THE IMPACTS OF FACEBOOK’S ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Topic

THE IMPACTS OF FACEBOOK’S ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Instructions

The resit task for Component A (Group Project Presentation) has been set as an individual assignment that requires to conduct a small-scale research into organisational practices and to write an essay (1,200-1,500 words) to critically analyse these practices.

Essay Question

Conduct independent research into Facebook’s organisational practices and answer any one of the two following questions:

The youthful, creative, fun and informal way of working at Facebook has been featured on a number of books, and more recently, films. Not only it is seen as an iconic symbol of the new web 2.0 economy, it is also presented as offering new ways of working. However, more critical accounts have also appeared recently. Based on your small-scale research into Facebook’s organisational practices answer one question listed below.

  1. While organisations might project a strong, cohesive, fun culture spearheaded by top management they often have a dark side suppressing diversity and individuality.  Based on your research into Facebook, to what extent does Facebook demonstrate the problematic elements of corporate culture? When answering the question, draw on the literature regarding organisational culture and emotions, and use examples from Facebook to support your argument.
  2. While Facebook houses the world’s largest open-plan office (Facebook now houses roughly 2,800 employees in a 10-acre building!) with the intention to provide a fertile ground for collaboration, creativity, knowledge sharing and cross-pollination of ideas for the potential negative effects cannot go unnoticed. Based on your research into Facebook, to what extent Facebook’s use of organisational space affects team dynamics and individual experiences of work? When answering the question, draw on the literature regarding organisational space and teamworking, and use examples from Facebook to support your argument.

Answer Preview

Facebook’s diversity report in 2018 indicated that the number of black women in top management or executive level of management was less than one percent while Hispanic women formed only 1.3 percent. The percentage of all female employees was 36.3 percent while that of black and Hispanic employees was 8.4 percent combined (Gravier 2020). Despite the claims that Facebook’s working environment is youthful, fun, creative, and informal, cultural diversity is greatly diminished by the company’s hiring and promotion behaviour. Adhocracy Culture theory builds itself upon practices that are agreed upon and accepted by the employees (Kassem and Ajmal 2019). However, in Facebook’s case, it is apparent that one culture is dominant and is likely to influence the behaviour of the minority groups. Majority of employees are white citizens from the United States and Europe which are mostly low-context cultures (Yama and Salvano-Pardieu 2019). Therefore, the minority groups, mostly from high-context cultural backgrounds have to adjust more to the cultural needs of the Caucasian workmates.

Word Count: 1500