Table Of ContentAdvance Praise
“Decades ago Phillips Plastics Corporation informally defined its
culture as the People Process. Simply put ‘. . . all people are
important and people working together achieve more . . .’ Some
grasp the concept, but Drs. Jeanette Kersten and Kelly La Venture
embraced the meaning, finding people in diverse industries and
businesses who share the belief that its people are a critical part
of an organization’s success.”
—Debbie Cervenka, Executive
Vice President (former), Phillips
Plastics Corporation
“The authors of The Human Factor to Profitability have scored a
winner with this book that finally brings to the forefront how
profitability doesn’t happen through osmosis. Rather, it’s a careful
mix of creating a culture where people are the most significant
catalysts to profitability. While many organizations give lip service
to this mantra, The Human Factor to Profitability provides
concrete strategies for creating a people-process culture. Rich
with examples, inclusive of top leadership thinkers, and robust
with evidence-based practices, this book provides a clear road
map to achieving profitability through people-process initiatives.
Whether you are a CEO, HR professional, organization
development consultant, or business manager, this book is a must
read from the first page to the last.”
—Dr. Mitchell Kusy, Professor,
Antioch University, Corporate
Psychologist, Co-author, Toxic
Workplace! Managing Toxic
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Personalities and Their Systems
of Power
“With the publication of The Human Factor to Profitability: Building
a People-Centered Culture for Long-Term Success, Drs. Kersten
and La Venture have written the must-read text of the year for all
of us—consultants, academicians, business leaders, and students
—who work each day to keep the and between people and
profits.”
—Dr. Diane B. Stoy
“This book captures the essence of what it takes to build and
sustain a High-Performance Organization. Drs. Kersten and La
Venture delved into the history to glean the insight on the impact
and effectiveness of corporate cultures. The authors identify
several elements needed to create a high-performing, people-
centered culture. One of those is trust. This cannot be overstated.
Many in authority fail to become leaders mainly, because they lack
the trust of the people they are supposed to lead. Implementing
the concepts and insights gained from this book will help you
transform your organization.”
—Dr. Raj Beekie, Adjunct
Professor
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This Research has been approved by the UW–Stout IRB as required by the
Code of Federal Regulations Title 45 Part 46.
Published by River Grove Books
Austin, TX
www.rivergrovebooks.com
Copyright ©2015 University of Wisconsin-Stout
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder.
Distributed by River Grove Books
Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group
Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group
Kelly La Venture’s author photo by Bob Gross
Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.
Print ISBN: 978-1-63299-054-9
eBook ISBN: 978-1-63299-055-6
First Edition
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Contents
FOREWORD
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
CHAPTER 1:
People-Process Culture
CHAPTER 2:
People-First Core Values
CHAPTER 3:
The People-Process Culture Approach to Organizational Climate
CHAPTER 4:
High-Performance Organizations
CHAPTER 5:
High-Performance Organizations Are Great Places to Work
CHAPTER 6:
Trust Above All Else
CHAPTER 7:
Communication Is Vital to Success
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CHAPTER 8:
Leadership and Organizational Culture
CHAPTER 9:
Finding—and Keeping—the Right Employees
CHAPTER 10:
Lifelong Learning and Professional Development
CHAPTER 11:
Organizational Resiliency
CHAPTER 12:
Responsible Global Citizenship
CHAPTER 13:
Potential Types of People-Focused Organizations
CHAPTER 14:
The Future of People-Process Cultures
REFERENCES
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
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Foreword
In 1964, a small, group of manufacturing pioneers helped a new
plastics firm make its first part—a white calendar frame—in an
abandoned creamery in rural Wisconsin. Cramped for space,
short on cash, but big on dreams, they unknowingly started on a
journey that would lead to one of America’s great manufacturing
success stories: Phillips Plastics Corporation. Along the way, they
discovered that all people have intrinsic worth and value and
deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. From this core
belief, a high-performance organizational culture evolved that
focused on people as the key to individual, business, and
community success. Called the people process, this underlying
value system served as the company’s foundation, supporting
business structure, strategies, and tactics. For Bob Cervenka,
cofounder of Phillips, making long-term investments in people and
communities yielded more than financial dividends. Quite simply, it
was the right thing to do. As Debbie Cervenka, vice president of
marketing stated, “The impact a people-centered culture has on
the workforce—and the workforce means everybody from upper
management to the people working on the plant floor—is directly
related to a trust factor. If you share information with your people,
your people can verify and understand that the information is true
and honest, [if] it’s given on a regular basis, openly and willingly.
They [the employees] begin to trust in the organization. Trust isn’t
something that you can buy.”
Organizations today are challenged by a war for talent. An
organization’s culture is considered part of its competitive
advantage for attracting and retaining that talent. In people-
centered cultures, the employees are the primary attribute of the
organization, and organizations develop business processes
around and in concert with employees as the central concept. As
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a result, healthy workplaces are formed that focus on employee
well-being, information sharing, and communication, which results
in improved organizational performance.
In describing this type of workplace, Debbie Cervenka said,
“What really made a difference was when you share information,
you take down walls and barriers in an organization. So you know
whether the company is doing well. If it isn’t doing well, why [isn’t
it]? So if you communicate that to people and they see that, at the
end of the year, they see you’re having a two-percent bonus
instead of a six-percent bonus, they know why. They know that it’s
an investment in the future. They know that every person is going
to benefit. Second, we chose to compensate people for talent in
their base salary. But, collectively, when you run your
organization, valuing all people [and] respecting all people, you
find that those people take ownership and pride, and the end
result becomes meaningful. Because we built the best products, .
. . our sales grew as a direct result of having people committed to
the organization—people who wanted to excel and who didn’t just
want a job. They actually wanted a career and to be a part of
building something.”
The purpose of this book is to provide access to information,
knowledge, and learning relative to this concept. It is meant for
students, business leaders, human resources (HR) and talent
leaders, organizational change facilitators, and anyone with an
interest and passion for high-performance organizational cultures.
This book provides background related to the concepts of
organizational culture, organizational climate, and high-
performance organizations (HPOs). Readers will also become
familiar with the concepts and impact of the people-focused
culture philosophy, not only as it was originally implemented at
Phillips Plastics under Bob and Debbie Cervenka, the practical
application illustrated by the business leaders featured in this
book, and the research presented by the authors. It also presents
the emerging research on the organizational structures post
economic recession and how organizations are changing to
successfully attract and retain employees using a people-centered
approach that promotes corporate social responsibility and more
sustainable organizations. This book provides tremendous insight
about the impact and importance of people-centered
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organizational cultures in today’s highly competitive global
business climate.
Kat Lui, PhD, and Debbie
Cervenka
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