Question

CASE STUDY:

Dell Technologies From unconventional PC startup to global technology leader...

From unconventional PC startup to global technology leader, the common thread in Dell’s heritage is an unwavering commitment to the customer. Explore the company timeline below to view how this guiding principle built Dell Technologies and inspired IT solutions and services that give customers the power to do more.

1984: At age 19, Michael Dell founded PC's Limited with $1,000 and a game-changing vision for how technology should be designed, manufactured and sold. As a pre-med freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, Michael starts Dell Technologies, then doing business as PC's Limited. He left his dorm room at the end of his freshman year to devote all of his time to growing the business.

1985: We design and build our first computer system, the Turbo PC, featuring an Intel® 8088 processor running at 8MHz, a 10MB hard drive and a 5.25" floppy drive. We establish customer experience as a Dell Technologies differentiator with risk-free returns and next-day, at-home product assistance, among the first in our industry.

1986: We unveil the industry's fastest performing PC — a 12MHz, 286-based system — at the Spring Comdex trade show.

1987: We open our first international subsidiary in the United Kingdom.


HISTORY Michael Dell is chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies, a unique family of businesses encompassing Dell, Dell EMC, Pivotal, RSA, Secureworks, Virtustream and VMware. Dell Technologies is an innovator and technology leader providing the essential infrastructure for organisations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect their most important information. With revenues of $74B and more than 140,000 team members, Dell Technologies is one of the world’s largest IT companies serving the needs of global corporations and governments to small businesses and consumers. The company's unique structure allows innovative, fast-moving startups to co-exist with, and leverage, the global reach and trusted reputation of the large enterprise. Michael’s story started when he founded Dell with $1000 in 1984 at the age of 19. Notably quoted as saying that “technology is about enabling human potential,” Michael’s vision of how technology should be designed, manufactured and sold forever changed the IT industry. In 1992, Michael became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. Known and admired for his astute business vision and bold moves, Michael took Dell private in 2013, setting the stage to architect the largest technology deal in history with the combination of Dell, EMC and VMware in 2016.
In 1998, Michael formed MSD Capital, and in 1999, he and his wife established the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to provide philanthropic support to a variety of global causes. Michael is an honorary member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and is an executive committee member of the International Business Council. He is also a member of the Technology CEO Council, the U.S. Business Council and the Business Roundtable. He serves on the advisory board of Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing, China and on the governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. He is a board member of Catalyst and also served as the United Nations Foundation's first Global Advocate for Entrepreneurship.

Every day, Dell Technologies is pairing technology with innovation to make a positive social and environmental impact – building a Legacy of Good. We are committed to putting our technology and expertise to work, where it can do the most good for people and the planet, making possible today what was impossible yesterday. Every team member at Dell shares this commitment because being a good company is the right thing to do, but it is also right for our business. We’re creating real value for our customers, employees, and partners while driving social and environmental good in the community.

Our customers expect Dell Technologies to think about environmental impact – that has always been a part of who we are. More than just creating eco-friendly products or one-off initiatives, we incorporate sustainability into everything we do – from design to recycling and every step in between. Through innovation and a relentless focus on efficiency, we are minimizing our footprint while helping customers reduce theirs.

Design for Environment: Innovative thinking and a lifecycle approach to how we design products and source materials are the first steps in delivering products that help you do more while minimizing your impact.    
Reducing our Impact: How products are made matters – to our customers, our communities and the planet. We focus on sustainable operations – using resources efficiently, managing wastes effectively and working to improve our local environment

Green packaging and Shipping: Our goal is to create a waste-free packaging experience, using recycled and renewable source materials, right-sizing to reduce waste, and making it easy for you to responsibly dispose of packaging through recycling or composting   

Reducing your Footprint. Energy efficiency is a top priority across all our product lines. It helps you get the most from your energy use, which saves you money, reduce risk, and meet sustainability goals or regulations.


