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JA8. Organizational Culture Case Study: EuropeRelocateX

Understanding an organization’s culture is important for creating a positive work environment. It involves recognizing both negative and positive cultural aspects. This assignment focuses on analyzing the organizational culture of a specific organization you’re familiar with or have studied. Using the dimensions from Chapter 8’s Organizational Culture Profile (OCP), you’ll assess the strengths and weaknesses of the culture. You’ll also look at the things that shape this culture. The ‘five signs of organizational culture’ will help you identify unique traits. Additionally, you’ll evaluate how the leader or founder influences and maintains this culture. Through this assignment, you’ll gain tools to understand and explain the complexities of organizational culture more effectively.

  • Introduction: Introduce the concept of organizational culture and its significance in the context of any one organization you have worked with or researched about. Discuss the importance of analyzing organizational culture and its impact on employee spelling satisfaction, retention, and performance.
  • Characterization of Organizational Culture: Based on the dimensions of the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) describe the culture of this organization. Evaluate its strengths and weaknesses and provide evidence to support your analysis.
  • Artifacts that Create Organization Culture: Artifacts are the visible and tangible elements of an organization’s culture, such as its symbols, language, stories, and rituals. Examine the artifacts that create this organization’s culture. Discuss the visible signs that reflect its values, beliefs, and attitudes. Provide examples of artifacts that you have observed or experienced.
  • Application of the Five Signs of Organizational Culture: Apply the ‘five signs of organizational culture’(language, stories, rituals, ceremonies, symbols, and control systems) to this organization. Discuss how these signs influence its culture and the behavior of its members. Support the discussion with some examples.
  • Influence of Leader in shaping the Organization’s Culture: Evaluate the influence of the organization’s leader or founder on its culture. Discuss how his/her vision, values, and leadership style have shaped the organization’s culture. Provide examples to support your arguments (they can be based on your personal knowledge, experience or research).
  • Employee Experience: Analyze and discuss how the organization’s culture has influenced its employees’ experience and shaped their behaviors at work.
  • Conclusion: Summarize the main points of your assignment. Emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of this organization’s culture and its influence on employee satisfaction, retention, and performance. Highlight the key takeaways from your research.
  • References: . Use APA citations and references if you use ideas from the readings or other sources. For assistance with APA formatting, view the Learning Resource Center: Academic Writing. Here is a quick link to understand writing with APA.

Answer

Introduction

Organizational culture is the set of assumptions, values, and artifacts that define the way an organization operates, its relationship with others, and its internal dynamics. It is a powerful driver to success when applied right, but it can also be a liability when it is applied wrong, or when it becomes a barrier to change, innovation, or retention of talent (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2010).

The text will discuss EuropeRelocateX; which is a UK-based company that provides relocation services to new hires coming to Europe. Their services include housing, bank account opening, initial paperwork, and helping in enrolling kids into schools (EuropeRelocateX, 2020). The author has worked with the company for a year and has a good understanding of its culture.

Characterization of Organizational Culture at EuropeRelocateX

The organizational Culture Profile (OCP) is a way to measure organizational culture by looking at how the company operates in each of its 7 dimensions: Innovative, Aggressive, Outcome-oriented, Stable, People-oriented, Team-oriented, and Detail-oriented. Each dimension focuses on a different aspect of the company’s culture; the table below shows the dimensions and what they measure (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2010):

Dimension Measures of focus
Innovative Flexibility, adaptability, and risk-taking
Aggressive Competitiveness, assertiveness, and hostility to competitors
Outcome-oriented Focus on financial results
Stable Predictability, rule-orientation, and bureaucracy
People-oriented Fairness, supportiveness, and respecting individual rights
Team-oriented Collaboration, cooperation, and teamwork among employees
Detail-oriented Precision and paying attention to details

Based on the author’s experience with EuropeRelocateX, the text will score the company in each of these dimensions, from 1-10, and then discuss the results:

Dimension Score Comment
Innovative 8 EuropeRelocateX is always looking for new ways to improve its services.
Aggressive 2 EuropeRelocateX actually does business and collaborate with competitors.
Outcome-oriented 4 While financial results are important, the focus is now on customer satisfaction.
Stable 1 EuropeRelocateX has a flat structure, and it is still new to the market and rules are underway.
People-oriented 9 EuropeRelocateX values its employees and customers and listens to them very well.
Team-oriented 7 EuropeRelocateX values collaboration and teamwork.
Detail-Oriented 4 EuropeRelocateX pays enough attention to the details, but details don’t give a competitive edge in the industry.

