Running head: IC CWK 2 1

IC CWK 2

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IC CWK 2

1.0 Introduction

In every organization, culture denotes the organizational practices, systems, and value

that encourage and support the organization and individuals to enhance performance levels,

competence, and knowledge progressively (Ainscow & Sandill, 2010). An effective

organizational culture fosters continuous improvement of organizational values by supporting the

attainment of business objectives, innovation, and the capacity to manage change. The rising

changes in business environments and approaches across the globe have introduced new

challenges for business organizations (Tsai, 2011). In this regard, companies must focus on rapid

response, innovation, and speed in the delivery of consumer demands. Workplace business

settings have shifted from personal to joined factories and enterprises that emphasize the control

of the working environment to optimize outputs (Naranjo-Valencia, Jiménez-Jiménez, & Sanz-

Valle, 2011). These changes have highlighted the need to introduce an organizational learning

culture that caters for the potential implications on the workers, especially about personal,

psychological, and social values at work.

2.0 Organizational Culture Fundamentals

Organizational culture refers to the primary ways, values, assumptions, and beliefs of

operational interactions that contribute to the specific psychological and social environment

(Schein, 2010). Often, culture includes the values, philosophy, experiences, and expectations that

direct members’ conducts. It is expressed normally in the interactions, inner workings, and self-

image of workers, along with their future expectations (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Culture concerns

the joint customs, beliefs, perceptions, and rules established over time to determine the validity

of all business processes and employee associations. There are numerous kinds of organizational
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culture, including market, individual, adhocracy, adaptive, task, clan, hierarchy, role, and power

cultures (Hickman & Silva, 2018). Each category of organizational culture is either weak or

strong depending on its contribution to achieving business objectives.

2.1 Defining Organizational Culture

Often, the organizational culture describes the element that steers the company. It

develops an operational context in which every worker struggles to attain the goal set by the

organization. This environment also outlines the principles on which employee performance is

assessed and measured (Schein, 2010). The company culture is a deeply rooted entity, which

creates numerous difficulties in initiating change. The outcome of well-structured organizational

culture is a dynamic team on which company employees are held accountable while also

experiencing respect among team members in every department (Cameron & Quinn, 2011;

Urbancova, 2013)). Fundamentally, the organizational culture refers to the element that can

make the company to attain success or direct its processes and operations to utmost fail.

Culture in an organization is important because it denotes the most critical aspect that

defines the business (Tsai, 2011). In this manner, changing the organizational culture turns out as

a difficult process. The modern business environment is difficult to determine because of the

fast-changing consumer demands, which causes the development of corporate restructuring,

acquisitions, and mergers (Çakar & Ertürk, 2010). The occurrence of these processes often

leaves employees with the feeling of worthlessness in their contribution to the company as well

as the management process of the business chain. A well-organized company, with a robust

organizational culture can ensure that the workers are involved in the change processes

(Škerlavaj, Song, & Lee, 2010).

2.2 Theoretical Perspectives of Culture

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Recent conceptual contributions could serve as indications that the theory of culture has

obtained much credibility since the 80s when the individuals seeking behavioral conformance

tools commensurate with the inherent management agendas compromised it (Panda & Gupta,

2001). Through comprehensive literature analysis, several sources highlight that three theoretical

viewpoints about organizational culture offer greater insight into Toys ‘R’ Us as one of the major

retail enterprises across the globe. According to the company’s case, how the employees

perceive their relationships and roles aligns to the fragmentation, differentiation, and integration

perspectives. Analysis of the cultural perspectives in Toys ‘R’ Us relies on three theories:

functional, symbolic, and realistic views.

2.2.1 Symbolic View

Symbolic perspective argues that organizations are theorized as a framework of

knowledge, displays of insentient human processes, and model of symbolic discourse. The

complex element of the organization has been described by metaphors, which describe business

entities as machines, social phenomenon, or organism. Numerous practitioners and academics

contend that organizational performance relies on the scale to which the cultural values are

shared; that is, the strength of the cultural values (Panda & Gupta, 2001). Analysis of Toys ‘R’

Us sales culture indicates a weak symbolic inconsistency in the organization. Theoretically, the

belief is that companies that have internal organizational cultures supportive of the stratagems

and business models are more likely to achieve success (Büschgens, Bausch, & Balkin, 2013).

