Organisational Culture

Organisational culture is defined by Mullins (2010) as the ‘collection of values, policies, beliefs and attitudes’ that illustrates a universal and general context for everything we think and do within an organisation.

The organisation I have chosen in order to exemplify the idea of organisational culture is the retailer John Lewis. The company is famous for its dedication to customer service, and its staff and work policies are tailored to create the best service possible for customers. As a result, staff at John Lewis is trained to be polite, friendly and well-mannered, and employees are instructed to go out of their way in dealing with customer enquiries. One example of this is the employees on the shop-floor dedicated to checking on the welfare of customers and aiding them in their purchases, not only illustrating John Lewis’s dedication to its customer service, but the strong ‘people’ culture it employs, where staff are very much hands on with customers.

In addition to customer service, John Lewis strives to create a formal and professional environment reflective of the expensive and high quality nature of the products in its department stores. As such, employees are always dressed in formal attire, and company policy dictates that they be well-groomed in appearance at all time, in order to reflect the nature of the stores. This again ties in with company policy of staff being well-spoken and polite, as John Lewis aims to look both professional and reputable, maintaining its primary aim of good customer satisfaction.

The formal nature of the culture within John Lewis is further emphasised through the structure of the organisation, which primarily consists of a rigid hierarchical structure from management at the top of the organisation to bottom-tier employees. For example, shop floor attendants report directly to department managers and so forth. This illustrates the formal and autocratic nature of the organisation, which aids John Lewis in maintaining high professional standards reflective of their brand.

However, the formal presentation of staff and structure of the company contrasts to the engaging and light-hearted way in which staff interact with one another and customers. As all staff members are ‘partners’ of John Lewis, there is a culture of equality amongst employees, encouraged by John Lewis, which motivates staff and propels them to be more enthusiastic and interested in the organisation’s operations. John Lewis primarily believes in the theory that happy staff will translate into happy customers.

Conclusively, the cultural aspects of equality amongst staff, formal presentation, and also the company’s dedication to good and strong customer service and relations is exemplified within the video below.

In general terms, there are various ways in which organisational culture can be categorised. The most well-known theory of types of culture, however, is that of Charles Handy.  Each of Hardy’s proposed culture types is said to have stemmed ‘from a different presupposition about human motivation, thought and learning,’ (Work.com), and each is said to assume a different basis for power and influence within the organisation. The four types Hardy suggested were the cultures of Power, Role, Task and Person.

A Power culture is defined as an organisation where decisions are ‘centralised around one key individual’ or power source (Learnmanagement2.com). Power cultures are usually found in small or medium-sized businesses, where control is had by one individual or source, and thus there are few rules and procedures. An example of organisations utilising such a culture could be small corner shops and off-licences, where operational decisions are made through one key individual, likely the owner, and there are no formal procedures or guidelines, due to the informal nature of the business.

A Role culture entails working by ‘logic and rationality’ (Mullins 2010) and is often seen as a bureaucracy. In depth, a role culture involves organisations being ‘split into various functions, and each individual within the function… assigned a particular role.’ (Learnmanagement2.com). The benefit of this type of culture is specialisation, where employees focus on their particular job roles assigned to them, thus increasing productivity. As this is a logical and simple structure to use most formal organisations adopt some semblance of this culture. For example, the technology company Microsoft is likely to have set departments within its organisation, whereby staff are given specific job roles, e.g. software developers to write and test new software, and recruitment personnel tasked with hiring and firing staff.

Alternatively, a Task culture is job or project oriented and refers to a ‘team-based approach to complete a particular task,’ (Learnmangement2.com). Such a culture allows ‘flexibility [and] adaptability,’ (Work.com), due to the team-based approach of the culture, where ideas and expertise comes together collectively, rather than through one individual. Such culture can also be present within a multitude of organisations such as, for example, the software company Sage, whereby new software projects are taken on and developed in teams with tasks allocated within the group to those best suited to completing them.

The final culture theorised by Hardy is a Person culture, whereby the individual is the ‘central focus, and any structure exists to serve the individuals within it.’ (Mullins 2010).  According to thetimes100.co.uk, this form of culture exists when individuals are allowed fully to express themselves and make their own decisions. An example of this could be a professional such as a fashion or interior designer, where the structure of the business exists solely to aid them and the end product is directly a result of their vision and creativity.

The main problem with classifying organisations using the culture types above is that some companies, especially larger ones with separate departments and a large number of employees, do not comply rigidly with any one culture. Most organisations tend to use a multitude of the culture types stated, and various types may be found in different aspects of the business. For example, a company like Apple could be said to have a person culture due to the head of the company Steve Jobs, who possesses the vision and creativity to delve into new technological concepts and is seen by most as the mastermind behind new ideas. However, the technology development departments of the businesses would employ a task culture, whereby employees work in teams to create and develop a single product.

Conclusively, I feel that although there is reason to conclude that there are different types of cultures which organisations employ, the evidence states that not all organisations conform rigidly to one specific type, and instead are likely to use a mixture of culture types for different aspects of the business.

References:

Dininni, J. [n.d] Guide to Management Theory of Charles Handy [online]. Available from: http://www.work.com/management-theory-of-charles-handy-10990/ [Accesed 28 December 2010]

Learnmanagement2 Team [n.d] Organisational Culture [online]. Available from: http://www.learnmanagement2.com/culture.htm [Accessed 28 December 2010]

Mullins, L J. (2010) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 9th ed. Essex: Pearson

The Times 100 [n.d] Corporate and Organisational Culture [online]. Available from: http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theory--corporate-organisational-culture--322.php [Accessed 09 January 2011]

Bibliography:

Beck, R C. (2004) Motivation Theories and Principles. 5^th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education

CIPD [n.d] Vision and values: organisational culture and values as a source of competitive advantage [online]. Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/research/_visionandvalues.htm [Accessed 28 December 2010]