Organizational Culture of Stanford University: A Detailed Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the organizational culture at Stanford University, examining its mission, strategy, means, goals, measurement, and correction mechanisms. It delves into the university's core values, beliefs, and underlying assumptions that shape decision-making processes and influence organizational behavior. The report highlights how these cultural elements contribute to Stanford's success and identifies opportunities for further enhancing its international recognition. It also offers recommendations for strategic decision-making to strengthen the university's position as a leading global institution, emphasizing the importance of innovation, risk-taking, and continuous improvement based on feedback from researchers and students.

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ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Diana Slade
National University

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ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Abstract
This report outlines the organizational culture of Stanford University. It aims at analyzing the
culture of the university using the five factors that include the mission and strategy, means,
goals, measurement, and correction. The reports contain external adaptation and survival of the
university. It consists of the adopted beliefs, values and underlying assumptions that determine
the success and opportunities of the university. The reports provide the conclusion along with
some recommendations to plan and take the strategic decision in expanding the international
recognition of Stanford University.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Discussions......................................................................................................................................4
The culture of Stanford University..............................................................................................4
Analysis of the University’s Culture...........................................................................................5
Beliefs, Values and Basic Assumptions......................................................................................7
Success and Opportunities...........................................................................................................7
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The organization culture is an essential element that influences organizational success. It
is considered as a vital investigation field to invent, discover, develop and endure the external
adaptation and survival in an organization (Duerr et al., 2018). The culture formed shapes the
decision patterns and individual behavior of the organization's members.
The primary objective of this report is to shine a light on the organizational culture of
Stanford University and its influence on behavior. It highlights the analysis of the university’s
culture using five factors that include mission and strategy, means, goals, measurement, and
correction. The University culture originates from three essential sources that are the core values,
beliefs and underlying assumptions and this paper discuss the attributes of it. It examines the
impact of organizational culture on performances of the university.
Discussions
The culture of Stanford University
The “culture” is basically, the development pattern in a society’s system, reflected in the
form of knowledge, values, ideology and everyday rituals. The organizational culture includes
various elements and behavioral norms that influence organizational success. The benefits,
beliefs, and assumptions form the communication basis, mutual understanding as well as affect
the employees’ behavior.
Stanford University is among the world’s best universities. It is a private research university
established in the year 1891 in Stanford, California. It ranks seventh according to the National
Universities ranking. Leland and Jane Stanford founded it in the year 1885 in the loving memory
of his only child, Leland Stanford Jr. The motto of this university is "The wind of freedom

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blows." Marc Tessier-Lavigne is the eleventh president of Stanford University. The culture in
university is of a distinct type, and the adaptation of values, beliefs, and behavior of the people
helps to maintain a healthy mental state and foster further improvement (Lapiņa, Kairiša &
Aramina, 2015). Thus, it stimulates the innovative response of the people in an organization as it
leads to innovation and foster communication.
Analysis of the University’s Culture
Marc Tessier-Lavigne has drafted a new vision before the Academic Council of Stanford
University. He takes this step to support the campus community and advance research training
for a better future of the nation and the world. The vision and the initiatives are based on
different ideas of the campus community. At Stanford University, there is a clear consensus on
the mission, which is as follows:
1. Research: To broaden the frontiers knowledge, encourage creativity and deal with the
problems in the real world.
2. Education: To develop and broaden the thinking capacity of the students and contribute it
to the world
3. Service: To utilize the strength of Stanford for the benefits and function of the nation and
the world.
The strategic goals adopted by the university include the environment creation, which
attracts, recognize, retains and establish excellent staff. The decision-making process of the
university is supported with the help of accurate, useful and timely information (Fitzgerald, C., &
Cunningham, J. A. (2016). There is continuous improvement in the managerial services for
faculty, student, staff and client’s satisfaction. A transformational change in the administrative

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system will help the students and staffs to spend some time in the extracurricular activities of the
university (Stanford University, 2019)
The University attains its mission and fulfills its goals by developing certain means for
accomplishment. The national standards are met by establishing and enforcing the rules and
regulations. The grant is provided to the non-profit making educational institution and state
environment programs for various research projects and scientific studies. A wide range of
benefits and services such as financial support and other perquisites is provided to the staff
services at the University. This helps in achieving the mission of the university (Stanford
University, 2019).
The President takes various efforts in measuring and ensuring the fundamental values and
ethics. The research and education initiatives are being measured from time to time to achieve
the university's mission and goals. The focus is on the first recruitment of researchers and the
fundamental quality of research work. The education initiatives focus on learning and
development of graduate and undergraduate students by advancing the teaching of science and
technology. It measures the community services by providing a necessary foundation and
supportive environment.
The correction is considered as a gradual process in the organizational culture change that
manages resistance internally and build consensus (Miller, 2016). The corrective process is not
only limited to problem areas but also the signals of the university's success. Stanford University
is considered among the top universities based on compensation and networking (Fox, 2019).
Multiple activities, initiatives, and programs collectively influence and focus on changing the
highly complex procedures. The university uses performance measurement and evaluation to
manage resistance.

