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Key Observable Artifacts Of Chrysler's Culture

Decent Essays

An organization’s culture is comprised of three fundamental layers: observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions. Observable artifacts consist of the physical manifestation of an organization’s culture. A few examples of these artifacts are acronyms, manner of dress, awards, stories about the organization, and published lists of values (K &K). A key observable artifact of Chrysler’s culture is the story of Peter Fong. When the U.S. Government was offering up to $4,500 in “cash for clunkers” rebates; Mr. Fong, Chrysler’s sales chief devised a plan to offer an additional $4,500 from Chrysler. Mr. Fong’s plan of doubling rebates to gain higher sales is the type of culture which led Chrysler to lower profit margins. This type of business strategy is exactly what Mr. Marchionne was trying to change. This story shows employees Mr. Marchionne’s commitment to changing the culture of the company. Another observable artifact is the weekly management team meetings that also included Fiat executives in Italy through video conference. Mr. Marchionne used these meeting to inform employees that their margins and vehicle …show more content…

Values have five key components. They are concepts of beliefs, pertain to desirable end-states or behaviors, transcend situations, guide selection or evaluation of behavior and events, and are ordered by relative importance (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013). Many researchers believe that when employees share organizational values, they feel more loyal, dedicated, identify more strongly with the organization and are less likely to leave (Khandelwal & Mohendra, 2010). An organization’s goal is to turn espoused values into enacted values. Enacted values are the values and norms that are actually exhibited or converted into employee behavior (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013). Chrysler’s espoused values are innovation, leadership, responsibility and cooperation (Chrysler,

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