Wednesday 28 April 2010

Organisation Culture.

“Culture can be described as the personality of the society within which an individual lives” (Brassington & Pettitt 2007). This can also be seen in the environment of a business as people will bring their views beliefs and feelings into work with them.

All businesses have a variety of different cultures within them, The Royal Marsden Hospital has its own different cultural aspects such as uniforms, and each employee has their own uniform which denominated what department they are working for making it easy for people within the hospital to identify employees as well as keeping the hospital hygienic as staff have specific clothes that they must wear when performing different roles it also helps identify employees from different departments. By doing this the Royal Marsden brings a team feeling to the work place as each individual can be identified when working in a group and their role is easily known to anyone working in the team.

Another visible aspect of culture within the Royal Marsden is how everyone is able to work together instantly without question or dragging their heels because they may not know the other person, this happens because they all share the want to help people in the hospital and they enjoy and believe in what they are working for.

Task culture

This type of culture can mostly be seen in project based companies such as building or landscaping businesses the business is presented with a problem and then has to solve it, team working is paramount to success and the task in hand is key rather than individual work giving a lot of flexibility and freedom as well as allowing strong culture links.

Power culture

In organisations with power culture the decisions mainly come from powerful central figures within the business an example of a business like this is a hairdresser there are few rules and regulations in place which means that culture will thrive and be strong in this type of business, decisions can be made fast and effectively as personal communications are easier due to the size of the business and lack of rules.

Role culture

Role culture is typically seen in bureaucratic organisations; the majority of the power in this sector is based on a hierarchy, so the majority of the decisions will be made at the top of the hierarchy and then delegated down to the lower levels. Each sector of the business works together to complete effectively and efficiently, employees have their own job description to work towards making the work system flow fluidly. All of the employees have rules and regulations that they must follow when completing their work. Due to the harsh rules and regulations that need to be followed their will be little room for culture.

Person culture

This is where individual is the most important factor with in the business, the sole responsibility and actions of the business exist to serve the interests of those within it, staff are given large amounts of freedom and flexibility allowing skills to flourish, this can mainly be seen in businesses such as Pointers or Carpenters.

Problems with the way culture is classified.

“Culture manifests itself through the built environment, art, language, literature, music, prevalent beliefs and value systems” (Brassington & Pettitt 2007). Due to this fact many people cannot be classified in to one of Handy’s four groups resulting in many different types of culture in each business environment.

Culture in practice: Marks and Spencer’s

http://www.marksandspencer.com/

Marks and Spencer’s displays a large understanding into their employee’s cultural needs, and aim to treat their employees fairly and give them the best possible options in the future to advance their careers. One way Marks and Spencer’s dose this is by training their employees as it creates a equal feeling between all employees as they all have the same options to succeed no matter what level they are at. Another way is by giving staff rewards and benefits such as a large discount and flexible working hours.

Conclusion

Due to the vast amount of factors that influence culture it is extremely hard for a business to have one sole type of culture like Handy suggested but is more likely that there are many different groups of culture within a business’s employees which creates a positive working environment.

References

Brassington, F. Pettitt, S. (2007) Essentials of marketing. 2nd ed. Essex: Pearsons Education Limited

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