Comparative Management in Developed and Developing Countries - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Corporate culture at Patagonia 2 Fit between Patagonia’s Organisational Structure and Corporate Culture 5 Chouinard’s leadership style 7 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction This report looks at evaluating the corporate culture which is present in Patagonia and looks at analyzing the fit which is seen between the corporate culture and organizational structure which is witnessed in the organization. This will be followed by evaluating the leadership skills which Chouinard displays and will highlight on the different factors which have contributed towards the success of Patagonia. This will thereby help to understand the manner in which the organization has performed and will help to find out the different factors which have contributed towards the success of Patagonia. Corporate culture at Patagonia The corporate culture which Patagonia denotes is one where people work together and look at being innovative so that the goals can be achieved in a better way and the resources are used in the most productive manner. The organizational culture demonstrated by Patagonia is flexible and freedom to act. This denotes that people look to work together in clan or groups and prefer to do things together (Iverson, 2010). This sort of culture shows faith and reliability on one another and people within the group believes on the skills which people possesses within the group. This culture helps people to come together and work as a unit which helps to ensure that the overall productivity increases and the business is able to carry out the different functions in the most effective manner. In addition to it Patagonia also denotes a culture of adhocracy where they look to be dynamic and entrepreneurial so that they are able to focus on important areas and develop a process through which maximum effectiveness can be achieved. In addition to it the process has also ensured that they do the first things at the beginning and look to be innovative so that the business process gains effectiveness (Fujimoto, Hartel & Azmat, 2013). This was a feature which was also demonstrated by Chouinard as it helped the organization to be innovative and take decisions through which better use of resources became possible. The culture of being innovative was matched by the fact that they have to look towards being ethical and carry out the different duties entrusted to them in the most beneficial manner. This ensured that the employees look towards making different mechanism to produce the same goods and services so that environmental harm is controlled (Shane, 2005). This mechanism has helped Patagonia to ensure that they look at being committed towards the society and develops mechanism through which better satisfaction of the employees becomes possible. The corporate culture at Patagonia reflects one where people can mix freely with one another as it provides an opportunity through which people are able to come together and work for a common purpose. This mechanism ensured that the office didn’t have walls and open floors were provided so that people could come together and work for a common purpose. This mechanism also helped to bring a change in the manner decisions are making so that the overall framework through which decisions are taken helps to maximize the overall productivity for the organization. This has helped people to come together to work towards as a common unit so that a common platform is developed which will help to work in a manner through which better decisions are taken (Hoobler, Basadur & Lemmon, 2007). The overall culture looks at analyzing the manner in the manner in which different dimensions of culture were seen in Patagonia and helped to bring about a complete change through which the organization works. Having a culture of friendliness and adhocracy together helped Patagonia to deal with the different resources in a better manner. The culture helped Patagonia to work in groups where people looked at working towards a common goal and the efforts were directed in a manner through which the business was able to gain better productivity (Stoner & Russell-Chaplin, 2007). The culture prevalent in Patagonia was one where people came together and focused on a common goal. The overall mechanism thereby helped to bring a change in the manner decisions were taken and helped to multiply the effectiveness in the use of resources. The culture which Patagonia adopted was further one where people worked in clan and respected each other. This has helped to ensure that no people raise voices or fingers at others and looks to work in a manner where they are able to come together so that they no discrepancies remains within the working environment. This has helped the employees to come together and ensure that their concentrated and combines efforts provides maximum gains for the business (Kundu, 2009). The overall phenomenon as a result has helped to maximize the gains and created a platform through which superior results are achieved. The culture also denotes flexibility where employees at even the lower position are allowed the flexibility to take decisions and look towards moving higher up in the hierarchy. This has ensured that the employees look at the different objects together and know that their contribution towards the organization will be rewarded. The process enabled the culture of individuals to be shaped and moulded based on the ethical norms which is prevalent and has provided an opportunity through which the long term gains have increased. The corporate culture has been developed keeping in mind the manner in which social, economic and environmental concerns for the business will benefit them. This has created a sense of responsibility and has provided the mechanism through which gains have increased (Kwak, 2013). The corporate culture has been adopted and shaped in such a manner that it looks at different aspects of the business fundamentals and helps to develop a process and policy which will use the resources in the most effective manner and will multiply the effectiveness of decision making. The clear communication and identification of corporate culture has ensured that better productivity is