Management and Organization Lecture Note

Introduction Zendesk is a company headquartered in San Francisco, California, that specializes in business software that capitalizes on customer engagement. A small company that started with three founders has grown exponentially into a multinational organization with a cultural focus on employee diversity and satisfaction. To recruit more employees into the Zendesk family, the company has released a recruitment video that identifies the structure and cultural profile that will be analyzed below. Through organizational culture and a functional structure, Zendesk secures multiple competitive advantages over the software as a service industry. Organizational Culture Organizational cultures set the tone for new and old employees alike. Consultants Charles A. O’Reilly, Jennifer Chatman, and David F. Caldwell developed a seven dimension Organizational Culture Profile to determine if employees share the same values of a given company and if they would “fit in” to the organization (Lumen, n. d., par. 2). The seven profiles consist of being detail oriented, innovative, aggressive, outcome oriented, stable, people oriented, and/or team-oriented (Lumen, n. d., pg. 1). Zendesk incorporates these profiles to garner the success it has earned. For example, Zendesk specializes in building business software to engage their consumer’s customers (Zendesk, 2012, 2:25). To do this, a detail-oriented culture would be necessary to provide customers with a tailored experience for their needs. A detailoriented company exercises precision through documentation to provide customers value when using their product. (Lumen, n.d. par 3). Zendesk fosters innovation by allowing employees to work in pop-up offices to work on projects on their own time (Zendesk, 2012, 2:14). Allowing employees to work on their own time encourages innovation to create or perfect products or services within their organization (Lumen, n. d. par 4). Perfecting or improving a product will retain customer loyalty and fulfill employees by enabling self-pacing to complete projects. Zendesk is transparent on who the executive team is and the involvement of the Chief Executive Officer (Zendesk, 2012, 1:28). The high visibility of leadership establishes stability within the organization. Stability is important to any organization as it eliminates confusion of who is in charge and establishes a hierarchy for employees to report to or receive instructions from (Lumen, n. d. par 7). Zendesk is team-oriented because of the way the teams within Zendesk are facilitated. The Engineering team is composed of managers and those under them, however, they are still one team and that hierarchal system does not matter when it comes to results (Zendesk, 2012, 1:08). Encouraging teamwork through individual teams allows the team members to grow and create solid relationships within the teams to bolster results (Lumen, n.d. par. 9). The strongest profile of Zendesk is the central focus of being people oriented. Zendesk invests in their staff by volunteering together, going out for drinks on Friday nights, and providing complimentary snacks in an all-inclusive environment developed for camaraderie (Zendesk, 2012, 0:59, 2:54, 0:35). The level of support and unity within Zendesk communicates to employees that they are assets to the company. Building upon a compassionate people-oriented approach will result in a loyal and dedicated workforce (Lumen, n. d. par. 8). Zendesk performs aggressively by expanding throughout the United States, Europe, the Netherlands, and Australia (Zendesk, 2012, 0:06-0:10). As identified by Porter’s Five Forces, competitive rivalries within an industry assumes competitors will act aggressively to take market share (Lumen, n.d. par. 14).Therefore, Zendesk’s aggressive expansion secures their market dominance by holding a footing in countries all over the world. Zendesk is outcome oriented by providing valuable customer services to customers through their own Zendesk program to enhance customer engagement and reach satisfactory results (Zendesk, 2012, 2:25). Providing customer service will result in feedback on the Zendesk product that will allow the organization to shift or improve processes based on the outcomes of their support services (Lumen, n. d. par. 5). Utilizing all seven Organizational Culture Profiles allows Zendesk to sustain employee retention. Competitive Advantage Zendesk builds many forms of competitive advantage by becoming a mainstay wherever the company decides to service. Zendesk headquarters has a strong relationship with San Francisco due to volunteerism and community involvement (Zendesk, 2012, 0:54). Involving the company in San Francisco’s community builds brand familiarity and loyalty throughout the city. Familiarity and brand loyalty will result in customers around or within the San Francisco area (Lumen, n. d., par. 13). Other areas of competitive advantage stem from quality employees that share Zendesk’s robust organizational culture. When an employee shares their personal values with the company, they will develop a loyalty to their employer to achieve the same goals (Lumen, n. d. par. 12). Organizational Structure Zendesk uses a functional organizational structure. Because of the large volume of operations, a functional structure is necessary as it allows for specific teams to work on different areas of the same vision (Lumen, n.d. par. 3). The employees of Zendesk are broken up into multiple teams that are responsible for specific areas of the company to reach a common goal; these teams include executive, engineering, support group, information technology, marketing, creative department, sales, and more (Zendesk, 2012, 1:03-1:30). Separating departments based on individual skill allows for more focus to be utilized in those areas. Under the Chief Executive Officer, the team’s department heads receive information to disseminate to their department to allow for work to be spread throughout the organization evenly to increase productivity (Lumen, n. d., par.3). As mentioned in Organizational Culture, the teams within Zendesk use a hierarchy between managers and subordinates, but because they are one team the titles are of little importance (Zendesk, 2012, 1:08). A tall hierarchal structure with a focus on specialization can hurt the organization with high levels of job dissatisfaction and fewer process improvements (Lumen, n. d. par. 4). Allowing an environment that functions with the hierarchal system, but recognizes equality between management and subordinate develops a level of trust throughout the organization that diminishes the disadvantages of a functional structure. Conclusion Zendesk has a comprehensive and focused organizational culture that incorporates all seven of the Organizational Culture Profiles. Investing in employees, the community, and the customer base provides a competitive advantage that allows Zendesk to operate in the many places that it services. Maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of the functional structure without the disadvantages ensures recruitment will remain high at Zendesk, with employee loyalty and retention even higher.