S Company has for many years been a long standing household name, designing and manufacturing electrical appliances for use in the kitchen. It has developed a strong culture over the years which can be best typified as a role culture. Though, this culture is now acting as a barrier to the company's ability to adapt to become more flexible so that it is able to respond rapidly to changes in the environment and initiatives taken by its competitors in product design. 

In certain, the company is falling behind its new competitors when it comes to innovations in latest product development and design. Effective latest product development needs staff to work together across functional boundaries but this is becoming hard to achieve in S Company where people now fiercely protect their functional specialism and will only work on the tasks specified in their job descriptions.

Describe the key characteristics of a role culture, explaining why this type of culture is no longer appropriate for S Company.

The concept of organisational culture is a significant one for S Company because it can exert a strong influence on business performance. It can shape the behaviours and actions of individuals in the workplace and is often referred to as the 'glue' that holds the organisation together. 

There are dissimilar types of culture which are determined by an organisation's structures, processes and management methods. Presently, S Company is typified as having a role culture which can be very efficient and successful in a stable environment when work is predictable and the organisation can control its own environment. Though, this type of culture appears to be having an adverse effect on S Company's performance as the company now faces very dissimilar operating conditions and needs to become more flexible to respond to the rapidly changing environment. The reasons for this can be explained by investigative the characteristics of a role culture.