achieved and the business based on it is able to take better decisions and ensure better opportunities of growth. Fit between Patagonia’s Organisational Structure and Corporate Culture The corporate culture which is present in Patagonia shows a proper fit with the organizational structure of the organization. The organizational culture demonstrated by Patagonia is flexible and freedom to act. This denotes that people look to work together in clan or groups and prefer to do things together. This sort of culture shows faith and reliability on one another and people within the group believes on the skills which people possesses within the group. This culture helps people to come together and work as a unit which helps to ensure that the overall productivity increases and the business is able to carry out the different functions in the most effective manner. The organizational structure which has been adopted in one which is flat and people are allowed to work freely and mix with each other. This is in addition to the fact that there are no walls and offices and people are allowed to work and mingle freely with each other. The phenomenon which has been adopted further reflects that the structure is such that there is no one who is higher in the ranks or lower in ranks. This has helped to ensure that no people raise voices or fingers at others and looks to work in a manner where they are able to come together so that they no discrepancies remains within the working environment (Rajput, Marwah, Balli, & Gupta, 2013). This has helped the employees to come together and ensure that their concentrated and combines efforts provides maximum gains for the business. The overall phenomenon as a result has helped to maximize the gains and created a platform through which superior results are achieved. The culture also denotes flexibility where employees at even the lower position are allowed the flexibility to take decisions and look towards moving higher up in the hierarchy. This has enabled and provided the organizational structure to gain maximum effectiveness as the different decisions which are taken helps to reflect productivity and ensures that decisions are quicker (Colman, Pulford & Rose, 2008). The organizational structure where there is no hierarchy and people work together in groups is represented clearly in the organizational culture. In addition to it Patagonia also denotes a culture of adhocracy where they look to be dynamic and entrepreneurial so that they are able to focus on important areas and develop a process through which maximum effectiveness can be achieved (Day, 2007). In addition to it the process has also ensured that they do the first things at the beginning and look to be innovative so that the business process gains effectiveness. This is being completely identified in the organizational structure as even employees at the lower position are allowed to voice their opinion and come up with advices which can help to improve productivity (Hicks-Clarke & Iles, 2000). This has ensured that the decisions taken are quicker and has maximized the overall gain and productivity through which decisions are taken. The overall changes has been so strong that having a proper cultural mix and then adhering to the different requirements of organizational structure has ensured that the resources are used in the best possible manner. The corporate culture has been developed keeping in mind the manner in which social, economic and environmental concerns for the business will benefit them. This has created a sense of responsibility and has provided the mechanism through which gains have increased. The organizational structure which has been adopted ensures that it aligns with the corporate culture so that no clashes or differences emerge. This has helped to come together to a common platform and look at the different areas through which gains will be increased (Barbosa & Cabral-Cardoso, 2007). Having a proper fit has ensured that the resources are not wasted and the business is always ready to deal with the different changes and presents an opportunity through which better results will be achieved. This has helped him to take different financial decisions at times when the business was not doing well and has thereby helped to ensure that the business gained. The process also helped to bring a change in the manner decisions were taken and developed the environmental ethics. The overall framework has thereby supported and provided an opportunity through which different facets of the business was developed and has provided an opportunity through which resources are better used (O’Leary & Weathington, 2006). The proper alignment of the corporate culture with the organizational structure has provided an opportunity through which the organization works as a single unit and look at developing a business process for better decisions. This mechanism also helped to bring a change in the manner decisions are making so that the overall framework through which decisions are taken helps to maximize the overall productivity for the organization. This has helped people to come together to work towards as a common unit so that a common platform is developed which will help to work in a manner through which better decisions are taken (Alkhafaji, 2010). The process has yielded effectiveness and ensured that the business moves from one area to another and ensures better productivity and growth over a longer period of time. The overall working culture has thereby been shaped and has provided an opportunity through which the different facets through which effectiveness is achieved has been adopted. The process requires that Patagonia look at carrying out the business process in a same fashion as it will provide an opportunity through which resources will be better used and decisions taken after considering different important aspects. Chouinard’s leadership style Yvon Chouinard is a successful leader who is a climber, surfer, entrepreneur, environmentalist and a philanthropist who looks to carry out the business on his own terms and looks towards removing the differences between the employees and others. Chouinard seems to be a very inspirational leader as he has different followers who look to work according to the instructions provided by them. Employees