During one of our Exploring international business management lecture we have talked about organisation culture, in within we have also consider cultural web. In this blog post I would like to analysis Starbucks coffee company using it.
Firstly culture can be consider the system of norms, beliefs and assumptions, and values that determine how people in the organization act (Schein 1985).
Organisational culture can be considered the “personality” of the organization that sets it apart from other organizations. It provides a sense of identity to its members, it helps legitimize the management system of the organization and finally it clarifies and reinforces standards of behaviour.
The cultural web is a representation of the paradigm of an organisation and the physical manifestations of its culture. As the analysis is quite long I will mainly focus on some aspects of Starbucks. The cultural web is divided in:
The routine includes internal and external behavior of the members of the organisation. Starbucks routine have a particular importance for the company, in fact the they invest a lot in their employee because they strongly believe that if they are going to feel cared they will take care of customers. Moreover the working environment is particularly nice as they call HR called them partners instead of employee, no one order to do something, they ask for favours and finally enhance the importance of a diverse background staff to welcome a diverse background customers.
The rituals of the organisation are special events or particular activities through which they emphasise what is particularly important and reinforces ‘the way we do things around here’. One of the main ritual of starbucks can be considered offering seasonal drinks.
The stories are the one told by members of the organisation to each other and to customer, it embed the present in its organisational history and also highlight important events and personalities.
Symbols may include logos, offices, cars and titles that represent the nature of the organisation. Starbucks have many symbols from the very famous logo that we see in instagram pictures to the exotic ambience in every shop.
Power structures are also likely to influence the key assumptions. The most powerful groupings are likely to be closely associated with the core assumptions and beliefs.
The control systems measurements and reward systems emphasise what is important to monitor in the organisation. Reward systems are important influences on behaviours.
Organisational structure is likely to reflect power and show important roles and relationships.
The paradigm of the organisation encapsulates and reinforces the behaviours observed in the other elements of the cultural web. Starbucks paradigm/culture can be summarized in their mission: “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”
We have been discussing during the seminar whether the culture of a particularly company will last forever and will never need to change, it can be argued that this is not possible as the environment, economy and business are continuously changing, as a result in order to take advantage on competitors organisation may need to re-shape their culture.
What do you thinks about it? Which do you think is the power structure at Starbucks?
Reference list:
Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Starbucks (no date) ‘Homepage’ https://www.starbucks.com/
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