Apple - Communication

Functional Approach

 What is the functional aprroach?

 Functional approach helps us understand organizational communication by describing
message function and structure.
 It identifies organizing, relationship and change function for messages and describes
message structure as the movement of messages networks. .

 What is the function of the Jobs’s message to the employees in the 1985 AGM? Organizing,
relationships and change?
Definition:
Organizing – getting people to do things and establishing rules, regulations, policies, etc
Relationships –establishing relationships between people
Change – learning, problem-solving and action
Fact:
Relevant incident: 1985 AGM
Details:
 Mac team was in the front row seats listening to Steve Jobs announcing mainly Mac products
 Apple II employees watched on closed circuit TV from another room
 To make matters worse, virtually nothing was said about APPLE II computers or the people
who had made it a top selling product for nearly seven years
Application:
 Intended Function
 Organizing: Evaluating task performance of the two divisions in the past year
 Change: Announcing Apple’s future products. Demonstrates how Apple is going to
adapt to the more competitive global business climate.
 Relationship: Showing employees of the Mac division that they are an integral part of
the company’s future, thus empowering them to commit more to the organization

 Unintended function which occurred

 Caused a Destructive relationship function on Apple II division
 Reduces individuals’ (from Apple II division) identification with the
company and deprives their sense of belonging to their work environment.
 Raises a sense of uncertainty in them regarding their future prospects in the
company, as they do not seem to be valued by the higher – ups (such as Jobs)
in the company

 What networks are Jobs targeting/using? Formal, informal, technological?

 Formal network.
 The entire organization through the large presentation with all employees but target on
MAC division and less on Apple II divison.
 What channels are Jobs using? What are the advantages and disadvantages of these
channels?
 Face-to-face, hall talk to the MAC division and other participants.

Advantages:
 Job as the head of the company is seen as taking responsibility.
 All employees receive the message at the same time.
Disadvantage:
 The group is too large for the interaction to be meaningful

 Close – circuit TV for Apple II division.

Advantages:
 Apple II division employees receive the message at the same time.
Disadvantage:
 They are treated differently as MAC division and felt not being-respected by Jobs.

 What is the direction of Job’s message? Horizontal, upward, downward and external?
 The major direction is downward to his subordinates.
 There is an external element, which part of his message is directed externally (and
upwards) to the stakeholders and the public.

 Is the information load appropriate?

 communication is insufficient
 Job did not mentioned that APPLE II computers or the people who had made it a top
selling product for nearly seven years
 Job did not provide enough opportunity for Apple II division to voice out their message or
feedback.

 What are the main causes of distortion and what can be done about them?
 Information underload (lack of information on Apple II division):
 Wrong network (lack of emphasis on Apple II division, disheartening its employees)
 Encoding / decoding (Employees of Apple II division may interpret the neglect of their
division in excessively negative ways):

Recommendation:

• Front row seats during AGM should be equally distributed among key employees of the two
divisions. Information load should put more weights on the contributions of the Apple II
division and their products
Relationship Function and Organizing Function: impart a message to the company employees
that Apple II division is an integral part of the company, thus improving their job satisfaction

• More feedback channels (e.g. focus discussion groups which constitute employees from both
divisions). Most importantly, follow-up sessions should be conducted by divisional managers
for their employees to clarify messages in the AGM.
Functional theory – Reduces distortion: such feedback channels allow the top management to
further clarify their goals and organization processes with representatives from each division.
The divisional representatives can also discuss their problems through such channels, giving
the top management a clear overview of the big picture. This reduces encoding / decoding
error.
Meaning-centered approach

 How does the communication shape organizing and decision making?

 Communication appears to reflect organizing and decision-making that is top down since
Jobs , the Chairman and the owner handles most of the communication including how it
perform(eg. MAC division sits at the front and Apple II watch through TV.)
 Through the presentation at Apple’s AGM 1985, Apple II are excluded to provide their
viewpoints and there is no opportunity for their feedback meaning that organization has
separate product divisions Apple II and MAC divisions and Jobs is directly in charge of
MAC division. And his decision making is heavily favoured towards Mac division while
the Apple II division is neglected.
 How does the communication shape power and influence?
 Communication is intended to influence and power is reinforced through communication
“rules” and practices.
 Through the meeting, we can see Jobs in charge of the company and has the power choose
what content to be included in the presentation of the annual general meeting and who can
attend in the meeting. Though he is also a leader of MAC division, he held more power
than other senior managers.
 Apple II division is the highest performing division brings lots of revenue to the company,
which has a high influence to the company. However, the communication by Jobs does not
consistent in that way. He was dismissive of Apple II performance and left them from the
meeting. These implied Jobs as a leader regarded MAC division had more importance than
Apple II division. And hence, MAC division held more power and influence than the
Apple II division within the company.
 Power and influence and status are also being created in other informal communication. All
employees in the company are communicating about the meeting. Even the head of Apple
2 division, Del Yocam, said “We had to say that the Mac people had God on their team.”
They interpret Mac team was regarded as the superior in Apple than Apple 2 team and Jobs
held more power than a team leader.

 How does the communication shape culture and socialization?

 Communication helps to create a particular organizational culture. We socialize new
members through the way in which we communicate with them.
 Communication inculcates a sense of injustice among the Apple II division since they
perform better but being neglected. Their effort did not match their outcomes.
 Tension and competition between the two divisions intensifies as a result lower levels of
job satisfaction and higher employee turnover occurred in the neglected Apple II division

 What metaphor is Jobs using and what are its effects?

 Jobs described his marketing staff as members of ‘the dull and boring product division’
 He was using a Machine metaphor. He tried to fix the way that other divisions working.
 The result is that all other division employees were highly disappointed. They felt being
insulted and neglected and lose the trust to the company. This results in the departure of a
number of key personnel.
 APPLE – CULTURE (2014 Sem 1)

Organisational Culture:
 Apple’s culture changed over time as the company grew and its strategy changed.
 Apple classically exhibited an “Unorthodox (Revolutionary) Culture that typified Apple” – going
against conventional wisdom.

Identification of Organisational Culture:

(1) Observable Symbols

 Dress Attire: Staff Wear Jeans and Sneakers, Jobs Abandoned his Business Suit in Favour of a
More Casual Look
 Logo - Isaac Newton Lost in Thought Under an Apple Tree (Reminiscent of Underground Press)
(1976); Multicolored Apple with a Bite (Byte) Taken Out of It Developed by the Regis McKenna
Agency (1977)
 Leadership - Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, John Sculley, Del Yocam

(2) Physical Layout:

 Office Environment: Rooms Named after Creative Artists
 Organisational Structure – Refer Below

(3) Rituals and Ceremonies:

(4) Communications:
 Office Environment: Classical and Rock Music Played, Rooms Named after Creative Artists
 Interaction: Informal, Laid Back, Cocky Attitude, Believe self righteously that their mission is to
bring computer literacy to the masses

(5) Practices and Behaviours:

 Dress Attire: Staff Wear Jeans and Sneakers, Jobs Abandoned his Business Suit in Favour of a
More Casual Look
 Office Environment: Classical and Rock Music Played
 Services: Fruit Juice, Masseur, Indiana Jones Tickets
 Personnel Behavior: Lack of attention given to Apple II
 Organisational Strategy – Refer Below

(6) Stories:
 Founding of Apple: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Values, Assumptions, Feelings, Beliefs:

 Refer Below to Dissatisfaction of Apple II Division Employees

Integrationist Theories:
 Describes the Initial Apple Culture - initially, the culture appears to be organization wide on the
surface.
 Culture in Apple is part of a deliberate strategy by Steve Jobs.
 Strong Culture
 “Emphasized individual achievement, entrepreneurialism, and commitment or…devotion
to the company.
 Strong Culture of Fun and Youth.
 Unifying Culture
 Benefits organizational performance because it perhaps helps the employees be more creative in
their jobs. If they are happy and relaxed, they will be committed to the team.

Differentiationist Theories:
 Describes the Apple Vs Mac Situation.
 As Apple gets bigger, it appears that the divisions begin to develop their own individual sub-
cultures.
 Apple II - Corporate in Nature, “Dull and boring” – felt undervalued and disparaged by Jobs
 Mac - Unorthodox Culture, Young, Hip, Cool, Exciting
 Jobs – Innovation, Creativity
 Sculley - How quickly can we bring down inventories and control expenses

Critical Theories:
 Apple’s culture can be seen as a subtle form of managerial control in that when the Apple II
division headed by Del became increasing corporate in nature.
 Jobs refers to Apple II as the “dull and boring product division” and subsequently is dismissive of
them.
 Apple II’s resistance to conform to Jobs’ ideal culture is treated with lack of attention. By not
being part of the idealistic Apple culture, Jobs felt he lost control of them and hence punishes
them.
 Therefore, it can be seen that this culture is really only used to control employees and conform
them to the personal beliefs and values espoused by Jobs. Hence there are high informal sanctions
for not conforming to a strong culture.

