Halifax Community Bank: a learning society within a UK organisation

Students investigated whether the commonly accepted net promoter score was an accurate way of measuring the quality of service, whether presenteeism was just as corrosive as absenteeism and what internal and external factors contributed to business success or failure. What the paper tried to foster from the outset was the concept of a learning society in order to gauge how students experienced the need to reinforce their arguments with theory. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The author's interest focused on the link between business and academia, what constituted an academic presence in the workplace and whether or not this academic input helped students to become more effective members of their organisation. The author surveyed 30 students for this qualitative study.

Students welcomed clear direction and an opportunity to translate their experience into a problem-solving exercise. They realised they were in the business of developing themselves and strove to bring clarity to their life and work and to demystify their own texts.

This is not a longitudinal study but a sample of questionnaire responses from 30 out of a possible 150 students. The “measurement” is broad, rather than precise.

By engaging in a partnership with Middlesex University, the Halifax Community Bank appeared to want to effect radical change in its organisational culture. To the students this was no vacuous public relations exercise but a commitment to getting staff/students to re-examine the contingencies of contemporary business and come up with solutions to a range of business problems.