Corporate Culture Of Gap Inc And Pacsun Inc
The fit perspective in the organizational culture aspects means that the company has the ability to align their organization with the wider market environment. This means that as the external business environment changes, the internal organizational culture must also change to prevent cultural clash and organizational downfall (Graf 18). In line with the fit perspective, it can be said that Gap Inc and PacSun Inc has been able to align their corporate culture with their external environment.
Through the ability of the Gap Inc to adhere to the latest trends in the fashion, apparel and personal care needs, the company has been able to align their organizational culture with the transformation and changes happenings in the external environment which lead to having cultural fit within the environment. In doing so, the company has used state of the art fashion facilities and technologically advanced equipments to adhere to these trends.
In line with the PacSun Inc, the company has been able to align or fit their organizational culture with their external environment by allowing their employees to gather information from the target market and use this information to make changes and developments with their products and services. In this way, PacSun has been able to fit or align their corporate culture with the external environment. Aside from the fit or alignment of organization’s internal culture and external environment, it has been noted that one of the aspects that keeps the organizational culture is the cultural fit between the employees and the organization.
It is mentioned that a good cultural fit between the company and the employees attributed to the retention, profit and productivity of employees (Panico 59). In order to have a cultural fit, the human resource management of Gap Inc and that of the PacSun has been able to implement a unique and distinctive human resource management system from selecting and recruiting their employees, assessing employee’s cultural and philosophical stance and developing them to be more fitted in the internal culture of the company (Wright, 28). The Adaptation Perspective
In the world which has been described by fast unpredictable volatility and change, the ability of the organization to adhere to have adaptive culture are highly considered (Wright, 26). Accordingly the culture of organization is essential since it can make or break an organization. Industries with an adaptive organizational culture which is aligned with their organizational goals routinely are those companies which can easily outgrow their rivals. Some business studies have noted the difference of these companies or more (Kotter & Heskett, 74).
To attain successful results for your company, the management must be able to determine what their culture is and how they can be more adaptive to the constant changes in the business environment. Part of the context of having an adaptive culture is the ability of an organization to meet the changing needs and demands, as well as the behavior of their target market. Organizations with adaptive culture also have the ability to diversify their product lines and business methods to achieve competitive advantage.
As the business environment in which the organization operates including the business climates, regulations, laws and policy, changes and transformation in the organizational culture should also change. For truly adaptive companies, a rapidly changing business world is known to have a strategic advantage. Organization with adaptive culture is that organization which has the ability to have a more open-minded management who are willing to change or innovate for having sustainable competitive advantage.
Companies like IBM, telecommunication industry and technology-oriented industry are considered to be companies adhering to adaptive culture (Panico, 60) It can be analyzed that both Gap Inc and PacSun Inc, has been able to have organizational culture that can easily adapt with the changes in the business world. Adaptation perspective is the ability of the organization to easily adapt and cope with the changes through diversified methods and strategies. Since both Gap Inc and PacSun Inc have been able to diversify their products to meet the demands of their target market, they can easily adapt to changes.
In addition, it can be said that both Gap and PacSun Inc has also the ability to have a change management and innovation to meet organizational needs of a business that would sustain their competitive advantage. Both Gap and PacSun has also been able to adapt to environmental changes in the business world, specifically in terms of diverse employees. Since both are operating in various cultures, the human resource management of both companies are able to enhance, transform and improve their human resource policy to ensure that the need of the target market are always provided.
The ability to see the latest trends in the business and market environment is one of the management abilities that can be analyzed with both Gap Inc and PacSun.
Reference
Gap Inc. 01 April 2008 http://www. gapinc. com/public/About/abt_fact_sheet. shtml/ Graf, Alan B. “Building Corporate Cultures. ” Chief Executive, March 2005, 18. Kotter, J. P. and J. L. Heskett. Corporate Culture and Performance. New York: Free Press, 1992, 74-85. Lewin, David. ‘Strong culture’ vastly undersold. 01 April 2008 http://www.today. ucla. edu/2002/021210strongculture. html Panico, C. Richard. “Culture’s Competitive Advantage. “
Global Cosmetic Industry 172, no. 12 (December 2004): 58–60. Parker, M. Organizational Culture and Identity. London: Sage. Pacific Sunwear . 01 April 2008 http://www. pacsun. com/ Quick, James. Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Realities, and challenges. South Western: Thompson. Wright, Gordon. “Realigning the Culture. ” Building Design & Construction 46, no. 1 (January 2005): 26–34.