Effects of Conflicting Culture:

 High Turnover
 Reduction Motivation Amongst Apple Employees
 Created Identity
 Detracted from Commitment
 Increased Costs

Apple – Power (2011 Sem2)

Power

Apply each of the three theories to Apple

 What is the power and politcs?

 Power: the capacity to influence the behavior of others.
 Politics: as the exercise of the power.

 What is the first dimension of power used in Apple?

 Theory:
 First dimension of power is to mobilize resources in order to defeat resistance. The
first dimension of power involves the mobilization of resources by the power user to
defeat conflict. This type of power is derived from control of scarce resources and is
based upon dependency, i.e. Controlling scarce resources that others are dependent on
gives a sense of power.
Application:
 Authority Power- Authority set out by orgnasational structure
 The BOD then used their authority power to force Jobs to leave Apple after Sulley
told the directors that Jobs could no longer work effectively.
 Jobs also used his authority power when he openly dismissed the Apple division
product side. He knows that they fully understand that he holds the most power there,
and he uses his power to prevent anyone of them from raising their concerns about
why the Apple division was not mentioned.
 Sculley uses his authority power to restructure the organisation and made necessary
changes, such as company’s downsizing, suspending the generous profit sharing
programme and increasing the marketing budget. By reinforcing and instituting strict
financial controls, formal reporting procedures and tough product development
deadlines, Sculley hopes to reach an outcome where individual members prioritize
behaviours to enhance product quality and innovation, and at the same time lowering
costs, pare the breakeven point and increasing sales and profits.
 Sculley also merge the product divisions (Mac and Apple II) so that rivarly between
these two product divisions would end way of defeating conflict between the two
product divisions.
 Perhaps there was also a struggle between Sculley and Jobs with respect to the first
dimension of power, as Sculley tries to allocate resources to accommodate the
organisational change while Jobs asserts his own power and expend resources to his
own department to facilitate the unorthodox culture that typified Apple and pursue his
own strategies to bring Apple to a firmer footing.
 Reward Power – Example- When Jobs was scouting Sculley to be the new CEO of
Apple, Jobs spent 4 months continuously courting him, and eventually Sculley
decided to join Apple after he was promised a reward of 2 million dollars. When he
did eventually come to Apple, he also gave out free tickets to employees as a reward.
 Referent Power – This is something Jobs possess a lot. His charisma was well
known in the company. His informality with employees also made him well liked in
his Mac division.
 Expert Power – Jobs expertise in the 1970’s helped him start a business by preparing
fully assembled Apple products to be sold. Jobs also relied on the Regis McKenna
agency to use their expertise to advertise Apple to the populace. Also, one of the
reasons Jobs scouted Sculley was because he believed in Sculley’s expertise and
capability in running Apple. Sculley was credited with a long list of innovations
which convinced Jobs that he was an expert at what he does, and subsequently went
on to hire him. Jobs also used his expertise to start NeXT.
 Group support – Examples – We see that Sculley had the support of the BOD when
he made them choose between him and Jobs. The BOD decided to unanimously
support Sculley and ask Jobs to resign as Vice President. Also, when Jobs resigned,
he managed to get 5 other key employees to follow him. This shows that he has the
support of his fellow employees, who were willing to leave such a large and powerful
company to be with Jobs.
 What is the second dimension of power used in Apple?
 Second dimension was used in two different scenarios, the first being to exclude Apple II
employees from meetings, giving Mac employees more power, and the second where
Sculley sidelines Jobs (resistance) when he approached the Board of Directors for support
in his decision to ask Jobs to step down from his position – thereby changing the allocation
of responsibilities within the organisation. This way, Sculley removes the main source
which had caused the problematic dissension of being able to move forward with his
strategy. The outcome of power results in Job’s leaving the company that he had founded.

 What is the third dimension of power used in Apple?

 Sculley had to manage meaning in relation to his own position – he came from a soft
drinks company and needed to be seen as legitimate by computer geeks. This is
accomplished by Sculley’s efforts to manage to fit into Apple’s unique culture and sending
out Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom tickets to the employees, while he also
mastered the intricacies of hardware and software technology, and abandoning his business
suit in favour of a more casual look. This would have prevented conflict where, employees
felt apple was becoming more corporate and less casual in the office.
 Del Yocam’s Appointment
The appointment of Del (worked his way up) to emphasize the importance and benefits of
devotion to the company – this was part of the culture – commitment and devotion to
company.
 Steve Jobs Persuasion of John Sculley’s to Join Apple
“Change the World”
 Steve Jobs’ Comments on Apple II Division
“The dull and boring product division” – rejects uncreative.
 Apple Products, Strategy, Culture, Structure etc.
“Revolutionized”

Recommendation

 Could you combine the dimensions to develop a change program?

 Change plan example – Jobs resistance and internal conflict
 First Dimension
 - Promote, reward and hire for both firms fairly/equally
 - Punish those who don’t embrace equality
 Second Dimension
 - Bring the Apple II employees into the decision-making arena and process
 Third Dimension
 - Emphasise the importance of togetherness and teamwork.
 AUTOMAKER – COMMUNICATION (2013 Sem 2)
From the functional perspective
 Functional perspective = Way of understanding organisational communication by
describing what messages do and how they move through organisations. Messages
have functions: communication organizes, maintains relationship and enables change.
 To improve the communication in Automakers, information transmission and the
choice of media can all be enhanced. Evidence is seen in the level 3 participants not
aware of the change effort due to lack of exposure to the consultants. This reflects the
initial tall structure of the organisation with many divisions and departments
structured into a hierarchy. This means messages have to go through more mediums
in order to reach the lower levels.

From the meaning-centered perspective

 This perspective entails constructivism, together we construct meaning, and sense
making, through organisational communication we make sense of what we
experience. Organisational communication becomes a process of organising,
decision making, influence and eventually culture.
 At Automakers, improving communication through this perspective can be
through ensuring the best climate possible given the circumstances for information
to be transmitted in the most certain and understandable way for behaviours to be
carried out. This will help to build the culture since communication is constitutive
of culture.
 Communication as influence is necessary for change. In Automakers, people
identified with a credible manager who had been loyal to the company. His
subordinates were able to make sense of the change process due to the way he
communicated it to them.

AUTOMAKERS – CULTURE (2012+2015 Sem 1)

1. Integrationist theory

 A single, uniform strong culture is better

 Allows people to work together: common set of values, less need for rules
 Makes organisation stable; culture is reproduced
 Makes the organisation more effective (functionalist)
 External adaptation – allows it to survive or thrive In the environment
 Internal integration – “holds” its members together
Strengths Weaknesses

-Patterns are easy to look for - Patterns may not tell the whole story

-Convergence may lead to commitment -Convergence can be dysfunctional

-Some successful companies have strong cultures - A strong culture may not bring success

-Can be managed top-down -Not all organizations are appropriate for a

single uniform culture

Culture and effectiveness

A “pattern of basic assumptions that someone has developed in learning to cope with its problems of
external adaptation and internal integration, which has worked well and this is taught to new members
as the way to perceive, think and feel in relation to problems”

External adaptation

Meaning: Organisation seeks out a pattern (culture) that will allow it to survive/ thrive in the larger
environment

Consensus on:

 how an organisation operates in its environment

 specific goals
 means to accomplish those goals
 criteria for measuring results i.e. whether goals are achieved
 repair strategies i.e. what to do when things go wrong
Internal integration

Meaning: An organisation seeks out a pattern (culture) that serves as a “social glue”

Consensus on:

 Common language
 Core values
 Boundaries i.e. Who’s inside vs. outside
 Criteria for the allocation of status, power and authority
 Criteria for friendships and relationships
 Criteria for allocation of resources

2. Differentiationist Theory

 Sees the organisation as a cluster of sub-cultures related to particular challenge, task,

responsibility of a unit or group (e.g. different departments have different cultures)
 Consensus is found not an organisational level but in sub-cultures
 Relations among sub-cultures can be complimentary, conflicting or independent
 Boundary between “inside and outside” is permeable
Strengths

-Emphasises commitment to the work group

-It may be more meaningful for individual experience

-It allows for adaptation

-Allows more scope for middle managers to manage culture

Weaknesses
-Not clear how different sub-cultures are supposed to fit together
-There may be conflicts among sub-cultures
-Movement between sub-units may become difficult
-Balkanisation; sub-cultures work for self interest rather than common interest

3. Critical theory of culture

 Critical theory takes a different approach as is looks at how employees are affected by the
culture
 It focuses on the way in which power is embedded in culture
It is especially interested in how strong culture is a way to control employees

Strengths
-Considers negative effects
-Shows the hidden ways in which culture affects individuals
-Not having a culture or sub-culture is not necessarily “bad”

Weaknesses
Not everyone perceives the same culture negatively
Some control is inevitable
Cultural controls may be less oppressive than other controls

Applying Culture theories to Automakers:

Identifying an organization’s culture

One dominant culture is seen throughout automakers. This culture comprised of 3 components:

 Aggression
 Competition
 Lying cheating and stealing

This informal culture is passed on from old managers to employees.

