Organizational culture, defined as “a pattern of shared values and beliefs that produces certain norms of behavior” (Osland, J., Kolb, D., Rubin, I. & Turner, M., 2007) within an organization, directly influences the experience of anyone who interacts with an organization, including employees and customers. In the past organizational culture was “once viewed as something that emerged organically without thought or intention” (Rizai, M., 2014), however as the business world has progressed there is a growing realization that organizational culture needs to be intentionally created, nurtured and maintained as there is a direct correlation to organizational success and positive culture. Due to the fact that organizational culture is so significant in any business, it is important to understand who shapes the culture within a business. As Doug Guthrie, a contributor to Forbes Magazine, points out, “Ultimately, leaders are the single person most responsible for shaping an organization’s culture” (Guthrie, D., 2014). Due to the importance and influence a leader holds in establishing and maintaining the culture of an organization, the aim of this exploration is to identify the cultural influence of a business leader and explore how they shape the organizational culture of the business they pilot.
This case study will focus on a small business which specializes in wellness and physical therapy, which will be indentified as the clinic, and the person who has most affected the organizational culture in the recent past. The clinic itself has a long established presence in the community for which it operates; however it is currently in the collectivity stage of its lifecycle. This stage in the organizational lifecycle is characterized by “growing pains such as lack of coordination among newly created departments… overrun budgets, poor or uneven quality control and overworked CEOs and employees” (Osland, J., Kolb, D., Rubin, I. & Turner, M., 2007). Although the clinic itself surpassed this part of the business lifecycle in the past, the clinic has recently reinvented itself which resulted in the recycling of the organizational lifecycle. In order to understand why the clinic found itself back in this stage of the organizational lifecycle it is important to understand the factors which lead to its reinvention.
Prior to the reorganization, the clinic lacked cohesion as result of many factors. These factors included the overlapping of many job responsibilities which resulted in a relatively low feeling of reward, “the degree to which members feel that they are being recognized and rewarded for good work” (Osland, J., Kolb, D., Rubin, I. & Turner, M., 2007). The low feeling of reward was due to the fact that there was no single owner of a specific task and therefore no feeling of accomplishment or continuity. Additionally, new hires were often hired based on their ability to do everything which often resulted in frustration for the new hire as they struggled to learn everything and irritation for the existing staff as they took the time to teach each facet of the business. These frustrations also affected organizational clarity, “the feeling among members that things are well organized” (Osland, J., Kolb, D., Rubin, I. & Turner, M., 2007), as there was an apparent lack of roles and individual responsibility. In all, these challenges, and several others, resulted in a culture of hectic bustle which lacked cohesion. These aggravations produced a loss of clients and profitability and an urgent need to change which spawned the necessity to reinvent the business.
During the early stages of the organizational reinvention, a consultant was hired who specializes in rebranding and changing the relevance of small businesses. This consultant, who has experienced success in many facets of her previous business experiences, ranging from entrepreneurial endeavors to corporate employment, is the leader who has shaped the culture of the