OB Group 1: Jessica McCullough Robert Bird Natasha Herron Hilary Muth Weiwei Sha

1. Culture & Power in Atlantic Superstore OB Group 1: Jessica McCullough Robert Bird Natasha Herron Hilary Muth WeiweiSha

2. Outline • Introduction • Company Background • Espoused Culture • Enact Culture • Emergence of subcultures • Employee Resistance • Employee Power • Superstore in Antigonish • Conclusion

3. Introduction • What we’ve do? • Looking at culture, power and their interrelationship • What is Culture? • The way of doing things in the organization • “Organizational culture refers to the dominant ways of doing things in an organization that are reflected in the regular activities of its members and the various things, or artifacts, that symbolize those activities” (Mills, Mills, Bratton & Forshaw, 2007, pp.423). • What is Power? • The forces guiding what we see, do and enact in the organization • “a particular action, attribute, position, institution, or relation of various forces guiding what we see, do, and enact in organizations” (Mills et al., 2007, pg. 389).

4. Company Background • Loblaw Companies Limited • One of Canada’s largest good retailers • Over 136,000 employees • Over 1000 stores across Canada • Atlantic Superstore • One of Loblaws supermarket chains predominantly found in eastern part of Canada

5. Espoused Culture • A passion for social responsibility • “As Canada's largest grocery retailer, Loblaw feeds Canadians, creates jobs and makes a positive difference in our communities from coast to coast.” -- Galen G. Weston, Executive Chairman • Culture Values • Creating an enjoyable workplace • Satisfying customers • Focus on a sustainable environment

6. Enact Culture • Employee dissatisfaction • “Prison Camp” • Schedule cut • Heavy workload • Lay off receive minimum • Union strike • Benefits, scheduling and wages • Customer dissatisfaction • Long wait time

7. Emergence of subcultures Joanne Martin describes a differentiated approach to culture as: “[an] organization composed of overlapping, nested subculture, and lets ambiguities, ironies, and ambivalence surface primarily on the boundaries where subcultures meet”(Martin, 1995, pp.231). Furthermore Martin explains that the differentiated approach “focuses on the inconsistencies in an organization (for example between espoused values and actual behaviors)”(pp.231). • Employees developed subcultures through • Union • Strike • Boycotts • “Don’t buy from Loblaw” • Emerge vertically along the organization chart • Reason: Conflicts of interest

8. Employee Resistance • Union • Union threatening to strike • Media • Employees complaining on Internet • “…staffing is cut back… You rarely see anyone smiling” • Resist company values

9. Employee Power • Employees are practicing coercive power • Union is threatening to strike against management in order to gain “wage increases, more available hours for part-time workers, and an increase in full-time positions” • Company offered “a new and substantial improvement to the last company offer” in the end • Still gap between employee desires and management edicts

10. Superstore in Antigonish Many frontline employees are students Students receive minimum wage Young employees do not buy into company value Short term job Resist company culture High turnover rate

11. Conclusion • Top management • Attempts to create a culture that values the environment, customers and an enjoyable workplace • Frontline Employees • Employees are dissatisfied with the workplace • A large dissonance between the culture put forward by management and how the employees experience culture

12. Questions