Question

1) although, I've seen plenty of companies with an open culture go bankrupt...how can a company with an open culture that recognizes employee work, has flex time and all of the other pluses of an open culture still go bankrupt?

2) can every HR program be cost benefit justified? Are there some that are just plain subjective?

Answer 1

1. Open culture is collective responsibility and collective creativity which enables the organization to solve critical problems in a strategic way. In an open culture, the knowledge is shared and spread freely. The growth of an organization comes from developing, changing or enhancing the already existing work procedures by collective sharing. Open culture is the key to the success of a business. However, there are lots of companies that have failed though they had open culture. This problem is not the inability of the company to take action but the company failed to take appropriate action. This is called active inertia. The organizations cling on to their traditional style without addressing any sudden shift or the threat in the industry. Reasons such as managerial stubbornness, organizations follow the established patterns of behavior instead of acting strategically. Due to these aspects, the companies face failure in business and thus go bankrupt.
2. Personally speaking, every HR program is cost benefit justified. The cost benefit can be considered in both monetary and non-monetary terms. In monetary terms, the ROI (Return on Investment) is calculated to find out if the HR program is cost effective. In non-monetary terms, the effectiveness of the HR program is measured to find out if the HR program is beneficial and has met the purpose of the program. Ofcourse, there are some HR programs that are plain subjective. For example, HR program that are conducted just as part of a process (like orientation) is considered a subjective program.