Based on your reading of the chapters on the symbolic frame briefly explain, how you would define culture. Then comment on what the CEO can do to influence it in the CleanTech case below. Be specific and concrete in your suggestions as if you were really

Topic: Based on your reading of the chapters on the symbolic frame briefly explain, how you would define culture. Then comment on what the CEO can do to influence it in the CleanTech case below. Be specific and concrete in your suggestions as if you were really
Bolman and Deal’s four frames are based on fundamentally different assumptions about organisations and organisational phenomena. Culture is a central concept in the symbolic frame. Based on your reading of the chapters on the symbolic frame briefly explain (in max one paragraph), how you would define culture. Then comment on what the CEO can do to influence it in the CleanTech case below. Be specific and concrete in your suggestions as if you were really giving advice to the CEO.
In addition to the textbook, the following paper may help you reflect upon what culture is and how it can be conceptualised (non‐compulsory reading just a suggestion): Smircich, L. (1983). Concepts of culture and organizational analysis. Administrative science quarterly, 28(3), 339‐358.
CleanTech Case
CleanTech is a recycling firm that focuses on collecting, recycling and disposing of waste and garbage. The firm has recently acquired Local Waste. Local Waste was previously owned by the local municipality and was mainly focused on collecting waste and garbage from local households and firms. CleanTech’s core business was recycling and Sara Rinkel, the CEO, believes there are great synergies in combining these two areas. The old CleanTech has strong capabilities in recycling complex and toxic waste from manufacturing firms. Central factors creating this capability are well‐educated employees (often with a master in environmental science and additional certification from the Environmental Protection Agency), and a well‐integrated team with complementary skills and good knowledge about who‐knows‐what so that an employee who needs advice knows whom to contact.
The old Local Waste has its main strength in optimisation of the collecting route and the detailed system for collecting waste. The waste collecting route and procedures are reorganised when the customer base changes. It is meticulously documented and followed up in the internal IT system, which defines which sites a garbage truck should visit and what procedures to carry out. In addition, the system measures the time each collection takes based on GPS logs from the trucks.
The firms are now formally integrated, but Sara is concerned that there are underlying cultural problems in the organisations. Sara explains that “within the real CleanTech, customer service has always been the prime focus of the employees”. However, within the “old Local Waste” there seems to be more of what Sara calls a “public sector mentality”. She complains that the former Local Waste employees are focusing more on rules and procedures than on customer needs. One time a loyal customer needed an urgent pick‐up just before a long‐weekend. The employees who took the call rejected the customer as taking the job would have entailed 10 min overtime for them. The customer had to manage the situation with its own employees, which took them several hours of extra work just before the long weekend. Sara was furious to hear about it from the customer later on. Sara says “there are people who work 9‐5 and there are people who get the job done. In CleanTech we do not work harder than others, but we always put our customers first.” Sara says that she realises that there are many more problems “under that surface”. She says that she was naïve to look at this only from a business perspective – she saw great possibilities to do things more efficiently, but she totally underestimated the problems with integrating the two cultures. She says that “the former Local Waste employees seem reluctant to mix with the real CleanTech people. They work in cohesive groups that almost seem hostile and they complain about being privatised”.
Sara is also concerned with the different ways people from the two different organisations expect to be managed – “In the real CleanTech people take initiatives, seek information and exercise judgment. The Local Waste people always want a written procedure and management approval to do anything.”
Sara is also concerned with the different ways people from the two different organisations expect to be managed – “In the real CleanTech people take initiatives, seek information and exercise judgment. The Local Waste people always want a written procedure and management approval to do anything.”