MGMT CASE 4
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MGT302Case4.docxMGT 302 Case 4
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND DIVERSITY
READING/ASSIGNMENT
Christofferson, T. (2019, June 5). 20 years, 20 milestones: How Zappos grew out of just shoes. Retrieved from https://www.zappos.com/about/stories/zappos-20th-birthday
Klein, D. (2011, January-March). Creating cultures that lead to success: Lincoln Electric, Southwest Airlines, and SAS Institute. Organizational Dynamics, 41(1), 32.
Organizational behavior . (2017). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Edition. Retrieved from http://open.lib.umn.edu/organizationalbehavior/. CC BY-NC-SA License
Company Backgrounds
For this Case Assignment, you have the choice of writing a paper about:
1. Walgreens and CVS or
2. Zappos and Amazon
The following company information required readings will help you with this assignment:
Walgreens
Walgreens began life as a single, stand-alone drugstore. Over time, Walgreens built more stores around the country. CVS also began as a stand-alone drugstore; however, instead of just building CVS stores around the country, it also expanded its business umbrella over other drugstores and worked in conjunction with grocery stores during a long period of acquisitions. The benefit of this type of M&A is the retention of customers who are loyal to a particular brand name.
Walgreens' mission is to be America's most-loved pharmacy-led health, well-being, and beauty retailer. Its purpose is to champion everyone's right to be happy and healthy. Its pharmacists and technicians are focused on building closer relationships with their patients in the communities they serve.
Diverse employees at Walgreens score the company at 64 out of 100 across various culture categories, placing Walgreens in the bottom 45% of companies in the United States with 10,000+ Employees for Comparably's diversity score. The Diversity score provides insights into how diverse employees feel and rate their work experience at Walgreens across various culture dimensions. Walgreens ranks in the bottom 45% of other companies in the U.S. with 10,000+ Employees for Diversity Score (Comparably, n.d.).
CVS
CVS’s mission is “to improve the lives of those we serve by making innovative and high-quality health and pharmacy services safe, affordable and easy to access" (Comparably, n.d.). CVS’s vision statement is, "We strive to improve the quality of human life.” CVS’s organizational culture has an emphasis on corporate citizenship, in terms of support for stakeholders. Through its corporate culture, the company enhances its corporate image, as well as health care and retail pharmacy branding.
Zappos
Zappos has a mission of providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service. This mission statement indicates a company that is customer-centric, but what else do we know about its culture? In 2009, when Zappos was purchased by Amazon, its employees found out via an email in which its owner said, “Over the next few days, you will probably read headlines that say, ‘Amazon acquires Zappos’ or ‘Zappos sells to Amazon.’” When you think about what you just read about cultures when it comes to communication, where does Zappos fall? Since its employees had no idea this sale was going on, this is a sign of a poor culture because of a serious lack of communication. However, it also falls into the good culture category because of its excellent customer service. Zappos customer service employees have no script or time limits on calls with customers—whatever it takes to make the customer happy. In addition, every new employee has gone through two interviews: The first interview is to make sure they have the right skills and experience for the job for which they are applying, and the other to see if they are a culture fit. As found in the Christofferson (2019) article, “[H]iring people that become good coworkers and good friends is of utmost importance.”
Amazon
According to Yohn (2018), “Amazon's distinctive organizational culture fosters a performance-driven environment that fires up employees to innovate in pursuit of an outstanding, continuously improving customer experience. Its brand identity is based on delivering that same disruptively innovative customer experience.” Though this description indicates Amazon has an innovative culture, Yohn also noted a New York Times article in which Amazon’s culture was described: “Bruising.” “Relentless.” “Painful.” “Frequent combat.” “Burn and churn.” No one would fault you for thinking a company with a workplace culture described in these harsh terms is destined for failure. Yet, in 2016 Amazon nearly doubled its operating income, increased its annual revenue by 27%, and turned in its eighth straight quarter of profitability. What’s more, it tops the lists of many customer service awards, holds the second spot on LinkedIn’s Top Companies to Work For list, and added more than 85,000 employees in 2016. Amazon’s workplace culture is not for everyone—that much was exposed by the article. But its own employees’ response revealed something else: The company’s culture does not need to be “warm and fuzzy” to be effective.
According to Yohn (2018), “Amazon's distinctive organizational culture fosters a performance-driven environment that fires up employees to innovate in pursuit of an outstanding, continuously improving customer experience. Its brand identity is based on delivering that same disruptively innovative customer experience.” Though this description indicates Amazon has an innovative culture, Yohn also noted a New York Times article in which Amazon’s culture was described: “Bruising.” “Relentless.” “Painful.” “Frequent combat.” “Burn and churn.” No one would fault you for thinking a company with a workplace culture described in these harsh terms is destined for failure. Yet, in 2016 Amazon nearly doubled its operating income, increased its annual revenue by 27%, and turned in its eighth straight quarter of profitability. What’s more, it tops the lists of many customer service awards, holds the second spot on LinkedIn’s Top Companies to Work For list, and added more than 85,000 employees in 2016. Amazon’s workplace culture is not for everyone—that much was exposed by the article. But its own employees’ response revealed something else: The company’s culture does not need to be “warm and fuzzy” to be effective.
