What is organizational culture? What differentiates a weak one from a strong one? Does success come from combining a company of a strong culture with one of a mediocre culture?
Zappo, a company which demonstrates incredible culture built on creating happiness for employees, sellers and, of course, customers was recently bought by Amazon, an organization which displays the complete opposite. They prefer to keep a distance from their customers, however compensate with their website and order fulfillment. One of my favourite writers, Seth Godin, emphasizes in one of his blog postings the fact that Amazon bought Zappo for all the right reasons, as Zappo is “a business model that’s remarkable and worth talking about.”
Organizational culture is defined as a pattern of shared values, beliefs and assumptions that are considered the appropriate way to think and act within an organization.
However, how can two companies with completely different values succeed in combining into one? The question is, who will learn from whom in establishing a set culture in the merging of the two companies? Will Amazon take on Zappos almost perfect customer service, in which employees engage in daily twitters or will Zappo’s slowly develop detachment from their customer service?
Class 17 taught us the importance of company culture which leads me to express my hopes that Zappo will maintain their exceptional reputation and customer service!
Watch this video to learn more about Zappo’s company culture!
Example of employees who love their jobs!
