Culture Definition:
Cultures in organisation is defined by how the organisation is run, how the personalities within the organisation interact with each other and also how the structure of the company is set out.
“A web without a spider has no strength”
Power Culture Definition:
Known as Zeus, as he was the all-powerful Greek god, this type of culture is based on a central power course, hence why it is normally found in Entrepreneurial companies, as in these type of organisation it tends to be the leader (the entrepreneur) who wants to lead the company and make it grow, as they company grows it is likely to change to another power, as one person cannot expand that much.
As with most of these small organisations, the middle of the culture is the most important place, with the decisions being made and the leadership being found. However, if the other parts of the web are good enough then these people will tend to get on with the work themselves and not need too much influence.
To make this work at its best, the subordinates need to think on the same wavelengths as the leader. Decisions in this type of organisation often happen because of the outcome of influences, instead on well thought out logical steps, hence why it is so hard to have a start-up company staying afloat.
This type of organisation revolves heavily around the leader, as stated above, and due to this the main threat for this business is its leader itself. The culture allows for quick change, mainly due to the fact that there aren’t many staff and therefore not a lot to do to change. This means that they can keep up with competitors and the market, but only if they have the appropriate leader.
As mentioned in the first paragraph with it being hard to stay in this culture, it is hard to expand the company without breaking the culture setup. To carry on the organisation in the same fashion then each new department/manager needs to have quite a lot of power so they can continue to succeed and do what they do best.
This is mainly due to the fact the people in power cultures tend to be quite powerful in their own right, they are people searching for risk, looking to become more powerful and take over.
Due to such a competitive atmosphere, people may become unmotivated when they care a little less then the other employees, and as the leader will be tough loving and looking for results this could lead to an inappropriate atmosphere.
Key Learning Points
- How would you define the Power Culture?
- What are the main points of the Power Culture?
