changes in culture

2020 TT4U Q3 is primarily about structure and change management. Culture is not mentioned at all in the question and in the answer only really says that changes in culture will be needed. Most of the cultural changes will relate to the ‘structure’ element of the cultural web. However, the points raised by Exhibit 4 might be used to say a little more about other aspects of culture and these might be shoe-horned into some other elements of the cultural web.

For example, there seems to be a lack of urgency in responding to emails and that might be to do with rituals and routines or even the paradigm. It’s hard to find anything else that immediately relates to elements of the cultural web.

So, this question can lead one to being paralysed by models. If you had never heard of the cultural web you could probably have answered it fine – after all, there is plenty of ammunition provided in the question about current problems – using a common sense approach. This is how I advise students to approach this paper. First think what you would say if purely using your experience and common sense. Only then, see if a model helps eg by providing a checklist of things to consider or providing possible solutions to the problem (eg if a company is making vey ordinary products but at a relatively high cost, its only salvation will be to differentiate or to become a cost leader). Also, models will often not be perfectly applicable. So PESTEL might be called a ‘model’ but it is really a list. However the question might only have something to say about technological and social changes. If it says nothing about the other elements then ignore them.