Organisational Culture

BUSS4 RESEARCH TASK

JUNE 2013

ORGANISATIONAL

CULTURE

www.time2resources.co.uk


INTRODUCTION www.time2resources.co.uk

The broad theme for this year’s research task is

“Organisational Culture”

There are 5 bullet points to research

Research should look at different organisations and industries

We have chosen to focus on a range of large organisations which are in the public eye

You are strongly recommended to compare and contrast a number of different types of organisational culture

You will not be asked a question on any one specific type of culture

• However we do strongly recommend you underpin your research with theoretical models

Students must make reference to their research in section A of the examination

WHAT IS ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE?

• “The values and standards shared by people and groups within an organisation”

• “The way we do things around here”

• “The values, attitudes and beliefs of the people working in an organisation that control the way they interact with each other and with external groups”

• “The attitudes, traits and behavioural patterns which govern the way individuals interact with others”

• “Organisations have values, policies, rules and guidelines which help them create an image of their own”

• “The principles, ideologies, beliefs and polices of an organisation which make it different from others”

• “The collection of briefs norms and values that are shared by groups of people”

• All of the above!



How do the theorists define culture?

Schein

“The pattern of basic assumptions that a group has invented, discovered or developed to cope with its problems of external adoption or internal integration, that has worked well and are taught to new members as the way to perceive, think, feel and behave.”

Handy

“ Deep-set beliefs about the way work should be organised, the way authority should be exercised, people rewarded, people controlled.” www.time2resources.co.uk


WHAT KEY WORDS WOULD YOU USE TO

DEFINE ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE?

Culture

Introductory case study from

Times100

What is culture?

Creating a high performance culture at Siemens www.time2resources.co.uk

TYPES OF CULTURE

The AQA specification says types of organisational culture might include:

•

Entrepreneurial

• Power

• Task

• Entrepreneurial – the ethos of a business where risk taking and innovation are actively encouraged and rewarded, whilst failure is not criticised

• Workers are given individual responsibility

• High degree of delegation and empowerment

•

Decentralised decision making

• Democratic leadership

Discussion points:

• Why might Dell have chosen an entrepreneurial culture?

• What are the benefits to dell of an entrepreneurial culture?

• Is this appropriate for the nature of the industry?

You will be looking at other technology firms in your own research later.


Selective use of theorists and theory.

Some of these will be introduced to help analyse research findings as you work through the research activities.

• Charles Handy

• Stephen Robbins

• Edgar Schein

• Robert Cooke

Selective use of key words to underpin an argument

• Geert Hofstede

• Deal and Kennedy

• Fons Trompenar

Watch this 6 minute video about culture and types of culture before looking at who each theory belongs to.


Charles Handy – what are the characteristics of each type of culture as explained by Handy?



Robert Cooke

Constructive

• Healthy interaction

• Share ideas

• Innovative solutions

• Achievement

• Self actualising

• Encouragement

• Positive ambience

Passive

• Behave in a way contrary to own beliefs

• Please superiors

• Approval

• Conventional

• Dependent

• Avoidance

Aggressive

• Promote competition

• Want power and appreciation

• Opposition

• Power

• Perfectionist

• Competitive www.time2resources.co.uk


Edgar Schein 3 levels

Culture is formed over time

Consider:

How visual is each level to an outside observer?

Which is the most difficult to understand?


A THOUGHT TO REMEMBER

AS YOU START YOUR

RESEARCH!

“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A

RIGHT CULTURE, WHAT MATTERS IS

WHETHER THE CULTURE IS RIGHT

FOR THE BUSINESS

CIRCUMSTANCES”


ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

1.

Factors influencing the culture of an organisation and cultural differences within an organisation

2.

The impact of organisational culture on business strategies and performance

3.

Reasons for changes in organisational culture

4.

Ways of changing organisational culture

5.

Problems of changing organisational culture www.time2resources.co.uk

1 .

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CULTURE

OF AN ORGANISATION AND CULTURAL

DIFFERENCES WITHIN AN ORGANISATION

Introduction

Background Knowledge

Research Time

Assessment Activity

Glossary

Back to research theme

INTRODUCTION

1. FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CULTURE OF AN ORGANISATION AND

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES WITHIN AN ORGANISATION

Factors influencing the culture of an organisation and cultural differences within an organisation

• Factors influencing

• Not just what is the culture but why is that the culture?

• What factors have led to the development of that culture?

Remember Schein’s definition “The pattern of basic assumptions that a group has invented, discovered or developed to cope with its problems of external adoption or internal integration, that has worked well and are taught to new members as the way to perceive, think, feel and behave.”

• Why might there be different cultures within an organisation?

