Chrysler's Culture

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 organization which I attended to analyze their organization, based on the three levels of culture discussed in class was Moe’s Southwest Grill. Over the past couple of years, my friends from Bloomington-Normal have raved about how good Moe’s food is. I thought that this class assignment would be a good opportunity to take up one of my friend’s offer to go to Moe’s. Doing so allowed me to get some great food and to further look into the company’s culture. From walking in, to getting food, and eventually leaving, it was evident what the employees at Moe’s believe in and the culture within the organization. Specifically relating to artifacts, espoused and enacted values, and basic assumptions, Moe’s organizational culture was extremely apparent.

Lueneburger, Christoph (2014). Lessons from Chrysler: how to rev up a purpose-driven corporate culture. Retrieved from

Every organization has values and beliefs that define what they do and how they do things in the organization. These values have significant influence on how the employees behaves and the general performance of the organization – it is these set of values and beliefs, rooted deep in the company’s organizational structure that depict the “dos”, “don’t” and the “hows”, of the organization and these unequivocally represents the culture of the organization. This concept became popular in the 1980s when Peters and Waterman in their book: “In search of Excellence” presented the profound argument that, the success of any organization is inextricable linked to the quality of its culture. (Carpenter, M., Taylor, B., Erdogan, B. 2009 p183). The purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyse the impact diverse cultures played in the success of the Lincoln Electric Company.

The mechanisms for changing organizational culture that Mr. Marchionne used at Chrysler were to change the workflow and the structure of the organization. The old ways of Chrysler were not working as the company was forced into bankruptcy. In a reaction to failing sales, the previous management at Chrysler slashed prices, which was not a valid solution to the problem. However, Mr. Marchionne has a different approach. When he took over, he fired top executives, took away the layers of bureaucracy, and injected fear into those that were left. The hierarchy model was no longer working at Chrysler, so Mr. Marchionne got in the trenched with those he select as his management team and together they worked together to bring Chrysler out of bankruptcy. In return, the culture at Chrysler moved to an adhocracy in that leaders were empowered to seek innovation to create sustainable growth for the organization (Kreitner & Kiniski, 2013).

The third model is the columnisation that portrays the crucial hostility that exist between the social and social framework since its advantage groupings happen in the hermetically fixed sections of culture. Volkswagen Group Company is one of the worldwide car contenders of Toyota Motors Company and the model of culture that is most suitable for it is the particular model since it works internationally and expect that there are agreement and consistency in the advertising society (Books, 2011).

The observable artifacts of the financial downfall of Chrysler were due in part to “heavy discounting in pursuit of high volumes” (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013, p.86). This has become the espoused value in the auto industry for some automakers with the belief it would help them become more financially stable. When Chrysler hired Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, he had to change the company’s observable artifacts resulting in some long term executives being replaced with more recently hired staff. Sergio had to change the culture of employees and the vision of the company in order to have an espoused value of sustainability. Sergio had basic assumptions about the executives he let go, and further confirmed them when he interviewed many of

The OCI Circumplex showed that the company has a culture with moderately strong Oppositional and Humanistic-Encouraging styles. It also significantly displays Avoidance and Self-Actualizing styles. The two least prominent styles are Perfectionistic and Approval. At first glance, the organization may seem to be working against itself, since the styles are on opposite sides of the

The information in this case study provides a few examples of each of the organizational cultural types. The first one is the market culture which is according to the text is a culture in which there is intense competition and a strong desire to meet or exceed goals handed down from upper management. (Organizational Behavior, 2013) Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive at Chrysler, has terminated executives and made most of the others interview to keep their job which is a prime example of the competitive nature of the market culture. He has also created an “Element of fear” within the company by doing this and many other things. He requires the sales team to develop plans to offer additional rebates for various programs including the “cash

Ailon, G. (2008). Mirror, mirror on the wall: culture’s consequences in a value test of it’s own design. The Academy of Management Review, 33(4), 885-904.

63). The mechanism for changing organizational culture Mr. Marchionne used at Chrysler would be basic assumptions. Mr. Marchionne wanted to make sure that the right people are working for the company. One tactic used to ensure this was to interview every executive to evaluate if he felt that person was qualified and whether that person possessed his same work ethic. He fired executives that were not performing to his standards, and promoted people who were in lower positions than they deserved to be. He also relocated his office among the engineers, instead of in the executive

Student Answer: The case study provides examples of all of the organizational culture types.  Mr. Marchionne took advantage of the adhocracy culture by shaking things up at the firm and moving the firm away from its old ways that forced it into bankruptcy (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013, p. 70, 86).  The fact that Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne fired executives and made employees interview to keep their job is an example of the competitive nature of the market culture (p. 70, 86).  He has also created an “element of fear” in the company (p. 86).Mr. Marchionne displayed characteristics of the clan culture by setting up his office with the engineers instead of in the separate executive tower (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013, p. 68-69, 86). He used video equipment so that executives from Fiat could participate in the weekly management meetings (p. 86). Lastly, the fact that Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne appeared to display characteristics

The competing values framework represents a theory, based on the crucial indicators of an effective organization. It revolves around four major components of organizational culture, which measure the organization's leadership style, institutional bonding, strategic emphases and general cultural characteristics. Leaders and managers benefit from this conceptual framework as it offers teaching tools and helps interpret various organizational functions and processes. In order the examine the organizational culture more in depth, this framework has been extended (Quinn and Kimberly, 1984, p 298). They identified the two main dimensions upon which the competing values framework of cultured is based : the competing demand of change and stability, and the conflicting demands created by the internal organization and the external environment. These dimensions were reflected by other scholars as Thomson

One of Toyota’s issues was their lack of organizational culture, perceived or real. Thus, organizational culture is the shared values that are accepted by members of the organization (Bethel, 2016). Unfortunately, Toyota’s corporate culture was one of total secrecy, which left many feeling there was something amiss. Further, “corporate arrogance, complacency, and company insular nature” were evident (Parnell, 2014, p. 603). Additionally, newly appointed CEO Akio Toyoda was invisible, which created contention amongst others in leadership. There seemed to be a belief that family members were focused on safety, while non-family members were focused on profits (Parnell, 2014).

     Thomas C. Mawhinney has a different approach to making a good corporate culture. His six ideas are the managers behavior, employee selection, the external culture, establishing a clear corporate mission, keep the mission up front, managers must reflect the desired culture, and employee’s learning must be ongoing, (Mawhinney, 23-74). Mawhinney’s first idea is the manager’s behavior. “Studies indicate that the single greatest influence on the work culture is the manager” (Mawhinney, 28). “The speed of the boss is the speed of the team”, said Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca.