Organisation Culture
Body shop
Body shop is a business that started in 26th March 1976 in Brighton, on the south coast of England, the first shop was open on this day. Body shop has ethics about their products and their mission statement states that:
“The Body Shop mission statement states that we will operate our business with a strong commitment to the well being of our fellow humans and the preservation of the planet.”
This mission statement was found on: (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=body+shop+ethical+policy&aq=2&aqi=g5g-m1&aql=&oq=body+shop+eth&gs_rfai= )
Whilst working in the body shop I found out they like to have everything clean and organised they give the environmentally friendly feel across to their customers, they have the nice mutual calm colours in their shop to create a good earth environment.
Even on the body shop website they display the same cultural image as in store print screen of body shop site showing the colours they used and the background that is a leaf showing the environmentally friendly image they are perceiving:
This mission statement was found on: (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=body+shop+ethical+policy&aq=2&aqi=g5g-m1&aql=&oq=body+shop+eth&gs_rfai= )
Whilst working in the body shop I found out they like to have everything clean and organised they give the environmentally friendly feel across to their customers, they have the nice mutual calm colours in their shop to create a good earth environment.
Even on the body shop website they display the same cultural image as in store print screen of body shop site showing the colours they used and the background that is a leaf showing the environmentally friendly image they are perceiving:
So as you can see Body shop is keeping their “strong commitment to the well being of our fellow humans and the preservation of the planet”. Keeping and making their culture very clear in their website and stores.
Charles handy(Handy) believed in power culture, this is often within a small business such as a corner shop because they would have one central power figure in this case that would be a store mangers/owner, there would only be a few rules for example , not being late and making sure the last person locks up the store, all communication done within that business would be personal as it would be small it would be very easy to communicate with one and other for example wanting extra shifts, calling and asking the manager will would be the way of gaining the extra shifts also with a link to this fast decisions can be made an example of this would be an answer on the phone for the extra shift request.
Handy also believed in 3 more types of culture.
Role Culture, this is typical of a bureaucratic organisation for example a major law firm for example of one being Clifford Chance law firm, within this organisation work would be decided via rules and regulation broken rules and regulation is not prohibited and would be frowned upon.
Power is based by level of hierarchy this means depending on your position within the business will define your importance and value, everyone with the employee would have a set job description to each the individual, so everyone has a place they belong to and have vas knowledge of what it is they are doing.
Task culture, this is usually in a project based company, companies that have direct contact with the customer such as E-businesses.
because the business will be on one websites employees have to work together this includes a lot of team working due to they may be taking orders from customers so they will need to let other members of the team know.
Because working on an E-business is mostly about providing the customers with product the task at hand is key other then individuals or rules, also because the business has no real structure the employees have real freedom and flexibility within the business for example, leaving early and having informal discussions amongst each other.
Person culture, because personal culture only exists to serve the interest of those within it example of theses are barristers and architects, they tend to only have interest for themselves, having no hierarchy and other people above them the individuals are central.
Handys theory is good but there are problems of trying to classify culture into one of the four above for example the attitude of the people within the organisation may change for example they may change their beliefs or on the other hand they may be resistant to change for example changing values and morals or behaviour to fit into the culture of the organisation.
New locations may be a issue but individuals may not want to move locations due to morals, so there is a number of things that may disrupt the handys theory.
Conclusion
I believe that defining cultures can be very difficult you have to take several factors into accountfor example behaviour and values in a organisation I believe to define a culture of a business you would need to go through many stages of why and how things are done in the business.
As a business has been created, automatically they have a culture that has been created for them via the public but it is the businesses job to make sure the public have the right image to determine the culture of the business, for example the business I looked at was body shop due to the website and in store people could clearly identify the environmental friendly culture they perceive.
I looked into Charles handys work and I come to believe that it is very difficult to separate cultures into four categories like he did, I believe there will be a lot of problems accruing and reasons for change.
I now come to accept and realise though this blogg that a business culture is very important and should be thought about carefully because it’s not as easy to define it, as it is to say it.
Handy also believed in 3 more types of culture.
Role Culture, this is typical of a bureaucratic organisation for example a major law firm for example of one being Clifford Chance law firm, within this organisation work would be decided via rules and regulation broken rules and regulation is not prohibited and would be frowned upon.
Power is based by level of hierarchy this means depending on your position within the business will define your importance and value, everyone with the employee would have a set job description to each the individual, so everyone has a place they belong to and have vas knowledge of what it is they are doing.
Task culture, this is usually in a project based company, companies that have direct contact with the customer such as E-businesses.
because the business will be on one websites employees have to work together this includes a lot of team working due to they may be taking orders from customers so they will need to let other members of the team know.
Because working on an E-business is mostly about providing the customers with product the task at hand is key other then individuals or rules, also because the business has no real structure the employees have real freedom and flexibility within the business for example, leaving early and having informal discussions amongst each other.
Person culture, because personal culture only exists to serve the interest of those within it example of theses are barristers and architects, they tend to only have interest for themselves, having no hierarchy and other people above them the individuals are central.
Handys theory is good but there are problems of trying to classify culture into one of the four above for example the attitude of the people within the organisation may change for example they may change their beliefs or on the other hand they may be resistant to change for example changing values and morals or behaviour to fit into the culture of the organisation.
New locations may be a issue but individuals may not want to move locations due to morals, so there is a number of things that may disrupt the handys theory.
Conclusion
I believe that defining cultures can be very difficult you have to take several factors into accountfor example behaviour and values in a organisation I believe to define a culture of a business you would need to go through many stages of why and how things are done in the business.
As a business has been created, automatically they have a culture that has been created for them via the public but it is the businesses job to make sure the public have the right image to determine the culture of the business, for example the business I looked at was body shop due to the website and in store people could clearly identify the environmental friendly culture they perceive.
I looked into Charles handys work and I come to believe that it is very difficult to separate cultures into four categories like he did, I believe there will be a lot of problems accruing and reasons for change.
I now come to accept and realise though this blogg that a business culture is very important and should be thought about carefully because it’s not as easy to define it, as it is to say it.
you have chosen a good organisation to research for this topic, but a little more depth and referal back to the hidden and seen aspects of culture think of the iceberg or Schein's 'onion', this will show your knowledge and understanding. Handy ok, develop issue on why it is difficult to attribute a culture type to one organisation. Conclusion better, but remember it is just a place to sum up, not introduce new material.
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