Nordstrom Organizational Culture

The term "culture" has been used more and more recently but what exactly does it mean? Some have even regarded culture as "the most central problem of all social science" (Malinowski, 1939). According to Merriam Webster (2016), culture is defined as the arts and other manifestations of human achievements. If culture was as simple as Merriam-Webster defines it then the lives of anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists would be much easier. As we know, culture varies greatly across religion, countries, and some cases in just states; the difference between the north and the south. We can conclude that culture is a set of shared thoughts, values, and cognitions (Geertz, 1973). With culture in itself varying tremendously based on values and location, then surely organizational culture is no simple concept either. The term "organizational culture" has just recently become to be used more (Barley, 1988). Though there may be disagreements on defining culture universally, researchers tend to agree that culture is of vital importance in an organizational context, whether that organization is a company or a government (Kilmann, Saxton, & Serpa, 1986).

Culture is an observable, powerful force in any organization. “Made up of its members’ shared values, beliefs, symbols, and behaviors, culture guides individual decisions and actions at the unconscious level. As a result, it can have a potent effect on a company’s well-being and success” (One Page, n.d.).

The mission of Nordstrom is to provide outstanding service every day, one customer at a time by offering the customer the best possible selection, quality and value. And their vision is to serve their customers better, to always be relevant in their lives and to form lifelong relationships and while serving their customer face-to-face is the foundation of how they’ve historically served them. Today, customers seek their

Organizational culture could almost be considered the roots of a company. The way a company’s employees think, the way the customers feel, and the company’s decisions are made are all based around the culture that the company has laid for itself. An employee’s values, thoughts, and actions should reflect those stated in the company’s mission. Southwest Airlines and American Airlines, while both attempting to create a culture that is comfortable and pleasing to their

It is the founder’s values that drive an organization’s culture (Kinicki & Williams 227). Publix has its story, one of its observable artifacts (the first

“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

The most important component of Nordstrom's retail mix is its customer service. The retail environment is completely customer driven and giving the customer satisfaction in every possible manner is very important. The point of view that ‘Service Pays’ is accepted by the retailer today

This paper is about Trader Joes corporation’s organizational culture and the various challenges that the corporation has faced recently. One of the main problems for Trader Joe’s, is that when it was sold to Aldi groceries (Albrecht family) the stores concept started to become more like a corporate franchise.

In this report, I am researching Nordstrom in order to gain information on if this company would be a good company for an undergraduate student to complete an internship with. I plan on finding out information on topics such as company culture, financial analysis, growth, and competition. I will look deeply into the company’s strengths and weaknesses in order to learn about sustainability and potential for long-term employment.

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,

Before analyzing those motivational practices, it is essential to understand the core to the Nordstrom’s business - the customer service, known as the Nordstrom Way. As stated in the case, it is “the customer service like no one else offers, service above and beyond the call of duty.” In order to achieve the Nordstrom Way, the stores request their salespersons to be “upbeat, ambitious but, at the same time, selfless.” They keep personal books listing each of their customers and record every activity and correspondence; they send out thank you letters to customers for purchases regardless of how small the transactions are; they personally deliver purchases outside of work time and even on holidays. The approach has proven to be successful, as it cultivates the loyalty within the customers and generates glowing sales records. On the other hand, because the Nordstrom Way is result orientated, extra works are justifiable as long as they lead to the successful sales. Salespersons have to sacrifice their off duty time as these are often considered “extra” and “non-selling” activity.

Macy’s uses all of their employees to their full advantage. They utilize them to gather phenomenal ideas to produce the best products. Macy’s products change how the retail industry works and change the way consumers shop. When it comes to innovation, Macy’s offers initiatives such as Omnichannel retailing, My Macy’s, and Magic selling.

Nordstrom has proven to the public that the motivation practices they implement has led to a great financial success. Despite the controversies of some complaints on the working environment, a majority of their employees is satisfied with the rewards, compensation, and the family atmosphere. This suggests that their motivational policies have generated more positive outcomes than the negative ones.

Perception is important in an organizational culture. Perception is a “process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.” (Judge & Robbins, 2011) Nordstrom has a culture of autonomy, empowerment, good judgment, and above all good customer service. The leadership communicates the company history and goals through story telling so that employees can understand the importance of customer service to the organization. For example, in 1978 a customer returned a tire to the store, the employee asked for the receipt and returned the money to the customer. When working for Nordstrom as a seasonal employee, the tire story was shared with the new employees and is currently being shared with new employees. What I perceived the organization to be is one of standing by their claim of superior customer service, using good judgment, and the customer is always right.

The company’s structure was said to be an inverted pyramid : the customers and store managers on the top and the top management at the bottom. This showed how everyone’s beleifs and opinions were aligned towards customer satisfaction and extreme personal involvement with the customers and the store.