Organisational culture

Visible aspects of culture of The Body shop

The term ‘culture’ is the shared attitudes and behaviour that are features of a particular social group. In the same way within an organisation, societies build up on their own identity so people working within the organisations develop their own culture. There are two distinct aspects to organisations the first is the visible aspects- the structure of the physical and social environment. The second is hidden aspects and is what goes on despite the formal structure. (Mullins, 2007)

During my two week work experience at the Body shop I had noticed the main visible aspects that struck me are the main structure of the store and the colour theme. Throughout the store the colour green is publicised and this represents the image of nature. The body shop uses natural ingredients in their products to enhance natural beauty. As soon as you step into the shop a fresh satisfying aroma can be noticed which again gives the sense of natural feeling which portrays the body shop image. In addition another example is that the general atmosphere was very calm and a glow can be seen. The other staff members were all very friendly with the customers and would be willing to help under any circumstances. With just a smile to a customer as they would walk into the shop would make them very approachable. I had noticed that the staffs were incredibly helpful if any of the customers wanted to try out testers and also gave them advice of what ingredients the product contained and how useful it is to them. Another example is the dress code of the staff members. They all had a professional look to their appearance, similar to a pharmacist, and as they are the ones who are serving the customers, this appealed them and would make the customers ask advice from the staff. All staff as well as myself had to wear the body shop membership ‘love your body’ card around our necks to promote this discount card.

The hidden aspect of the culture of Body Shop are all the values the company supports such as no animal testing, community trade, human rights and protecting the planet are all traits in the culture of this business as well. It holds many campaigns and has its own charity foundation that raises funds for these causes. Community Trade has numerous benefits for the company, their customers and suppliers. Community Trade allows their suppliers to build better futures for themselves and their communities. Another hidden example is the importance of the customers. The body shop is seeking new ways to improve their business practices and reduce the amount carbon footprint produced. They have introduced energy-awareness training for all store staff members. Another example is the Body Shop has always believed keenly that animals should not be used for cosmetic testing. Holding campaigns and charities was an attribute I wasn’t aware of until I had completed my work experience. Generally every business wants to increase on its profit; however this wasn’t much of a concern to the business and helping provide the best for its customers and be fair to its suppliers was an unseen element to the culture. http://www.thebodyshop.com/_en/_ww/values-campaigns/index.aspx?

Four types of culture:

Power culture - This culture is all about one or two person being in charge, and being the main decision makers. This type of culture is normally in a small organisation. An example of this type of culture would be a partnership business such as a Hairdresser. The 2 business partners would be the boss of the business and would make most of the decisions in the business like the pay and what role should they do. There won't be any conflict as there will be only one person making final decisions. However the drawback of this type of culture is that it can de-motivate staff, as they have to do as they are told and don’t have much of a say.

Role culture - This culture is very similar to a style of corporate culture, where organisations are split into different departments’ delivering various functions and each individual within the function is assigned a particular role. An example of this type of culture is the Ealing council where they are different departments such as the finance department or HR department etc. Every department has a manager or director who is in control of the department. The benefit of a role culture is each department is specialised to carry out the specific roles of the company by their job description and this should increase efficiency for the company.

Task culture - A task culture refers to a team related approach to complete a particular task. They have certain goals and this has to be achieved within a certain time. For example the NASA organisation is part of this culture as they are put to work as a team and manage a mission. The advantages of this type of culture is that staff will fell motivated as they are allowed to make their own decisions within the team, and feel important having been given a huge responsibility.

Person culture - This type of culture is mostly adapted by self employed employees, where the individual makes decisions and the aim are the centre focus of the business. For example an architect belongs to this culture. An architect will serve himself within the job. He will be in control of the design work in the project. The advantage of this is that the individual is in charge of most of the decisions.

Problems trying to classify culture onto one of the four types...

In my opinion I think that the main problem of trying to classify culture into one of the four types as described earlier is that some organisations may have different features of different cultures inside the business. A business cannot be categorised in only 1 culture. For example an organisation such as House of Fraser, is large organisation and has several different departments and in their stores. One department may have a role culture as each individual has different roles; either working as a sales assistant on the shop floor or a supervisor. Power culture may be visible and they would be the top managers who are in control of maybe a chain of House of Fraser department stores. There may be team related jobs in which a group would need to carry out the tasks or projects for example the human resources department; this would fit in a task culture.
http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/_en/_gb/index.aspx

In my opinion the company I feel that has a strong culture is The body shop. The reason for this is because it has a good reputation and is well known for its products. The body shop logo has become a brand in itself and is recognisable amongst consumers. It is known to sell a wide range of natural products that fits with the consumers requirements. It is known to be a trademark for natural and ethical beauty brand against other top hair and beauty brands such as Clinique and Dior. Not only does it sell a service but it is very passionate about living their values such as against cosmetic testing on animals, fair community trade and protecting our planet, which I think is very respectable.

“The business of business should not just be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed.” Dame Anita Roddick, Human Rights Activist. Founder of The Body Shop.

In conclusion...

Overall culture is very important within an organisation because it gives an organisation its own identity and uniqueness. The culture of a business often occurs automatically as the way employees are treated. An organisation has to make sure that the visible aspect of culture is appealing which makes the business a success. The hidden aspect of culture is also important for the business because it affect the visible aspects. One of the findings I learnt was each business has a culture on the technique they run.

Reference:

Mullins, L. (2007), Management and organisational behaviour, organisational culture, eighth edition, chapter 19, page 719)

http://www.thebodyshop.com/_en/_ww/values-campaigns/index.aspx
Notes and my own understanding from Marys lecture on organisation culture, week 4.