Every organization is different, so its culture should be too. Beyond an obvious baseline, there is no universal definition of a good culture. There’s a unique culture that’s right for each organization. A benevolent and supportive culture might fuel one company’s growth, but might backfire completely at another company that should be more competitive and driven by standards.
Do some background reading on the cultures behind the current competitors, Walgreens and CVS Health, or behind Zappos and Amazon who were competitors in their industry. Here are some required and optional articles and videos to get you started that will give you some background about the cultures of Walgreens, CVS Health, Zappos, Amazon, and culture in general: tive.
Videos
TV Choice. (n.d.). Organizational cultures and group norms [Streaming Video]. Kent, UK: TV Choice. Retrieved from video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/organizational-cultures-and-group-norms database. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Votaw, K. Q. (2020, February 27). Company culture: You can feel it all around [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/ILZHmYZ0vXo . Standard YouTube license
Case Assignment, write an essay in which you discuss the cultural differences of two respected companies that are successful in their industry. You have the option of choosing between:
1. Walgreens and CVS or
2. Zappos and Amazon
For Option 1, Walgreens vs. CVS, after you discuss the culture of both companies, your ultimate final question is whether CVS should buy Walgreens. You must support your response with at least one high-quality reference.
For Option 2) Zappos vs. Amazon, after you discuss the cultures of these two companies, your ultimate final question is whether the purchase of Zappos by Amazon in 2009 was the right strategy based on the findings of your own online library research and the articles provided. You must support your response to that question with at least one high-quality reference.
For either option, please prepare a 4- to 5-page (not including title page and references) critique per the following format:
Title Page. Be sure to include 5 components of relevant information (e.g., Name, Class, Professor, Assignment, Date) on the title page.
Introduction. Discuss the topic of the paper and how you will approach it. It is best to write this section after you have written the rest of the paper. The title of this first section is NOT the word Introduction; it is the company names for this assignment, that is, Walgreens vs. CVS Health or Zappos vs. Amazon. (The heading for each of the other sections of the paper are in bold in the following four subtopics.)
OPTION 1
The History and Culture of Walgreens. Describe the history and key elements of the culture of Walgreens and explain why these cultural elements are essential to Walgreens’ success. Be sure to apply the background material and support your writing with high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles found in the Trident Online Library.
The History and Culture of CVS Health. Describe the history and key elements of the culture of CVS Health and explain why these cultural elements are essential to CVS Health’s success. Be sure to apply the background material and support your writing with high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles found in the Trident Online Library.
CVS Health Should or Should Not Purchase Walgreens. Make an argument that CVS Health should or should not purchase Walgreens. Discuss the specific differences between the cultures of Walgreens and CVS Health in support of your position. Be sure to use the background material and support your writing with high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles found in the Trident Online Library.
Conclusion. Discuss the key points in your analysis that demonstrate the importance of understanding that organizational cultures are not easily changed and why culture should be a primary consideration when organizations contemplate an acquisition or merger.
Reference List. List all references that you cited in the paper using APA or other standard formatting. References include materials from the required background readings as well as any outside high-quality, peer-reviewed library sources you used in researching and writing your paper.
OPTION 2
The History and Culture of Zappos. Describe the history and key elements of the culture of Zappos and explain why these cultural elements are essential to its success. Be sure to apply the background material by supporting your writing with high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles found in the Trident Online Library.
The History and Culture of Amazon. Describe the history and key elements of the culture of Amazon and explain why these cultural elements are essential to its success. Be sure to apply the background material by supporting your writing with at least one high-quality peer-reviewed journal article found in the Trident Online Library.
It was or was not a good decision for Amazon to Purchase Zappos. Make an argument that Amazon made the right or wrong choice to purchase Zappos. Discuss the specific differences between the cultures of Amazon and Zappos in support of your position. Be sure to use the background material by supporting your writing with at least one high-quality peer-reviewed journal article found in the Trident Online Library.
Conclusion. Discuss the key points in your analysis that demonstrate the importance of understanding that organizational cultures are not easily changed and why culture should be a primary consideration when organizations contemplate an acquisition or merger.
Reference List. List all references that you cited in the paper using APA or other standard formatting. References include materials from the required background readings as well as any outside high-quality, peer-reviewed library sources you used in researching and writing your paper. Their purpose is to take the reader directly to the page on which you learned some information.
Note: A URL (website address) is NOT a reference. A reference always contains four parts: author, publication date, article title, and the source of the article. Sometimes there is no author, but the APA manual tells you what you can put in that spot instead, such as the first few words of the article title. The source for a high-quality peer-reviewed journal article is the journal!
