. "Respecting the Individual, Encouraging Intellectual Curiosity" means is Harley's way of saying, according to Ziegler, that one "cannot act like a typical rebel;" the internal definition of a rebel at Harley one that embodies "creativity and innovation" (Ziegler). 

How does an employee view Harley's Culture?

Though not the most reliable source, when I was researching Harley's culture, I came across an interesting post by an anonymous former Harley employee on the website "GlassDoor: An interesting look at jobs and companies" as follows, 


Pros: Harley is a great brand, with great products and great customers. Customer loyalty is among the highest of any brand. Cons:  Harley used to be a great place to work (Fortune top 100). It is now dominated by a culture of fear. Successes are not recognized. Everyone walks around afraid they are going to be fired if they make a mistake. People hide in their cubes and keeps their heads low. Not a productive environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Start caring about employees. Although you may achieve good quarterly results with the current leadership style that reinforces employees are disposable, the results will not be sustainable in the long term. Your best employees will be leaving as soon as the economy recovers.
         
This post seems disheartening, but based on Ziegler's lecture, is accurate. Even though Harley-Davidson's culture has a long way to go for it to be satisfactory, I believe that they will get there one day because those with leadership roles are aware of the issues they face and the need for improvement, and that is the first and toughest step to take on the way to improvement. 

Bird , Anat . "Making Corporate Culture Work ." American Banker . (1992): n. page. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. 

Nelson/Quick. ORGB. Student Edition. 2. Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning , 2011. 259. Print. 

Ziegler , Angie . "One Company. One Team. One Direction." Organization and Behavior Lecture . Marquette University, Milwaukee . 4 April 2012. Address.