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Beliefs, Values and Basic Assumptions
The University culture depends on the collective interaction of the people. More
specifically, it depends on three sources: beliefs, values, and assumptions that influence the
decision-making processes and shape organizational behaviors. The exchange and collective
acceptance of values, ideas, and artifacts play a vital role in the culture of the university. The
values and beliefs are the cornerstones that will show the new direction and shape decision for
the future of the university (Hopkins, 2016). The prime values and beliefs of the university are
the ethics, the boldness, and the foundation. The ethics securely hold the education and research
of human welfare. The boldness advances the mission for collaboration and learning from others.
The foundation focuses on authentic values that include integrity, respect, diversity, and freedom
of expression. The underlying assumptions enable the students to gain hands-on experience. It
ensures the high quality standards; generate profits, balances mutual respect, commitment to
community and team for the growth of the university ("Mission & Values — Stanford Student
Enterprises," 2018).
Success and Opportunities
At Stanford University, the researchers and the students work within a higher education
culture, which is, supported by various academic, research, business, service and administrative
departments. For successful governance and trust, a good lifestyle is required in the university. It
provides an environment that is adaptable and compatible with the values, skills and work style
(Westrum & Adamski, 2017). The culture of the university helps in opportunities related to the
career development of the students, both personally and professionally. The culture fit is
considered as the essential factor for the success of an organization as well as the individual
(Lehmann et al., 2018). A productive culture at Stanford University exhibits an appropriate

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behavior, governs the processing of information, and motivates individuals. These strong beliefs
in values contribute to the success of the university.
Research Methodology
Varieties of informative secondary sources were available about the organizational
culture and Stanford University. For assembling the information, the secondary data was
collected through different articles, university websites, and books. Both the internal or in-house
data, as well as external or outside data, was gathered to carry out the research.
Conclusion
To conclude, Stanford University is among the world's best private research institutes.
This study outlines how Stanford University meets the strategic objectives, mission, goals,
beliefs, views, and assumptions of the university. It includes external adaptation as well as the
internal environment of the university. The culture depends on the collective interaction of the
people and helps in opportunities related to the career development of the students, both
personally and professionally. It provides an environment that is adaptable and compatible with
the values, skills and work style. Stanford University focuses on core values with a view to drive
simplicity and accountability that leads to the growth of the university. However, reshuffling of
few strategies is needed to perceive international recognition broadly among the top universities.
Recommendation
Stanford University is among one of the oldest and renowned universities globally.
Despite performing better, there are still some shortcomings that need to be overcome by the
university to perform well in the future. The first thing that should be recommended for the
university is that both the university and the culture should match in the right direction. The

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staffs of the university, especially the management authority, should enhance their innovation
and risk-taking skills. An existential culture is suitable for the students, professors, and
researchers that contribute to the progress of the university. The university should increase its
focus on research and development activities to facilitate innovation taking place within the
university. The administration should consider the valuable feedback from both the researchers
as well as the students in the decision-making process.

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References
Duerr, S., Holotiuk, F., Wagner, H. T., Beimborn, D., & Weitzel, T. (2018). What is digital
organizational culture? Insights from exploratory case studies. In Proceedings of the 51st
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.
Fitzgerald, C., & Cunningham, J. A. (2016). Inside the university technology transfer office:
mission statement analysis. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 41(5), 1235-1246.
Fox, J. (2019). The Secret to Stanford Business School’s Success. Retrieved from
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-01/stanford-business-school-s-
secret-to-success
Hopkins, B. (2016). Cultural differences and improving performance: How values and beliefs
influence organizational performance. Routledge.
Lapiņa, I., Kairiša, I., & Aramina, D. (2015). Role of organizational culture in the quality
management of the university. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 213, 770-774.
Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., Rogelberg, S. G., Allen, J. A., & Kello, J. E. (2018). The critical
importance of meetings to the leader and organizational success. Organizational
Dynamics, 47(1), 32-36.
Miller, B. A. (2016). Assessing organizational performance in higher education. John Wiley &
Sons.
Stanford University. (2019). Stanford University. Retrieved from https://www.stanford.edu/
Strategic Goals | Office of the Vice President for Business Affairs and Chief Financial Officer.
(2018). Retrieved from https://businessaffairs.stanford.edu/strategic-goals

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Westrum, R., & Adamski, A. J. (2017). Organizational factors associated with safety and mission
success in aviation environments. In Human Error in Aviation (pp. 475-512). Routledge.