10.2.1

Managing Organisational Culture

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Organisational Culture

Organisational culture refers to the ethos, values and beliefs of a business and its employees. When attempting to study the business culture, managers and leaders can use Handy’s model of culture:

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Power culture

  • Power culture refers to a business that places importance on the authority and decision-making power of a small number of key employees.
  • Investment banks like Morgan Stanley have a few powerful individuals who make all important decisions.
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Role culture

  • Role culture refers to a business which places importance on employees having clear roles within the organisation.
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Task culture

  • Task culture refers to a business which places importance on employees being associated with tasks and projects within the organisation.
    • For example, in project-based businesses, such as Yell (Yellow Pages), employees will often use their skills on one specialist task before then moving to another task or project, which is an example of a task culture.
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Person culture

  • Person culture refers to a business that places importance on employees being valued and operating autonomously within the business.
  • Amazon splits its business up according to the category, for example, gardening and homeware each have their own category. The gardening manager has the freedom to run their own area and make their own decisions, which is an example of a person culture, with lots of people operating with autonomy.

Jump to other topics

1What is Business?

2Managers, Leadership & Decision Making

3Decision Making to Improve Marketing Performance

4Decision Making to Improve Operational Performance

5Decision Making to Improve Financial Performance

6Improving Human Resource Performance

7Analysing the Strategic Position of a Business

8Choosing Strategic Direction

9How to Pursue Strategies

10Managing Strategic Change

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