Deal and Kennedy’s “Strong Cultures” and The Cleveland

BrownsBy: Christina Wawrowski

The Book Subject and Article Being AnalyzedFrom the book, Organizational Communication Approaches and Processes, by: Katherine Miller. Chapter 4, Systems and Cultural Approaches, Deal and Kennedy’s “Strong Cultures.”

From the Cleveland Browns website, article written by: Andrew Gribble and posted on October 7, 2015. 6 Browns Surprise Youths at Brooklyn Football League Practice.

The 6 Cleveland Browns Players

Desmond Bryant

Johnson Bademosi

Ibraheim Campbell

Shaun Draughn

Charley Hughlett

John Hughes

6 Browns Surprise Youths at Brooklyn Football League PracticeThe main purpose of this article was to share that the Cleveland Browns dedication to their local community. The Cleveland Browns hold camps, clinics, and other initiatives to

promote healthy, social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development of youth by giving more chances for youth football participation and education.

The Cleveland Browns are devoted to helping the growth and safety of youth football all across Northeast Ohio with all year around programming for athletes, coaches, parents, and officials.

A prime example is the 6 players going to Brooklyn.

6 Browns Surprise Youths at Brooklyn Football League PracticeThe main purpose of this article was not to only share that the Cleveland Browns dedication to their local community, but to the global community as well. The Cleveland Brown’s First and Ten Campaign.

The campaign was launched in 2014 and is being continued today. It was created to encourage fans to volunteer and help their own

communities globally, volunteering just 10 hours each year. All Browns fans are encouraged to join by signing the First and Ten

pledge on the team’s website and by sharing their stories with #give10.

6 Browns Surprise Youths at Brooklyn Football League PracticeOne of the first things the author of this article talks about was the Brooklyn Hurricanes Football league players response to the six Browns players walking up to their practice. He said, “The response was a chorus. ‘Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.’” After the shock wore off, the six Browns players could start helping with what they know best, football. A few of the players also gave a few statements for the article. They first took some time to do a question and answer session before the

practice really began. From there they went into stretching, individual drills, and team drills.

6 Browns Surprise Youths at Brooklyn Football League Practice Desmond Bryant gave a statement saying, "It's an opportunity to

give back. “When I was younger, I went to a Chicago Bulls basketball camp one time and I remembered meeting these players and that's something I'll never forget for the rest of my life. I don't know how much better I got at playing basketball, but just the fact I met them and saw them was a little extra motivation to get to where I wanted to be, which is to be able to play for a team like the Browns.”

Ibraheim Campbell also gave a statement saying, “It’s right around the age I started playing football. It’s great to get back to it. It’s football at its purest form.”

6 Browns Surprise Youths at Brooklyn Football League Practice Once the practice ended; Hughes, Bademosi, and Bryant all gave

words of encouragement and expressed how important it is to work hard in the classroom. They told the young athletes that in order for them to succeed on the field, they must also succeed off of it.

John Hughes was the last of the Browns players to give a statement saying, “Giving back, it’s big and important. You want to make the youth growing up now better than you had it.”

Deal and Kennedy’s “Strong Cultures”Deal and Kennedy believe that if an organization contains all of the elements of a strong culture, the environment of the workplace will improve, therefore making it a more enjoyable place to work. They believe that it will not only make the work place more enjoyable, it will also increase the all around performance of the organization. They believe that there are four elements that make up a strong culture.

Values

Heroes

Rites and Rituals

Cultural Network

Values

The morals, customs, visions, and missions that the representatives of an organization have for their organization.

Heroes

The person or people who demonstrate and represent their organization’s values.

Rites and Rituals

When the representatives of the organization commemorate the organizations’ values through a function.

Social Network

The classification of communication through which cultural values are put into operation and are supported.

The Cleveland Browns and Values

It is easy to see that the Cleveland Browns organization definitely values the community. This is shown through the six players going in and assisting the coaches

of the Brooklyn Hurricanes with their football practice. It is also shown through their own personal community program reaching

not just locally, but globally, their First and Ten Campaign. The Cleveland Browns also value education.

This is proven when Hughes, Bademosi, and Bryant all gave words of encouragement and expressed that in order for them to succeed on the field, they must also succeed off of it.

This is also proven when they explained that they hold camps and clinics to give chances for youth football participation and education.

The Cleveland Browns and Heroes

After reading the article it is clear that there are multiple heroes in regards to the Cleveland Browns organization. For that specific day, the heroes were Desmond Bryant, Johnson

Bademosi, Ibraheim Campbell, Shaun Draughn, Charley Hughlett, and John Hughes. Those children will remember and cherish that day for the rest of their lives. Those six professional football players gave them something that no one can ever take away from them.

As a whole however, there is not one single individual to be counted as the hero. The entire Cleveland Browns team is the hero, promoting their First and Ten campaign. They actually care about their community and the global community and that is something to truly appreciate. They are taking the time to try to help everyone.

The Cleveland Browns and Rites and Rituals The Cleveland Browns are able to celebrate their values by holding

camps and clinics and by promoting their First and Ten campaign. As mentioned above, they truly do value their community and want to

make the world a better place to live. This makes me think of Hughes statement for the article when he said, “Giving back, it’s big and important. You want to make the youth growing up now better than you had it.” He volunteers his time at practices such as the one discussed in this article as a way of celebrating what he values. As did the other five players.

The Cleveland Browns and Cultural Network When it comes to the Cleveland Browns communicating in these

volunteer practices, camps, clinics, and the First and Ten campaign, the communication would be mostly informal. Most of the communication in these practices are done face to face, over

text, and other types of informal interaction. The only part that would be formal would be the use of email and

phone calls to communicate outside of these practices and to communicate with other organizations about these practices.

Deal and Kennedy’s “Strong Cultures” I can’t know for certain, but after reading through the article, my

past knowledge on the subject, and through my analysis, I have to conclude that Deal and Kennedy are correct. I think if an organization contains all of the elements of a strong culture, the environment of the workplace will improve, therefore making it a more enjoyable place to work and thus improves the performance. The Cleveland Browns are involved. I have heard of other teams doing

similar projects, but not to the extent that the Browns do. They seem to actually enjoy the work off of the field and enjoy helping. What backs this up, if anything are the statements given by the players. The four elements of a strong culture are clearly present within this organization.

Questions and Thoughts

How do the Cleveland Browns ensure they are communicating globally effectively? I know their games are shown on television, broadcasted on radio stations, they have their own website, and they are all over every social media, but which do they use to really get their First and Ten campaign out there?

The Cleveland Browns are encouraging all of their fans to join by signing the First and Ten pledge on the team’s website and by sharing their stories with #give10, but do they have a plan to communicate back to the people who participate? Or do they have a plan to communicate to the world who has already participated? I think this would give the participants a high five and a thank you in a way that I believe they would appreciate.

I wonder if the Cleveland Browns have heard of Deal and Kennedy’s “Strong Cultures.” If so, I wonder if they feel they contain all four elements within their organization. If not, I wonder what they would think of it?

How does the Cleveland Browns organization communicate with each other in deciding where to go next to volunteer? Is there a system?

References

ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2015.Gribble, Andrew. "6 Browns Surprise Youths at Brooklyn Football League Practicev ." News RSS. N.p., 7 Oct. 2105. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.