Question

Imagine receiving job offers from three great employers: Traditional ? FBI, Participative ? Southwest Airlines, Individualistic ? Pixar. Research the culture of each firm and prepare a 300-word narrative essay addressing the following questions. Which culture is most appealing to you? Why?

Answer 1

Before deciding on which culture appeals me the most, first it is necessary to understand the three cultures which is as below:

Traditional Culture

This culture essentially follows a hierarchical organizational structure where each level reports to a higher level and the decision making follows a top down approach. It can also be defined as an autocratic culture. The goals and objectives planned are difficult to modify as it involves approvals from managers and top management. Though at the outset this looks like a well drilled and disciplined approach, often the decision makers do not realize the challenges faced by the lower levels and the goals set are not in accordance with the actual feasibility. It is often said that the traditional organizations tend to curb the true potential of its workforce due to lack of autonomous decision making and hence more and more organizations are looking to shift from this traditional culture.

Participative culture

This approach involves moving from an autocratic approach towards a more collective approach. This culture initially identifies all tasks where a participative approach can be beneficial. Based on this, the autonomy of decision making is given to the stakeholders/workforce who are in the best position to decide and execute the goal and objectives for a particular task. This approach does ensure that true potential of each employee is utilized in a better way. Also, it has a positive impact on the morale and engagement of the employees towards their workplace which translates into better efficiency. More and more organizations are moving towards this culture.

Individualistic culture

Individualistic work culture is a two edged sword. On one side, by ensuring that each employee achieves his true potential, the work productivity at an individual level is increased due to a competitive work atmosphere but on the other side individualism can lead to low overall productivity because by focusing on individual goals, the collective organizational goals are often compromised. It could also result in workplace disputes and a negative atmosphere where each person is trying to work only towards his/her own position. This is not a healthy work environment in the long run.

The participative culture is the most appealing to me based on the above elaboration as it creates a positive work environment while realizing the true potential of the employees.