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ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Enabling success: talent management

Marlowe Engineering has a strong, informal culture in which long hours and presenteeism are seen as signs of commitment. Female engineers are leaving at twice the rate of male engineers, though pay and promotion criteria are formally identical. Using the cultural web, which element is the MOST likely source of the problem?

The most likely source is rituals, routines and stories that celebrate long hours. Formal pay and promotion rules are identical, so the disadvantage comes from unwritten cultural norms. The cultural web shows how such informal behaviours signal what is valued, driving out staff who cannot conform, rather than written control systems.

  1. AControl systems, because pay scales are written down
  2. BRituals and routines and stories that reward visible long hours, creating an unwritten normCorrect
  3. COrganisational structure, because there is a head office
  4. DProducts and services, because engineering is technical

Explanation

Formal policy is neutral, so the problem lies in the informal paradigm. Rituals, routines and stories that celebrate long hours signal what is valued and disadvantage those with other commitments. Control systems are the formal element that is already equal, so it is a weaker explanation.

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