Organizational Theory Applied to the Retail Industry Essay -- Essays P

Organizational Theory Applied to the Retail Industry PART I Introduction Antonio’s, as it will be referred to for confidentiality purposes from here on in, is a retail shoe store that operates in Fredericton, N.B.. It is part of an open system. This company originated in Montreal, Quebec. The head office is now located there and retail outlets are located throughout Canada, the United States and parts of Europe. The market in which this company operates may be considered a division of the fashion industry. This industry is known for being highly competitive and dynamic. Also for obvious reasons many companies within it concern themselves with company image. This particular shoe company has been in existence since the early 1990’s. Antonio’s has grown significantly and is currently a leader in the shoe industry, even on an internationally level. It produces quality shoes at a reasonable price. From its beginnings until now Antonio’s has been operating in the formation stage. This company has met with great success, though, and has grown quickly. It now faces the task of moving into the growth stage. Antonio’s must be careful in managing every aspect of its company now in order to survive. Since the industry in which Antonio’s operates is very image oriented a key issue in moving from the formation to growth stage that must be discussed is company culture. In this situation â€Å"managed† (as it is referred to in its most popular definition) means changed. In order to manage the company culture through the move from stage to stage in the life cycle of this organization the culture within the current stage, the formation stage, must be discussed. The culture, in my opinion, must be managed as it currently has a negative impact on the organizational effectiveness. The organizational effectiveness as a result of culture must analyzed in order to determine if in fact it does have a negative impact on the company, if so, it must be managed for the sake of the company’s survival in the growth stage. PART II Analysis of current company culture The current culture existing in Antonio’s organization is effective according to most of the strict definition meanings. It is not particularly strong, this is because most organizations which are young or have constant turnover (Antonio’s finds both of these things to be t... ...ething so shallow as their appearance. Thus in the long run they are indirectly and unintentionally promoting organization decline by doing this. PART III Conclusion In my opinion the main problem that exists within this organization is the fact that Antonio’s fits into a certain aspect of the Competing Values approach mentioned above to a greater extent than need be. They take organization culture too far despite the fact that it is very well fitted to its industry. My experiences there as an employee were not all negative yet many I did have made me feel very unappreciated and worthless within the organization. A stress on this particular type of culture results in high turn over. This will ultimately lessen the chances of survival for the organization as it moves through the stages of the life cycle. If this culture persists, Antonio’s will be run by disloyal employees who purposely defy it costing them time and money in the long run. It will have a damaging effect on their so preciously held reputation and this will not fair well for them considering the competitive nature of the fashion industry. Bibliography: Robbins. Organizational Theory