• Cultures and sub-cultures


Back to research topic

BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE



Consider how each of the following factors might influence culture?

As you do your research try to prioritise these for different businesses.

Nature of business

Senior managers

Objectives


Influences

External factors

Employees

Speed of growth www.time2resources.co.uk

Founders





Edgar Schein listed the following factors:

• The legacy of the company founder

• Key subsequent leaders

• Lessons learnt by the organisation as it grows and develops

• Can you remember Schein’s 3 levels?

• Schein reported that organisations could:

• claim highly moral behaviour at the second level

• display opposing behaviour at the third level www.time2resources.co.uk






Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Theory

• Hofstede gave 5 factors that influence culture

•

•

• Power distance

Masculinity v Femininity

• Individualism v Collectivism

•

Uncertainty avoidance index

Long term v Short term orientation

You will consider these when looking at the first research task.

Split the class into 5.

Each group to research one of these 5 factors and report back www.time2resources.co.uk






Is this possible?:

“ simultaneous loose tight properties”

Peters & Waterman

Excellent companies are both centralised and decentralised




ACTIVE READING,

ACTIVE RESEARCH

Never just read, always analyse! Ask yourself WHY!

The following are quotes from “Inside Apple” Adam Lashinsky:

“Corporate narcissists are charismatic leaders willing to do whatever it takes to win and who couldn’t give a fig about being liked.”

“Job’s brutality in dealing with subordinates legitimised a frighteningly harsh, bullying and demanding culture at Apple.”

“If the narcissistic leader didn’t care about being loved and was willing to take extraordinary risks in the interest of winning, then so would his subordinates.”

“High performance teams should be at each other’s throats.”

How would you describe Apple’s culture?

Identify and prioritise 3 factors that have contributed towards

Apple’s culture.

You will look at Apple again in more detail for bullet point 2.


RESEARCH TIME



Work through the research activity below reading the articles, visiting the business websites and watching the video clips. It is advised that you make notes on the key points as you work through the research activities.

Research Activity Vogue and Daimler

How do your research findings on Vogue and Daimler compare and/or contrast to

Apple?




ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY



Practice question 1

50 minutes = 10 minutes reading and planning

+ 40 minutes writing

Level

L5

L4

L3

L2

L1

Descriptor

Good application AND good analysis

Good application AND reasonable analysis OR

Good analysis AND reasonable application

Good analysis AND Limited application OR

Good application AND Limited analysis OR

Reasonable analysis AND Reasonable application

OR Reasonable analysis AND Limited application

Reasonable application AND Limited analysis

Limited response – knowledge only

Level

E3

Descriptor

Good evaluation with evidence of research (+QOL)

E2

E1


Reasonable evaluation with evidence of research (+QOL)

Limited evaluation (+QOL) www.time2resources.co.uk

Mark

26-23

22-18

17-13

12-8

7-1

Mark

14-11

10-6

5-1


GLOSSARY



Culture - the values and standards shared by people and groups within an organisation

Entrepreneurial culture - the ethos of a business where risk taking and innovation are actively encouraged and rewarded, whilst failure is not criticised

Power culture – power is maintained by a few individuals who control decision making and determine the culture

Task culture – an achievement driven culture where employees work in teams to achieve targets

Role culture – a bureaucracy designed to maximise the performance of individuals through procedures and role descriptions

Person culture – employees personal development and achievement is more important than the organisation

Mission statement – a written statement of the purpose of a company www.time2resources.co.uk



2.

THE IMPACT OF ORGANISATIONAL

CULTURE ON BUSINESS STRATEGIES AND

PERFORMANCE

Introduction


Research Time


Glossary

The impact of culture on team performance at the Olympics



INTRODUCTION

2. THE IMPACT OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE ON BUSINESS STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE

The impact of organisational culture on business strategies and performance

• Impact = effect

• Strategies

• What strategies does the business adopt as a result of its culture?

• Performance

• How does the culture and related strategies affect the business performance?


Discussion point:

What strategies does Dell adopt as a result of their entrepreneurial culture?

How does culture affect performance at Dell?




2. THE IMPACT OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE ON BUSINESS STRATEGIES AND

PERFORMANCE

Culture will affect the attitudes of everyone in the workplace.

Decision making process

CSR Communication

Impacts

HRM soft v hard

Leadership styles

Innovation

Organisational structure www.time2resources.co.uk





PERFORMANCE

Strong v weak culture

• A strong culture

•

Staff respond positively to organisational values

• Shared sense of responsibility towards vision, mission and objectives

•

Motivated and loyal staff

• Greater efficiency

• Accept roles and responsibilities willingly

“A corporation that can create a strong culture has employees who

•

Abide by policies believe in its products, its customers and its processes. They

• “everyone buys into it”

•

A weak culture sell it willingly because it is part of their own identity.” Payne

• Little alignment with organisational values

•

Employees have to be forced to perform duties

• Greater management control and supervision

•

Treat the organisation as a source of income only

What is the relationship between culture and HR strategies?






