Analyzing Organizational Climate:
Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO)
Written By: Dawn M. Morris
Trine University
LDR 5063-OL1: Organizational Development and Change
Dr. Regina Schinker
August 30, 2020
While there are many organizations that pride themselves on having a vibrant organizational culture that is appealing to a wide range of subcultural groups, the Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) has consistently adapted to changes in society to maintain the interest and respect of many subgroups. What follows is a brief analysis of GEICO centering around its history, dominant values, beliefs, ideology, and what it means to be a successful employee and GEICO.
For nearly ninety years GEICO has been providing auto insurance and expanding its reach, while maintaining a friendly, welcoming, and customer centered organization. During the Great Depression, in 1936 entrepreneurs Leo and Lillian Goodwin established the Government Employees Insurance Company in Texas. Their initial concept was to create an auto insurance company that provided insurance to “federal employees and certain categories of enlisted military officers” (GEICO, 2020). The first of year operations proved to be successful and within one year GEICO had written a total of 3,700 policies and hired 12 employees. The success of the company continued, and its organizational culture that is prevalent today began to take shape.
Much of this culture is derived from the founders, the Goodwin’s, and their personal values and beliefs. When GEICO’s initial investors shifted their focus to other opportunities, the Goodwin’s reached out to friends and associates, including Columbia University professor Benjamin Graham, for help funding the company’s next endeavor. This “family-like” culture is still present today and can be seen from the top of the organization all the way through to its customers. Currently sitting at the very top is Warren Buffett the Owner/C.E.O. of Berkshire Hathaway who acquired GEICO as a subsidiary in 1996. Mr. Buffet himself was once a student of an early GEICO investor, Professor Graham, and understood the company and its values.
At GEICO, they believe that their employees are some of their best assets. Employees are encouraged and allowed to be themselves just as long as they adhere to the GEICO policies and strive to put the customer first when working with them. GEICO offers ways for employees to participate in philanthropy, civil rights, and even family rights. By keeping the moral of the employees high their work performance will be exceptional, and this is what helps retain the customers loyalty. To explain it more concisely, “shared values what people genuinely believe to be good or bad, desirable or undesirable, acceptable or unacceptable, are the essence of organizational culture…when organizational culture is strong a distinctive psychological atmosphere pervades the whole organization” (Blunt, 1991).
Recently GEICO was put to a major test with the events related to the coronavirus (COVID-19). The organization I’m now employed by, GEICO, had to undergo organizational wide changes, in a short period of time. Not only did they need to create a way for the call center workers to work from home for the first time ever, they needed the transition to be smooth with minimal disruptions to the call center functions. Even though I began my career at GEICO in response to the events that happened, I am fully aware that it’s a high preforming organization based on the handling of the situation during my time working with them. They quickly implemented their decision-making and problem-solving abilities to transition thousands of employees from regional offices to remote virtual work. GEICO then began constantly reassessing the situation and hired new employees to handle the customer issues related to COVID-19 related events. Additionally, its IT department had to develop new software systems to allow for service-related functions that were previously accessible only in the office. Specifically, GEICO addressed “problems…when and where they” occurred and the jobs “are enriched so people have the authority, training and support to do whole and complete tasks” which are characteristic of high preforming organizations (Allen, 2015).
While GEICO was already viewed as a trusted organization, the recent events have proven that there are leaders throughout all levels of the organization that can quickly facilitate organizational change if needed. To be successful at GEICO today you need to be adaptable and be able to transition with the changes as they occur relatively quickly. This is in addition to the open tolerant family-like culture that was already prevalent within the organization. If you cannot be adaptable, dependable, and tolerant while maintaining a high level of integrity then it will be difficult to be successful at GEICO.
References
Allen, D. (2015). The 3 Stages of Organizational Development. The Center for Organizational Design. The Center for Organizational Design. Retrieved August 27, 2020
Blunt, P. (1991). Organizational Culture and Development. International Journal of Human Resouce Management, 2(1), 55-71. doi:10.1080/09585199100000051
GEICO. (2020). GEICO's Story From the Beginning. Retrieved August 28, 2020, from GEICO: https://www.geico.com/about/corporate/history-the-full-story/
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