Toys ‘R’ Us has a strong culture that is displayed by the symbolic consistency in which the

individuals mandated to care for the customers are powerful. From various observations about

the conceptualization of organizational culture, symbolic artifacts can include devices such as

legends or stories designed to meet the business objectives (Panda & Gupta, 2001).
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The strong symbolic view used in Toys ‘R’ Us is controlled or determined by the

experience of the workers. In the company, veteran executives and top management use the

symbolic framework to articulate the experiences and wisdom that they have gathered over the

years. The company’s recruits experience influential symbolic challenges from the moment they

are hired. Fundamentally, from the viewpoint of symbolic theory, the organizational culture at

Toys ‘R’ Us is a subjective belief of objective features that influence employee satisfaction and

performance.

2.2.2 Functional View

The functional theory correlates to the collaboration of organizational constraints such as

leadership patterns, technology, size, and structure. The main concern in this perspective is to

articulate the trends of contingent associations among different organizational elements that

control organizational sustainability. Within the functional theory framework, studies have

focused on the interaction patterns and implication off subjective elements such as culture.

2.2.3 Realism/Realistic View

As outlined by VVV, the challenges and roles of leaders are dependent on the way the

leaders conceive the aspect of culture. One approach technique in which companies that are

guided by objectivity and rationality have pursued to cope with the rising turbulence and

volatility of the external business environment occurs via training and preparing the employees

with the required coping skills. If culture is perceived as a constraint that is subject to control and

manipulation for organizational efficiency and effectiveness or as a sub-framework within the

entire system, then the executives, managers, and leaders can be viewed as caretakers that assist

the organization to adapt to and identify the environmental changes concerning business

performance.
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2.3 Edgar Schein’s Model

Regarding leadership, Edgar Schein has proposed several instruments with which leaders

establish and uphold organizational culture. Firstly, Schein suggests that leaders should

determine and consider the organizational aspects that they think are crucial to the company

culture by controlling and measuring these aspects (Schein, 2010). Secondly, he outlines

organizational leaders should respond to critical organizational incidents and disasters in a

manner that the business culture does not face dilution because of the emerging crises. Thirdly,

the leaders need to select a criterion necessary for the preferred organizational culture to reward

all members. Fourthly, Schein proposes that the leaders should position themselves deliberately

as role models for the other members as well as engage in guiding and coaching recruits. Finally,

organizational leaders should choose a suitable methodology for excommunicating, retiring,

promoting, selecting, and recruiting members.

3.0 Developing a Culture of Innovation and Change

In several studies and available kinds of literature, considerable attention is given to

determining the innovation, along with the barriers and determinants of innovation within the

organization. The preconditions of innovation encompass the resources affecting innovation

directly (Szczepańska-Woszczyna, 2014). They include, among others, human capital,

accumulate knowledge, financial/material resources, and organizational resources. The elements

of human capital clarify the factors controlling organization cultures, such as management

leadership skills, continuity of administration guaranteeing the prolonged culture of

innovativeness, research staff, skills and knowledge of employees, and the qualifications and

levels of education.
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Undoubtedly, the concept of human factor plays a crucial role in the process of

innovation within the organization. Features such as managerial personality in managing their

teams, motivation and willingness of the company executives to take risks, employee attitudes,

and employee interactions point to strong organizational culture. Robust organizational culture

can facilitate or prevent the maintenance and implementation of organizational effectiveness.

Szczepańska-Woszczyna (2014) contends that organizational culture is a unique factor that

influences the frequency and speed of innovation.

Managers must ensure innovativeness and implement and enterprising attitude to

guarantee that company development follows the innovation demands of diverse scales, from the

pioneering innovations and groundbreaking models to minor developments that create

innumerable change. Enterprises that desire innovativeness should modify their organizational

culture to integrate pro-innovative character in the operational processes. Szczepańska-

Woszczyna (2014) believes that organizational values and culture are some of the main success

elements, along with leadership behaviors, human resources or skills, and management

processes. The focus of these aspects is on the innovative element of the organization triggered

by the company culture. Regarding the foundations of these sectors, viable internal aptitude is

constructed on innovation as an endless process.