•

How does culture impact on performance?

• Performance indicators:

• Financial results

• Employee behaviour

• Innovation

• Competitiveness

• Customer service

• Brand image

• Achieving objectives

• Ethical behaviour

•

Culture is a powerful thing

– affects success but can be destructive e.g. Enron


Discussion points:

What are the core values at Zappos?

How does this impact on strategy?

How does this impact on performance?

Independent research:

Did Zappos’ culture change after it was acquired by Amazon?

“If you get the culture right, most of the other stuff will just take care of itself” Tim Hsieh

CEO Zappos

To what extent do you agree with this statement?



RESEARCH TIME



Research activity Apple and RBS

• In an aggressive culture recognition hungry employees drive innovation. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

“If you get the culture right, most of the other stuff will just take care of itself” Tim Hsieh

CEO Zappos

To what extent do you agree with this statement? Can you now support your answer with evidence from your research?




ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY




Practice question 2

Level

L5

L4

L3

L2

L1

Descriptor










Mark

26-23

22-18

17-13

12-8

7-1

Level

E3

E2

E1


Descriptor




Mark

14-11

10-6

5-1


GLOSSARY


PERFORMANCE

Strong culture – employees are aligned with corporate values and want individual and organisational success

Weak culture - there is little alignment with corporate values and therefore staff perform out of fear rather than motivation

Business strategy – the medium to long term actions adopted by a business in order to achieve corporate goals

Hard HRM

– employees are treated as a resource that must be managed in order for the business to control costs and output

Soft HRM – employees are treated as an asset to the business that can help a business achieve its corporate objectives

Corporate objectives

– the long term goals of a business which determine its guiding principles

Corporate social responsibility – a firm’s decision to accept responsibility to its stakeholders for its social, environmental and ethical actions www.time2resources.co.uk



3.

REASONS FOR CHANGES IN


Introduction


Research Time


Glossary

Introductory case study from

Times100

Changing the culture at Jaguar www.time2resources.co.uk


INTRODUCTION

3. REASONS FOR CHANGES IN ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Reasons for changes in organisational culture

• Reasons = the cause

• Why would an organisation change its culture?

• Consider internal and external factors

• How might this link back to bullet point 2?

• Relationship between culture and performance

“An adaptive culture translates into organisational success; it is characterised by managers paying close attention to all of their constituencies, especially customers, initiating change when needed, and taking risks.”

Is there a difference between adapting and changing?






Performance

Market conditions

New leadership

Reasons


Change of sector public v private

“Change your culture or die”

Denning

Organic growth

New ownership www.time2resources.co.uk

Mervyn King

“Banks must change culture”

Can you identity the reasons why?



RESEARCH TIME



Research activity Walmart

Research activity Airline Industry

Can you compare and contrast the reasons for change at Walmart and the airline industry with the banking sector?




ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY





Level

L5

L4

L3

L2

L1

Descriptor










Level

E3

E2

E1

Descriptor



Limited evaluation (+QOL)

Back to research theme www.time2resources.co.uk

Mark

26-23

22-18

17-13

12-8

7-1

Mark

14-11

10-6

5-1


GLOSSARY



– the long term goals of a business which determine its guiding principles

Organic growth – internal growth when a business expands by opening new stores, branches, functions or plants

Privatisation – the transfer of public sector organisations into the private sector

Nationalisation – the transfer of private sector organisations into the public sector

Leadership

– the ability to influence and direct people in order to meet the corporate objectives




4.

WAYS OF CHANGING


Introduction


Research Time


Glossary

“it’s a bit like gardening!”

30 second clip



INTRODUCTION

4. WAYS OF CHANGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Ways of changing organisational culture

• How does a business go about changing culture?

• What actions can be taken to manage the change process?

• What actions can be taken to overcome resistance to a change in culture?

• Does it matter what the reason for change is in the way its managed?

• Look back at the reasons for change

Discussion point:

“Jenkins has told Barclays' 140,000 staff to sign up to a new code of conduct or leave the organisation .”

Can it really be that easy?






A collection of tips on ways of changing culture:

• Concentrate on the positives of the current culture

• Ensure full commitment from everyone at the top

• Top management and key personnel to lead by example

• Establish new objectives and mission statement

• Explain the need for change

• Encourage the desired behaviour with rewards and recognition

• Convince employees the gains to them will outweigh the losses

How important do you think each of these tips are to the effective changing of culture?