 List the visual things that you notice about Automakers-specific artifacts and practices or the
way people behave-that indicate the organisation’s culture.

Aggression: (2x4 management)

The macho & aggressive style was termed “2X4 management” as it consisted of reprimands in the
form of intensive verbal abuse. Following this style of management was seen to be effective in getting
promotions. Some employees follow this style of management not because they want to but because
they have to in order to get promoted in the company. Some even treat it as an act to show the boss
that they are tough.

This culture is supported by consistent management practices as none of the managers in the company
will correct this sort of management style when they witness it.
The employees are socialized into the culture. They learn and mimic their colleagues to adapt to the
aggressive behaviour that works around here.

Competition:

There is intense competition between the morning and afternoon shifts. Competition between the two
shifts sometimes lead to sabotage where the foreman of one shift would lock necessary tools up in the
shed to prevent the other team from gaining access to those tools. People start breaking into lockers
and damaging property.

Lying cheating and stealing:

Employees constantly on defensive mode to protect them against the 2X4 management in case they
did something wrong. They resort to lying and cheating to cover up their mistakes. The shifts and
departments worked actively to pass the buck which resulted in poor quality products, product defects
and faulty products being passed from one department to another. No one dared to take responsibility.
The main goal was to increase numbers.

“There is always pressure to deliver the numbers. Despite all the lip service about quality being most
important, if you do not get the numbers, you get nothing -> Indicates a culture in which quantity
not quality is emphasized

Shiftitus and Empire Building indicates competition between shifts.

Those who successfully portrayed aggressiveness become myths in the organization and perpetrators
were spoken of as folk heroes.

 What do these artifacts and practices tell you about organizational members’ beliefs, values
and assumptions?(Italicized are practices)

2*4 Management Style: Being successful means being aggressive and competitive
rather than finding innovative ways to cut costs or improve quality. It consists of
reprimands, in the form of intensive verbal abuse (yelling and screaming), dramatic
confrontations and figuratively beating up on offenders.

Shiftitus and Empire Building: There was also a lack of cooperation so as to beat the
other shifts in production quotas. “Sometimes the foreman will lock up his tools so that the other
people on the next shift will not get them”. Functional loyalty was also very strong in T-Plant and
permeated all levels of the organization.

Lying, Cheating, Stealing: The need to hide personal and functional problems and
failures, fuelled by the desire to be competitive and to win, combined with the fear of retaliation. They
also do not favour those who ask questions, communicated problems, or accepted blame. They believe
that one should not accept responsibility.
No one can be trusted. “Shifts and departments worked actively to pass the buck: passing poor quality
products from one department to another; failing to take responsibility for product defects; and
rushing faulty products out the door in an effort to beat the other shift in a race for numbers”.

External adaptation?

External adaptation happens when a company seeks out a culture that will allow it to survive in the
larger environment.
In order to survive, automakers emphasise on making good quality goods at a large quantity.
However, there is a trade-off between those two factors. The culture of intense competition between
the shifts has clearly compromised on quality of products as they are being graded on the quantity of
products produced. The workers happily pass the buck of quality problems to the warranty
department.

This results in weak external adaptation because the quality and quantity goals set by the company
is not met by the workers. Company may not be able to survive in the larger environment if this
continues.

Internal integration?

Internal integration happens when an organisation seeks out a culture that serves as a “social glue”

There is no formal internal integration here. Most of the employee’s common language and core
values are learnt from colleagues who are practicing 2X4 management.

It is possible that all managers are closely bonded with each other and all workers are closely bonded
as they have similar circumstances. Managers would tell other managers about how they humiliated a
worker and workers would badmouth to other workers about the manger that humiliated them.

The “social glue” between those 2 groups of people might strengthen.

Integrationist Approach

All employees have to stay competitive while managers have to engage in the 2*4 management style.
Those managers who do not participate in the 2*4 management style will not last long in this culture.
Shifts continually pit themselves against each other. Some employees don’t like the 2*4 type of
managers. “I prefer the straightforward approach. I don’t like the foul language”. But they have to
conform. This indicates consistency in the culture. Visual aspects of this culture include reprimands
in the form of intensive verbal abuse, dramatic confrontations and figuratively beating up on
offenders. The criteria for measuring success are in terms of quantity of products produced and not
quality. Lying, cheating and stealing were also accepted in order to stay competitive.

Does it benefit organisational performance?

It benefits those types of people who prefer the straight forward approach.

Competition is good but in this case damaging for the company as both shifts act like rivals instead of
members of the same organisation who are engaging in friendly competition to improve efficiency.

Passing the buck and not taking responsibility for the quality of products produced hurts the
organisation.

The aggressive culture is not beneficial for the company as employees have to constantly put on an act
to be aggressive to fit in, employees who have low tolerance for verbal abuse may quit resulting in
higher turnovers, customers claim of warranty for faulty products may result in the company losing
money.

What would make people think there is an integrationist culture?

Visual aspects are dramatic:

Reprimands would be heard as managers would yell and scream at offenders. They would also
confront offenders very dramatically and beat them up figuratively. The fact that everyone in the
company does it, even the ones that have to put on an act show that there is a very strong “2X4
management culture.

Differentiation:

Different employees have different reaction to the culture. There were subcultures – empire building
and functional loyalty is seen. There was competition between the shifts due to the competition –
cheating and stealing – it was not one big happy family – they were not united, they may be united
within their sub-cultures but they were competitive against other shifts. Empire building was seen
because there was lack of cooperation between functions.

Additionally, management and consultants saw the culture from different perspectives

Different managers also have different reactions. Some managers really enjoy having the power to
reprimand while others have to put on an act to show their authority. Some managers saw these
behaviours as necessary to get the job done. Other managers perceive it as part of the fun culture of T-
Plant. They like the excitement and subterfuge. Majority of the organisation act in the aggressive and
macho way whether they want to or not.

Consultants wanted: role, managing people, information is process, many little brains, controlling
systems, integration, cooperation, participation.

“Some [employees] were even embarrassed to describe their work to outsiders” – ashamed of the
culture.

What would make people think there is a differentiation culture?

• Observe people in different parts of the company

• Interview people in different parts of the company when they are off working hours

• Gain their trust so that they will be honest about the culture

Critical: Focuses on the way in which power is embedded in culture. Especially interested in how
strong culture is a way to control employees.

From a critical perspective, this culture is dysfunctional because it merely bullies the employees into
submitting to this fierce, lying, cheating, macho workplace environment.

It fostered an environment where people had to become macho and fierce in order to survive.

-forced people into a self-defensive mode termed covering ass

-“If they understood the system better, they maybe would lie, cheat and steal a little and would be better
off” – you could not resist. If you did, you would be disadvantaged.

This culture allows managers to control employees. It controls the environment and gives them an
opportunity to use force and masculinity to operate an environment where there is order and competition
as well as giving them an opportunity to use their power in a fun way. Management wanted to use this
culture to create nice clean competition where the workers would be motivated to work harder and
hence make the company more profitable.

o “to be promoted, one had to be a 2x4 manager”

o “From a critical point of view, a strongly unified culture is an oppressive hegemony

that successfully controls employees.”

“Critical theorists have pointed to the managerial biases of studies that tacitly or overtly serve
the needs of management at the expense of others”

TERMINAL AND INSTRUMENTAL VALUES

Before the change:

Terminal values lay in the emphasis on results and instrumental values became competition and
comparisons between the two shifts – they were compared to encourage people to work harder to
achieve results. It was dominated by aggression and cheating behaviours to obtain their terminal values.

