Woodlands Community Center Corporation Case Analysis Essay

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.).

Throughout this essay organisational culture will be examined, including the two approaches mainstream and critical. What managers can do to shape culture and also an example of when culture has in fact been changed.

*  People Shape the Culture. Personalities and experiences of employees create the culture of an organization. For example, if most of the people in an organization are very outgoing, the culture is likely to be open and sociable. If many artifacts depicting the company’s history and values are in evidence throughout the company, people value their history and culture. If doors are open, and few closed door meetings are held, the culture is unguarded. If negativity about supervision and the company is widespread and complained about by employees, a culture of negativity, that is difficult to overcome, will take hold.

There is a “blurring of boundary between self and organisation” (Rosen 1988), giving workers a chance to develop more personal relationships with fellow workers, which I believe is an important consideration in driving culture. However subtly it is a form of normative control which reinforces the organisations hierarchy. Nevertheless, bosses, co-workers, and inferiors in the organisation socialise in the social setting, not as “subordinates” (Rosen 1988) but as equals. This further “blurs the boundaries between that which is work and play, instrumental and moral, inside and outside” (Rosen 1988), where familial bonds are forged and comradeship created. Here, workers’ life and work become indistinguishable. Creating and maintaining a strong culture is thus beneficial for both employees and employers as they feel “belonging as family and profession” (Rosen 1988). Greater bonding among workers helps develop a sense of connection and a feeling of belonging, which therefore increases the productivity of the employees and therefore make the organisation more profitable. The Christmas party is ultimately “a collection of members forming an organic unity” (Rosen 1988), creating a culture which “encourages an informal, flexible, and dedicated membership, one not constrained by extensive rules, and one capable of accomplishing ill-defined and complex tasks” (Rosen 1988). It is the ongoing drive to succeed which continues to grow the

ABC Corporation has a culture that is based on providing award winning after-sales service to ensure it has repeat customers (WCM 620 Final Project Case Study, 2017). Thomas prides himself on creating a culture that produces high-performance numbers by encouraging his employees to handle a high volume of calls. Thomas believed that each employee should be clear on company protocol and performance expectations with a focus on high productivity (WCM 620 Final Project Case Study, 2017). During the conflict, Thomas believed that his front-line manager,

Within organizations, large and small, there exists a sense of identity among its members that separates it from other organizations. This sense of identity is known as organizational culture. All over, managers seek to influence and change this into something that can be beneficial for the organization. In his article, “The Six Levers for Managing Organizational Culture”, Professor David W. Young defines the different elements that can influence and change the culture within the organization and how the reader can use these “levers” to their advantage. While the author does present a decent explanation for changing the culture of an organization, he leaves many questions unanswered that leaves his argument incomplete.

When evaluating big businesses large and small, the thoughts that entertain any average person’s mind is how that business soared to the heights it is at now? Many different answers can be considered when addressing an answer to that question which could be acquisition, increase in revenues, and joint operation between two companies or even high talent retention/acquisition. When looking to address that question bit deeper we have to look more behind the scenes management leadership styles. A leader when we think about it is someone with significant authority and/or influence to invoke change and also motivate workers to produce the highest quality work output. This paper will be addressing my leader “Michael Sacco” who is President of Seafarers International Union an employer from the subsequent past. This paper will attempt to describe him by applying either one or more than one of the various types of leadership styles. Questions that will be addressed are how Mr. Sacco address diversity within the union did, was he ethical, concern about how the organization impacted the consumer, and his leader values. Other topics that will be presented are the lifecycle stage Seafarers International Union (SIU) was at the during Marcus tenure there, what did Mr. Sacco do to enhance the culture and/or destroy it during that tenure.

In this essay, I intend to argue that from a time of structured bureaucracy to an aeon of flexibility and the stripping down of hierarchical order, the principles in managing culture have evolved. Nevertheless, as practices have changed, the results are analogous in that culture is developed in order to control an organisation. Organisation culture is the deep, normal assumptions, beliefs, and shared values that delineate organizational membership (Clegg et. al. 2011). I altercate that an enjoyable and gratifying culture has become a foundation for individual satisfaction and contentment, ultimately leading to workplace efficiency and productivity. I will validate this in Section one by reconnoitering on Fredrickson (2003) and comparing it to Sudnow (1967). Conversely, a free form culture is still delimited by control and bureaucracy within and this is demonstrated by Rosen (1988) and Parker (1992) in Section two. In the final section, with Ojo (2010), I will exemplify how in the post-bureaucratic period, there is an imperative liaison between organisation culture and performance.

Data for this paper was obtained by a telephone interview of three leaders in different lines of work. The interviews were transcribed and interpreted along with additional literary research to reach this author’s conclusion. The first interviewee is an Operations Manager for a Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Alabama. He has worked his way up the ranks in his 14 years with Wal-Mart, starting as an order-filler.

In this essay, I am going to argue that management can use culture as a powerful and effective tool in order to limit or minimise resistance within the organization 's environment. I am going to suggest that the culture provided to employees by managers can significantly impact upon their performance within the organization and therefore reducing the probability of conflicts and subjugation in this post-bureaucratic era. In section one I will demonstrate the difficulties in the transition from a bureaucracy era, which involved hierarchies, rules and division of labour, to post-bureaucracy; which is based on trust, empowerment and personal treatment, by drawing on Josserand, Teo and Clegg 's (2006) writings. In section two I will use Rosen

Rather than using rules and acting as a bureaucracy to achieve the corporate goals, a culture aims to act as guidance and shape the organisation almost in the way of a soft bureaucracy. Instead of controlling employees through rules, organisational culture aims to determine the behaviour of employees and implement control in a very subtle way (McAuley et al, 2014), to ensure that the values and norms are consistent and behaviours are attached to meaning that reflect and pursue the goals of the organisation.

An organization’s culture governs day to day behavior. This type of power may be seen as a control mechanism, which businesses use to manipulate internal and external perception. Every organization has a set of assumed understandings that must be adopted and implemented by new employees in order for them to be accepted. Conformity to the culture becomes the primary basis for reward by the organization. “The role of culture in influencing employee behavior appears to be increasingly important in today’s workplace, as organizations have widened spans of control, flattened structures, introduced teams, reduced

Strong culture is said to exist where staff respond to stimulus because of their alignment to organizational values. Conversely, there is Weak Culture where there is little alignment with organizational values and control must be exercised through extensive procedures and

According to Richard Perrin, “the Organizational Culture is a sum of values and rituals which serve as ‘glue’ to integrate the members of the organization”

The culture progresses the organization forward when it fixes the jobs and the category of labour. Culture shows some other crucial and equivalent role by reflecting experiences in the past and keeping away from occurring again of emergency. For example, when an organization learnt about relying on a sole leader to broker of its inner interest. Likewise, relying totally on one source of money doesn’t continue long life.