The fortune 500 companies whose management style I chose to focus on this week are Hilton, Cisco, American Express, and Capitol One. I chose these companies because they are large, well-known corporations, but also because of what their employees had to say about working there. At Hilton, employees talked about how they feel the company cares for them, similar to American Express, which has a strong focus on work-life balance that puts families first. Alternatively, Cisco focuses on giving their employees autonomy while providing strong support systems and diverse leadership and employees at Capitol One are encouraged to be unique, rather than conform to a company image.
All of these values stood out to me as ones that I would like to exhibit if I were to become a manager. This also ties in with Buckingham and Coffman’s text, First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently, in which they explain how great managers let people be comfortable with who they are and treat them individually. I also reflected on my personal values while reading the goals in the HRManagement Student Manual. Of the common goals listed, I found that I would be most likely to focus on being a people-oriented firm. Focusing on being people-oriented ties in with my personal values and interest in accessibility. However, because of this, I think the most challenging aspect of being a manager would be balancing company performance while putting people first, as this may sometimes conflict. Companies need to be sustainable, if not profitable and growing, and that could be hard to balance when trying to make sure people’s individual needs are being met within the company culture.