After the change:

Terminal values still lay in results but there was also emphasis on product quality not just quantity. It
wanted to find ways to cut costs and improve quality but the initial management style did not allow this
to occur as reward system was inadequate.

Instrumental values now included participative decision making as well as a relaxation of the hierarchy
– it put emphasis on cooperation and team facilitation and support. This way quality can be sustained
with appropriate rewards and resources as everyone is accountable to their performance and participated
in the decisions.

Why not initially successful?

At first, the managers lacked the consistency of changing to participative management, they also
lacked the motivation, skills, resources and time to carry out the multi-disciplinary interactions that
are demanded from them. Level 2 managers were overworked and could not solve the problems that
were passed up to them. Level 3 managers simply perceived the change as a new way of achieving old
results. The lack of performance control attributed to the failure to change, supervisors did not put
effort because of the new participative approach.

Gradually, after some respected managers started to adopt the new management style, they achieved
the consultants’ requirements. A member of Level 1 committee was able to act as a bridge between
the consultants and other managers, passing on what he learned and providing feedback.

Recommendations

Being straightforward is effective in getting employees to do what you want and to solve problems.
Aggression should be eliminated as there are other ways to gain employees respect. Some other ways
could be by leading by example or showing colleagues that you care about them. Give warnings to
those who continue to be aggressive in their management style and fire them if need be to avoid the
company reverting back to old ways.

Reward friendly competition and punish destructive competition.

Provide training session for employees so that they are able to produce high quality products at more
efficient rates and they would also know how to solve problems should it arise. Helps to cut costs as
there will be less claims on warranty. Buck passing will also be minimised.

AUTOMAKERS - STRATEGY

Under the Miles and Snow framework, Automakers can be seen as implementing a defender strategy
– they are not being innovative and they are trying to produce a limited set of products directed at a
narrow segment of total potential market. It is low risk because you are defending want you know, but
this requires a stable environment. It is aggressive in protecting its company share. It is producing two
more models in order to stabilize its falling market share – it is trying to improve productivity and
quality.

Alternatively under the Porter framework, Automakers can be seen as having a cost focus strategy,
in that it is aiming at a cost advantage. Evidence of its ability to do this is due to its tight controls
(high pressure costs targets that factories were obliged to meet), high formalization, centralization and
complexity. It is trying to reduce costs and improve productivity and quality.

Recommendation:
Change in culture to decentralize decision making to identify problems in quality and fix them on the
spot. By doing this, it will increase efficiency of its employees and boost productivity levels. In the
long run, this will reduce costs and increase profits.

STRUCTURE (the division and coordination of labour)

 T- plant was functionally organized with specific functional departments – industrial

relations, quality, operations, manufacturing and engineering. Employees with closely related
skills and responsibilities are assigned to departments.
 There were both vertical and horizontal divisions of labour prevalent.
o The vertical division of labour meant that those in higher levels of management such
as the Plant Manager had a higher levels of autonomy and control. It also meant that
vertical communication was much more difficult.
o The horizontal division of labour is evident as the T-Plant is divided into 6 functional
departments. The division of different departments (Industrial Relations, Operations,
etc) is an example of differentiation.
 There is high complexity in the structure of the organization because both the vertical and
horizontal levels have been highly divided.
 Persistent rivalry between departments is an example of a structural problem.
 Evidence of centralization- decisions were made at the top, rather than dispersed down the
hierarchy. When the new change was implemented, it became more decentralized because
due to the multi-level committee structure, some members were given decision making
powers that were not previously available to them. I.e. level 2 and 3. The decision making
power is no longer localized purely at the top of the organization to management committee.
  It is formalized because the work roles are highly defined and management does not appear to
tolerate much variability from the work roles so long as output targets are met.

Forms of control:

 Previously there was less room for autonomy and direct supervision in the product lines. This
standardization of work processes gave little room for work to go wrong as the tasks were
repetitive and easy to do.
 With the change, there was a significant reduction in hierarchal structure and hence,
autonomy increased. Evidence is seen in the change initially having little impact on costs or
quality. This failure was attributed to lack of performance control as supervisors were
becoming too slack in the new participative approach.

Analysis &Recommendations:

The structure at Automakers is top down and vertical. In order to break down functional barriers and
increase communication between the functions, a matrix structure should be adopted. In a matrix
structure, there will be more cross functional teams. With more cross functional teams, there will be
less functional disputes as all members are working on the same product.
The structure should also be more flattened to increase vertical communication. At the moment, level
3 employees do not receive all the instructions.

Sanrizz – Communication
Communication

Functional Approach

 What is the functional aprroach?

 Functional approach helps us understand organizational communication by describing
message function and structure.
 If communication fails, it is due to the improper design of the message. Functional theories
can help us identify where things have gone wrong and improve the chances that the
message will be understood

 What is the function of the Gerry’s message to the brothers? Organizing, relationships and
change?
 The function of the message from Gerry is primarily about changing the business format of
the organization to one of a franchise. This franchise will only happen between the three
brothers, and not to the rest of the world at large, unlike any other common franchising. The
function includes organizing, relationship and change aspects
 Organizing
 Theory: Organizing functions establish the rules and regulations of a particular environment.
It is about getting people to do things and establishing rules etc. The adequacy and
effectiveness of organizing messages can be evaluated by how well organizational members
understand and perform tasks and how regulations are understood and followed and how
adequately daily operations support organizational goals.
Application: The message establishes how the three bothers’ will go about doing things with
the new format. They will be able to have enough space for their own decision making while
at the same time, being fairly restricted to the common elements of the business such as the
logo, regulations and policies etc.
 Relationship
  Theory: Relationship functions establish human interactions that make organization operation
possible. Relationship communication contributes to individual identification with an
organization and also a sense of belonging in their work environment. The effectiveness is
reflected in individual satisfaction with work relationships, productivity, employee turnover
and overall support for the organization’s decision and practices.
Application: The message also sets out to define the roles of each brother and trying to fit
each other individual’s goals and concerns (Ozzie and Ricci to have some say in the
organization) into the new business format. As such, it also helps to ease the strain in the
relationship between the three brothers where each gets to run their own business and having
their own say.

 Change
 Theory: Change functions help organization to adapt what they do and how they do it, and are
essential in an open system. It is also the processing of new ideas and information as well as
the altering of existing procedures and processes. It is essential for continual adaptation to the
environment and for meeting the complex needs of individuals working together. The
ultimate effectiveness lies in the survival of the organization.
Application: There will be change in the way the business will be operating, with each
brothers being in charge of a salon each and setting it up the way they want it to be. There
will be increased in autonomy while retaining some control by having common elements at
the same time.

 What networks are Gerry and brothers targeting/using? Formal, informal, technological?
 Informal network.
 Gerry met the brothers at in the private places such as their homes and hotel. Sometimes he
targeted individual brothers and sometimes all at the same time.
 Even he met all brothers in the boardroom, without other managerial level of employee to
discuss their expansion plan. They have no agenda on it, and they usually do not offer fair
opportunity to voice comments.
 Gerry also obtains certain information about the brothers through the grapevine among the
lower level of workers and Tony’s son. The rumors are passed by word of mouth.

 What channels are Gerry and brothers using? What are the advantages and disadvantages of
these channels?
 Face to face meetings among all brothers.
Advantages:
 The brothers are family members so their willingness to have contact with each other
is high.
 Discussing how to go about changing Sanrizz is a complex issue. Face-to-Face
meeting can provide richness of the channel and allow more clarification and
interaction during communication process.
 All three brothers could receive the messages at the same time.
Disadvantages:
 Easy to have conflict
 If one of the brothers dominates the conversation, there is no fair opportunity for
other brothers to voice out comments
 Face to face direct conversation with each brother.
Advantages:
 Provide fair opportunity for other brothers to voice out comments. This let Gerry to
analyze the issue in a broader view.
Disadvantages:
 Not all brothers could receive the messages at the same time.
 What is the direction of Gerry and brothers’ message? Horizontal, upward, downward and
external?
 Horizontal direction is crucial among three brothers, they communicated with each other.
 And the same time, it also had downward direction towards to their subordinates or
employees in the solon. It is a negative effect to work performance of staff, as well as
employees had grapevine or gossip to influence their efficiency. When they announce their
new plans to the employees, it is also downward.
 There is an external element, which is Gerry involved in the conversions to help them for
their expansion planning

 Is the information load appropriate?

