Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Case study - Essay Example In order to remain competitive and keep strong corporate image, Eurobank creates its culture based on a strong corporate philosophy and unique national values and traditions of the home country. The relationships between corporate and national culture can be explained by a strong impact on national traditions and cultural values typical for France. They involve "loyalty and long service, paternalistic values and commitment to labor laws in its redundancy policy" (Baron & Walters 1994). Eurobank adopts the national culture as the core of its ethics and corporate image. Eurobank favors attributes that allow it to define organizational identity from the perspective of organizational actors' experiences (e.g., leadership, governance structure, professional qualities required for climbing the corporate ladder). Top management presents quality service to customers as one of the bank's main defining attributes. This is clear from the presentation of customer service as a mission, a primary goal, a tradition, a constant, a strength, a reason for everything else the bank does, and a distinctive Eurobank trademark (Brake et al 1995). A company's culture is actually an aggregate of subcultures that have developed in response to unique challenges faced, by different groups within the organization (Brake et al 1995). ... The organization provides a broad range of financial services and has an extensive national and international network. It is a highly visible and successful organization that has vied for a superior position among its competitors on many levels. The goals of the organization are pursued in accordance with an underlying ideology, or philosophy, based on beliefs, values and attitudes (Brake et al 1995). This ideology determines the 'culture' of Eurobank and provides a set of principles which govern the overall conduct of the organization's operations, codes of behavior, the management of people and its dealings with other organisations. These sets of principles may be recognized and implemented informally as 'accepted conventions' of the organization or they may be stated formally in writing. It is mission is to "offer a localized service which mirrors the values of local customers yet provides access to a sophisticated banking network is an important strand in the business strategy" ( Baron & Walters 1994). In this sense, Eurobank management has an effect on corporate culture by setting an expected standard. Managers have a high degree of autonomy which allows them to reward employees within their departments. Still, day to day, interpretations of corporate values are left up to the individual employees. They may be somewhat independent in thought, but there also may be a "groupthink" that develops in much the same way as assumptions do. Leadership helps to influence values within the corporate culture but, still, it cannot control them. Aspects of culture bleed into every activity of the organization. For Eurobank, they are often intangible qualities, but they are significant none the less. To be part of the organization's identity, an