2. What is Organizational Culture?
• Organizational culture is what makes an
organization what it is, and what sets it apart
from other organizations.
• A system of shared values, and beliefs that
shapes how people behave in an organization.
3. Deal and Kennedy’s Strong Cultures
• Deal and Kennedy proposed that businesses
will have better chances at success if they
have a “strong” culture.
• Deal and Kennedy also stated that it will make
an organization a better place to work and will
improve individual performance in
organizations.
• There are four components of Deal and
Kennedy’s Strong Cultures
4. Components of Deal and Kennedy’s
Strong Cultures
• Values – Beliefs and visions that members
hold for the organization
• Heroes – Individuals who represent the values
of the organization
– Ex. Steve Jobs of Apple, Tony Hseih of Zappos, and
Sundar Pichai of Google.
5. Components of Deal and Kennedy’s
Strong Cultures
• Rites and Rituals – Ceremonies where
organizations celebrate their values.
– Ex. Company Picnic, Banquets, sporting events,
etc.
• Communication Systems – How people in
organizations communicate with each other
– Formal – Newsletters
– Informal – Employee interactions
6. Deal and Kennedys Culture Types
• After observing these components in
organizations Deal and Kennedy discovered
that there are four distinct culture types based
on:
– How risky the companies main activities are.
– How fast companies learn if their strategies are
successful or not.
7. Deal and Kennedy’s
Culture Types
• Tough guy, Macho – This
culture is based high
speeds and high risks.
Every member of the
organization works hard to
be the star.
• Ex. Entertainment
industry, sports
teams, advertising.
• Work hard/Play hard – This
culture is based on low
risks, but get almost
immediate feedback.
Employees in this culture
have to have high energy.
• Ex. Sales people
8. Deal and Kennedy’s
Culture Types
• Bet-your-company – This
culture is based on high risks,
but slow feedback speeds.
Employees make high risk
decisions but may wait years
to see if their work has paid
off. Employees must have
focused values
• Ex. Pharmaceutical
companies, oil
companies .
• Process – This culture is based
on low risks, and low feedback
speeds. Because of this
employees focus on how they
do work as opposed to what
they do.
• Ex. Banks, insurance
companies, government
organizations.
9. What does HR have to do with
Culture?
• Human Resources in most cases is the first
interaction that an employee has with an
organization.
• Because of this HR must have a strong
representation of what the company’s culture.
• According to hrcloud.com there are three
ways HR can define culture.
10. Three Ways HR Defines Company
Culture
• According to hrcloud.com, the first way a HR
can define company culture is by, “being a
lifeguard on duty”
• What does it mean to, “be a lifeguard on
duty” ?
– Watch over employees
– Guide them into to make sure they are staying
within the cultural boundaries.
11. Three Ways HR Defines Company
Culture
• The second way that HR can define culture is
by standing up
• HR has become more administrative and has
taken a back seat to the cultural aspects in
recent years.
• Members of HR can step up and become more
like leaders or coaches in the company.
12. Three Ways HR Defines Company
Culture
• The final way that HR can help define culture
in a company is to, “perform like no other”
• HR must do their absolute best to promote
the culture of the company.
• HR must also find ways to track and document
these behaviors among employees, which can
lead to better performance of the culture
from the employees.
13. How Does HR’s Impact on Culture
Relate to Deal and Kennedy?
• As we can recall Deal and Kennedy’s strong
cultures focuses on four key components to
build a strong culture
• In what ways does HR use Deal and Kennedy’s
Strong Cultures?
14. Deal and Kennedy’s Strong Cultures in
HR
• To begin, Values is the first main concept in
Deal and Kennedy’s Strong Cultures.
• While HR doesn’t always necessarily create
these values, they do reinforce them, and
make sure they are implemented among new
employees.
15. Deal and Kennedy’s Strong Cultures in
HR
• Heroes in a a culture are often looked as someone
who is the face of a company, such as the CEO’s or
high ranking members of the company.
• Heroes in the company can be anyone who
accurately represent the culture of the company
• Heroes can be trained by HR representatives, or they
could even be the Heroes themselves.
16. Deal and Kennedy’s Strong Cultures in
HR
• Rites and Rituals seem like they can be
frivolous, and may be overlooked by
employees but they play a bigger deal that
they may think.
• HR can help facilitate these rites and rituals
– New worker orientation
– Team building activities
17. Deal and Kennedy’s Strong Cultures in
HR
• Communication is key in companies to make
sure that everything is operating in a smooth,
efficient manner.
• HR has many connections with every
department and is constantly communicating
with every department to make sure goals are
being met.
18. Summary
• Deal and Kennedy’s Strong Cultures is a good
model to follow for a company to build a well
organized company culture.
• HR plays a huge role in reinforcing the culture
of a company and in many ways can relate to
the main components of Deal and Kennedy’s
strong cultures.
19. Questions
• In what ways do you think that HR could improve on
reinforcing culture?
• Is there a component of Deal and Kennedy’s Strong
Cultures that you believe HR can improve on?
• In what ways can Deal and Kennedy’s Strong Cultures
be applied across different departments of HR?
– Training/Development
– Recruiting
– Employee Relations
20. Work Cited
• Miller, K. (2012). Organizational communication
approaches and processes. Australia: Cengage.
• Falls, R. (2014, November 18). 3 Ways HR Defines
Company Culture. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from
https://blog.hrcloud.com/3-ways-hr-defines-company-
culture/
• Deal and Kennedy's Cultural Model Understanding
Rites and Rituals in Corporate Culture. (n.d.).
Retrieved February 28 , 2017, from
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_
86.htm