Recycling your DELL TECHNOLOGIES: We go beyond green IT — technology that itself leaves a smaller environmental footprint — to help you look at IT that enables you to address your sustainability goals and take control of your resources in a way that creates value.

Ocean Plastics: There are more than 86 million metric tons of plastic in our oceans right now. See how Dell Technologies is removing that pollution from our waters and turning it into materials for our products

Net Positive:

Our strategy isn't to just reduce the bad we do, but to increase the good. Creating a balance that puts more into the world and society than what we take from it is creating a net positive. (Adapted: www.google.com)

QUESTION:

From unconventional PC startup to global technology leader, the common thread in Dell Technologies heritage is an unwavering commitment to the customer.

In light of this statement, explain organisational culture as experienced at Dell Technologies. In your discussion, make reference to the history provided and indicate how culture is generally created and maintained in organisations. Your answer should also include a discussion on how Dell Technologies can maintain their culture yet continuously evolve to increase their market position. (20 MARKS)

Answer 1

Before analyzing the organizational culture experienced at Dell Technologies, it would be prudent to know what exactly organizational culture is. Organizational culture refers to the unique shared values of the employees of an organization, the way they behave, their unique professional beliefs and their ethical and moral values about the company and its various stakeholders including consumers, environment, and society as a whole. The organizational culture experienced at Dell Technologies is very healthy and something which should be inculcated by other organizations as well. Due to its healthy organizational culture, Dell Technologies continuously works to make its digital devices more eco-friendly, sustainable and as much less harmful as possible for society. The organisational culture of Dell Technologies has been shaped tremendously by its belief in noble principles like “technology is about enabling human potential” and its effect can be seen by the various social/philanthropic activities done by Dell Technologies through its Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Moreover, the contribution made by its founder Michael in the field of education is also one of the signs of healthy organizational culture prevalent in Dell. The employees of Dell Technologies also believe in the philosophy to help the entire human race through their technological innovations to fully realize their potential. Dell Technologies also tries to reduce the e-waste as much as possible by incorporating sustainability into everything it does – from design to recycling and every step in between. It also reduces the wastage of resources by efficiently using it and recycling waste products. It also uses ocean plastics to make eco-friendly digital products and reducing environmental hazards from the womb of the ocean. Moreover, it also helps its customers to reduce, recycle and reuse the digital products. So, this was the brief highlight of the healthy organizational culture experienced at Dell Technologies.

Coming to the next part of the question that how culture is generally created and maintained in organizations, it can be said in this regard that organizational culture is being created and maintained through a lot of ways/techniques but the most prominent among them is the moral/ethical values possessed by the founding fathers of the concerned organization. It is quite observable in the case of Dell Technologies. The moral values of the founding father of Dell Technologies Michael Dell have shaped tremendously the organizational culture of the Dell Technologies. As far as the retention of the organizational culture is concerned, it can be retained/ maintained through the attraction-selection-attrition process (ASA). It means that first a candidate gets attracted to an organization for the benefits/culture it possesses. Now the second factors of the ASA framework come into play and the organization selects only those candidates who share the values and culture of the organization. But in some cases, even the wrong candidates i.e., candidates who do not hold the same organizational values, get selected they do leave the organization in due course of time. It is known as attrition. Hence, the organizational culture can be maintained through the ASA framework. There are also other ways to maintain it like creating conducive rule/regulation/policies, stating correct vision/mission of the organization, and constructing friendly physical layouts and spreading those stories among the employees which are helpful in maintaining the organizational culture.

Coming to the third part of the question that how Dell Technologies can maintain its culture yet continuously evolves to increase its market position. The ways through which the organizational culture can be maintained has been already highlighted in the second part of the answer itself and as far as the question of expansion and market capture is concerned Del Technologies is practicing a good strategy of going green, reducing wastes, reusing the wastes and doing works for social benefits through its organization Michael and Susan Foundation. The social and responsible works performed by Dell Technologies will help to build a good brand name among the customers and the future belongs only to those corporations who learn the sustainable and responsible way of business that Dell Technologies has successfully been doing for the years.