The culture at Sears Holdings is weak and inconsistent. The managers and subordinates who work at Sears Holdings hold different norms and values, causing there to be two subcultures. On their website, they list their seven official cultural values as follows: think members first, be accountable, embrace feedback, show pride, learn and innovate, earn trust, and be authentic (Sears Holdings Website).
Within management, the culture is cutthroat and competitive. Because CEO Lampert makes the subsidiaries compete against each other for resources and attention, the executives prioritize competition and money. Former executive Shaunak Dave describes this system creating a “warring tribes” culture. The culture between the executives became so aggressive, they began to bring laptops with computer screens so their coworkers wouldn’t be able to see what they were doing (Kimes 1). The secrecy between the management team goes against Sears Holdings’ official cultural value of “earning trust.” By having a norm of punishing collaboration and competition, Sears Holdings executives value their individual division’s success over
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Sears employees consistently pointed to low starting salaries and even lower annual raises. Since associates don’t see their career at Sears as a long-term option, they have no motivation to work diligently or engage their customers. Their lack of personal interest in the company is evident through their low customer service ratings. According to consumer affairs, out of 2,412 reviews on customer service, the average rating is one out of five (Consumer Affairs). With such a low customer service satisfaction rate, it is clear Sears Holdings sales associates do not value engaging with their customers and have a norm of not caring about their work. With all that being said, the official culture of “thinking members first” does not align with their actual