Organisation culture!

Mullins (2010) claims that organisational culture is ‘the collection of traditional values, policies, beliefs and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context for everything we do and think in an organisation’.

Tesco as an organisation are very strict upon their approach to organisational culture. They work around norms and values to which are based around making customers shopping experience a satisfactory one. One of the biggest aspects of this is Tesco’s motto, ‘Every little helps’. As an employee I personally know and understand the value of this phrase. This motto is there to make customers aware of anything the organisation do; they do for the customer experience, which gives an idea that Tesco’s culture is very much around the consumer’s welfare.

‘I don’t queue’ is a prime example of Tesco’s unwritten norms or values. This phrase is built upon the idea that no customer should queue for a significant period of time, this links in to the general pace of work aspect of visible culture. The company like to have swift, and fast EPOS to allow the ‘I don’t queue’ to happen, therefore giving the customer a much happier time at the store. Again it is evident that Tesco do care about their customers, as a lot of their culture is based around them. However from an external view I can see that these policies do still amalgamate into the idea of maximum profits.

The final visible culture example is the management of Tesco. From an employee’s perspective, it is obvious to me that Tesco do revolve around the customer, each employee is constantly reminded of what to do, and how to approach customers, and that the sale doesn’t finish at the checkout, it finishes only when they become a regular customer with a satisfying service at Tesco.

Handy (1993) created four classifications of culture, power, role, task and person. Which all suit different types of organisational structure.

Ø  Power culture

Usually found in small-entrepreneurial businesses, the power culture is one with few rules and systems, and fast, quick and easy decisions. There are central powerful figures involved in the organisation. This culture is present in local corner shops and other small businesses.

Ø  Role culture

This is typical of a bureaucratic organisation and revolves around specialist people within finance, production, purchasing etc. Power is based around hierarchy level and work is decided via rules and regulations. People work to their job description, this culture is very much like Tesco’s ethos.

Ø  Task culture

Task culture is project/job orientated, where the task is key rather than individual’s or rules. This culture utilises the unifying power of the group and influence is widely spread with a lot of freedom. It is also based on expert power, rather than position, so this figure could change every time. A typical business for this is contractors, e.g. re-fit contractors at a store.

Ø  Person culture

This is where the individual is the central force of the organisation and any structure around the individual exists to serve the individual. There is no hierarchy and the organisations only interest is those within it. This is typical for barristers, builders, architects etc.

Classifying culture in the above four classifications can provide many problems. It doesn’t take personality into account, which can have a significant impact on how the business is run on a managerial level. The four types of culture are very systematic and are ‘by the book’. It doesn’t take into account personal values, or situations outside the workplace that can influence an employee. External and Internal culture can both be changed on a day to day basis, depending on the situation that the organisation is in at the time, therefore classifying them to the different groups is not always the best policy.

The culture of a business is an important aspect of running one. From a CEO to the customer, the culture is always present, and always evident, and an organisation needs the correct culture so that they are able to operate successfully and also satisfy customer needs.