Section B, case study Answer all the following two (2) questions, Q 5 and Q6. Case - Ben & Jerrys In many organizational settings, the founders of the business set the cultural tone to which workers assimilate. Here, the personality, beliefs, and attitudes of the founders permeate throughout the organization to inform the prevailing culture. Although the culture is likely to change over time, or sub-cultures may emerge, the core values and beliefs instilled by the founders can resonate throughout the organisation long after they have gone. Thus, organizational culture is shaped very early in the development of the organization and can be difficult to change., if indeed, change is what is desired. In the case of ice cream makes Ben & Jerrys very distinct set of values and beliefs set the tone of the organisations culture. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield established Ben & Jerrys as a small-scale venture in the late 1970s with the aim of supplying homemade ice cream to their local community. Ben Jerry were two products of the hippie era of the 1960s in the USA who held idealistic convictions on a range of issues such as ecology, sustainability, social activism, and others. These beliefs and values played out in the way they ran their business and the expectations they had of workers and the business grew throughout the 1980s. The core values defined the organizational culture even though the company experienced huge growth on a global scale and found itself part of the firmament of large-scale corporate bodies with a global brand presence. The company was sold to Unilever in 2000 but one of the attractions that drove the purchase was the added value that the organisational culture brought to the sustainability of the business and is an asset that Unilever is keen to preserve and nurture.

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In 2000, the British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever bought the American Vermont-based ice cream manufacturer Ben & Jerrys. A key asset of Ben & Jerrys was its market niche and unique culture. Discuss why Unilever likes to preserve and nurture Ben & Jerrys culture. (5 marks)

Organizational culture functions as a kind of control system because managers can deliberately try to influence the kind of values and norms that develop in an organizationvalues and norms that specify appropriate and inappropriate behaviours and so determine the way its members behave. Discuss how Ben and Jerrys culture works as a control system of the company (5 marks)