Introduction

1.1 Organizational Culture at Nordstrom

Briefly, organizational culture refers to a pattern of shared values and beliefs as demonstrated
by employees in their daily activities and behaviours. An organizational culture influences and is
influenced by the occupational or industry peculiarities tied to the organization as well as the
national culture of the country in which the organization operates. It is not an end result but
rather a fascinating process that blends values and links individuals. Bégin (2007:2). Khan
(2005) supports the argument that organizational culture is the set of operating principles that
determine how people behave within the context of the company. Underlying the observable
behaviors of people are the beliefs, values, and assumptions that dictate their actions.

The underlying principle is that culture is the dynamic, superfluous phenomenon that will with
time become part of you. So what are characteristics of cultures that exist within specific
organizations? It is common knowledge that organizations contain not one, but several cultures
and that these cultures tend to change over time. Robbins (2005) identified the following
characteristics

 Innovation and risk taking

 Attention to detail
 Outcome orientation
 People orientation
 Team orientation
 Aggressiveness
 Stability

Hooper (2008) in his address of the New University of Kazakhstan identified that Culture stems
from three elements:

 founders values
 shared learning experiences of members
 New beliefs brought in by new members or leaders but adopted by the group.

In describing the culture of Nordstrom one can deduce from that passage that it had all the
elements of the above. A brief history tells us that the owner in the early 1920 went out of his
way to make sure that a woman who had wanted to mend shoes those specific shoes are taken
care off. These stories in the history of this organization are not uncommon as they are well
documented and form part of the culture within this organization. There is a sense of strong
centricity towards customer satisfaction that is forever displayed by the sales people who work
for this company. Cameron and Quinn (1999) are also of the view that culture is sometimes
created by the initial founder of the firm. Nordstrom’s culture is primarily strong due to the fact

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 that they are a high performing organization that has over time increased employee
commitment and loyalty by yielding a sustainable competitive advantage.

Within this organization it is evident that culture and indoctrination of the staff who just been
employed by the company particularly during the orientation phase made life that much
interesting. The fact that new hires were given a single card that tells them that is the handbook
that this company uses illustrates the belief system that is prevailing in the organizations. It is
expected that sales people are seen and act as “Super-heroes” who will come to anybody’s help
or rescue when in need. These selfless acts of heroism ensured that the organization will be in
position to achieve far more that it expected to do based on their projections. The “Nordies” as
their sales people or teams called themselves went beyond the call of duty to ensure that
customers receive the number one priority in the execution of their duties.

1.2 Importance of culture to an Organization

Understanding culture is fundamental to the description and analysis of organizational

phenomena. For some, culture is considered the “glue” that holds an organization together and
for others, the “compass” that provides direction. Tharp (unknown,2). For Nordstrom’s culture
that is very strong as it has managed to achieve above par revenues for more than 28 years
surpassing its nearest rivals. What is evident in their culture is the following artefacts:

 A strong culture is a talent-attractor. Your organizational culture is part of the package

that prospective employees look at when assessing your organization. The best people
want more than a salary and good benefits. They want an environment they can enjoy
and succeed in.
 A strong culture is talent-retainer. How likely are people to stay if they have other
options and don’t love where they are? Your organizational culture is a key component
of a person’s desire to stay.
 A strong culture engages people. People want to be engaged in their work. Your culture
can engage people. Engagement creates greater productivity, which can impact
profitability.
 A strong culture creates energy and momentum. By building a culture that is vibrant
and allows people to be valued and express themselves and you will create a very real
energy. That positive energy will permeate the organization and create a new
momentum for success. Energy is contagious and will build on itself, reinforcing the
culture and the attractiveness of the organization.
 A strong culture changes the view of “work.” Most people have a negative connotation
of the word work. When you create a culture that is attractive, people’s view of “going to
work” will change. Which will lead to the best results?

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  A strong culture creates greater synergy. A strong culture brings people together. When
people have the opportunity to (and are expected to) communicate and get to know
each other better, they will find new connections. These connections will lead to new
ideas and greater productivity - in other words, you will be creating synergy.
 A strong culture makes everyone more successful. The bottom line is that an
investment of time, talent and focus on organizational culture will give you all of the
above benefits. Not only is creating a better culture a good thing to do for the human
capital in the business, it makes good business sense too. http://ezinearticles.com/?
Seven-Reasons-Organizational-Culture-Matters&id=164337.

The above reasons are of utmost importance in as far as ensuring that the organizational culture
is maintained and that it is seen as important. We learnt from the case that Nordstrom made it
a point that, the type of sales force that they employ is passionate, compassionate and it can
actually empathize with the customer to deliver superior customer service. This in the context
of bringing in revenue that is unsurpassed for at least three decades is important. The fact that
there were sales people who worked for this company and became “rich” in the long term is
evident. The entrepreneurship that was instilled by the co-founders of the company within their
staff and family is the legacy of some of the above reasons.

Culture is important in any organization as it provides the foundation from which employees can
move from. The absence or lack of culture in organizations is most likely to create chaos where
people do as they please without regard for the basic or minimum ethical standards that must
be lived by. When culture is present in organizations it permeates through everyday execution
of the employees activities. Organizations need to be able to drum and instil cultural values that
people can be proud and that in the long term could bring in revenues that will ensure
sustainability of the organization. The belief system, ethical, moral values of employees needs to
be able to direct their actions towards greater good of the organization.

2.1 An assessment of Nordstrom culture, is it weak or strong?

An organization’s culture encapsulates its core values and is instrumental in shaping and
defining an organization’s path. It has the informal potential to energize members and
coordinate behavior. Success of a service-oriented organization is highly dependent on its
informal culture, but formal rules are crucial for standardizing performance.

