Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation

Susan G. Komen for the cure (foundation)

What is the organizational culture and why is this culture important to the organization?

It is said that "culture is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a group of people" (Heathfield 2013). This is true of an organizational culture as well as a national culture The Susan G. Komen foundation is a nonprofit organization. Nonprofits have traditionally had less competitive and more collegial organizational cultures than for-profit entities, in part because it is required that members of the organization work well together to achieve a common goal, versus compete with one another as in a sales-driven organization. Nonprofits are often said to have an 'academy' culture, much like a university. "Employees are highly skilled and tend to stay in the organization, while working their way up the ranks. The organization provides a stable environment in which employees can develop and exercise their skills" (McNamara 2000).

However, there has been criticism in recent years that the Komen foundation has been insufficiently focused on its humanitarian goals and overly focused upon promoting itself. It faced criticism in 2013 regarding the CEO's high salary, which was seen as inappropriate for a nonprofit: "Financial reports reveal Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO of the Susan G. Komen foundation, received a 64% raise for a total pay package of $684,000" ("Susan Komen CEO," 2013). There have also been concerns about 'pinkwashing' or the organization being overly focused on marketing itself, versus actually raising awareness and funding for breast cancer research.

Q2. How does the Blake and McCanse's Leadership Grid and Hersey and Blanchard's Situational Leadership Model relate to the Susan G. Komen foundation human relations model?

The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid suggests that there are two basic managerial factors: concern for people or "the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team members, their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how best to accomplish a task" and concern for results or "the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to accomplish a task" ("The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid," 2014). The ideal organization emphasizes both factors in a balanced fashion. In contrast, for the Blanchard's Situational Leadership Model, there is no single ideal model, rather leadership depends upon the organization's needs. The leadership styles of telling, selling, participating, or delegating, might all be appropriate at the same organization, depending on the experience level of the staff and the nature of the task ("Hershey-Blanchard," 2014).