Organizational Culture

25 Pages 6281 Words

ABSTRACT

Even though behavior, values, and events are often attributed to organizational culture, there has been little agreement as to what it is. This paper outlines the culture of a medium sized business, specifically examining personalities and circumstances in one troublesome department. All data were obtained by the author during an extended period of communication and interaction with the organization's members. This paper redacts three compelling models from the corpus of literature on organizational culture into a multilaterally comprehensible summary of organizational culture. Using the composite definition, discussion returns to the previously mentioned company and demonstrates the ability of the models to reconcile theory to reality.




INTRODUCTION

The company began as the dream of a husband and wife who wanted to do something exciting and needed to make a living. When they founded their shampoo distribution company in 1971, the husband served as president, salesperson, and warehouse employee, while the wife was the vice president, bookkeeper, secretary, treasurer, and auxiliary warehouse employee. The president's father was the delivery person, and the vice president's mother assisted with the bookkeeping. These two young, naive, entrepreneurs, learning each new step as they went along, sought to establish a name for their product, Kesher hair and skin care products, and their company, PJR, Inc. Some of the original and fundamental values which the husband and wife team determined PJR would embody were commitments to customer service, keeping the image of the Kesher line professional, and employing responsible, success-minded people. As the famous phrase coined by Winston Churchill states, the founders worked "with blood, sweat, toil, and tears" to make the company thrive. Eventually, success was a fact, and PJR's warehouse and office became overcrowded. In 1982, PJR moved to its--then spacious--present locati...