Business Culture and Strategy Outcome2

“Culture consists of the symbols, rituals, language, and social dramas that highlight organizational life, including myths, stories, and jargon. It includes the shared meanings associated with the symbols, rituals, and language. Culture combines the philosophy of the firm with beliefs, expectations, and values shared by members. It contains the stories and myths about the company's founder and its current leading figures. Organizational culture consists of a set of shared meanings and values held by a set of members in an organization that distinguish the organization from other organizations. An organization's culture determines how it perceives and reacts to the larger environment (Becker, 1982; Schein, 1996). Culture determines the nature

This week’s key learning areas have been eye opening and worthwhile. Our game simulation has taught me how to manage the human resources (HR), capacity planning, receiving, production, and shipping departments. One key element that caught my attention was bottleneck issues. Although reputation and meeting goals is important, I must pay attention to the machines that are causing bottleneck issues; performing a cost/benefit analysis can fulfill this. It is necessary to manage mistakes made in strategy during the game, which can resolve issues down the road to have a successful business plan. There were three questions posed in our case study: What are the highest three unit profits?; What are the lowest percentage mark-up items?; and How would you use this in determining your business plan? These key areas will be discussed throughout the journal to express my understanding of the experience.

Culture can be defined as a set of shared values, shared beliefs and customary ways of thinking doing things, which shape and guides the ways of organisational members. Culture is therefore very crucial as it has the ability to influence the processes or the activities of employees and the functioning of the organisation without necessarily imposing measures and control.

Organizational culture is the personality of the organization. Culture is comprised of the assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of organization members and their behaviors. Members of an organization soon come to sense the particular culture of an organization. Culture is one of those terms that are difficult to express distinctly, but everyone knows it when they sense it. For example, the culture of a large, for-profit corporation is quite different than that of a hospital which is quite different that that of a university. You can tell the culture of an organization by looking at the arrangement of furniture, what they brag about, what members wear.

To complete outcome 1 of the Business, Culture and Strategy I have to answer 3 questions based out the case study Alphabet Games. The 1st question asks me to describe how 4 forces of change may impact upon Alphabet Games and in doing so I must use a recognised analytical framework. The 2nd question asks me to carry out a SWOT analysis to illustrate and analyse the relationship the Alphabet Games has with its external environment. The last question asks me to provide a guideline for the senior managers of Alphabet Games to follow that would enable them to carry out an effective SWOT analysis.

The organization culture as a leadership concept has been identified as one of the many components that leaders can use to grow a dynamic organization. Leadership in organizations starts the culture formation process by imposing their assumptions and expectations on their followers. Once culture is established and accepted, they become a strong leadership tool to communicate the leader 's beliefs and values to organizational members, and especially new comers. When leaders promote ethical culture, they become successful in maintaining organizational growth, the good services demanded by the society, the ability to address problems before they become disasters and consequently are competitive against rivals. The leader 's success will depend to a large extent, on his knowledge and understanding of the organizational culture. The leader who understands his organizational culture and takes it seriously is capable of predicting the outcome of his decisions in preventing any anticipated consequences. What then is organizational culture? The concept of organizational culture has been defined from many perspectives in the literature. There is no one single definition for organizational culture. The topic of organizational culture has been studied from many perspectives and disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, organizational behavior, and organizational leadership to name a few. Deal defines organizational culture as values,

Consequently, the values are passed on from one generation or a group of people to another through imitation and communication. In academic study and education, organizational culture comes forth as one of the key issues in both organizational theory and management. In corporate life, cultural aspect is central in all aspects of organizational life. For that reason, how engineers in an organization think, feel, value and act are aided by ideas, meanings and beliefs of cultural nature.

Organizational culture is the stable beliefs, values, and assumptions shared by a group of people. I used to work at a bar and there was a shared understanding between the servers and bartenders. The bartenders were the managers, and each manager had their style of how the bar was ran each night. The servers had their system of who get what section, but they also had to follow the style of each bartender. The instrumental purpose of our organizational culture was influenced by who was managing the bar each night. There were some bartenders who did not like being bothered with questions from the servers and there were some who were nice and helpful. The bartenders that did not care, influenced the servers by letting them choose who had each section, deciding who had to clean and stock, and who was able to leave and at what times.

Culture within an organisation is a system of shared values, beliefs and norms of individuals in the organisation and how the value consensus creates a way in which people behave. The shared values have a strong influence on the individuals in the organisation and dictates how a person acts, dresses and performs in their job. A unique culture is developed and maintained by an organisation which provides guidelines and boundaries, through informal means, for the behaviour of the people within the organisation.

Organizational culture can be values, beliefs and norms which define how members think, feel and behave. More specifically, organizational culture is defined as shared philosophies, ideologies, beliefs, feelings, assumptions, expectations, attitudes, norms, and values (Schein, 2011). It is important to understand organizational culture has tremendous influence on its members, their views of the workplace, their efforts and their productivity. Culture is created by leaders, members and the environment in which the organization finds itself in. However, I believe it is primary the leadership’s responsibility to uphold the standards of a positive culture. As leaders, we must understand the culture we’ve created and how to maintain it or improve it. The Debra Woog McGinty and Nicole C. Moss corporate survey exhibited I’m in an Established/Stable culture.

The culture that the executives wished to maintain is one of big ideas, large thinking, and a strong emphasis on creativity. It is one that opposes bureaucracy and rigidity without cause, and despises formality without passion. And it is one that strives to stay relevant, fresh,

An organization’s culture shapes the attitudes and behaviors of its employees by defining boundaries, providing a sense of identity and stability. It also establishes a standard in regards to what employees should say and do. Culture can be transmitted via stories, rituals, material symbols and language. Culture within an organization is no exception.

In 2004, the pubs reduce the amount of alcohol in its cocktail pitchers and create the new product which is beverage with alcohol. This is a better way to developing the pubs well (Quain, 2009).

Alphabet Games small company based in Scotland which develops software and games. The business was formed in 2001 by three companions with a passion to develop games and software which has resulted in it becoming a multi-million pound business. The aim of this case study is to identify four forces which may affect Alphabet Games using a recognised analytical framework. A SWOT analysis is to be carried out in order to analyse and illustrate the relationship Alphabet Games has with the external environment. A set of guidelines for carrying out a SWOT analysis is to be prepared to enable the senior managers at Alphabet games to carry out an effective SWOT analysis.

Alphabet Games’s need to align to its principles and ethos has been a primary concern when recruiting new staff and technology and consumer needs have driven the business forward and it is the continued pursuit of innovation, quality and excellence that has enabled the business to grow and succeed through challenging times.