follow the advice which is provided to them by Chouinard and are willing to carry out the work without any complaints. Chouinard further looks to mix work with play which has ensured that he is approachable. This has helped the employees to come up with problems and arrive at solutions by approaching and speaking with Chouinard. Chouinard has been successful as a leader because his intuition has helped him to take steps and develop values that he has learnt as a climber. This has helped him to take different financial decisions at times when the business was not doing well and has thereby helped to ensure that the business gained. The process also helped to bring a change in the manner decisions were taken and developed the environmental ethics. Chouinard ensured that everyone adhered to the environmental ethics which has thereby further helped him to consolidate his position and ensure that the organization was able to get better returns due to the leadership skills of Chouinard. The inspirational skills demonstrated by Chouinard as he showed tough empathy towards the employees while looking to ensure that the employees cared personality and passionately carried out the work which was assigned to them. He was capable of exploiting the strengths of his workforce and develop a process through which the weakness was hidden and overall productivity increased. Chouinard also ensured that he remained innovative and brought innovative solutions with regard to the safe modes of production, ensured enthusiasm among the employees and at the same time developed a culture where people were able to take decisions (Pless, & Maak, 2008). Chouinard also provided the required flexibility where he allowed even employees at lower rank to rise higher up in the ranks based on their contribution and the manner they were able to generate productivity within the organization. While being inspirational Chouinard ensured that they look towards being ethical in all the activities carried out by them. Chouinard ensured that the employees remain ethical and work towards ethical restoration program so that employees take steps towards being committed towards the organizations environmental requirements and contribute towards the profits of the organization so that the society on the whole is able to gain. Chouinard further looked at achieving a balance between work, family and play so that he could work on the different dimensions and looks at ensuring that the overall goals were better achieved. Chouinard ensured that he remained ethical in the different issues and ensured that the problems were handled in the best possible manner. The leadership skills also denoted contextual identity as he was able to shape the culture of Patagonia in such a manner that people remained and worked with the organization for long period of times. Chouinard also mobilized his employees in different teams and allowed them to pick up values through which adaptive changes were possible and create a scope through which overall satisfaction and growth of both the organization and employee become possible (Gibson & Cristina, 2005). His contextual leadership skills provided an opportunity through which he was able to maintain discipline within the organization and the employees and develop forums were people were allowed to speak on different topics and discuss the different issues without having to deal with the problems associated with suppression from any one. This allowed the employees to ensure that they were able to discuss all the issues and created an environment which was friendly and provided the employees with the opportunity to take different decisions through which gains were achieved (Lewis, 2011). They ensured that there was no blame game and fingers were pointed at anyone. This helped to develop the required harmony and provided the required scope through which the employees were able to denote their skills. Chouinard further kept no differences between him and his employees and worked and mixed with all people at all levels. He ensured that people don’t treat him as the owner but instead as their friend and colleagues. This enabled him to interact with the employees properly and provided the required scope and dimensions through which the business was able to understand the different needs (Frese, 2005). This helped to bring all people together and created the required scope through which better decisions were taken and the business was able to reflect on the positive side of taking decisions. The overall framework helped to bring a change in the value system and imbibed a culture through which the business was able to grow and bring a change in the manner the business worked. The leadership qualities demonstrated by Chouinard was one of friendly and inspirational nature and at the same time ensure innovation and adhering to the different ethical requirements. The overall framework thereby helped to ensure that the leadership qualities provided maximum gains and ensured that a process was developed through which better decisions were taken and the overall objectives of the business and the person was achieved to the fullest extent possible. This helped to ensure better use of resources and created a culture through which better productivity were achieved. Conclusion The paper thereby helps to present the organizational culture which is present in Patagonia by analyzing the working style, decision making process and other variables which will help to understand the manner in which decisions are taken. This is followed by matching the same with the organizational structure so that proper alignment of the goals and resources becomes possible. This will provide an opportunity through which business resources will not be wasted and will provide an opportunity to improve the manner in which different business activities are carried out. The report lastly highlights the leadership skills which has been demonstrated by Chouinard and shows the proper mix of the leadership skills with the organizational culture and structure. This helps to provide a framework and understand the different dimensions through which business decisions have been taken and throws light on areas which will further improve the performance. 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