Organizational Culture at Dell Essay

The topic that is selected for discussion is organizational culture and how organizations implement this characteristic. The organization that is selected for discussion is Dell computers. The reason for choosing organizational culture is that organizations are getting bigger and stronger and they are expanding their horizon by implementing new and modernized strategies. They are changing their methodology and through effective culture management approaches they are expanding their customer base and they are enhancing their profits. That is the core reason of selecting organizational culture and this organizational culture is analyzed in Dell corporations. In this paper the concepts of organizational culture and certain aspects related to organizational culture are discussed in detail. Similarly, emphasis is laid on how Dell computers focus on organizational culture and what they have achieved because of the effective management of organizational culture. Different questions are formulated in order assess the topic and the organization. These questions are stated below: 1. What is organizational culture? 2. What are the characteristic of organizational culture? 3. What are the theories related to organizational cultures? 4. What is the organizational culture of Dell? 5. How Dell has managed its culture? 6. Is culture important for the stakeholders and how an organization can enhance their reputation because of culture? These six questions are used in this entire research to evaluate the organizational culture of Dell Corporation and primary and secondary sources are used for the analysis. It is expected from the analysis that the analysis of this research paper would depict the emphasis of culture and the importance of culture in organizations and how organizations like Dell experience positive returns in the long run just because of the culture. Although the topic is quite broad but only limited aspects of organizational culture are covered in this paper. Data Analysis Different data is collected from different sources and it is evaluated in this research paper. The sources that are used for this purpose are primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources are used for collecting and analyzing data related to the topic while the questionnaires are used for the assessing the culture of Dell Corporation and the employees of Dell are asked to fill out the questionnaires. Through the responses of employees the cultural management of dell is evaluated and analysis is made on the fact that how strong culture of Dell affects the performance of entire organization. Besides the primary sources certain secondary sources are also used in this research paper these sources are websites and books that are related to organizational change. The data that is fetched out from these sources are related to the research questions and all the research questions are answered through this data. Therefore, it can be said that through different sources the research questions are answered and emphasis of the research is based on the questionnaire that is developed. Results Organizational Culture Organizational culture is related to the field of management and organizational studies and it is directly related to the attitudes, beliefs, norms and values which are related to an organization. The culture of the organization simply defines the fact that how employees coordinate with each other and how they treat other stakeholders that are attached with the organization. The culture of the organization is closely linked with the corporate culture and it also incorporates the vision and mission of the organization. These cultural values are also related to the goals of an organization and they are broadly known as â€Å"beliefs and ideas†. These cultural values develop guidelines for the organization and certain norms are developed which would define how the employees of the organization should collaborate with other employees and what are the guidelines of collaborating with other stakeholders of the organization. As far as an organizational culture is concerned there are two important aspects related to culture these two important aspects are strong and weak culture. The organization will experience a strong culture when the staff is coordinating with each other and they will respond with the values of the organization and their norms and beliefs are also aligned with the organizations values and principles (Schien, 2004). One of the most beneficial elements of strong cultures is that it helps the organization in both the short and the long run and the organization acts as a well-oiled machine with no interferences from the stakeholders. In the similar manner if the organizational values and control would not be exercised properly then it can be said that the organization possess a weak culture. In a strong culture people are usually empowered to take decisions and they also believe that what they do is right because usually employees believe in themselves and in their environment. The characteristics of organizational culture are wide and varied and it varies with culture to culture. Member identity, group emphasis, tolerance of risk, conflict tolerance, Unit integration, control and etc are considered as the core characteristics of organizational culture. In this aspect certain issues are identified like are the employees integrated in the entire organization. They group related activities are integrated together, the employees are empowered enough to take the decisions, the leaders of the organization lead the organization by setting an example and etc. These factors and traits combine together to form the vital characteristics of an organization. As far as theories of organizational culture is concerned there are different theories of organizational culture like the theory of Hofstede, Deal and Kennedy, Schien and etc (Bolman, 2008). However, all of these theories have certain aspects that are common and they believe that corporate culture is quite hard to change and employees usually resist the change because they believe that the change in the culture of organizations would affect their performance and that is the reason why it becomes very hard for organizations to change the culture of their organizations. Dell Corporation Dell is considered as one of the leading manufacturers of computer systems and computers related products. The organization is considered as a multinational and it employees more than 82,700 people all around the world. In the initial stages Dell was crowned as the largest seller of PC’s and servers and this happened in the year 1990s. Dell has composed itself and it is considered as one of the best organizations as far as PC reliability is