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In reply to the discussion: STOCK MARKET WATCH, Wednesday, December 14, 2011 [View all]Demeter
(85,373 posts)7. Management Gurus Claim They were Blindsided by Toxic Culture at Countrywide By Michael Hudson
http://www.nationofchange.org/management-gurus-claim-they-were-blindsided-toxic-culture-countrywide-1323794868
SOUNDS LIKE THE WORST PLACE IN THE WORLD TO HAVE WORKED
...Niemelas account of her struggles at Countrywide provides another perspective on the culture inside what was once the nations largest home lender. Many other ex-employees who claimed they were mistreated by the company were mid- and low-level workers who worked deep inside Countrywides mortgage-lending machine. Niemela, by contrast, was a high-level tactician who dealt with the big picture of how Countrywide treated its employees and what that said about the companys culture. She was among a group of management experts brought in to help the company as it grew in a period of a few years from 11,000 employees to 55,000, with a goal of reaching 100,000 by 2010. What they encountered was like nothing theyd seen before in corporate America... a toxic culture ruled by fear and top-down intimidation...
I always regarded myself as a CEO, not a dictator, Mozilo testified earlier this year during a civil trial involving another Countrywide executives wrongful dismissal claim. I think the jury will note that I'm a pretty frank person straightforward, I say what I believe. But I'm also willing to listen...Countrywide was about people, Mozilo testified. Obviously, without quality people you can't have a quality company. In the end, the jury in that case awarded Countrywides former chief leadership officer, Michael Winston, a $3.8 million verdict, upholding his claims that Mozilo and other senior officials had punished him for standing up against management misconduct...Winston charged that hed been retaliated against for reporting an environmental hazard that had sickened workers inside a Countrywide office complex, and for refusing to falsify a report about the lenders corporate governance practices. Winston says he and Niemela and other organizational change specialists clashed with a culture in which breaking the rules was more than okay. It was incentivized. Winston claims they were punished for speaking up about bad management practices, just as lower-level employees were harassed for reporting fraudulent lending practices....Bank of America has appealed the jurys decision. A spokeswoman said the verdict was not supported by any evidence.
We all know
Niemela has worked more than 20 years as an executive coach and management consultant. She was featured in a 2000 Fortune article about executive coaches and, in 2001, published a book, Leading High Impact Teams: The Coach Approach to Peak Performance. In 2005, Countrywide recruited Niemela away from Boeing, hiring her as a first vice president in the companys human resources department. Shed never worked in a financial company before.
She got a first-hand lesson, she says, in how her new employer did business when she took out a Countrywide mortgage to purchase a new home and move her family from the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles. When she sat down at the closing table, she says, she got a nasty surprise: She discovered the loan, among other unappealing features, carried a pre-payment penalty, meaning that shed have to pay thousands of dollars extra if she tried to refinance within seven years. Even the worst subprime loans generally carried an early payment penalty of no longer than three years, say fair-lending advocates. She had no choice but to sign the papers, she says, because her relocation package required that she use a Countrywide loan to buy her house. If she didnt, she stood to lose some $50,000 in relocation money.
She did complain to an executive in the companys risk-management unit. He listened to her story, she says, and then said nonchalantly, Yes, we all know. We screw our employees.
SOUNDS LIKE THE WORST PLACE IN THE WORLD TO HAVE WORKED
...Niemelas account of her struggles at Countrywide provides another perspective on the culture inside what was once the nations largest home lender. Many other ex-employees who claimed they were mistreated by the company were mid- and low-level workers who worked deep inside Countrywides mortgage-lending machine. Niemela, by contrast, was a high-level tactician who dealt with the big picture of how Countrywide treated its employees and what that said about the companys culture. She was among a group of management experts brought in to help the company as it grew in a period of a few years from 11,000 employees to 55,000, with a goal of reaching 100,000 by 2010. What they encountered was like nothing theyd seen before in corporate America... a toxic culture ruled by fear and top-down intimidation...
I always regarded myself as a CEO, not a dictator, Mozilo testified earlier this year during a civil trial involving another Countrywide executives wrongful dismissal claim. I think the jury will note that I'm a pretty frank person straightforward, I say what I believe. But I'm also willing to listen...Countrywide was about people, Mozilo testified. Obviously, without quality people you can't have a quality company. In the end, the jury in that case awarded Countrywides former chief leadership officer, Michael Winston, a $3.8 million verdict, upholding his claims that Mozilo and other senior officials had punished him for standing up against management misconduct...Winston charged that hed been retaliated against for reporting an environmental hazard that had sickened workers inside a Countrywide office complex, and for refusing to falsify a report about the lenders corporate governance practices. Winston says he and Niemela and other organizational change specialists clashed with a culture in which breaking the rules was more than okay. It was incentivized. Winston claims they were punished for speaking up about bad management practices, just as lower-level employees were harassed for reporting fraudulent lending practices....Bank of America has appealed the jurys decision. A spokeswoman said the verdict was not supported by any evidence.
We all know
Niemela has worked more than 20 years as an executive coach and management consultant. She was featured in a 2000 Fortune article about executive coaches and, in 2001, published a book, Leading High Impact Teams: The Coach Approach to Peak Performance. In 2005, Countrywide recruited Niemela away from Boeing, hiring her as a first vice president in the companys human resources department. Shed never worked in a financial company before.
She got a first-hand lesson, she says, in how her new employer did business when she took out a Countrywide mortgage to purchase a new home and move her family from the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles. When she sat down at the closing table, she says, she got a nasty surprise: She discovered the loan, among other unappealing features, carried a pre-payment penalty, meaning that shed have to pay thousands of dollars extra if she tried to refinance within seven years. Even the worst subprime loans generally carried an early payment penalty of no longer than three years, say fair-lending advocates. She had no choice but to sign the papers, she says, because her relocation package required that she use a Countrywide loan to buy her house. If she didnt, she stood to lose some $50,000 in relocation money.
She did complain to an executive in the companys risk-management unit. He listened to her story, she says, and then said nonchalantly, Yes, we all know. We screw our employees.
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