Evaluation of IKEA's organization culture in accordance with Geert Hofstede's cultural insights.

1. ORGANİZATİONAL BEHAVİOUR
“ORGANİZATİON CULTURE”
İKEA
Sumru Bayram
1002110061

2. A culture of frugality : IKEA
Organizational culture is the “personality” of the organization, the
atmosphere within which people work. Whenever someone speaks of
“the way we do things here” he or she is talking about the organization’s
culture.
Organizatonal culture has layers like an iceberg. The observable culture
is what you see and hear when walking around an organization. For
Ikea, you can be hearing from an employee that “if you want to be a
superstar or one-man show, this isn't the place to come and do that”
because IKEA has a more resilient corporate culture. IKEA has a culture
of thrift but of course a culture of frugality is not enough on its own to
guarantee success. Other key parts of the mix is good quality, customer
service, a product customers want to buy again and again. However, a
culture that emphasises cost control helps set the tone for management
decision-making and helps employees know what is expected of them
there for they have a strong culture which means that are clear, well
defined , performance driven and widely shared by members. They
balanced line between individuality and collaboration they have a strong
and rewarding corporate culture.
The core culture is found underlying values of the organization it consist
of the core values that are beliefs and values shared by organization
members.
The core culture of the IKEA reflects the entrepreneurial spirit of their
founder Ingvar Kamprad. Their values have its roots in the Småland
region of Sweden, where Ingvar Kamprad was born and grew up. It is a
stony and rather rugged landscape where the inhabitants often were
forced to get by on small means and make use of the scarce resources

3. at their disposal. Smålanders have a reputation for being thrifty and
innovative with a straightforward,no-nonsense approach to problem-
solving in general and to business challenges in particular. This ‘Småland
legacy’ is built into the IKEA culture and values ,all over the world.
The core values of the IKEA : “The IKEA way”
o The IKEA spirit – strong and living reality
o Reaching good results with small means
o Simplicity is a virtue
o Doing it a different way
o Concentration – important to IKEA’s success
o Taking responsibility – a privilige
o Most things still remain to be done
IKEA looks at culture fit with every new hire, but the emphasis is really on
co-operation and respect for one another, with bureaucracy stripped-
back in favour of humble, limited stature and a strong feeling of
teamwork.
IKEA is has low power distance which means being independent, ,
equal rights, accessible superiors, coaching leaders. Power is
decentralized and managers count on the experience of their team
members. Employees expect to be consulted.
IKEA has more individualistic structure that the employer/employee
relationship is a contract based on mutual advantage, hiring and
promotion decisions are supposed to be based on merit only,
management is the management of individuals.
IKEA probably has a feminine structure. Supportive managers,
decision making achieved through involvement. Conflicts are
resolved by compromise and negotiation.