 The information to Gerry is under-load during the meeting with all brothers, Tony did not
provide enough opportunity for Ozzie and Ricci to voice out their message or feedback and
Ricci did not give enough useful information. Hence, there is only a brief outline of what
Gerry has in mind, that even he himself is not clear. There is insufficient information about
who will be in charge of what, what will be the common elements.
 Message to staff was under load as well. Without senior stuff being involved in the
discussion, they only receive parts of the information of the business plan through rumors.
Even the announcement does not provide sufficient information. For the big change, Tony
just announced the change without providing the details, such as the benefits and reasons
of it.

 What are the main causes of distortion and what can be done about them?
 Channel: During face-to- face meetings, it would be best to keep written records on the
agenda and agreement discussed during meetings. This can urge follow ups and to ensure
that they progress accordingly to what was discussed during the meeting.
 Encoding-decoding: whatever Ricci and Ozzie say, Tony decoded as no use
 Network: they can held some formal meetings with other employees or experts to provide
their opinions.
 Under-load: There should be more details about the change in business format lest
ambiguity leads to more conflicts between the three brothers, or possibly roping Gerry into
the conflict
 Feedbacks: There were lacks of feedback heard from bottom up. Suggestions and opinions
from staffs sometimes can trigger more relevant feedback for strategy and business
performance. It can give managers the needed push to manage change in the company.

Meaning-centered approach

 What is the Meaning-centered aprroach?

 Meaning-centered helps us understand different ways of organizational communication by
discovering how organizational reality is shaped through different types of human
interaction.
 It can help us identify how communication affects the organization and helps people to
think and act differently
 How does the communication shape organizing and decision making?
 Originally, communication appears to reflect organizing the decision-making that is very
centralized and top-down. Tony, Ozzie and Ricci handles the communication, other
employees are excluded to provide their viewpoints and there is no opportunity for
feedback meaning that decision making processes are not particularly participative. Within
the senior management, Tony dominates the conversation, which also reflects decision
 making processes mostly made by Tony and Ozzie and Ricci are not particularly
participative.
 Communication from Gerry to the brothers reflects organizing and the decision-making
will change to be less top-down within the senior management level. Each of brother
involves more in the decision making process. As Gerry requires the brothers to know what
is expected of them as they are to abide by common elements such as rules and regulations
that must be agreed upon by all of them. It also determined that each of the three brothers
has their own space to make decisions on their own and that they are entitled to do things
in their own right.
 How does the communication shape power and influence?
 Communication is intended to influence and power is reinforced through communication
“rules” and practices.
 During the meetings we can see Tony has the most power to influence the decision of
Sanrizz, which they always argued, but Tony was likely to have the control. Besides, Tony
has the influence to make Ricci back onboard after he pulled out of the discussion.
 Power and influence and status are also being created in other informal communication.
The employees acknowledge that their bosses always arguing, but obviously Tony has
more power. They might have tendency to listen to what Tony said as he has the control
over Sanrizz, instead of Ozzie and Ricci.
 Gerry has influence over the three brothers, as they tend to listen to his professional
views and opinions about the business, and taking his suggestion of changing the business
format into a franchise seriously, and eventually implementing this suggestion. It was
communicated that each brother will have their own salons to run. It determined that Tony
is no longer the dominant power holder in the company, although he still hold more
influence over the brothers due to his position as the big brother.

 How does the communication shape culture and socialization?

 The communication among the brothers reinforces a lack of harmony and consensus in
Sanrizz because they always come into conflict and does not come up with agreement. The
employees and Tony’s Son also think of this communication problem would be a worry for
the expansion plan. The employees some time feel that their job are difficult at the time of
arguments happen, which the brothers might have different orders, but they did not know
whose to follow. But as Tony usually wins out, so the employees under Ozzie and Ricci
might be confused that who they should followed.
 The communication between the brothers also reflects Sanrizz has different subculture. For
example, three brothers have totally different plan for expansion and cannot come to
agreement. Tony think they need millions, Ozzie thinks it costs $40,000 and Ricci refuse to
think in terms of money.

 What metaphor is Gerry using and what are its effects?

 Metaphors are a figure of speech containing implied comparison. It is an integral of how
we talk. By changing the metaphors we use, we can change the way we think and act
 Transitional metaphor
 The use of words like “moving forward”, “come back to the process” and “ come on
board” suggests that Gerry is trying to bring Sanrizz from one state to another: the former
state whereby relationship is destructive and conflict is inevitable to a new state where each
brother has their own space to make decisions and run their own salons
 Transitional change agents are normally referred as planners or guides, and in which this
case is Gerry. Difficulties may arise when there is a lack of clear destination or conflict
over the best route to take.
  (In case of other quotes)
 Firstly, Gerry communicated with three brothers individually, and then he found the
problem in the process of communication. It called “the machine metaphor”.
 Secondly, if three brothers want to expand their business, they have to build and develop
their foundations of the Sanrizz. Gerry plays a role of developing metaphor.
 Thirdly, Gerry gave advises to three brothers that is they needed to leave the old ways
which is a style of family model behind. We called “the transitional Metaphor”.
 Finally, the suggestion of Gerry is that allowing the brothers to develop individual salons
separately and at a different pace of growth, which is likely a new vision to Sanrizz---
franchises. It is a transformational metaphor. All in all, Gerry plays a metaphor role in the
Sanrizz case; he assisted three brothers to concern their complexity of the relationship
between the Sanrizz and their communication. And he helped three brothers to think
different meanings and understandings could influence the Sanrizz.

Sanrizz – Culture (2009 Sem 1)

Culture

What are the cultural features shown in the case? (think of dress code, observable symbols,
stories, communication, behaviours) What culture is it?

Sanrizz doesn’t seem to have a strong culture. It is evident from the different values of the three
brothers. Tony and Ozzie see success in terms of money, but Ricci thinks success is a matter of
happiness. Since values shape culture, the diversity of values of the leaders suggests that there are
different cultures at the top level of the company. Also, company leaders are the icons of the
company’s culture. The existing of two or more cultures at the top level implies that there is no strong
culture in the organisation. Observing the physical layout of the three bothers and employees, we are
suggested that the general culture in Sanrizz is rather a relax one, since they don’t wear any uniform
or formal suits. Moreover, a weak culture is also evident from the reactions of the employees after
Tony’s announcement of the company’s plan to expand. The employees do not look very exciting
after the announcement, this shows that they have small commitment and little passion towards the
company. This leak of passion is a result of a weak culture.

 Integrationist theory of culture

Firstly, we identify the Sanrizz’s culture. In terms of communication patterns, three brothers
frequently used unconsciously shared understandings, while the stories of Sanrizz are the company is
a family company and three brothers have different opinions and conflicts in the process of
communication. Moreover they have regular hair shows of practices.

Integrationist cultures are found, but it is dysfunctional. Because the Sanrizz use the top-down
management, which means Tony is “big brother” as a role of decision making. The top-down
management is a key characteristic of the case.

Explain the integrationist theory of organizational culture and Use the integrationist theory to
see if there is a single dominant culture. If so, is it functional? If not, how would you change it?
An integrationist culture is characterized by a single, uniform strong culture throughout the
organisation. In an integrationist culture, core values are widely shared understanding; individuals are
strongly committed to the company and top down control of culture by management can be seen. In
Sanrizz, the culture is not an integrationist one. There is no consensus throughout the organisation, not
even at the top level, and individuals are seen to have small organisational commitment. To create an
integrationist culture, Sanrizz will need the directors to have a shared core value and understanding.
This is proved to be very difficult to achieve in this case. Hence, to do this, new directors are required.
After the shared values and understanding are spread at the top level of the company, we need to
educate the employees with this set of values….

Question:

Using the integrationist theory of organizational culture, analyze what went wrong with the
change program at Sanrizz? Make sure you explain the integrationist theory clearly and use
examples from the case to illustrate your answer.

Summary of the characteristics of the integrationist theory

Schein argues that the integrationist theory of culture is characterized by consensus on external
adaptation i.e., agreement the organization’s goals and mission and on the strategy of how to achieve
them. It is also characterized by consensus on internal integration i.e. common language, core values,
boundaries, criteria for the allocation of status, power and authority, friendship and relationships and
allocation of resources.

Evidence in the cases for application of the theory

For external adaption, we can see evidence that there was consensus that the goal of making Sanrizz’s
image as creative, dedicated, innovative. This could be observed by their dress codes and hair styles
are really stylish. And the company has a practice to hold hair show to achieve this goal. Besides, all 4
salons operate in the same practice that they focus on quality rather than quantity of the services. For
example, they operate a training school for hairdressers to maintain the quality of services.

