Corporate Culture Flashcards
Corporate culture def
Norms and values of a business
Factors influencing the culture of an organisation
- influence of the founder
- size/ development stage of business
- leadership and management style
- market business operates in
Strong culture def
Values and beliefs that are widely shared and significantly influences people’s behaviour
Weak culture def
Values and beliefs either don’t exist or are not widely shared and do not significantly influence people’s behaviour
Features of a strong culture
- good internal communication
- clear core values, missions and goals
- based around history and traditions
- engaged loyal staff
Features of a weak culture
- leads to business failure
- demotivated workforce
- little alignment with values
- inconsistent behaviour
Difficulties in changing corporate culture
- staff used to working in previous culture - don’t see need for change
- business populated with groups of people who fear job security
- hard to change routines
Success criteria for cultural change
- a clear purpose/ vision for change
- education and training
- effective communication that change will happen eg reward system
Evidence of a good culture
- staff make important contribution to business
- mistakes treated as learning experiences
- staff love coming to work
What are handys four classes of culture
Power, task, role and person
Power culture def
Where there is a central source of power responsible for decision making. Decisions made quickly and focus on achievement
Role culture def
Employees have clearly defined roles within a formal culture and high control
Disadvantage of role culture
Links to tall structure with long chains of command meaning decision making can be very slow - bureaucracy
Task culture def
Power lies with those who can accomplish tasks therefore it depends on expertise rather than roles, teams are formed with experts who can get the job done
Person culture def
Where there are a number of individuals who have expertise and see themselves as superior in the organisation,
Examples of person culture
Accountants, lawyers and doctors
Advantages of handys model
- suggest 4 different types
- useful for analysing existing situations
- used by managers in many parts of the world
Disadvantages of handys model
- overly focused on leaders and leadership
- takes narrow view of culture, ignoring ethics
- ignores issue of cultural change
