Emilio Villarreal
April 29, 2014
Texas A&M International University
COMM 4325-204
Organizational Cultural Analysis- Reebok
Organizational Cultural Analysis - Reebok
Reebok is a known international brand that sells sports and lifestyle products. It started its big name in India where until today it out beats every competitor in that area. Competitors like Nike or Adidas cannot compete with Reebok over in the Indian coast. The reason I decided to do a cultural analysis of this fitness company is because that is exactly what they believe in, fitness. Reebok promotes a healthy lifestyle that includes proper exercises and activity throughout your day. I am a very strong believer in that sort of lifestyle too, which is the reason I have decided to research the organizational. I plan to discuss the company's organizational culture in the eyes of the employee. The history of the company is awesome, and mission the company hopes to accomplish is really inspiring.
The company was started in 1890 by Joseph William Foster in England. The original mission of the company at that time was to enhance track shoe equipment in order to achieve better results on the track field. It started on a very low budget where all the shoes were handmade and crafted. Even though they never brought up much attention, they were successful enough to be worn by the athletes in the 1924 Summer Olympics. Then in 1958, Foster’s grandsons decided to branch out to form a new company which they would call Reebok. They picked the name Reebok, which means African Gazelle, because they wanted to enact speed, style, and grace. Even though the company was selling the shoes at a decent rate in the United Kingdom, they were still having a hard time getting the sho...
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...Miller, p. 12).
I believe that Reebok amplifies this type of culture so much because as soon as new employees are brought up they are bombarded with this sort of lifestyle that will supposedly make them happier and more effective in the workplace and their life in general.
Think of the Reebok as a company like Google. It shows you how the employees get everything they want from the company like a daycare, a gym, and cafeteria with food. It promotes the humans resource approach because it makes the employees feel happy, causing the employees to fulfill their job with a better attitude and in return making the company more productive. The thing about Reebok is that the company has more to it than just the human resource approach. It is a cultural approach that influences new employees as they come in and forms a pattern of the lifestyle they are trying to go by.
Adidas started in 1900 by Adi Dassler. Adi and his brother Rudolf were making adidas and they split the company and he made adidas and his older brother Rudolf went and made puma. The company was going to be called Addas. Over the years they have grown a lot. Adidas is a corporation, “that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world.”
After reading the article, “Why 62,000 Abercrombie & Fitch Employees Are Suing The Company,” there were two different problems that were brought to attention regarding Abercrombie & Fitch’s business ethics. The two problems were the mistreatment of their employees, and how their business marketing strategy is not well developed throughout their company. Abercrombie & Fitch is a company that has always been concerned about their image, which leads us to their, “look policy.” A “look policy” is a policy that relates to a certain look every employee has to follow to be eligible to work there. The company is facing a high-profile lawsuit over its, “look policy” (Greenhouse, 2015). Each employee is forced to purchase the company’s clothes to wear to work, each time a new sales guide comes out (Greenhouse, 2015). This is known as compelled purchases, which is a violation of the state’s labor codes (Greenhouse, 2015). They force the “look policy,” way too strong upon their employees, which developed into a huge problem. The company is facing a high-profile lawsuit
For the purposes of this paper we will be discussing the boycott effects on Abercrombie & Fitch; a U.S based clothing company. At first we will analyse the concept of boycotting international companies to understand the different choices boycotters make when targeting the guilty company. We will look at the history of the company; it’s beginnings, evolution of concept, failures and successes. An important part of this paper will be assessing the main factors and reasons that led to the boycott. We are going to be analysing the effects of the boycott keeping in mind that although the reasons behind the controversial boycott have taken place a couple of years ago, only in 2013 has the boycott been initiated by several different parties involved. To be able to understand what triggered the boycott to begin we are going to try to understand how it all came about to begin with. There are several concerned parties in the boycott and each have their own agenda and reasoning to boycott the company. To give a more thorough analysis of the initiators of this particular boycott their relation to one another will be discussed in the paper. Another important part of the boycott is the different types of effects that these boycotters have on the company. We will closely study the reasons, the effects, the affected parties, and the path for damage control and reconciliation chosen by Abercrombie & Fitch as well as its results both the negative and the positive. Finally we will discuss the effectiveness of the boycott on the Abercrombie’s internationalization, market strategy, competitiveness, and market activities.
The OCI Circumplex showed that the company has a culture with moderately strong Oppositional and Humanistic-Encouraging styles. It also significantly displays Avoidance and Self-Actualizing styles. The two least prominent styles are Perfectionistic and Approval. At first glance, the organization may seem to be working against itself, since the styles are on opposite sides of the circumplex. This is not really the case though.
The company was originally founded by Phil Knight, a Stanford University business graduate who had been a member of the track team as an undergraduate at the University of Oregon. He started a company called “Blue Ribbon Sports” which he used to sell imported shoes from Japan to the U.S. market. His future partner Bill Bowerman was a nationally respected track and field coach at the University of Oregon. Bowerman and Knight became partners in the early 1970’s, when Knight ended his partnership with the Japanese firm after a disagreement. Knight and Bowerman were ready to make the jump from being a footwear distributor to designing and manufacturing their own brand of athletic shoes. They selected a brand mark today known internationally as the “Swoosh,” which was created by a graphic design student at Portland State University named Carolyn Davidson. The brand’s product always featured new innovation and made a great impression on the individuals that used them.