3.1 Strong and Weak Organizational Culture

Maseko (2017) contends that a strong organizational culture denotes the set of beliefs and

values that are strongly followed and shared extensively within the company. The demerits of

strong cultures relate to the need for the organization to establish more inventions by focusing on

the aspect of culture and the probability that such cultures do not conform to change. In a strong

culture, the company ensures that it applies serious actions to inculcate discipline and
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disseminate its values and norms to every employee. According to Maseko (2017), the strength

of the business culture is controlled by the degree of mutual understanding of values, norms, and

principles. A successful culture develops when organizational goals align to employee

motivations.

Weak organizational culture describes the beliefs and values not widely and strongly

shared within the company. It implies that the people working in the organization depend more

on individual values, norms, and principles. Organizations characterized by weak cultures

engage sparingly in investments associated with culture. The need to guide the individual

members of organizations with weak cultures requires implementation of more regulations and

rules than the mutual understanding of beliefs and values.

4.0 Learning Organization

Learning culture in an organization can take place through different models, popularly

referred to as loops of learning. The fundamental breakthroughs in assisting people to

comprehend learning dynamics are the concepts of triple-loop, double loop, and single-loop

learning (Authenticity Consulting LLC, nd). The three learning concepts can assist Toys ‘R’ Us

to appreciate and realize the types of learning that its employees, management, and customers

can glean during any of the organizational programs.

4.1 Single-loop Learning

The single-loop learning model functions on a limited and automatic form of reaction to a

situation. It is characterized by little or lack of learning because of its disregard for insight.

According to experts and scholars, a greater proportion of companies function according to the

precepts of single-loop learning, which requires members to create rigid strategies, procedures,

and policies and then spend their time correcting and identifying deviations from the set laws
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(Authenticity Consulting LLC, nd). An organization such as Toys ‘R’ Us can exhibit the single-

loop learning model when it determines that its suppliers have not produced a particular

deliverable on time in the project phase. Through the single-loop, the company executive or the

department responsible for the project will get angry with the supplier and demand that it

produces the resource or materials (deliverables), without actually exploring the reasons why the

supplier failed to produce the production materials.

4.2 Double-loop Learning

The double-loop learning concerns the need to change rules controlling how a company

such as Toys ‘R’ Us manages its operations (Authenticity Consulting LLC, nd). In the double-

loop model, organizational members can reflect on whether the laws require changes, not only

about the possibilities of deviations but also about how to correct the identified shifts in rules.

Toys ‘R’ Us use of this learning approach involves critical thinking and creativity. The double-

loop learning helps the management, instructors, and participants understand the reasons why

some solutions perform better than others do in the attempt to obtain an objective or find

solutions to a problem. Research asserts that this type of learning is fundamental to

organizational success, particularly during occasions of rapid transformation (Authenticity

Consulting LLC, nd).

An example of double-loop learning at Toy ‘R’ Us can use the context of suppliers

failing to produce some deliverables in time. In this scenario, double-loop learning happens

when the company management engages the suppliers in a discussion concerning the reasons for

the absence of the required deliverables, as well as whether the company expectations were

accurate or unreachable. Using the double-loop learning, the outcomes of the discussion might
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involve changes in project timelines or changes in communication models between client and

consultants to deliver product or resources in time.

4.3 Triple-loop Learning

The final learning model, triple-loop learning, also refers to as “learning concerning

learning” (Authenticity Consulting LLC, nd). It encompasses the process of learning or

determining how to learn by replicating how people learn. In this case, learning participants tend

to reflect on their perceptions about the laws as well as how the laws should be subjected to

changes. Triple-loop learning assists in understanding more about individual understanding,

perceptions, and beliefs. It can be defined as double-loop learning concerning the need for

double-loop learning (Authenticity Consulting LLC, nd). At Toys ‘R’ Us, triple-loop learning, in

the context of a supplier failing to produce the required deliverables, could involve a joint

discussions between the company management and the suppliers about the subtleties of the

discussion, such as how the process was conducted, the learning outcome, and the metrics and

resources used in learning.

5.0 Recommendations

Various organizational culture elements have influenced Toys ‘R’ Us performance in

innovations. The company has failed to provide an exclusive in-store experience using

technology solutions that industry rivals such as Walmart and Amazon use in their online and

traditional walk-in outlets. Several recommendations can enhance Toys’ innovative culture to

foster competitiveness in the global market. The following are some of the main

recommendations for innovative organizational culture:

1. The leaders should initiate a multi-faceted innovation strategy, beginning from the

bottom of the organizational structure. Breaking down the complex aspects and
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phases of innovation factions such as policies, products, profit models, and processes

will allow Toys R Us to experience operational agility in innovation (Viki, 2017).