1. Facts (what does the culture think?) Each organizational culture has its system of facts

which members use to explain how and why the organization operates the way it does.

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 These facts make up what might be viewed as the social knowledge of the organization…

social knowledge comprises conceptions of symbolic relationships among problems,

persons, interests and action which imply certain notions of preferable public behavior….

It is dependent upon the assumptions that organizational members hold.

2. Practices: (what does the culture do?) Organizational members continually reveal the

practices for accomplishing organizational activities, for “getting the job done.” Practices

known as “tasks” are often initially expressed formally by a supervisor, but come to be

realized in the particular performances of organizational members as they become

competent in the ways of their situated activities… practices such as “looking busy when

there’s nothing to do” are typically never expressed formally but are nearly always

disclosed informally.

3. Vocabularies (What does the culture say?): Specialized vocabularies, often called

vernacular or argot, often provides clues as to what are the relevant constructs, facts, and

practices of organizational life… it provides the most accessible place to begin exploration

of the organization’s experiences.

4. Metaphors: (how does the culture say it?) useful displays of organizational culture

related to vocabularies are the metaphors used by organizational members…

organizational metaphors, when used by members, may be helpful in understanding a

sense of how members structure their experiences.

5. Stories (what does the culture narrate?) Each culture also contains stories which

members exchange on a regular basis. Stories such as personal successes, legends and

failures allow members a sense of organizational history as well as a sense of future

possibilities for organizational activity.

6. Rites and Rituals (what does the culture enact?) each organizational culture develops

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 various rites and rituals which orient members temporally and serve as occasions for

sense-making. Reviews, meetings and coffee breaks can take on ritualistic aspects that

give organizational members a sense of membership. Pacanowsky and Trujillo (1982)

From the above framework one can then be able to deduce that the culture of the Nordstrom
organization is very strong. It is clear from the case that there is always an inferred
understanding of what needs and must be done by the employees in this company in order for
it to be making such huge profits even in the times of recession. The Nordstrom culture is
characterised by a lot of giving and doing more for the customer. The framework outlined above
is the testimony to the way in which the organization does business with its customers. As
indicated earlier in the previous questions that Nordstrom does not have a formal “rule book”
but rather has in so many ways created a platform where the employees can thrive and be able
to become entrepreneurs in their own right. Nordstrom employees clearly want to be
associated with this high organizational performance. There is a definite increase employee
commitment and loyalty through their actions. This in turn yields a sustainable competitive
advantage over other organization in the same business.

2.2 Sources of culture at Nordstrom

Nordstrom’s sources of culture can be summarized as the following:

 Regular Behaviours: Which refers to the ways in which members greet one
another, dress, lunch/coffee breaks, treatment of older members
 Norms: how hard one works in the organization, weekend work, work taken home
 Dominant values: “customers are number one,” high quality products, travel style,
importance of family
 Philosophy: overall views of employees, community relationships/partnerships, profit
motive
 Rules: managing time, getting along with co-workers, supervisor relationships, fringe
benefit management, gender relationships
 Feeling or climate: physical layout, level of trust among workers, attitudes towards
customers, safety/security, dominant feelings

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 3.1 Systems theory of production planning

3.2 Advantages and disadvantages of external change agents

The external change agent however on the other hand comes in with a different perspective on
things. They come as having no baggage of the past failures of the change processes that have
taken place within the establishment. Their main task is to be able to change the organization
around and implement innovative changes that would ultimately be of benefit to the
organization at large. Loveridge and Cummings (1996:400) list the following advantages of
external change agents:

 They can start afresh and are not burdened by negative stereo types.

 They are in a position to see the problems of all members equally.

 They are independent of the power structure and are not threatened by superiors.

 Outsiders are free to work in a variety of ways with different members of the system.

 They can bring new ideas.

This is further supported by Waddell et al (2004), by adding that external change agents have:

 Expertise that is unavailable internally;

 More objective perspective into the organisational development process;

 Ability to probe difficult issues and to question the status quo;

 They are also afforded some deference and power.

Nelson and Quick (2007:418) note that external change agents have an outsider’s objective
view and that they are impartial.

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 External change agents are in most organizations seen as the independent people that they
ought to be and that they must play a role in shaping the organizations thinking. Any change
initiative will need to supplement with their expertise and thus ensuring and objective view of
the situation.

How ever the disadvantage to being an outside person in to the organization is that you may be
seen as a stranger and thus be threat. One will lack the knowledge of the norms and value
systems of the organization. May not identify with or feel the pain of the client system,
Loveridge and Cummings (1996:400). Waddell et al (2004) argue that the external change agent
may need extra time required to familiarise themselves with the organisation. The organisation
may be wary of outsiders and hence the perception within the organisation that outsiders have
little invested in outcomes in the process.

4.1 A change model for diagnosing and implementing change

4.2 Formulating a vision for the future.

References

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 Nelson, D.L., and Quick, J.C., 2007, Understanding organizational behaviour, 3rd Edition Cengage
Learning EMEA

Waddell, D., Cummings, T.G., and Worley, CG, 2004, Organisational Development and Change,
2nd Edition, Thompson

Loveridge, C.E. and Cummings, SH., 1996, Nursing Management in the new paradigm, Jones &
Bartlett Publishers

Pacanowsky M and O’Donnell Trujillo N. “Communication and Organizational Cultures. Western

Journal of Communication 46 (Spring 1982) 115-130.

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