For internal adaption, the core values of the three brothers are consistent with that. They emphasize on
the style, looks and hair of the models for hair shows and continuously debate to achieve the best.
Besides, their innovative values are also supported by their motivation of expanding their business.

Identify why the change program was not initially successful

However, the bothers have different values and goals besides the abovementioned core values. For
example, Tony values hard work and is insistent of expanding. Ricci values happiness by making
people happy through their services and Ozzie values being appreciated and paid fairly for his
publicity work. Applying integrationist approach, the new 20 salons should have a uniform culture.
But the brothers want the culture of new salons follows their own subcultures. Therefore, suggestions
from the brothers are resisted by each other. For example, they argue the location of new salons.
Question:

Using the differentiationist theory of organizational culture, analyze what went wrong with the
expansion program at Sanrizz? Make sure you explain the differentiationist theory clearly and
use examples from the case to illustrate your answer.

Summary of the characteristics of the differentist theory

Martin et al., argue that an organization is characterized by a differentiationist culture when it

comprises a cluster of separate sub-cultures related to particular challenge, task, responsibility of a
unit or group.

Evidence in the cases for application of the theory

We can see evidence that Sanrizz has 4 salons and managed by three brothers – Tony, Ozzie and
Ricci. Each brother’s values, beliefs and attitudes shape the culture of their own salons. Thus, there
are three separate sub-cultures. For example, we could see the models, styles and hair for the show
they prefer is all stylish but different.

Identify why the change program was not initially successful

Conflicts arise among the sub cultures, which is evident through the brother’s arguing with each other
a lot. For example, they have different opinions on the location and budget for the new salons. They
are the salon managers. If employees see them arguing against one another so often, employees may
start to act hostile against employees from another branch as well. It is difficult to move employees
between salons because of the different sub-cultures. For example, an employee from Ricci’s salon
may find it challenging to integrate themselves with the people at the Ozzie salon.

Extra Question:

Using the critical theory of organizational culture, analyze what went wrong with the expansion
program at Sanrizz? Make sure you explain the critical theory clearly and use examples from
the case to illustrate your answer.

Summary of the characteristics of the differentist theory

Critical theory looks at the approach on how culture affects employees and how strong a culture can
control employees.

Evidence in the cases for application of the theory & identify why the change program was not
initially successful

The conflicting nature between the brothers may cause tension between the employees and finally
begin feeling insecure and lose confidence in their managers. However, it should be very difficult to
resist the culture as it is based on the legal business structure (now a joint venture between the three
brothers) of the company. If anyone was to resist the culture, they might be blamed for not identifying
with the company and even be asked to leave. As such, people go along with the culture as they feel
pressurized to confirm and employees fear of losing their job. Despite going along with the culture,
the employees are unable to communicate properly with employees in other salons. “ brothers seem to
have a lot of problem communicating and that this negatively affects communication between the four
salons” shows how culture of conflict shapes how employees are able to interact with each other.
Question:

Using your understanding of the different theories of culture, provide recommendations for how
the culture at Sanrizz could have been changed to avoid the problems that arose. Make sure you
explain which theories you are using and why; and use examples from the case to illustrate your
answer.

Reccomendation:

Communication between the salons should also be improved, leading to more productivity and
efficiency. As such, management will be able to benefit from more profits.

Changing culture

• Professional rather than family business approach - need to recognise each other more as
colleagues than brothers & try & act accordingly

• To be successful may need to change attitudes to equality/equity & recognise that all will
need to have own responsibilities & roles & allow each other to do them

• More respect for each other’s opinions

SANRIZZ – POWER (2010 Sem 1)

FIRST DIMENSION OF POWER

First dimension of power is greatly exercised by Tony in Sanrizz. Whenever it comes to an argument
about the decision making of the Sanrizz business, Tony always wins out. This is because he is the
‘big brother’ in the family, which gives him an authority power in the family business. This is
evident when Ricci express Tony by a song ‘I did it my way’, meaning that Tony uses his authority
power to win out the argument, but not because he convinced the other two brothers. This arises from
the fact that he is in charge of most of the “managerial/strategic issues associated with the position”
and also because he is the eldest brother. When the brothers argue about where to open the next
branch, “Ricci, I am not interested in anywhere outside central London”. Tony has the authoritative
power to reject Ricci’s idea.

On the other hand, Tony acting as the ‘big brother’ in the family also gives him referent power. So
often, the brothers are depending on Tony, following his lead. This is evident when Ricci said ‘Tony
is extremely convincing…’ It is obvious that Ricci finds Tony convincing because Tony has the
charisma. Ricci tends to follow Tony’s lead eventually, just like how he left the company and then
come back and follow the plan Tony believes will work.

He also uses coercive power by suggesting that Ricci always speaking out of his arse to also get his
way. (Injure psychologically)

Group power is also evident when Tony and Ozzie still carry out the ‘branchising’ plan after Ricci’s
temporarily departure. In this three men group, the two brothers who agree with the plan basically
used ‘the majority rules’ to make the decision. Ricci is dominated by the exercise of group power
from the other two brothers.
Gerry (an external agent) also uses expert power to encourage the brothers to support using a
franchise to expand the business. “It does take an outsider perhaps to look at those issues.”

Limitations

Tony’s strong use of first dimension of power means there is tension between the three brothers. Tony
may get his way but he lacks support from his brothers because they do not agree with his ideas.
“We’re not supporting enough… each other’s ideas.” Can’t expand business without support
(retaliation).

SECOND DIMENSION OF POWER

Second dimension of power is to manage decision-making process in order to sideline resistance.

Second dimension of power is exercised by all the three brothers in this case. They decided to hire a
consultant in order to sideline the resistance they face when complementing a plan to expand the
business. It is obvious that the brothers all have the same goal – expand the business. However, they
know it is impossible to make effective decisions because of the problems exist among them.
Therefore, they decided to hire Gerry (managing process) in order to work out a plan for expansion.
Eventually, they achieved what they wanted. During the process the resistance is only sidelined. Gerry
acts as a middle-man to solve the conflict between the brothers and gather opinion from the brother.
The same problems still exist among the brothers. In addition to using his expert power, Gerry
sidelines Ricci from decision-making process as it is “very difficult to get these three to agree on
anything together… better to proceed… without him. “ Gerry removes the main source which is
preventing discussions from being meaningful and productive. He decided not to actively get Ricci
back into the decision-making process.
Outcome: Tony and Ozzie successfully negotiate an agreement to set up the company. Ricci joins in
later.

THIRD DIMENSION OF POWER

The third dimension of power is exercised by Gerry. He expresses the ‘branchising’ plan as ‘a
vehicle to make them think they are involved and yet allows them to go separate ways’. He manages
the meanings to make the brothers think that they are still operating in a family business; no-one is
getting left out. And also to satisfy their needs to fulfil their value of success by implying that none of
them can operate the way they want to be. He suggested that “move forward with the common
elements protected” and expand at their own pace and with their own influence. Gerry himself knows
that the problem amongst the problems still exist and will have a certain influence on the business in
the future, however he managed to cover that by managing meanings.

Outcome: Instead of thinking they will continue to fight, Tony thinks “ this is the way forward.”
Ozzie and Tony agreed to put in ‘three percent’ of their salon’s income. The brothers feel that they are
still connected in the business but they have the freedom to move their own ways. They perceive this
move as beneficial.
 SANRIZZ – STRATEGY / STRUCTURE

