(Changing the culture at Jaguar)
This case study looks at how Jaguar, one of the world's most prestigious car manufacturers, has been involved in a culture change programme to create new ways of working for the twenty-first century.
Corporate culture reflects the personality of an organization. It includes the shared beliefs and the policies and procedures that determine the ways in which the organization and its people behave and solve business problems. You can quickly get a feel for the culture of an organization just by looking around and talking to the people who work for it. For example, some organizations are very dynamic and their people are encouraged to take risks. Others are backward looking and rarely take risks.
The culture of the organization provides the meaning, direction and clarity (the human glue) that drives the business to achieve its goals. From time to time it becomes necessary to change the culture of an organization to make sure that it fits the environment in which the organization operates.
Changes in the car industry
The car industry has changed dramatically. At the start of the twentieth century, the industry was dominated by the achievements of Henry Ford who created a manufacturing system that was known as Fordism. In Fordist organizations, the manufacturing system was geared towards creating standardized products such as the Model T Ford.
The needs of the production line determined the life of the production line worker. Workers knew exactly what was expected of them and were given set periods of time to carry out particular operations. This system was very successful, lowered production costs and brought the motor car within the budget of the ordinary family in the west. However, during the 1980s the car industry was transformed by new manufacturing approaches from Japan. Japanese success was based partly on the competitive prices they were able to ask for their products and services, but