Organisation Culture

Organisation culture refers to the general culture within an organisation or a company and it is also referred to as corporate culture, organisation Culture is about how the organisation organises itself, its rules, procedures and beliefs make up the culture of the company. Cultures are founded and built over the years by the dominant groups in an organisation.
The company that I have chosen to study is Marks and Spencer’s the reason why I have chosen this organisation is because it is a large firm that is very well known and is a great example of a company that has a culture within it.

Marks and Spencer’s are one of the UK’s leading retailers, they offer stylish, high quality, great value clothing and home products, as well as outstanding quality foods, they are responsibly sourced from around 2,000 suppliers globally. They employ over 75,000 people in the UK and abroad, and have over 600 UK stores. There are two features one is visible and the other is hidden, the visible features are things that anyone can see even customers, for example: uniform, shop floor space, working culture – communication and language style. In Marks and Spenser they wear black uniform they wear with a green Marks and Spencers logo which represent them and show their identity to make them feel equal and as a team, the colour scheme that they have throughout the store such as the signs on displays, layout it has its own personality the identity and atmosphere to make them look different and to make them stand out.
The Hidden aspects are the Values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviour within the organisation such as how staff behave internally, atmosphere, the communication, management style and the general pace of work.
This links into the Organisational Iceberg – (French and Bell, 1990), which shows the following:
l The outer layers are clearly visible
l middle layers deeper aspects of culture
l centre - the basic beliefs on which the organisation is built
l (Schein,1992)
Below are some of Marks and Spencer’s cultures Values that they work along:
Our values
Quality
We’re committed to delivering excellent standards consistently
Value
We will always aim to deliver exceptional value to our customers
Service
We will deliver the highest standards of service to our customers
Innovation
We will strive to stay at the forefront of innovation in both general merchandising and food
Trust
We are the most trusted retailer. We have a proud heritage of staff welfare, customer care and involvement in the community. And we want to continue to build on this.
(http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/mscareers/opportunities/graduates/the_way)

Explanation of what Charles Handy meant by the following in your own words:


· A power culture- this depends on central power source with influences from the central figure throughout the organisation. A power culture is frequently found in small entrepreneurial organisations and they relies on trust, empathy and personal communication for its effectiveness. It was also said that Mayo (1945) was among the first proponents of human relations in industry. He argued that many of the problems of organizations, including inefficiency, conflict, and alienation, occur because organizations do not take into account the attitudes and feelings of its members.

· A role culture- This assumes that employees are rational and that roles can be defined and discharged within clearly defined procedures. An organisation with a role culture is believed to be generally very stable but poor at implementing change management.

· A task culture-a type of organizational culture based on individual projects completed by small teams. It can be job oriented or project oriented. A distinct team culture develops, and because the team is empowered to make decisions, task cultures can be creative.

· A person culture- This is when an activity is strongly influenced by the wishes of the individuals who are part of the organisation. This form of culture exists when individuals are fully allowed to express themselves and make decisions for themselves

The main problem of trying to classify culture into one of the four types described above is that every organisation will have its own unique culture and most large businesses are likely to be something of a mix of cultures. As we know different people enjoy working in different types of organisation culture and they are more likely to be happy and satisfied at work. The Hawthorne experiment also demonstrated that group and social forces more than financial incentives and physical conditions of work are important determinants of worker productivity.

The company that I have chosen is Marks and Spenser this is because I feel that it does demonstrate a strong culture mainly because is a successful organisation, which attracts people with talent to work they provide them with a good position within the organisation as well as helping them to fulfil what they expect such as better salaries and benefits. Strong culture creates paves for people to take the responsibility and work rather than trying to control them with rules and regulation. Marks and Spencers also have good communication within it staff which helps the people to get to know each other better which will eventually lead to new ideas and greater productivity therefore they will achieve higher goals in the future and will beat their competitors.

I have come to a conclusion that culture can have a major impact on an organisation and can show its pros and cons, I have also seen that some organisation will have strong cultures and other can have week. A strong culture is when people tend to agree on the beliefs, values within the organisation and on the other hand weak culture can be when people disagree on the existing culture and instead form their own sub cultures. It is important to have a strong culture so you can survive and beat your competitive environment.


Refernces


http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/mscareers/opportunities/graduates/the_way
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/mscareers/careers_about/our_values
http://peterresearch.blogspot.com/2009/11/organisation-culture.html
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/mscareers/opportunities/graduates/the_way