Apply Porter’s theory to the case study to identify the organization’s strategy and to explain
why it was successful or unsuccessful.
Porter argues that firms will need to make a strategic choice in order to maintain a competitive
advantage. That is, firms must either seek to offer low prices through cost leadership; offer more
value through differentiation; or target one particular customer segment through focus.
Sanrizz seems to have a rather high degree of product differentiation, they never talk about cutting
cost and instead they are aiming for customers who are willing to pay for the best, despite the fact that
the hairdressing industry is ‘highly competitive’ and has low barriers of entry. Moreover, Sanrizz has
a rather board scope of business activities. Besides their daily operation in the salon, they are also
involved in the hairdressing education sector and selling hair products of their own brand. Using
Porter’s theory, we will argue that Sanrizz chooses to maintain competitive advantages from offering
more value through differentiation. Sanrizz’s strategy seems to be successful as its brand is well
known by the public and has good potential for expansion.
Apply Miles and Snow’s theories to the case study to identify the organization’s strategy and to
explain why it was successful or unsuccessful. (What type? Defender, analyzer or prospector?)
Miles and Snow’s strategic typologies classify organizations based on the rate at which they change
their markets and product lines. Miles and Snows argue that all companies are facing a fundamental
trade-off by either engaging in exploration: exploring new competitive opportunities through
innovative behaviour and assessing new product lines, or exploitation: making the most of the current
capabilities and seeking cash-flow from existing line of products.
Before their expansion plans, we will argue that Sanrizz has adopted a defender style plan by
protecting their existing market share. They have defended their market share by differentiating
through quality and creativity. Decision making is centralised and it mainly rests with Tony. They
intend to expand due to competitive environment which is a main driver for expansion in both the
sense of survival and domination of the market. Their plan is to maximize current capabilities by
gaining more market share in its sector (building 20 salons in 3 years) instead of creating new product
lines, or to jump into some sort of activities they are not currently involved in. However, their
strategic type is also slightly prospecting because they have to constantly find new hairstyles and
designs to differentiate themselves from the market. Though this is a mix of both defender and
prospector, Sanrizz is not really an analyser because it is differentiating itself by trying to establish
new fashion and trends before the market catches up. It is focused on protecting its market share
through differentiating.
After they branchise their business, the firm appears to be prospecting into new market areas.
However, they are also still defending their market share. They appear to be an analyser who defend
their existing market share but prospecting into new suburbs.
Was the planned strategy successful? What was the emergent strategy?
Before Gerry gets involved, the planned strategy wasn’t successful. The brothers argue too much and
slowed down the growth of Sanrizz. We could argue that hiring Gerry was an emergent strategy
implemented by the brothers. Also, the strategies made by Gerry seem to be all unplanned. He had to
get to know the brothers then establish strategies on the spot. The ‘branchising’ plan suggested by
Gerry is also an evidence of emergent strategy. Gerry comes up with this plan on the spot. It is not as
if he thought of suggesting this plan to the brothers from the start. This emergent strategy from Gerry
seems to be a successful one in the sense that the brothers are happy with it and adapting it.
Recommendation
Changing strategy

 If the brothers want to expand, need to change the way they approach the business
 Would need take more holistic view of the business & be able to look at the long-term & impact
of decisions on the business as a whole rather than themselves immediately
 Conflicting priorities need to be dealt w/ in order to progress & construct clearer strategies
 Give more authority to each brother to decide how they would like to do run their own salon

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
What is the organizational structure in the case? Explain the structure, Pros and cons.
Sanrizz has a functional (different departments) and divisional (products and services)structure. The
departments are separated by the business’s functions, for instance, human resources management,
education, branchising, etc. They also have different divisions such as the Sanrizz hairdressing school,
artistic services and Sanrizz products and salons. Under these structure, career leadersand
communication within department are enhanced and efficiency is usually high. However, high degree
of differentiation might make coordination difficult and it might runs into problems as organization
grows and product diversify.
Advantage of having the functional structure – Employees are put into departments where their
respective skills will be put to good use. For example, those who are stylish and artistic will be placed
within the Artistic services division, whereas those who are passionate about teaching will be placed in
the hairdressing school division. The benefit of this is that because employees of similar interests are
placed within the same department, their communication will be enhanced as they have similar train of
thoughts. Evaluation of performances of employees also becomes easier as they are in the same function,
so it is easier to evaluate and see their progress. Also, because they belong in the same functional group,
they are exposed to more career opportunities within their own fields, and can hone and perfect their
skills even further as their colleagues are all experts in that function as well.

Advantage of having product division structure – Each product department is able to function on
their own. They do not need one another to be able to function. For example, the hairdressing school
does not need to rely on the artistic services division in order to get publicized, as they have their own
advertising function within theirs. This allows for greater coordination as they are focused on their own
product line and their roles within it. Also, the organization as a while can also evaluate the success and
performance of their products more effectively and see which division contributes more to their
products. This structure also supports the differentiation strategy that Sanrizz has adopted in a way that
employees will be more specialized in their own product line that they will be able to provide better
services to customers.
DISADVANTAGES – A high degree of differentiation may occur across different functional
departments, which may lead to conflict. Greater divide and conflict can also occur if a division is seen
to be paid more attention, or have more funds than others. Also, economies of scale suffer from their
product differentiation if inefficiency occurs, due to the lack of coordination within each division.
Conflicts may also arise within the division and professional development may suffer, as there are many
pro’s that specialize in that field working together, and ideas may conflict.
Recommendation
Changing structure

 To implement such changes would need to revisit current structure e.g. greater degree of
formalisation may be required to be successful
 May also need to change distribution of authority & areas of responsibility so that these are clear
to all – however, top down chains of command are regarded as barriers to expansion so the
distributed leadership structure should be looked to being maintained in a way that avoids
conflicts b/w the brothers
 Greater formalisation may be required to ensure uniformity across businesses & try & encourage
a more professional r/ship b/w the brothers
 Application of the franchise structure to the business
 Give more autonomy to each store run by each brother

Solaris – Communication
Communication

Functional Approach

 What is the functional aprroach?

 Functional approach way of understanding organizational communication by describing
what messages do and how they move through organization.
 What is the function of the Kimberley’s message to the employee? Organizing, relationships and
change?
Definition:
Organizing –establishing rules and regulations i.e. define and clarify task, develop work
instruction and evaluate task accomplishment
Relationships –define roles and assess the compatibility of individual and organizational goals
i.e individual role definition, integration among peers.
Application:
 Intended Function
 Organizing: Define the environment style in Solaris is friendly, creative, trust and
instruct the employees work in the same way to the customers.
 Relationship: Interaction through “Fun days”, “Sing Song” and the referring of each
other as family member enhance identification and integration among employees and
hence increase their self-belongings.
 Unintended function which occurred
 Caused a Destructive relationship function on some employees
 Interaction may be seen as too embarrassing and employees felt pressure if
not follow. This deprives their sense of belonging with the peers.
 What networks are Kimberley targeting/using? Formal, informal, technological?
 Formal network
 HR department meetings Kimberley target on team members
 interview conversations, and at training and orientation to all employees.
 Informal networks
  Fun day- out of office time

 What channels are Kimberley using? What are the advantages and disadvantages of these
channels?
 Singing, displaying slogan, gift exchange, company fun-day and a lively built environment.
Advantages:
 better chance of being accepted by workers
 constant bombardment of message effective to brainwash
Disadvantages:
 method too childish reject by some workers
 Hard to voice out negative comment

 What is the direction of Job’s message? Horizontal, upward, downward and external?
 Initially horizontal: convey to other department leaders
 Downward: team leaders to subordinates.
 Horizontal among the peers through buzz words, conversations, and through their display
of enthusiasm at sing-song
 Is the information load appropriate?
 Appropriate
 The message is not complex and convey through multiple instance
 Members clearly understood the culture communicated
 What are the main causes of distortion and what can be done about them?
 Perception: some employees don’t like childish and hence found it embarrassing and
humiliated
Meaning-centered approach

 What is meaning-centered approach?

 Meaning Centred theory looks at how communication in organizations creates shared
understandings and meanings. And the way we communicate shapes our experience of an
organization eg How we organize…
 How does the communication shape organizing and decision making?
 The way Kimberly communicates reflects decision making regarding engineering culture is
in the hands of the people in the HR department.
 The team members of the self-managed teams are expected to contribute in the discussions.
This reflects decision making process is quite participative.
 How does the communication shape power and influence?
 Again, the Kimberly conversation reflects she and the HR department have authority
power to modify the recruitment and training program. For example, she can require the
employees stand and sing song. And she also has the authority power to arrange the events
such as “Fun Day” to develop Solaris culture.
 An employee thanks Kimberly face-to-face. This shows Kimberly have great influence on
employees’ job satisfaction. And the Kimberly claims she felt warm sense of community.
This reflects positive feedbacks from employees have influence on her job satisfaction.

 How does the communication shape culture and socialization?

 Playing and interacting in “Fun Day”sharps a shard reality that work is more like a party
than a chore. Employee Kris also explains to his team leader during meeting that his job is
more than just a work but personal fulfilment.
 Giving homemade gift to each other during meetings and frequently using word ‘family’
reflect there are a strong culture of warmth and a strong sense of belongings and security.
 Socialize the new employees in the training by singing “I’m Walking On Sunshine”. This
 shapes a sense of commitment and childish fun in Solaris.

 What metaphor is using and what are its effects?

 work is like a party.
Effect: employees think it’s fun and exciting to work; develop feelings of loyalty
 team as family.
Effect: employees develop a sense of security, belongingness, warmth. More friendly to
their fellow workers.
 What metaphor should be used by Kim for acquisition of Supernova and what are its effects?
 Transformation.
 Solaris and Supernova have very different organizational structure and culture
 Supernova needs to becomes a fundamentally different kind of organization to incorporate
Solaris’ culture and structure.
 Change agents need to “remove their blinders” (their old values, ways of doings) to help
them “get out of the box”, “abandon the past”.

