3.4.2 Corporate Culture

Question 1

Definition of corporate culture

Answer 1

• A company culture is the norms and values of a business

Question 2

Features of a strong culture

Answer 2

• Strong cultures have good communication with their employees
• They have a focus on core values
• The recruitment and training tries to find individuals who best fit the culture of the business
• The culture is usually based around the history, tradition and founders of the business

Question 3

Features of a weak culture

Answer 3

• A weak culture often leads to business failure
• It will exhibit a demotivated workforce
• There will be inconsistent customer
service
• It may be poorly managed
• It will be very bureaucratic and lack flexibility to respond to dynamic markets

Question 4

Handy’s company cultures

Answer 4

• Charles Handy identified 4 main company cultures.

• They are:
• Power culture • Role culture
• Task culture
• Person culture

Question 5

Power culture

Answer 5

• In a power culture there is a central figure that will make decisions
• There are few rules and procedures • There is a competitive attitude
amongst employees to gain power

Question 6

Role culture

Answer 6

• Decisions in a role culture are made through well established rules and procedures
• The power to make decisions in a role culture comes from the job title, for example marketing director (or Deputy Head)
• This is a very bureaucratic culture and may involve lots of paperwork
• The civil service is a good example of a role culture

Question 7

Task culture

Answer 7

• In a task culture the focus is a project that needs to be completed
• The power in a task culture comes from those who can accomplish the tasks and have the expertise, for example a car designer, or an oil rig engineer
• This involves teamwork on a project, a team of experts working together
• Examples are scientific projects and car design

Question 8

Person culture

Answer 8

• Person culture
In a person culture there are grouping of similar skilled people to share expertise and knowledge
• These all work on a client by client basis rather than on a project by project basis such as in task culture

Question 9

How corporate culture is formed

Answer 9

• Some of the key factors include;
A. The role of the founders and owners, are key decisions still based round their ethos or influence?
B. The nature of the business and the products it sells
C. The degree to which products sold have changed over time
D. The business environment when it started (war time / 80s dot com)
E. The recruitment and process of key staff
F. Working hours
G. Attitude to customer service

Question 10

Difficulties in changing established culture

Answer 10

• Strong cultures are hard to change, because a culture consists of interlocking (each component reinforces the other):
1. Set of goals
2. Roles
3. Processes
4. Values
5. Communications practices
6. Attitudes
7. Assumptions

Question 11

Effects of organisational culture

Answer 11

• motivation
• organisational structure
• new management
• mergers and takeover

Question 12

Strong culture

Answer 12

A culture where the values beliefs and ways of working are deeply embedded within the business and its employees

Question 13

Cultural dimensions

Answer 13

A set of characteristics that form the international context of business culture

Question 14

Organisational, organisation, corporate or business culture

Answer 14

The values , attitudes , beliefs, meanings and norms that are shared by people and groups within an organisation .