Organisational culture is one of the major issues in academic research and education, organisational theory, and in management practice. (Alvesson, 2012) Arriva offers public transport in the form of buses across the Northwest and Wales. There is a mass amount of culture that surrounds this industry not only with the Management, and staff, but with the public too.
Culture has embedded all that is delivered at Arriva, and this is clear to see from the newly implemented brand values of the business.
These values work alongside the overall business strategy and aid the delivery of operations, whilst ensuring culture is adapted by all. They can be related to culture in four layers (Johnson, Whittington, Scoles, Angwin, and Regner, 2014) as follows:
One Arriva Ensures that the values of the business are installed into all associated with Arriva.
Great Customer experience By delivering brand values, all customers start to respect the brand. Customers are all stakeholders involved in the business; people will believe in the brand and what it is Arriva aim to achieve.
Doing the right thing Delivers behaviours; after getting stakeholders to believe in the business, the business will then start to cause market their efforts. For example investing in greener technology to reduce CO2 Emissions.
Thinking beyond Evolving the taken for granted assumptions; these are the beliefs and values that become second nature to all involved with the business and continually investing in being innovative to improve the first three layers.
It is clear to see that Arriva take culture seriously, and it is something that they use to their strategic advantage. Are there any downsides to using values and beliefs as part of an active strategy?