concerned. This organization achieved a second spot as far as computer sales are concerned within the industry and Hewlett Packard scored the first position. Dell’s brand is quite famous for its personal computers, data storage devices, software’s and different computers peripherals The organizational culture of this organization is quite phenomenal and this organization stresses a lot on their culture because they believe that through strong culture they can transform their entire organization. However, the characteristics of Dell’s culture are given below: The 360-degree approach: The culture of Dell Corporation is different from other organizations and like many companies this organization does not believe in future. The organizational culture of Dell depicts that the future is today and tonight. This organization believes in urgency and that is the reason why their customers are satisfied with them. The investing in future phenomenon can be considered as a trap and that is the reason why Dell Corporation focuses on the today phenomenon. The core focus of the organization is that the organizations don’t tolerate and maintain those businesses that are unable to make money. That is the reason why they are implementing a 360-degree approach for their organization. The General Managers and the Culture: The culture aspect is focused a lot by the organization and Dell maintains a zero tolerance policy on culture right from the beginning. The culture of the organization focuses on the fact that when they hear a business would lose its position in the market then they challenge the general manager to change the position and require appropriate explanations about this. The organization focuses on the effectiveness of business ventures and that is the reason why the expectations of the organization from different forms of business are related very high as compared to other organizations. Although Dell Corporation manages its employees quite effectively but if employees are not working properly then the organizations asks them to fix the stuff or ask for help because delivering the right product to the customers is the real essence of the company. The employees of the organization are involved in the major decision making process and the organization ask them question like how can Dell grow faster and how can we lower our cost and etc. Breakthroughs: The breakthrough idea of the organization is quite novel and the general managers usually come up with this idea and in Dell they succeed time and time again. The irrational expectations of the organization are filled up by the general managers. New Leaders: The culture of the organization is quite and the leadership of the organization is charismatic in nature. The organization usually throws individuals in deep end of the competition and then they evaluate that whether they can swim or not. If they are unable to swim then those employees are replaced by other ones. That is the reason why individuals that are aligned with hardworking culture are hired. New employees are hired in the organization but the ratios of new employees are less because previous employees in the organization are trained and then they are promoted to work for the betterment of the organization. Therefore, it can be said that the culture of the organization is a bit flexible and it varies with situation to situation but the entire emphasis of the organization is on the quality of work and if employees are unable to produce quality then they are unable to work in the organization (Fredman & Dell, 2006). Results from primary research A research was conducted and questionnaires were filled out by the senior management of the organization. The method of convenience sampling was used in the research and questionnaires were sent through email to 15 senior managers and only 4 of them responded back. The senior managers that are from the marketing department believe that Dell is managing its culture quite well and strong culture is prevails in the entire organization where every employee can easily coordinate with the customers and they can solve the queries of the customers. The stakeholders are grouped together quite strongly and that is the reason why the organization is progressing. Strong emphasis is laid on leadership and employee empowerment. Dell Corporation also focuses a lot on training the employees through different workshops and trainings and through these approaches members of the organization gives favorable results in both the short and the long run. Similarly, the manager of the finance department believes that Dell Corporation is quite strict on unhealthy accounting practices and they won’t allow their managers to engage in window dressing techniques. They won’t allow their employees to change the figures and they have maintained a stringent culture as far as rules and regulations are concerned. The senior manager of the organization believes that culture plays an important role in every organization and it is very important for the stakeholders because they are attached with other because of the culture. The senior managers of the organization believes that it is the culture that allows the employees to work for the betterment of the organization and through effective cultural values the customers are attracted towards the organization. All the managers believe that the goodwill of the organization is enhanced if the culture of the organization is strong and organization can reap maximum benefits from the culture of the organization. That is the reason why in order to progress in both the short and the long run organizations like Dell focuses a lot on cultural values of the organization. Conclusion Culture plays an important role in every organization and the organizational culture varies with organization to organization. It is the culture of the organization that defines rules and regulation with certain norms and the stakeholders of the organization has to comply with these norms and values. A strong culture is a winning strategy for most of the organizations and that is the reason why many companies emphasize a lot on organizational culture. Dell Corporation is quite rich in its principles and they focus a lot on organizational culture. The employees of the organization also believe that Dell Corporation possesses good culture and by complying with the principles of Dell the employees of the organization can achieve efficiency and effectiveness. Therefore, it can be said that for organizational success every organization must frame a proper culture of an organization and this culture should be followed by all the members of the organization. The effects of following a unified culture are huge and organizations can attain long term benefits by following a single culture.