Both


Inform or Coerce www.time2resources.co.uk

or




Cummings & Warley suggest a set of guidelines for cultural change:

1) Formulate a clear strategic vision

2) Display top management commitment

3) Model cultural change at the highest level

4) Modify the organisation to support change

5) Select and socialise newcomers, terminate deviants

6) Build in an evaluation process

Tips on how to build a culture like Apple. Could these also be applied to changing a culture?

Managing change at Barclays might be easier said than done. What can Jenkins do to manage the change of culture?






Organisational tools for changing minds

Read intro then skip to the dos and don’ts at the end




BEFORE CARRYING OUT

MORE RESEARCH FOR

BULLET POINT 4 WE ARE

GOING TO LOOK AT

BULLET POINT 5

It makes sense to consider the problems of changing culture to understand the ways of changing culture www.time2resources.co.uk

5.

PROBLEMS OF CHANGING


Introduction


Research Time


Glossary



INTRODUCTION

5. PROBLEMS OF CHANGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Problems of changing organisational culture

• Why is it not easy to change culture?

• What are the problems?

• Why do these problems exist?

• BP4 how do we overcome them?

Split the class into small teams. Each take a section of this report on why changing culture was so difficult at Toyota. Report back on reasons, problems and way of changing culture at

Toyota.





5. PROBLEMS OF CHANGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

• Does changing culture imply a weakness in the current culture?

• Could this be taken personally?

• Is it challenging the way things have always been done?

• Does it depend on:

• The strength of the culture?

•

The type of the culture?

• The reason for change?

• The habits of employees?

• Why resist change?

•

Lack of trust

• Fear

•

Impact on self

Schein

“Change agents often fail to achieve their goals: underlying tacit cultural norms are generally not understood before would-be change agents begin their actions.”

How far have we evolved?




RESEARCH TIME


5. PROBLEMS OF CHANGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE


.

Research activity Walmart

Research activity British Airways

After carrying out the research try to ensure you understand :

• Which notes relate to bp 4

• Which notes relate to bp 5

•

How these 2 bps fit together




ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY





Level

L5

L4

L3

L2

L1

Descriptor










Mark

26-23

22-18

17-13

12-8

7-1

Level

E3

E2

E1


Descriptor




Mark

14-11

10-6

5-1


ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY





Level

L5

L4

L3

L2

L1

Descriptor










Mark

26-23

22-18

17-13

12-8

7-1

Level

E3

E2

E1


Descriptor




Mark

14-11

10-6

5-1


GLOSSARY



Managing change

– the activity of planning for, implementing, coordinating and monitoring the process of change

Project champions – the people responsible for driving a project forward and gaining commitment

Project groups – a group of people from different backgrounds tasked with achieving the desired programme of change

Project management

– the activity of delivering the required change

Promote change – the process of gaining acceptance of change




ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY




Level

L5

L4

L3

L2

L1

Descriptor










Level

E3

E2

E1


Descriptor




Mark

26-23

22-18

17-13

12-8

7-1

Mark

14-11

10-6

5-1


Organisational Culture

BUSS4 RESEARCH TASK

JUNE 2013

ORGANISATIONAL

CULTURE

“Organisational Culture”

WHAT IS ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE?

WHAT IS ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE?

WHAT IS ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE?

WHAT KEY WORDS WOULD YOU USE TO

DEFINE ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE?

Culture

A THOUGHT TO REMEMBER

AS YOU START YOUR

RESEARCH!

“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A

RIGHT CULTURE, WHAT MATTERS IS

WHETHER THE CULTURE IS RIGHT

FOR THE BUSINESS

CIRCUMSTANCES”

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CULTURE

OF AN ORGANISATION AND CULTURAL

DIFFERENCES WITHIN AN ORGANISATION

Introduction

Background Knowledge

Research Time

Assessment Activity

Glossary

“ simultaneous loose tight properties”

Peters & Waterman

Excellent companies are both centralised and decentralised

ACTIVE READING,

ACTIVE RESEARCH

THE IMPACT OF ORGANISATIONAL

CULTURE ON BUSINESS STRATEGIES AND

PERFORMANCE

The impact of organisational culture on business strategies and performance

Strong v weak culture

REASONS FOR CHANGES IN

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Reasons for changes in organisational culture

• Reasons = the cause

• Why would an organisation change its culture?

• How might this link back to bullet point 2?

WAYS OF CHANGING

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

BEFORE CARRYING OUT

MORE RESEARCH FOR

BULLET POINT 4 WE ARE

GOING TO LOOK AT

BULLET POINT 5

PROBLEMS OF CHANGING

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

Related documents

Add this document to collection(s)

Add this document to saved

Suggest us how to improve StudyLib