Organizational Culture

About four times a year I am faced with the same scenario. My store manager comes running up to me and announces that some executive manager is going to be visiting the store today. He tells me to get everything “ship shape” so that we can be inspected. When the visitor arrives various middle and front line managers flank him. They ask questions about certain customer service or sales work processes and then add their input. That is where the real problem begins. They then begin to ask why we are not doing these processes in a different manner and then add their suggestions. Here is why this is a problem. Today’s companies preach that they have changed their organizational culture from hierarchical and staff vs. the front line employee to a culture that is supportive and collaborative but the above example dismisses this. How can an executive manager walk into a store and in 5 minutes decide that what we are doing is wrong and his suggestion will fix this problem? This just rever...