First, I want to provide a little background on REI, Recreational Equipment, Inc. REI is an outdoor equipment and apparel supplier. REI is a co-op, or a consumer cooperative. This means that the company is not publicly traded, but owned by their members. A group of mountain climbers who needed outdoor equipment started the company many years ago and now consists of over four million members nationwide and still growing. For twenty dollars, a consumer can buy a lifetime membership to the REI consumer co-op. In doing so, the member is eligible to receive a portion of the company’s profits depending on the purchases the member makes throughout the year. REI has made FORTUNE magazine’s list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” ever since FORTUNE started ranking companies. According to REI’s website, they believe “employees are the heart of the co-op and the ultimate source of our success.” This statement already shows that REI places a high value on human resources. Now let us look at those HRM functions that keep REI employees the focus of their su...
As we learn from the case study, the Lincoln Electric Company is the largest global manufacturer of machines for welding, which are used in all kinds of construction projects. This means that the company has a large global presence and many employees, so its culture affects thousands of its workers. Even though it is now 2014, the company still has a large market share and very satisfied employees, so clearly the culture leaves employees satisfied and motivates them to work hard for the company.
This essay gives a basic idea of what organizational culture is, and emphasis on the controversial issues of managing organizational cultures. As there are various definitions for organizational culture, and none of them are universally agreed. Therefore, for an easier understanding by readers, the definition of organizational culture given in this essay focusing on levels of culture, and will be discussed t together with Schein's(1983) framework. Before talking about managing organizational cultures, the types will be introduced first. Because, there are some descriptions about managing different types of organizational cultures, in the following content.
This chapter is one of the most influential elements in telling about the organizations workplace, because it affects how you work and how one views his/her identity. In this chapter, it explains the workplace culture and how things are done, for example, we learn things through a process of socialization and subcultures. “Through socialization, individuals acquire a working knowledge of their society’s values and norms…and they get a sense of where they fit in by learning about the roles they are expected to occupy” (Volti 135). From this chapter I learned about workplace culture,“Which shapes the kind of work people do and the way in which they do it”(Volti 133). Also, how work can affect one’s identity,“The occupations we hold and the jobs we do can affect how we see ourselves and how we are perceived by others”(Volti 138). Subcultures are a small culture within a larger one; for example, within the organization(large culture) there can be smaller groups of people with similarities who have the same beliefs as yourself (subculture). This is related to the two organizations I chose because they are both organizations that are intended to help others, and by working in an environment where people have the same intention as I, it might lead to a more positive workplace and happier environment. If for example, the coworkers
Corporate culture is the shared values and meanings that members hold in common and that are practiced by an organization’s leaders. Corporate culture is a powerful force that affects individuals in very real ways. In this paper I will explain the concept of corporate culture, apply the concept towards my employer, and analyze the validity of this concept. Research As Sackmann's Iceberg model demonstrates, culture is a series of visible and invisible characteristics that influence the behavior of members of organizations. Organizational and corporate cultures are formal and informal. They can be studied by observation, by listening and interacting with people in the culture, by reading what the company says about its own culture, by understanding career path progressions, and by observing stories about the company. As R. Solomon stated, “Corporate culture is related to ethics through the values and leadership styles that the leaders practice; the company model, the rituals and symbols that organizations value, and the way organizational executives and members communicate among themselves and with stakeholders. As a culture, the corporation defines not only jobs and roles; it also sets goals and establishes what counts as success” (Solomon, 1997, p.138). Corporate values are used to define corporate culture and drive operations found in “strong” corporate cultures. Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, and Bonar Group, the engineering firm I work for, all exemplify “strong” cultures. They all have a shared philosophy, they value the importance of people, they all have heroes that symbolize the success of the company, and they celebrate rituals, which provide opportunities for caring and sharing, for developing a spiri...
The concept of organizational culture is one of the most debated topics for researchers and theorists. There is no one accepted definition of culture. People even said that it is hard to define culture and even more change it. It is considered a complex part of an organization although many have believed that culture influences employee behavior and organizational effectiveness (Kilmann, Saxton, & Serpa 1985; Marcoulides & Heck, 1993; Schein, 1985a, 1990).
Organizational culture is the key to organizational excellence and leadership is a function to create and manage culture (Chen 1992). Organizational researchers have become more aware of the importance of understanding and enhancing the cultural life of the institution. "This study is one of a group of companies with high-performance in North America, interest in organizational culture is an important element in organizational success. Tesluk et al (1997). Looking at the" soft "of the organization, the researchers claim that" the organizational culture may be suitable for a means to explore and understanding of life at work, and make them more humane and more pronounced (Tesluk et al, 1997), and the graves (1986) also stressed the importance of corporate culture, and the need for research strategies and methods of investigating the various elements and processes of the organizational culture. He argued the culture that meets the basic needs of belonging and security in an attempt to describe this gathering that culture is "the only thing that distinguishes one company from another gives them coherence and self-confidence and rationalises the lives of those who work for it. Standard that may seem random, is to enhance the life to be different, and safe to be similar, and culture is a concept that provides the means to achieve this compromise (p. 157).
Nevertheless, Nike is an extremely diverse company with outstanding organizational structure, impressive marketing strategy, and innovative products. The organizational structure of the Nike Corporation helped them become a leading innovator for the world with creative apparels and shoes. Their intelligent marketing strategies assist them in advertising their products to motive their customers and sell them. Their innovative product motivates customers with great performance footwear and quality designs to take on any obstacles. The Nike Corporation discovers various ways to improve their organizational structure to inspire the world.
There are some strategies that Adidas implement for its human resource management, such as giving bonuses and employee-oriented leadership (UKEssays, 2015). By having a good communication between the manager and the employees, the employees can feel satisfied to work in
As a company matures, its cultural values are refined and strengthened. The early values of a company’s culture exert influence over its future values. An organisation tries to preserve itself from external shocks. Organizational culture determines what types of people are hired by an organization and what types of people are left out. Moreover, once new employees are hired, the company assimilates new employees and teaches them the way things are done in the