Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2009 - (Page 6)

frugal housekeeper Beyond John Cleese and Fawlty Towers: As I am writing this, it is December 27, 2008, and this article is overdue to the wonderful editorial team at Executive Housekeeping Today. A gracious extension has been granted by EHT; however, until December 25, 2008, the Frugal Housekeeper, otherwise known to have the gift of blarney, was speechless, or at least wordless. However, on December 25th and thereafter, several issues coincided in a serendipitous manner to give birth to or bring forth this article: • During the past few months, we had been wondering why it was that employers tended to interview and hire people that sometimes failed? • We have also wondered how organizational culture impacts employers, employees, and potential new hires? • The arrival of a boxed DVD gift set of The Complete Fawlty Towers, staring John Cleese, was sent to me as a gift from my sister Rosemary and brother-in-law Paul Guinness in Ireland. • A gift was given to me from my beautiful wife—a book titled Cleese Encounters: The Unauthorized Biography of Monty Python Veteran John Cleese, by Jonathan Margolis. Now, in case you think that we a Successful Job Interviews and Organizational Culture by Alan S. Bigger and Linda B. Bigger have lost our marbles or shamrocks, there is a correlation between these four events. John Cleese, of Fawlty Towers and A Fish Called Wanda fame, was born at Number 6 Ellesmere Road, Uphill Village near Bristol, England. (http://www.uphillvillage.org.uk/) By the time he was age 13, he was 6 foot 3 inches tall, and fully grown he was 6 foot 4 3/4 inches tall. There is no doubt that Cleese stood out in a crowd and was very conspicuous—something that he did not want to be at an early age. Like many other people, he wanted to blend in with the crowd—something that is hard to do when you are taller than everyone else. He found it hard to blend in at school and in college; his height tended to exclude him from the culture of those organizations. He was different! Cleese’s upbringing was very bland, some called it boring, and he felt quite unprepared for the cultural environment that he was going to face after completing high school and attending Downing College at Cambridge to study law. He seemed somewhat like a fish out of water until he discovered the Cambridge Footlights Dramatic Club, and to a certain extent, the rest is history. Until then, Cleese had an If we are to be successful in hiring new employees who will “reach new heights,” we need to ensure that during the interview process, we ask questions that will enable us to determine the characteristics and values that will help the candidate to fit in with the culture of our organization. intellectual discomfort with the environment at Cambridge University, and as he gradually came to understand that environment and the culture of that environment, he was able to start to move ahead and touch shoulders with people that would become world famous, such as David Frost—now Sir David Frost, OBE. (Frost and Cleese starred together in the 1960 film The Frost Report). The point of this diatribe is that in order to be successful at Cambridge and the Footlights Dramatic Club, Cleese had to understand the culture of these organizations and feel comfortable with the environment in which he was to study and practice his skills and trade. This ties into the first two points listed above: The ability or inability to hire successful employees and the impact of the culture of an organization. In order to be successful, Cleese had to understand the culture of the environment; likewise, we as managers and potential em- 6 Executive Housekeeping Today/February 2009 http://www.uphillvillage.org.uk/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2009

Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2009 Contents Executive Corner Putting a Stop to Restroom Complaints Clean Soap Dispensers are Good for Business Frugal Housekeeper Executive Profile Spartan Scholarship Award Winner USGBC Tip The Green Scene 2008 IEHA Audit Report The Un-Comfort Zone with Robert Wilson 2009 Salary Survey Inside the Industry Product Highlights New Members Joint IEHA/ISSA Members Advertisers’ Index Calendar of Events Inside IEHA What IEHA Has Done For Me

Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2009

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