SOLARIS – POWER (2009 Sem 2)

Use of power Referring to the case addition

1st dimension: 1. HR manager Kimberly mentioned that they use 1. Power base:
defeat conflict rewarding experience such as gifts like wines reward
by and phones to represent tangible ways to power
motivate employees (positive
mobilization of
2. Assumption: the culture formed a warm and effect lead to
resources friendly relationship among employees as well an win/win
as manager and employees, and then the situation)
referent power can be used by managers, since 2. Power base:
employees may think managers are their friend referent
or someone they care. power.
3. Self management team, each team leader is 3. Power base:
invested with the authority to monitor and authority
discipline their fellows. Power base: authority power
power. 4. Power base:
4. Self management team, team members are group power.
encouraged to contribute to discussion and
decision making, thus, they can also exert 5. Power base:
power, if most of the group member agree with authority
a decision which team leader doesn’t agree, power.
they may exert their power changing the
decision making, this power is based in group 6. Power base:
power. Information
5. In SuperNova, various forms of monitoring power
were used to measure employees, inappropriate
performing could lead to a dismissal---direct
use of power by mobile resources---power
base: authority power.
6. Kimberly Bell, Team leader of the HR
department uses information power from books
 stacked in her office bookshelf to give her ideas
on making her employees work with more fun
and excitement
2nd dimension: 1. Recruit is the central way of protecting the 1. Protecting
sideline culture, this is using 2nd dimension, managing culture,
conflict by the process by excluding ‘negative’ person from manage the
the organization to avoid conflict and protect process by
manage the
culture. The hiring process by Solaris would avoiding
process get/force the future employees to agree to negative
follow the culture of Solaris. person.
2. The employees’ resistant to Solaris’ fun culture
is sidelined by cultural programs like the sing
SONG time (Eg. Tom has stated that he has no
choice but to go along with KRIS when they
sing the song and can’t do anything about it
because of Kris’ over-enthusiasm.
3. Training program during the employee
recruitment
Consists of prominent rituals to socialize and
inform them of how things are done at Solaris.
This process sidelines the resistance to Solaris’
culture and unorthodox measures on how they do
things.

3rd dimension: 1. Culture program target the value and internal 1. Exert power
eliminate thought of employees. To achieve this, 3rd by manage
conflict by dimension is used--- using words “creative”, words, using
”dynamic”, ”motivated”, ”innovative”, positive words
using positive
“patterns”, ”vibe”… and explain in
explanations 2. Solaris uses positive words in Its slogan: a positive way
of the meaning ‘excitement, attitude, and achievement’ to allow to motivate
employees to accept them. employees.
3. The world ‘family’ is frequently used by
managers
4. Some employees have accepted the fun culture
because they accept it is not a bad thing (Eg.
Arthur)

Direction of power (top to down, downside to top):

Power can exert either from top to down or from downside to the top. Referring to the case,
in self management teams, each team leader has the authority power to monitor and discipline
their fellows; this power comes from topside and exerts to down side employees. However,
team members are also encouraged to be contribute in the discussion and decision making;
thus, they can also influence the decision making, this power comes from to downside and
could affect top side decision making which is base on group power.
Comment:

For Solaris, overall, it is a successful management of culture by using the 3rd dimension of
power. It explains the mundane and monotonous work in a positive way by using words such
as ‘creative’ and ’dynamic’, and use the slogan ‘Excitement, Attitude and Achievement’. At
such, a friendly and warm atmosphere is formed which is explained by managers as ‘family’.
Meanwhile, by manage the recruitment process to exclude the negative people from the
group, it protects the culture successfully, this is using the 2nd dimension of power, manage
the process and prevent the negative person from the arena. They also using the 1st dimension
of power, for instance, exert rewards (reward power), self management team leaders charge
the team (authority power) and self management team members join the discussion and
decision making (could be group support power), and all this power is used positively and
likely to generate an win/win outcome.

Although some of the employees still resistance to the culture, most of them still pretend to
be motivated and positive towards the organization, this could be the result of combining
authority power and group support power. In detail, most of the employees are positive and
motivated, and support the culture and management style, it causes a pressure to those who
does not like the culture, and forces them to act like a supporter of the culture. Meanwhile,
authority power also forces them to do this since they do not want the managers to know their
resistance, referring to the case, 19-year-old Charlene, although disbelieve the culture, only
give negative comment out of the earshot of the team leaders.

For Super-Nova, managers mainly use the first dimension of power, they supervise
employees in various ways, and individuals’ inappropriate behavior could lead to dismissal
and teams fail to meet target could lead to punishment. They mainly use the 1st dimension of
power by mobilizing the resources and controlling bonus, meanwhile the base of power is
mainly authority power. It is unsuccessful to some extent since it result in an high employee
turnover, thus, the “constant arrival of new employees” cause an inefficiency and a waste of
time and resources.

Recommendations to Super-Nova, managers depend on 1st dimension too heavily, which

exert a high pressure on employees and form a tense atmosphere, this lead to an resistance of
employee and undermine job satisfactions, thus cause a high turnover. To change this
situation, it needs more intervention and managers should also use the 3rd dimension by
explaining the meaning to employees positively to form a smooth and warm working
environment. Meanwhile, using more reward rather than punishment when justify employees.
Furthermore, the target might be settled to high as sometimes all the team could not meet the
target; this will definitely undermine the confidence of employees and teams. Managers
should lower down the budget to make it realistic and achievable; otherwise, the target could
mean nothing but threaten.

SOLARIS – STRATEGY / STRUCTURE (2014 Sem 2)

Porter – management must select a strategy that will give its organisation a competitive advantage
Miles & Snow – classify organizations into one of four strategic types based on the rate they change
their products or markets. Divisions of multidivisional firm maybe belong to different strategic types

Porter – Solaris

Cost Leadership Focus (?)

Aims to achieve the lowest cost within an industry, low-cost labour, preferential access to raw
materials (land), (tech innovation)
“locate in smaller towns with lower labour and rent costs”
“Success in achieving low labour costs, as well as customer service quality and innovation”
There is “new information technologies” in Solaris, however it’s industry-wide, hence not a
comparative advantage
…in a narrow segment/group of segments in an industry
“Longer, more complex calls which built more of a relationship between customer and agent”
“Agents typically dealt with more complex complaints and enquiries for a wide range of different
customers”
…service being offered must be perceived as comparable to that offered by rivals
“Success in…customer service quality” – Culture plays a part, having lower turned over and higher
work satisfaction meaning staff are better trained, more experience, more willing to gone over to help
customers hence better quality

Porter – SuperNova

Cost Leadership Focus

Aims to be the cost-leader in the industry - efficiency of operations, (economies to scale)
“competes primarily on the basis of costs”
“every call was subject to a series of detailed measurements…accuracy to the 100th seconds”
“A predetermined script” is there to help with efficiency
“A SuperNova agent could take as many 150 calls each day”
…in a narrow segment
“Specialized in more routine operations associated with a single customer”
…service being offered acceptable to buyers
“Phone calls were monitored to assess formal adherence to predetermined script as well as to judge
the quality of interaction with the customer”
“Script provided”

Miles & Snow – Solaris

Prospectors
Organisations whose strategy is to find and exploit new product and market opportunities and
Innovation may be more important than high profitability

“Its success in innovation”

“IT department designs, installs and services the extensive array of computerized communications
technology in the call centre”
The structure will be low in formalisation and have decentralised control
“The decentralized company structure aims to empower workers with autonomy and cut bureaucratic
red tape”.

Miles & Snow – SuperNova

Defenders
Organisations whose strategy is to produce a limited set of products directed at a narrow segment of
the total potential market
…strive aggressively to prevent competitors from taking market share or customers

“This quantitative assessment of output had been seen to be an important factor in successfully
winning contracts in this highly competitive business”
…intensive planning oriented towards cost and other efficiency issues
“Every call was subject to a series of detailed measurements”
“Phone calls were monitored to assess formal adherence to predetermined scripts…as well as quality
of interaction”
“Competes primarily on the basis of costs”
…defenders tend to ignore developments
“Works in a more traditional call centre environment”
…a structure made up of high horizontal differentiation with highly specialised tasks, centralised
control and decision making
“Specialized in more routine operations”
“Worked in a more hierarchical structure”