Zendesk Company’s Organizational Culture Analysis

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Seven Dimensions of Culture Discussion
Zendesk’s Video Facts and Examples
Competitive Advantage
Organizational Culture
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The organizational culture of each company includes several dimensions that define the atmosphere within the organization. Dysfunctional Software strives to create an engaging and supportive climate in the firm to attract new associates who would be inspired and loyal to its goals. As such, it needs to evaluate its organizational culture and structure so it can represent them faithfully and positively in its recruitment video. As a model of organizational culture and structure, this report will use Zendesk, a business that attracts hundreds of specialists as a comfortable workplace with growth opportunities for the valued specialists.

Seven Dimensions of Culture Discussion

Although each organization has unique characteristics, some emphasize similar values and methods to achieve their goals. Most corporations could be placed into one of the categories proposed in the seven-dimensioned Organizational Culture Profile (OCP) model. This instrument was developed by three consultants, Jennifer Chatman, David Caldwell, and Charles O’Reilly III (Lumen, n.d.a). Ideally, the values and expectations of the workers should match those of their company.

The detail-oriented firms value precision in service, communication, and record-keeping. The innovative companies focus on inventing new products or methods to achieve ambitious results. The atmosphere in such firms is often creative so that groups and individuals could work on their projects. Aggressive businesses value the competitive spirit and constantly encourage productivity. This may lead to conflicts with other firms on the market. Outcome-oriented companies focus on the quantitative results, for example, sales profits or the number of people engaged. Stable organizations with much bureaucracy maintain consistent requirements, procedures, and work process details. Such businesses are predictable but rarely flexible or creative, which limits the growth opportunities for the employees. People-oriented companies value their workers and make the corporate atmosphere as comfortable as possible for everyone involved. Finally, team-oriented businesses encourage people to work together on common goals (Lumen, n.d.a). Sometimes companies exhibit signs of belonging to several OCP categories, but there is usually a dominant one.

Zendesk’s Video Facts and Examples

Zendesk’s marketing team created an advertisement video to attract the employees with values similar to those desired and supported by the company. It is very detailed when showing many nuances the potential worker would have to encounter, from the fish names Firewitch at the marketing department to the local bar where some of the firms associated go for drinks sometimes (Zendesk, 2012). This corresponds with the detail-oriented category of the businesses, according to the seven-dimension OCP theory (Lumen, n.d.a). The company creates business software for customer engagement to work well in the fast-paced modern world (Zendesk, 2012). This is their method to meet the innovative OCP dimension (Lumen, n.d.a). The new associates should bring fresh ideas to the company.

Zendesk exhibits the characteristics of a balanced successful business but they had to choose the main ones to emphasize them in the advertisement. While the company has to stay competitive for the growth and development of the firm, they did not mention that aspect in the video (Zendesk, 2012). That part, corresponding with the aggressive category of the Organizational Culture dimensions, was likely purposefully omitted (Lumen, n.d.a). The people whom the firm would like to attract should be creative and enthusiastic and not think about the competition more than necessary. This focus is also a reason for Zendesk to not talk much about the outcome results. It mentions helping clients in different parts of the world instead of the profits (Zendesk, 2012). This way, the firm’s focus shifts from an outcome-oriented dimension to generating a high-quality product for the customers (Lumen, n.d.a). Zendesk (2012) does not seem to encourage bureaucratic procedures, offering the freedom to choose whatever activity and position would be the most desirable for an associate. Although the company is predictable in terms of employee support, that aspect is not enough for the firm to correspond with the stable dimension (Lumen, n.d.a). The business is both people- and team-oriented, as it stresses the importance of correct skill application and comfortable work conditions but presents the teams of accountants, executives, marketing specialists, and technical supporters (Zendesk, 2012). These last two dimensions are likely to be the dominant categories for Zendesk as their characteristics are the most obvious in potential position descriptions.

Competitive Advantage

Zendesk achieves a competitive advantage by leveraging the strengths of its team, which it maximizes through letting them operate with a high degree of freedom. The people-oriented approach of the business means that it treats each worker as an individual first and foremost, letting them operate at their own pace. They seem to be free to pursue tasks they consider necessary and have enough free time to visit nearby cafes and relax, both with the company’s help and on their own. As a result, the approach is likely to spur innovation, which is an essential part of securing a competitive advantage. While delivering results is a critical goal and workers are expected to consistently generate progress on the projects that they are assigned to, they can also propose ideas and put them into practice. As a result, Zendesk can leverage the best ideas and integrate them into projects to outperform its competition.

Additionally, with Zendesk’s team-oriented approach, collaboration between people and departments is promoted and made easier. Instead of a hierarchical top-down structure, Zendesk appears to be using a more decentralized and horizontal approach. Workers are free to communicate within their teams as well as others, and the video by Zendesk (2012) shows that each department’s office is easily accessible. As a result, projects likely operate more efficiently, with minimal unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles impeding communication. Moreover, issues can be resolved more efficiently, as people who discover them can discuss them with relevant individuals instead of having to go through intermediaries. As a result, Zendesk is not constrained in the same way many more traditional companies are, which enables it to be more flexible. In the IT industry, which relies on innovation and adapting solutions to market needs as soon as possible, this trait is highly beneficial and competitive.

Organizational Culture

Zendesk appears to be using a functional structure, with several well-delineated teams that work in different offices under their supervisors. The primary strength of this organization type is that through specialization, the teams are able to produce the best possible results. With that said, the video by Zendesk (2012) emphasizes the point that, while some team members are ordinary staff and others are managers, this distinction is not significant, as everybody is equally a team member. As mentioned above, this insistence suggests that the structure of the company is not strictly hierarchical, with substantial freedom afforded to workers even as they have objectives they need to fulfill. Moreover, the presentation emphasizes the approachability of each team, including the executive management, depicting them as just ordinary people. As such, there should be fewer issues with vertical communication than in a typical business, with employees able to bypass immediate management if necessary.

With that said, similar to many IT companies, Zendesk seeks to innovate and emphasize personal freedom and initiative. As a result, the video also demonstrates some semblance of a flatarchy, with an emphasis on everyone being equally important. Employees from different departments and teams often meet, especially during lunch breaks, and have the opportunity to discuss various ideas. Moreover, they are encouraged to innovate and propose projects, which members of other teams can help them with. While this structure has the advantages of flexibility and enhanced innovativeness, organizing work toward specific goals effectively can be challenging, which is why it is typically applied to smaller companies. As a mid-to-large-sized company, Zendesk needs to consider its usage of the hybrid structure, trying to maximize the benefits it receives from both while minimizing the disadvantages.

Conclusion

Business organizations all have unique characteristics that influence their success on the market. All of them can be generally categorized into seven key dimensions of the organizational culture. Zendesk is an example of a company that highly values people- and team-oriented values, which can be clearly seen from their video advertising the opened employee positions. It is an exemplary IT company, emphasizing employee freedom and cooperation while achieving results and delivering excellent products. Their model can be used as an example for the Dysfunctional Software firm, as it also would like to attract creative team workers that enjoy their professions.

References

Lumen. (n.d.a). Key dimensions of organizational culture. Web.

Lumen. (n.d.b). The Purpose of organization. Web.

Zendesk. (2012). This is Zendesk. YouTube. Web.

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