Organisational Culture

The visible aspects of culture in Marks and Spencer are that as soon as you enter the shop, you hear soft, calm music playing in the background. This creates a cosy atmosphere in which people enjoy shopping in. Near the entrance there is a slogan saying 'Quality worth every penny'. This shows that M&S believe their products to be of the highest quality, and customers fell that these products are worth the price. Employees are easily visible as they wear black uniform with green M&S logo. This is useful for customers so that if they need help they can easily find a member of staff. The uniform also shows that M&S employees are all working together as part of one big team, representing the organisation. The layout of M&S enables customers to more easily familiarise themselves with where everything is in the shop. For example, in the food section, the floor is black, and in the clothing section the floor is a creamy white. Also in the food section there is a poster showing Fairtrade which means M&S actively support and promote this. M&S sells Fairtrade products which mean that they are not just about making a big profit. They want to support and enable the producers to get a better deal on their products. Hidden aspects of culture are all the things that take place away from the customers’ eyes to ensure that the business runs smoothly. Teamworking and training are examples of hidden aspects of culture within the organisation. When a customer walks into M&S they seem employees working individually, however they are actually all working as part of a team trying to get the same amount of work done. Training is another good example of one of the hidden aspects of M&S. Customers do not see the employees getting trained, and this is essential in order to ensure that staff have the necessary skills in order to provide a quality service and get the work done as efficiently as possible.

Types of Culture:

Charles Handy (1993) claimed that there are 4 types of culture within an organisation.

· Power Culture
· Role Culture
· Task Culture
· Person Culture

Power culture is when one person has control over everything that goes on within the organisation. There are central powerful figure, very few rules and systems in, fast decisions, and personal communications. An example of this would be Sir Alan Sugar’s organisation, where he is the central powerful figure, and he does not relinquish and control. He makes all of the decisions, like employees’ wages, how much time employees are allowed for their holidays, who gets employed, who is made redundant and what products are sold.

Role culture is based on structure, with more rules to abide by and bureaucracy. Work is decided via rules and regulations. Power is a based on level in a hierarchy, i.e. your job position. For example a manager would have more power than a supervisor. People work to a job description. This means that not just one person has control over the whole business, but a number of people who have important job positions will also have important decisions to make depending on their job role. Examples of organisations which use role culture are supermarkets like Waitrose or M&S. Each member of staff in Waitrose will have a specific job role such as shelf filler or till operator and this role will be given by a person higher up in the hierarchy, e.g. a manager and so delegates the work downwards. Accounting firms also use rule culture.

Task culture is all about teamworking, when people come together to form a team in order to work on a project. This means that people in the teams will have different skills to use in the project. No one has greater position over anyone in this type of culture as people will have different skills to use together in order to get the project completed. The task is key, rather than the individual or rules. Individuals have more freedom and flexibility, where they can get their tasks completed without being told what to do constantly. While doing the tasks, personal power can be released by each person so that the outcome of the project will be even better. London 2012 Olympics adapt task culture as a lot of people are working together in order to get the project completed. After the task is over, they will probably never work together again.

Person culture is the individual person is the focus of the business, and has the authority to make all decisions regarding specific tasks and or activities. The person will be using their own expertise to complete he task. There is no hierarchy, and the organisation only exists to serve the interests of those within it. Examples include barristers, architects, doctors and surgeons. A doctor is his own boss and completes the work at his own pace, without being told what to do. He would have complete control and there would be nobody above him to make decisions or influence him. Even though a doctor may work for a hospital, they don't have a manager or a boss who will be telling him what to do throughout his shift. The doctor will be his own boss. The doctor is the central focus because without him there will be nobody to help treat and cure ill or injured patients.

Problems of trying to classify culture into one of the four different cultures described by Handy (1993):

The main problem of trying to classify culture into one of the four types is that some businesses might have different aspects of different cultures inside the business. For example in Marks and Spencer, the marketing department may have role culture, whereas the finance department may have power culture. This means that if a business has several different cultures in one organisation, it would be very difficult to suggest that the entire organisation has a specific culture. This applies mainly to large businesses that have lots of different departments and operate in different markets. For M&S, it would be the food and clothing markets. Also, some organisations may have a culture that is completely different to each of the four types of culture described by handy. For example, a business may not have one person making all the decisions (power culture), it may not operate in a hierarchical structure (role culture), it may not have a specifically created team in order to complete a certain project (task culture), and no individual would have the authority to make specific decisions (person culture). If an organisation was like this, it would not be possible to group it into one of Handy’s 4 types of organisational culture.

Reasons for why I think Waitrose has a strong culture:

Waitrose is an organisation which demonstrates strong culture. They type of culture it demonstrates is very clearly role culture. I know this is true because I worked there for 2 years. Waitrose treat all their members of staff as a partner of the business, which makes the employees feel more important within the business. I felt like I owned part of the business whilst working there and technically I did as all the profits are shared between the partners. Waitrose believe that all members of staff should be valued as they are looking after the customers who are bringing profit to the business. This is why there is so much focus on customer service within the organisation. The organisation ensures that all partners remain happy by making sure that all the partners’ benefits from the profit and other rewards and benefits that the business offers to them. Before making any important decisions, all partners will get a chance to give their opinions and have their voice (“partnervoice”) heard by the business. Everyone is part of a team at Waitrose, and if one team member is slacking, the rest of the team will have to work even harder to pick up the slack. This therefore helps motivate each and every employee to work even harder, as you do not want to make your friends have to work harder the next day by not completing your set task.

Visual aspects of culture in Waitrose is that they provide the customers with quality customer service and treat them all fairly. Customers may even come back without a receipt and say they bought a product from Waitrose which was not of acceptable quality and Waitrose would then give the customer the product plus money back! Waitrose raise their retail standards by launching new products and services as well as trying out new ideas with the customers. They promote certain products at certain times of they year. For example, juice will go on promotion during the summer. The building itself is very pleasant because the minute you walk in, customers get a friendly vibe from the employees, which will in turn attract the customers more. The service is friendly as well as helpful. When I was working there I always tried my best to constantly smile and give off a happy vibe towards customers, and I also managed to make friends with a lot of the regulars there.

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Conclusion:

Overall, culture is quite important to a business, as it can help portray their image to customers and give organisations a reputation to stand by. I do not believe that business set out to try and fit into one of the four specific cultures outlined by Handy, however some just naturally do. There will also be some organisations that fit into more than just one of Handy’s four categories. These are more likely to be larger organisations and businesses.