Cultural Analysis
Culture is embedded within every organisation; it can be defined as a pattern of beliefs and expectations that are shared by the organisation. These patterns and beliefs then produce the norms and values of the organisation which can impact the behaviour of individuals or groups within the company. Schwartz, H and Davis, S. (1981, p.33). Although organisational culture is so important and can impact upon an organisation’s strategy, some organisations are unsure of what their culture is or how it can impact the organisation. To help define or give a picture of what an organisation’s culture is, Scholes and Johnson (1992) created the cultural web which focuses on the ‘taken for granted’ assumptions (paradigm) of an organisation …show more content…
The cultural web above gives a very negative picture of Barclays investment arm, the recurring theme within the web shows Barclays to be a very profit focused organisation with little financial controls or concern regarding risk taking and a culture that centres on giving bonuses, these themes are captured as part of the core of the web within the paradigm.
When looking at the outer circles of the cultural web, different points stand out within each one and a further analysis of these points are detailed below:
- The stories circle is one of the most interesting, stories and gossip can be extremely damaging to a company and Barclay’s stories show a very damming image. Staff believe that it is “every man for themselves” and to get far within the company they must take extreme risks to get the biggest profits. This type of culture within an organisation will encourage competition and also pile the pressure onto their staff. Employees will most likely be in an uneasy atmosphere and teamwork would be hard to come by if the ethos is “every man for …show more content…
The tools he could use to help him achieve this goal are the three different cultural webs that have been designed, the two Barclay’s retail webs and the investment arm web.
The Barclays Retail pre-1990’s web shows a very strict and controlled way of doing business. The company at that time seemed to pride themselves on being a pillar of the community, being professional and having a low risk ethos, however as you move onto the pre-2000s Barclay’s web you then start to see that slight strategic drift, moving from the very controlled way of practice to the more relaxed approach, this drift to a relaxed and risk taking nature is then highlighted even more in the investment arm web.
The three paradigms straight away will give a massive indication on how vastly things have changed, from core assumptions such as low risk and paternal to “do want customers want” to finally make profits at all costs. Antony could gather from these paradigms alone how things have changed and how the culture and behaviour at Barclays has changed in such a dramatic and negative
Culture is embedded within every organisation; it can be defined as a pattern of beliefs and expectations that are shared by the organisation. These patterns and beliefs then produce the norms and values of the organisation which can impact the behaviour of individuals or groups within the company. Schwartz, H and Davis, S. (1981, p.33). Although organisational culture is so important and can impact upon an organisation’s strategy, some organisations are unsure of what their culture is or how it can impact the organisation. To help define or give a picture of what an organisation’s culture is, Scholes and Johnson (1992) created the cultural web which focuses on the ‘taken for granted’ assumptions (paradigm) of an organisation …show more content…
The cultural web above gives a very negative picture of Barclays investment arm, the recurring theme within the web shows Barclays to be a very profit focused organisation with little financial controls or concern regarding risk taking and a culture that centres on giving bonuses, these themes are captured as part of the core of the web within the paradigm.
When looking at the outer circles of the cultural web, different points stand out within each one and a further analysis of these points are detailed below:
- The stories circle is one of the most interesting, stories and gossip can be extremely damaging to a company and Barclay’s stories show a very damming image. Staff believe that it is “every man for themselves” and to get far within the company they must take extreme risks to get the biggest profits. This type of culture within an organisation will encourage competition and also pile the pressure onto their staff. Employees will most likely be in an uneasy atmosphere and teamwork would be hard to come by if the ethos is “every man for …show more content…
The tools he could use to help him achieve this goal are the three different cultural webs that have been designed, the two Barclay’s retail webs and the investment arm web.
The Barclays Retail pre-1990’s web shows a very strict and controlled way of doing business. The company at that time seemed to pride themselves on being a pillar of the community, being professional and having a low risk ethos, however as you move onto the pre-2000s Barclay’s web you then start to see that slight strategic drift, moving from the very controlled way of practice to the more relaxed approach, this drift to a relaxed and risk taking nature is then highlighted even more in the investment arm web.
The three paradigms straight away will give a massive indication on how vastly things have changed, from core assumptions such as low risk and paternal to “do want customers want” to finally make profits at all costs. Antony could gather from these paradigms alone how things have changed and how the culture and behaviour at Barclays has changed in such a dramatic and negative