3.10.2 Culture

Question 1

What is business culture?

Answer 1

The set of shared values, beliefs and behaviours that shape how people work in a business work together

Question 2

What does business culture influence?

Answer 2

How employees interact, make decisions and approach tasks

Question 3

Why is culture important to a business? 3 reasons

Answer 3

Can determine how high your costs are.
Helps with decision making
Competitive advantage

Question 4

Why can culture determine how high your costs are?

Answer 4

If a business has a low cost culture then this means they could have lower prices and be more competitive

Question 5

What was Handy’s cultural model?

Answer 5

Handy believed that there are four main types of organisational culture which can be identified by the extent to which an organisation is both formalised and centralised.

Question 6

What were the 4 cultures he believed in?

Answer 6

Task culture
Role culture
Power culture
Person culture

Question 7

What Is task culture?

Answer 7

Employees are given freedom and empowered to do tasks

Question 8

What is role culture?
3 points if possible

Answer 8

People defined by their role
Formal structure
E.g government

Question 9

What is power culture?

Answer 9

The culture reflects the person at the top
E.g Richard Branson

Question 10

What is person culture?

Answer 10

Individuals doing their own thing with little or no supervision

Question 11

What is bureaucratic culture? 2 reasons

Answer 11

Very formal structure
Lots of rules and regs

Question 12

What is entrepreneurial culture? 2 reasons

Answer 12

Innovative, creative and more likely to take risks

Question 13

What is the cultural web?

Answer 13

This is about all the features of a business that helps to make its overall culture

Question 14

What are symbols in the cultural web?

Answer 14

Visual features of the business
E.g logos

Question 15

What are power structures?

Answer 15

This is where power lies - autocratic or more democratic?

Question 16

What are organisational structures?

Answer 16

This is about type of hierarchy e.g tall vs flat

Question 17

What are control systems?

Answer 17

How staff are controlled e.g performance related pay

Question 18

What are rituals/routines?

Answer 18

The expected norms of a business

Question 19

What are stories/myths?

Answer 19

Things that may or may not be true that get repeated

Question 20

What are 3 reasons for changing the organisational culture of a business?

Answer 20

Under-performing business
Leadership Change
PESTLE

Question 21

What are 2 issues with changing the culture?

Answer 21

People may not understand the change - link to Kotter and Schlesinger and may not trust new culture.

Question 22

What is a major issue of changing culture?

Answer 22

Resistance from stakeholders

Question 23

What does a strong culture mean?

Answer 23

When employees agree with the corporate values of the company

Question 24

What are 2 advantages of having a strong culture?

Answer 24

Employees need less supervision
Increases motivation

Question 25

What does it mean by a weak culture?

Answer 25

Where the employees of a company don’t share the company’s values

Question 26

What kind of structure does power culture happen in?

Answer 26

Centralised structure where decision-making authority is limited to a small amount of people

Question 27

When do power cultures may start to struggle?

Answer 27

If the business grows

Question 28

Why may employees be more resistant to change in power cultures?

Answer 28

Don’t have the opportunity to give their opinions on what changes should and shouldn’t be made

Question 29

Where are role cultures common in?

Answer 29

Bureaucratic firms where authority is defined by job title

Question 30

What do businesses with role cultures tend to have?

Answer 30

Poor communication between departments so they respond slowly to changes

Question 31

Do role cultures tend to be risky or risk averse?

Answer 31

Risk averse

Question 32

Where are person cultures common?

Answer 32

Loose organisations of individual workers

Question 33

How are the objectives of these firms be defined in person cultures?

Answer 33

Personal ambitions

Question 34

What do businesses with a task culture focus on?

Answer 34

On getting specific tasks done

Question 35

How are the objectives of these firms be defined in task cultures?

Answer 35

Based around products e.g make product X market leader

Question 36

Name 3 people that affects the culture of a business?

Answer 36

Staff
Customers
Shareholders