Organisational Behaviour - Culture Metaphor

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‘Perfection or Bust’ Assignment 4 As Morgan notes culture is identified through the beliefs and rituals of the organisation. By investigating the culture of Design Inc we can see how the ‘Corporate culture’ of this organisation was influenced by the beliefs or ‘dream’ of the founder Brown. An organisation has a culture that is set out by the management to function in a certain way and to a certain motto. But as Jassawalla and Sashittal (2002) suggest, cultures are created from the bottom up and as much from the top down. Brown created a culture in Design Inc of perfection and best in class through his ethos ‘Perfection or bust’. The foundation of this culture was Brown’s ideology that satisfaction in his work was not achieved through finical reward but by meeting the standards of perfection he set. It was this promise of perfection and development through the Academy that enabled Brown to sell this cultural belief to those joining the organisation. He was concise with this message and what it meant. He did not offer the luxury and frills of other companies or the salary, but he did offer perfection and the satisfaction one gained by reaching it. As Morgan shows through Linda Smirich’s case study, it is the ethos of an organisation that drives the culture. In the case of the insurance company ethos, ‘We grow friends’ Smirich observed the friendly nature the employees adapted to each other. We can see the ethos in Design Inc is the belief in perfection and to be the best, which was founded on Brown’s motto ‘Perfection or bust’. We can see in this case study the critical role the leader plays within a culture, shaping the values that guide the organisation. In the case of Design Inc it is Brown’s dream of building an organisation that would be different to other commercial studios, ‘I’m not offering people jobs, I am offering them a unique educational experience’. It

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