Culture

Organisational culture describes the attitudes, psychology, values and beliefs of an organisation. These control the way the organisation interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organisation. The culture provides a sense of identity for the company and shows what they believe in, it can be good for morale to keep employees close together as they share the same beliefs.

‘a body of learned behaviour, a collection of beliefs, habits and traditions, shared by a group of people and learned by people...’ (Hofstede, 1984)

A good example of a company with a strong culture is the food outlet Nando's. They value their employees highly and believe that by treating them well the customers will be satisfied with the service. They try to make it a fun environment to work, for example they change the names of certain positions to jokes, (ie. HR Director = Mother Hen and Transport Manager = Poultry in motion). They also use 'stories' to tell employees of the history of the managing way. Nando's do not tolerate bullying in any form among staff and treat them all equally, and accept staff from all different backgrounds. They regard people higher than money. So really the main culture in Nando's is about having fun and respecting one another, and this shows through from their employees which will then make customers satisfied. 


"Nando's believes in a set of values that is central to everything that we do - Pride, Passion, Courage, Integrity and Family. We believe and appreciate that our continued success is down to our people with happy and committed staff key to the Nando's Experience." Nando's Management

Organisational Culture can be classified into four types according to Charles Handy (1996). They are Power, Role, Task and Person.

Power Culture - has a central source of power that comes from a central figure in the organisation. There are few rules and procedures and little bureaucracy with fast decisions. Usually found in small, entrepreneurial organisations and relies on personal communications.

Role Culture - a bureaucracy that works by logic and rationality. The organisation is split into a hierarchy using specialists, such as finance. Work is controlled by procedures and rules, monitored by a small amount of senior managers. The role is more important than the individual doing it, with the position being the main source of power.

Task Culture - a job/project based company which focuses on team working. The task is the most important thing, rather than the rules or the individuals. It brings together the right combination of resources and people. There is more freedom and flexibility and influence can be spread based on expert knowledge.

Person Culture - the idividual is the central focus and any structure serves the individual. Such as barristers, doctors or architects. Found in only a few organisations and there is no hierarchy. The individuals have nearly complete autonomy.


One problem with trying to classify culture into one of the four types is that some businesses can be a mix of cultures with parts of each aspect running through the business. It would therefore be hard to label one of the cultures to the business. Another problem could be that some people are different to the cultures that they have been put in and they may not fit into that certain culture, which may demotivate them and cause them to not work hard or leave.


In conclusion, culture is important to give the business an identity and make it unique. But different people who work there may have different attitudes so within the company there is a mix of different cultures. They can be grouped into four types, but large businesses tend to have a mix of all four within the company.

Bibliography

• Mullins, L. (2010), Management & Organisational Behaviour, 9^th edition, Essex, FT 

• Sherwin, L. (2009). Culture - Handy. Available: http://www.lindsay-sherwin.co.uk/guide_managing_change/html_overview/05_culture_handy.htm. Last accessed 2011. 
• http://www.nandos.co.uk/index.cfm
• Corporate and organisational culture. Available: http://www.thetimes100.co.uk/theory/theory--corporate-organisational-culture--322.php. Last accessed 2011.