Research Theme for Buss4 2013

Organisational culture describes the values, beliefs and behaviours which provide norms for the environment of an organisation (Anon., 2012). The culture of an organisation sets out to provide structure for employees within a business and often culture shows to be a strong factor in certain organisations. Edgar Schein, a culture theorist explains that the definition of organizational culture must be general otherwise factors may be eliminated which may contribute to culture within a business. (Anon., 2007). Culture impacts on the working procedures in which a business performs and effects the way in which the organisation is run on a daily basis.
The organisational iceberg theory proposed by French and Bell (1990) explains that there are both visible and invisible aspects that make up a business culture showing that visible aspects are known to customers however invisible aspects are hidden within the organisation. Examples of visible aspects are the structure and aims of a business including their views on how they wish to progress in the market. Using the Body Shop as an example of an organisation with a strong culture, the visible aspect shown to customers to have a big impact on their culture is their view on using fair trade products which are responsibly sourced. The Body Shop launched community fair trade in 1987 to benefit their suppliers helping to ensure they will obtain a fair price from the products they sell and benefiting consumers due to buying products containing natural ingredients. This programme has resulted in over 25,000 people in 22 countries worldwide benefiting from products sold by Body Shop. (Anon., 2012) This visible aspect of Body Shop has adapted their culture into showing their strong views in helping fair trade farmers across the globe to earn a fair price for their stock selling to the store, which may result in an increase in customer spending due to following their beliefs of the company. They promote this visible aspect in store