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Can culture be managed within an organisation?: The Billionaire's Club



Blue Origin

Figure 1: Blue Origin Symbol-The Perfection of Flight. From Geek Wire, by Boyle, 2016 (https://www.geekwire.com/2016/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-motto-logo-boots/)


Blue Origin

Blue Origin is a private aerospace manufacturer and a sub-orbital spaceflight services company founded by Jeff Bezos, former CEO and founder of, Amazon. Blue Origin’s mission and vision statement are “Building a Road- We are committed to building a road to space so our children can build the future” (Blue Origin, 2021).


Introduction

The Amazon billionaire-funded Blue Origin has been accused of a toxic organisational culture. Twenty-one current and former Blue Origin employees released an essay shedding light on the issues such as health and safety negligence, sexual harassment and high employee turnover (Lioness, 2021). In this blog, Blue Origin’s organisational culture is analysed using Hall's (1976) Iceberg model and Johnson and Scholes' (1992) Cultural Web model; and the organisational structure is analysed using Handy’s (1992) framework. Using McKinsey’s (2018) 7’S model it is then analysed what factors need to be considered for this change.


Current and former Blue Origin employees say workplace culture and safety lacking.



What is organisational culture and why is it important?

Organisational culture is the way things are done within an organisation (McKinsey, 2018). According to Johnson and Scholes (1992), the stories, office symbols and layouts, as well as the power structure within the organisation, together create the organisation’s culture. According to Hofstede (2001), the national culture also has an influence on organisational culture.

Organisational culture relates to job satisfaction which can lead to high motivation, increased productivity and higher self-esteem of employees (Janicijevic, 2012). Therefore, organisational culture is essential to maintain efficiency and progress within an organisation (McKinsey, 2018).


What type of culture exists at Blue Origin?

The employees within Blue Origin have described the organisation as having a ‘bro culture’ and described the working environment as ‘toxic’ (Lioness, 2021). Using Handy’s framework of organisational structure, Blue Origin can be said to have a power culture. Power culture can be described as a web with all the powerful spiders sitting in the middle (Handy, 1992). The employee essay states that the Blue origin CEO, Bob


Figure 2: Charles Handy's framework of organisational culture. Note. From Gods of Management, by Handy, 2016.


Smith, has installed an inner circle of trusted top-level executives (Lioness, 2021). This ‘inner circle’ makes all the decisions for the company without the inclusion of engineers or experts across various departments. Therefore, Blue Origin has a centralized structure where decisions for the organisation are made in a top-down manner.



Figure 3: Hofstede cultural dimension ranking for the United States. Note. From Hofstede Insights Country Comparisons, by Hofstede Insghts, 2021, (https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-usa/)


Considering Hofstede's model, the United States ranks low (40) in the Power Distance Index (Hofstede Insights, 2021). However, Handy has argued that power culture is found in organisations with higher power distance (1992). McSweeney (2002) has criticized Hofstede's cultural dimension as the study did not have enough participants to define the culture of a whole nation and that national culture does not necessarily determine the organisational culture.



Figure 4: Iceberg Model of Organisational Culture.Note. From Empuls, by Empuls, 2021, (https://blog.empuls.io/iceberg-model-of-culture/)


According to Hall (1976), the Iceberg Model states that the location of an organisation is just the tip of the iceberg and to really understand the organisational culture we need to go deeper. These 'invisible' factors can be further analysed using Johnson and Scholes' cultural web (Johnson and Scholes, 1999).

Johnson and Scholes’ (1999) cultural web states that organisational culture is impacted through values and symbols. Considering the organisational symbols, Blue Origin's symbol includes a feather that is the symbol of the ‘perfection of flight’ (See Figure 1) and represents freedom, mobility and progress (Blue Origin, 2021). This can be argued in two ways.



Figure 5: Johnson and Schole's Cultural Web.Note. From Fundamentals of Strategy by Johnson and Scholes, 2012


Firstly, the symbol of the ‘perfection of flight’ represents a very rigid organisational culture that focuses on perfectionism. An article by Harvard Business Review revealed that striving employees towards perfection does increase engagement and motivation but are also impacted by opposing forces, like higher depression and anxiety that have serious consequences including high turnover (Swider et al., 2018). Secondly, it can be argued that the power structure within Blue Origin does not provide the employee’s with the ‘freedom, mobility and progress’ as they have little to no say in the decision-making process.


Explanation of 'Gradatim Foreciter'- The motto of Blue Origin.


Similarly, Blue origin's motto is “Gradatim Foreciter’ which is Latin for “Step by Step, Ferociously” (Blue Origin, 2021). Bezos has stated that when building a vehicle that will be taken to space, there cannot be any shortcuts and if you do then “it’s going to be [just] an illusion that it’s going to make it faster” (Miao and Sheetz, 2021). These are the values and beliefs embedded within the organisation. However, yet again, this motto does not comply with the actions of the top management as engineers and experts at Blue Origin were made to sign non-disclosure agreements involving the safety of space vehicles (Lioness, 2021). Therefore, the organisational culture at Blue origin does not comply with its organisational structure which according to Janicijevic (2012) creates a weak organisational structure leading to high turnover and lack of motivation.


