Marchionnee Case Study Essay

Lueneburger, Christoph (2014). Lessons from Chrysler: how to rev up a purpose-driven corporate culture. Retrieved from

Continually sustaining engagement and motivation levels within the workforce is a challenge for even the most effectively managed organizations; not only in tumultuous times, but also in times of prosper (Catteeuw, Flynn, & Vonderhorst, 2007). The financial crisis and the nation’s unfavorable economic state have placed unprecedented levels of stress on organizations and their workforces (Poglianich & Antonek, 2009). Organizations need to position themselves to be able to sustain employee engagement and productivity during turbulent times by developing a strategic handling approach (Poglianich & Antonek, 2009). This paper will look into potential strategies for sustaining employee engagement, motivation, and productivity in tumultuous times. The focus organization of this paper is the 516th Software Maintenance Squadron (SMXS) which is a sub-unit within the United States Air Force (USAF).

Every organization has values and beliefs that define what they do and how they do things in the organization. These values have significant influence on how the employees behaves and the general performance of the organization – it is these set of values and beliefs, rooted deep in the company’s organizational structure that depict the “dos”, “don’t” and the “hows”, of the organization and these unequivocally represents the culture of the organization. This concept became popular in the 1980s when Peters and Waterman in their book: “In search of Excellence” presented the profound argument that, the success of any organization is inextricable linked to the quality of its culture. (Carpenter, M., Taylor, B., Erdogan, B. 2009 p183). The purpose of this paper is an attempt to analyse the impact diverse cultures played in the success of the Lincoln Electric Company.

McCoy’s Building Supply Centers and Chick-fil-A are two 70 years old, successful companies withstanding the test of time. They continue to sustain growth and longevity through economic turbulence, and remain competitive with new and upcoming companies. What is the secret to their success one might wonder? As we examine each company, we begin to recognize the existence of a strong organizational culture. The organizational culture of a company is the anchoring core values, which permeates throughout the company and its employees (Schermerhorn, Osborn & Uhl-Bien, 2012, pp. 9).

The culture type is consistent because if Chrysler hadn’t made the changes, who knows where they would be now. The old management at Chrysler had made many decisions that were costing the company money and it caught the attention of the higher executives and Mr. Marchionne.

It is evident the culture at Zappos would not be well accepted at Chrysler. Mr. Marchionne would not be playing Nerf Basketball in one of his corporate meeting rooms while conferencing with Fiat, an Italian automaker. In spite of the hierarchy culture that once dominated Chrysler; this organization has been successful in manifesting clan, adhocracy, and market culture tendencies. Before Sergio Marchionne being named the CFO of Chrysler. The culture was bureaucracy.

In order for Mr. Marchionne to represent the explicitly stated values and norms preferred by Chrysler, he had to use mechanisms involved with changing organizational culture at Chrysler. Edgar Schein gives 11 mechanisms that can be used to change an organizational culture in which Mr. Marchionne used a number of these. One of the first mechanisms he used to change the organizational culture of Chrysler was to use formal statements or organizational philosophy, mission, vision, values, and materials used for recruiting, selection, and socialization. The values Mr. Marchionne listed on the organization’s website talks about getting involved, taking risks, and leaving a mark in order to make a brighter future (n.d.). Also, he used interviews

Memphis Health Center has a volunteer board that consists of fourteen members and the board of chair appoints the Chief Executive Officer who is Willeen Hastings. There are two executive that reports to Hastings: Chief Financial Officer (D. Holloman), Chief Operational Officer (D. Holloman), and Chief Medical Officer (Dr. C. Davis). There are two executive assistant who reports to CEO and CFO/COO. There are also an Administrative Director (E. Eubanks) Human Resources who reports to the CEO. Each Administrative department has a director who reports to the CFO. Each department has at least five to fifteen employees that reports to the Directors who are hourly employees. The CMO has four Clinical Directors that reports to him and they have between

Chrysler was in desperate need for a lifecycle cultural changeover prior to the arrival of Mr. Marchionne. The company was working on an antiquated system of organizational behavior that yielded little to no results. Mr. Marchionne and his Hierarchy culture approach significantly improved the overall performance of Chrysler and subsequently, led to higher volume of sales and profits. Clearly, control is the driving force within hierarchy culture. (Kreitner, & Kinicki, 2013, p. 70).

The recommendations I would make aid in the success to Marchionne’s cultural change are easy to follow yet impactful. First I would advise the CEO to address the company’s espoused values and confirm that all employees are aware of them. Espoused values set the foundation for how employees “interact and represent the organization” (Burkus, 2014). With the organization having to deal with a senior leader who made the decision to put the company in more financial hardship before he was terminated, it would be in his best interest to address this situation along with any other concerns by informing the entire organization on the direction the company will be going forward in. The best approach would be to make these values visibly available for

It is important to change various aspects of organization culture when trying to institute change in organizations (Kavita, 2005). The aspects that such changes should target include the balance of power in the organizations, the organization structure that supports the framework, leadership and management styles. Organizational history is also very critical, especially if it has a progressive track record success. However, if the culture despite the changes remains aligned to the organization goals and mission the employees will adopt it and embrace change.

When thinking about World History curriculum, one might often think that they could never relate to things so happened so far in the past. Many fail to realize that some things never change. The ideas and beliefs that existed back then are still very prominent in the world today. Some that are still around are the themes of forgiveness, aggression, and anger. In the upcoming year these themes might occur with the class material quite often.

     Thomas C. Mawhinney has a different approach to making a good corporate culture. His six ideas are the managers behavior, employee selection, the external culture, establishing a clear corporate mission, keep the mission up front, managers must reflect the desired culture, and employee’s learning must be ongoing, (Mawhinney, 23-74). Mawhinney’s first idea is the manager’s behavior. “Studies indicate that the single greatest influence on the work culture is the manager” (Mawhinney, 28). “The speed of the boss is the speed of the team”, said Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca.

A time where I learned a gender role was from my dad, he has taught me to take care of my brother and look out for him. Since I’m the older brother I have to protect from all the bad this world gives. No matter what happens I will always support my brother in whatever he does along with making sure he going in the right direction in life. One thing my dad told me when I was starting middle school is that if my brother ever got into a fight with another person that he wants me to jump in and help my brother out if he’s getting a beating. That's a role I would gladly accept because no one going to beat up on my little brother accept for me, I had no problem with that. Another thing he would always tell me would be that always stay close to your

In today’s dynamic business environment leadership must understand the value and importance of their organizations’ culture. While it may never be formally defined, leadership must have a vision of their intended culture and a plan for creating and maintaining it. This vision will serve as the potter’s clay that determines everything from the dress code to the organizational structure. This paper examines two methods organizations can choose to create and maintain a healthy culture.