Organizational Structure and Culture Both an organizations structure and culture are very important aspects of it, and can have a great effect on each other. According to Wikipedia, an organization's structure consists of activities such as task allocation, supervision and hierarchical lines of authority. Organizational structure determines what roles, responsibilities and power are assigned. In manufacturing for instance, there is usually a plant manager, shift coordinator, supervisor and then employees who work on the production floor. And the structure of the organization influences the culture that an organization may have, and vice versa. Like people, organizations also have culture which consists of its beliefs, values, customs and rules that have been adopted overtime. Culture can change as a company changes structure, or shifts its focus from one objective to another. And since structure determines things like decision making and the people that are hired, it affects company culture. The type of structure that a company has, such as centralized, decentralized, organic or mechanistic influences culture in areas like role assignment, employee involvement, and with dealing with customers. An example is a company like Starbucks, who uses a matrix organizational system set up to accommodate customer satisfaction (2012). Its business model is focused on customer service, and a corporate culture that values diversity and inclusion. For instance, when hiring leaders, which are part of the organization structure, they ensure that they get the training that is focused on customer-centric ideas, and the values of the business. In developing a corporate culture that affects structure, a company starts with the hiring of employees. Companies want to hire people who are hard-working, enthusiastic employees that believe in the company’s mission and values and will help the company succeed. The type of people that work or are in charge in a company various positions can make the company progress as quickly as negative, unqualified, and lazy employees can make the company fail. In a centralized organization where one person carries a lot of power and makes big decisions, their behavior can have big effect on the company's' culture. For instance when Walmart was trying to open stores in Mexico and some parts of Latin America, company officials bribed local authorities to acquire licenses, and when the corporate office found out about it, they just turns a blind eye to it (Nytimes,2010). This shows that a company's leaders have a great influence on the culture of a business. When a leader's style of leadership is totalitarian and coercive, this effect can be seen in the culture of the business through the fear and uncertainty prevalent in its practices. But in a decentralized structural system, where many individuals come together to make decisions, a culture of team work and camaredieship can be seen. A friend of mine works for a national grocer, where employees are also shareholders, and are part of the decision making process. This allowed for a participative environment. In a bureaucracy with a mechanistic structure, where specialization is a big deal, people tend to be loyal their careers and resist change and innovation. For example I worked at a wafer manufacturing plant that was owned by a Japanese company, where roles were specialized and people were only loyal to their specific departments. At times it felt like the different departments were working against each other or at least didn't cooperate willingly without resistance. And in meetings, supervisors would speak badly about other supervisors from other departments. This culture was greatly affected by how the company was set up in the first place. On the other hand, in an organic structure, there is usually a culture of free flowing communication, flexibility and innovation. Authority is not as important as in other cultures. In this ever changing business environment, businesses might have to change their culture in order to stay competitive, but the values of great customer service, respect for employees and empowerment should be foremost for them.