The question also arises as to why top engineers and experts in the world are breaking the law?

Applebaum et al., (2005) has stated that employees within an environment of fear behave in an unethical manner to promote their own self-interest irrespective of laws. This can also be analysed using Maslow's Hierarchy of needs where the employee is trying to protect the second phase which is job security (Maslow, 1943). Victor and Cullen (1987) have described this organisational culture as an instrumental climate where employees act in their self-interest due to fear. The top management within Blue Origin distributed a list of 'troublemakers' (Lioness, 2021) that can be said to have created a sense of fear among employees.

Moreover, the power structure of an organisation impacts the organisation’s organisational culture (See Figure 5). The power structure at Blue Origin is the ‘inner circle’ that are best friends with the Amazon billionaire and can be argued to be the main reason for the toxicity within the organisation. Stark (2003) and Finkelstein (2005) have argued that toxicity is a top-down phenomenon and is spread through the top management. Toxic organisations are defined as organisations that are ineffective and destructive to employees (Applebaum and Roy-Girard, 2007).



Figure 6: Traits of a toxic leader. Note. From BetterUp, by Waters, 2021, (https://www.betterup.com/blog/8-toxic-leadership-traits-to-avoid-plus-how-to-spot-them)


It can be said that Blue Origin is a toxic organisation due to its destructive culture and high turnover. As toxicity is a top-down phenomenon it can also be argued that the leadership style of Jeff Bezos is the main cause of such toxicity. McKinsey’s 7s model also states that organisational culture is influenced by the leadership style (Waterman et al., 1980).


Analysis of the difference in the space vehicles of Bezos and Branson.


Jeff Bezos tried to poach the Chief Operating Officer of Space X, Gwynne Shotwell, and tried mimicking Space X’s labour strategy to overtake Space X as their competitor (Levin, 2021). One of the main discussions during meetings at Blue Origin also revolved around ‘Who is going to fly first- Branson (Virgin Galactic) or Bezos?’ (Lioness, 2021). According to Northouse (2009) authoritarian leader’s visions are purely based on their own self-interests, where the leader can extend their power towards malicious acts to gain the success desired and have high power needs. Paulhus and Williams (2002) have also described such acts as Machiavellianism carried out by a ‘dark leader’.


Space-X vs Blue Origin analsysis of future vision and mission of both organisations


Considering the above analysis, change is a necessity for Blue Origin to reduce turnover, increase employee morale and increase the organisation’s performance to compete with Space-X. Schein (2010) has stated that in order to carry out change it is also essential to first understand that change is required. However, it can be said that within Blue Origin, the top management has embedded blame culture. Blame culture is when the top management blames lower management employees and refuses to take accountability within the organisation (Schein, 2010).


Figure 7: Effects of blame culture within an organisation. Note. From Thrive Global, by Tredgold, 2019, (https://thriveglobal.com/stories/5-impacts-of-a-blame-culture/)


Moreover, considering McKinsey’s 7s Model, the leadership style within the organisation can be the first step towards change. Simply mimicking the organisational strategy of Space-X will not provide Blue Origin with the ultimate strategy to be competitive within

Figure 7: McKinsey's 7s Model. Note. From Slide Ocean, by Slide Ocean, 2021, (https://www.slideocean.com/downloads/the-mckinsey-7s-model/)


the industry. Elon Musk uses transformational leadership style that looks beyond the leader’s self-interest and motivates employees through intrinsic motivation (Bass and Avolio, 1994) and through employee involvement. This leads to an increase in self-esteem and pride, resulting in higher performance within the organisation (Burns, 1979; Khuong and Hoang, 2015).


Charter Statement

Blue Origin's organisational culture can be changed by eradicating blame culture, implementing transformational leadership style and establishing a decentralized organisational structure. Mainly, it is essential to ensure that the organisational culture (symbols and values) aligns with the organisational structure to increase motivation and decrease turnover among employees.






















References:

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Applebaum, S. H., Deguire, K.J. & Lay, M. (2005). The relationship of ethical climate to deviant workplace behaviour. The international journal of business in society. 5(4) pp. 43-55. https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/14720700510616587?src=recsys

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Lioness. (2021). Bezos wants to create a better future in space. His company Blue Origin is stuck in a Toxic past. https://www.lioness.co/post/bezos-wants-to-create-a-better-future-in-space-his-company-blue-origin-is-stuck-in-a-toxic-past

Levin, T. (2021). Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin reportedly tried to hire Space X's president- but she said 'it wouldn't look right' and declined. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-spacex-gwynne-shotwell-amazon-unbound-book-2021-5?r=US&IR=T

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