We can conclude from the scoring above that EuropeRelocateX is an innovative and people-oriented company; such companies are characterized by their flat structures, and they benefit from high customer and employee satisfaction, and low turnover rates. However, the low aggressive score may be an advantage as it allows for cooperation with competitors and less legal troubles. The low outcome-oriented score may be a disadvantage, but the company is still in the opportunity-exploring phase and it may be more stable once it finds its niche.

Artifacts that Create Organizational Culture at EuropeRelocateX

According to Carpenter et al (2010), there are 3 levels of organizational culture: artifacts, values, and assumptions. Assumptions reflect the organization and its members’ beliefs about human nature and reality. Values are shared principles, standards, goals, and what is important to the organization. Artifacts are the visible and tangible elements of an organization’s culture, such as its symbols, language, stories, and rituals.

At EuropeRelocateX, culture Artifacts are not that diverse as the company size is small. Rituals like sharing a lesson learned every Friday, celebrating customers’ feedback stories, and regular day or night outs reflect the people-oriented dimension of the culture. Symbols like the company’s logo and its unique color (greenish-gray) that are used everywhere on its website, applications, and office papers give a sense of unity and belonging to the employees. The company’s language is also friendly and supportive, and the jargon used is cheering and motivating.

Signs of Organizational Culture at EuropeRelocateX

According to Carpenter et al (2010), there are five signs of organizational culture: Mission Statement, Stories and Language, Physical Layout, Rules and Policies, and Rituals and Ceremonies. EuropeRelocateX’s Mission Statement reads “Live and work anywhere, without housing worries” (EuropeRelocateX, 2020); this statement puts the mission of the company to relieve the housing worries of its customers, and we can see that this is successfully reflected in the company’s innovative and people-oriented culture and customer satisfaction, thus WeFindFlat’s has a positive point in Sign 1.

EuropeRelocateX’s friendly and supportive language and the tenancy to help and listen to its customers and their employers give a positive point in Sign 2. The company’s Physical Layout is lacking as the company is still small and doesn’t own dedicated offices, which may be a disadvantage, but on the other hand, allowing employees to work from anywhere supports innovation and flexibility, thus EuropeRelocateX has a negative point in Sign 3. The company’s rules and policies are not formally documented, and it relies on the assumptions and values of its employees which put the customer first, thus EuropeRelocateX has a negative point in Sign 4. EuropeRelocateX’s Rituals and Ceremonies such as the Friday lessons learned and the customer feedback celebrations celebrate both tangible and intangible successes and give a positive point in Sign 5.

Sign EuropeRelocateX’s Score Comment
Mission Statement + EuropeRelocateX’s mission statement is clear and reflects the company’s culture.
Stories and Language + EuropeRelocateX’s language is friendly and supportive.
Physical Layout - EuropeRelocateX’s physical layout is lacking.
Rules and Policies - EuropeRelocateX’s rules and policies are not formally documented.
Rituals and Ceremonies + EuropeRelocateX’s rituals and ceremonies celebrate both tangible and intangible successes.

The table above summarizes the signs of organizational culture at EuropeRelocateX. Overall, the company has a positive culture that is reflected in its artifacts, values, and assumptions.

Influence of Leader on Organization’s Culture at EuropeRelocateX

According to Carpenter et al (2010), the leader’s Role Modeling is a process in which the leader’s own beliefs and behaviors are transmitted unconsciously to the employees. The leader’s Vision and Values are the foundation of the organization’s culture especially in small organizations where directions are not formally clear. At EuropeRelocateX, the founders are visionary and people persons with a strong sense of innovation and customer satisfaction; these traits have been shaping the company’s culture since the beginning.

Employee Experience at EuropeRelocateX

The company’s culture has positively influenced its employees’ experiences. The patience and dealing with customers is clear with the high customer satisfaction rate. Every employee is encouraged to share their ideas and thoughts about how to shape the company’s future. Implementing new services and features is quick as everyone gives their input and then the idea is trialed and adopted if successful. The employees are happy and satisfied with their work, and they feel valued and respected. The company’s culture has also shaped their behaviors at work; they are more collaborative, innovative, and customer-oriented. The turnover rate is low, and the employees are loyal to the company.

Conclusion

In conclusion, EuropeRelocateX has a positive organizational culture that is reflected in its artifacts. The company is innovative, people-oriented, and team-oriented, and it values its employees and customers. The company’s culture has positively influenced its employees’ experiences and shaped their behaviors at work. The founder’s vision and values have been crucial in shaping the company’s culture. The company’s culture has been a key driver of its success, and it has helped it to attract and retain talent and achieve high customer satisfaction rates. The name EuropeRelocateX is a fake name to hide the company’s identity as I don’t have permission to share its data.

References

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