2. Empowering employee teams to offer operational and organizational values in new

ways: As a corporate value, innovation means establishing a culture to allow the

employees feel they have some degree of autonomy regarding their expectation,

independent thinking, and ability to determine new ways of solving problems (Viki,

2017).

3. The leaders should encourage conceptualization of innovative ideas and conduct

follow-ups on the implementation of the ideas. The actual procedure taken to create

an innovative culture in the organization entails the leaders’ will to motivate action on

the emerging innovative concepts (Thornton, Ocasio, & Lounsbury, 2012). Employee

teams at Toys R Us should be given time to solicit information about new

technologies and make informed decisions about the need for new technologies in

various organizational departments or functions.

6.0 Conclusion

An organizational culture that focuses on supporting innovation involves a wide range of

variables, including sufficient education level, economic and social understanding, motivation

and competitive atmosphere, effective communication systems, incentive mechanisms, and lack

of egoistic attitudes and arrogance. In regards to Toys R Us, innovative culture has not been

implemented extensively to reflect the rapid transition to new technologies used by major retail

outlets and competitors such as Walmart and Amazon. As a result, the company would need to

identify and implement the aspects of organizational culture that enhance innovativeness.
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The measures that Toys R Us should consider are: supporting problem-solving,

upholding creative thinking, establishing an environment of innovation, supporting group

practices focusing on innovativeness, risk tolerance, and implementing democratic ideologies of

conflict resolution. For the company leaders, it is important to ensure that distinction in

spearheading innovation in the company deals with how the leaders constructs a culture of

creativity and innovativeness in every aspect. Specifically, leaders at Toys R Us should consider

the implementation of factors fostering innovation, such as motivation, challenges the traditional

view or handling of an innovative culture, creating reciprocal trust with the followers, and

focusing on the results.

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7.0 References

Ainscow, M., & Sandill, A. (2010). Developing inclusive education systems: the role of

organizational cultures and leadership. International Journal of Inclusive

Education, 14(4), 401-416.

Authenticity Consulting, LLC. (nd). Different kinds of learning (loops learning). Retrieved from

https://managementhelp.org/misc/learning-types-loops.pdf

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.

John Wiley & Sons.

Büschgens, T., Bausch, A., & Balkin, D. B. (2013). Organizational culture and innovation: A

meta‐analytic review. Journal of product innovation management, 30(4), 763-781.

Çakar, N. D., & Ertürk, A. (2010). Comparing innovation capability of small and medium‐sized

enterprises: examining the effects of organizational culture and empowerment. Journal of

Small Business Management, 48(3), 325-359.

Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2011). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based

on the competing values framework. John Wiley & Sons.

Hickman, C. R., & Silva, M. A. (2018). Creating excellence: Managing corporate culture,

strategy, and change in the new age. Routledge.

Maseko, T. S. B. (2017). Strong vs. weak organizational culture: Assessing the impact on

employee motivation. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review.

Naranjo-Valencia, J. C., Jiménez-Jiménez, D., & Sanz-Valle, R. (2011). Innovation or imitation?

The role of organizational culture. Management Decision, 49(1), 55-72.

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.
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Škerlavaj, M., Song, J. H., & Lee, Y. (2010). Organizational learning culture, innovative culture

and innovations in South Korean firms. Expert systems with applications, 37(9), 6390-

6403.

Szczepanski-Woszczyna. K. (2014). The importance of organizational culture for innovation in

the company. Academy of Business in Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland.

Thornton, P. H., Ocasio, W., & Lounsbury, M. (2012). The institutional logics perspective: A

new approach to culture, structure, and process. Oxford University Press on Demand.

Tsai, Y. (2011). Relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job

satisfaction. BMC health services research, 11(1), 98.

Urbancova, H. (2013). Competitive advantage achievement through innovation and

knowledge. Journal of Competitiveness, 5(1).

Viki, T. (2017, October 22). Eight ways to transform your company’s innovation culture. Forbes.

Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/tendayiviki/2017/10/22/eight-ways-to-

transform-your-companys-innovation-culture/#79a0478d116e