Aetna Inc.: Examining Leadership's Role in Shaping Culture

This report analyzes the leadership and organizational culture of Aetna Inc., focusing on Ron Williams' leadership during a period of crisis and transformation. It examines key aspects of organizational culture, including values, vision, practices, and people engagement. The report distinguishes between values, espoused values, enacted values, and assumptions, highlighting Aetna's commitment to affordable healthcare, innovation, and employee engagement. It explores the functions of a strong organizational culture, its positive and negative impacts, and the role of culture in organizational performance, considering fit and adaptation perspectives. Furthermore, the report discusses the leader's role in shaping and reinforcing culture, emphasizing the importance of training, ethical leadership, and communication. Ultimately, it showcases how Aetna developed a culture of empowerment and quality under Williams' leadership, leading to significant success.

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HUMAN RESOURCE MANGEMENT
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Executive Summary
The aim of the report is to analyses the leadership and the organizational culture that is there for
the organization of Aetna Inc. which have there for the leadership of Ron Williams in the context
of organization. The report analyses the number of organizational culture, values, organizational
performance and the management of culture in the organizational framework. The following
paragraphs have highlighted the management of the culture as well as the leadership technique in
the span of time. The report overall analyses the management of culture and leadership according
to the situational analysis of Aetna Inc led by the leader Ron Williams in the time of crisis to
make the enterprise one of the biggest success in the span of seven years.

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Table of Contents
1. Levels of organizational culture..................................................................................................4
1.1 Concept of organizational culture..........................................................................................4
1.2 Common aspects of organizational culture............................................................................4
1.3 Identification of the level of culture in the company.............................................................5
2. Values..........................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Distinguish values, espoused values, enacted values and assumptions.................................5
2.2 Espoused values identified in Aetna Inc................................................................................6
2.3 Value creation for Aetna Inc..................................................................................................6
3. Function of Organizational culture..............................................................................................6
3.1 Strong organizational culture.................................................................................................6
3.2 Positive and negative impact of organizational culture.........................................................6
4. Organizational performance........................................................................................................7
4.1 Role of culture in relation to organizational performance.....................................................7
4.2 Fit and the adaption perspective and consideration to the concept in relation to Aetna Inc. 8
5. Role of leader in shaping and reinforcing culture.......................................................................8
6. Managing culture.........................................................................................................................9
6.1 Management and approaches for the organizational culture.................................................9
6.2 Aetna soared to develop a culture of empowerment and quality...........................................9
7. References..................................................................................................................................10

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1. Levels of organizational culture
1.1 Concept of organizational culture
Alvesson, M. (2012) states that Organizational culture is defined as the set of values and
behaviors that are involved in the social and work environment of the organization which help
the workers of the organization to have the level of well-being in their work. The set of values
that are there for the workers in the workplace that give them the wish to work for an enterprise
and also to have the levels of interaction between the workers and the authorities.
1.2 Common aspects of organizational culture
The six common aspects of organizational culture which help the enterprise to have better
facilities in the place are as follows –
Vision – The purpose of an organization in relation to the working of an organization is defined
in terms of organizational vision that is there for the purpose as well as the good display of
decisions as well as the purpose of the organization for the working of the culture of the
enterprise (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015).
Values – This is the core of the company and the principles that the company has in terms of the
working and the core organizational status. It reveals the purpose of the organization as well as
the vows that are taken for the company.
Practices – The work of the organization on the basis of which the performance is being
measures is termed as the practices of the organization (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). The whole
of the organizational culture is dependent on the practices of an enterprise.

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People – The workforce is the major strength of an organization which is determined by the
people forming the culture of an organization.
Narrative – The form of communication between the authorities and the workers is termed as
the narrative that form the base of the organizational culture as well as the cultural vows taken.
Place – The place of the organization play a major part in the organizational culture and also
help to adhere to the aspects of the organizational culture in the span of time. The place is there
for the identification of the work culture in the span.
1.3 Identification of the level of culture in the company
The company Aetna Inc is in a combination of a number of levels of organizational
culture in order to upgrade and reach the position within a span of seven years. Tannenbaum &
Schmidt, (2017) states that the levels of organizational culture in which the company is presently is
the level of vision, value, practices and people engagement. Through the vision and the values,
the company implemented the right practices and targeted the people who are their primary
customers.
2. Values
2.1 Distinguish values, espoused values, enacted values and assumptions
Value – The level of judgment in relation to principles of the organization is termed as the value
of an organization (Bolman & Deal, 2017).
Espoused Value – The values that help in the development as well as the betterment of
corporate standards and moral values for the implementation of business is termed as Espoused
values.

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Enacted value – The values of an organization that is there for the representation of the norms
and standards of a case is referred to as enacted values which is required for the corporate level
working.
Assumptions – The anticipation of an organizational framework that is supposed to be true in
the false standards is referred to assumptions within an organizational culture.
2.2 Espoused values identified in Aetna Inc
The list of espoused values that is there in Aetna Inc. are as follows –
One of the principle values that is identified in Aetna Inc in providing high range of healthcare
services for the people at affordable rates to help every section of customer
The best ideas to improve the work and provide the best for the customers are done to develop
the solution for the organization (Yukl, 2013).
The leadership strategy is also unique for the innovation as well as the work environment
growth.
2.3 Value creation for Aetna Inc
The creation of the values in Aetna Inc is done by the leadership qualities of Ron William
to make sure that the working of the company is done based on the high values that are there in
the level of values employed in the process (Yukl, 2013). The core values of Aetna Inc are
employee engagement, accountability, quality, integrity and excellence in the field of work.

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3. Function of Organizational culture
3.1 Strong organizational culture
Strong organizational culture is defined as the type of culture in which each of the worker
of the enterprise is determined to provide the best for the organization and is supported by the
leader in the most ethical way.
3.2 Positive and negative impact of organizational culture
Positive impact
Better performance – One of the positive impacts of organizational culture is the better
performance for the employees to improve business of the organization.
Good leadership – The good leadership of the quality is there for the betterment of
organizational culture as in the case of Ron Williams of Aetna Inc (Alvesson & Sveningsson,
2015).
Better environment – The creation of better environment is there for the increase in there for
the betterment of organizational culture.
Good communication – The development of good communication is there for the betterment of
organizational culture (Yukl, 2013).
Negative impact
Bad behavior – The bad behavior is there for the negative impact of the organizational culture.
No creativity – Lack of creativity for the organizational culture is one of the impacts.

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Bad attitude – The bad attitude of the organizational culture is there for the concerned period of
time.
Wrong change of culture – The change of culture given is wrong and have havoc on the scene
of the environment.
4. Organizational performance
4.1 Role of culture in relation to organizational performance
Fairhurst & Connaughton (2014) states that the role of culture in relation to organizational
performance is the way in which the workers of the workplace communicate as well as they
work loyally with the people of the organization. The work attitude is determined by the culture
of the workplace.
4.2 Fit and the adaption perspective and consideration to the concept in relation to
Aetna Inc.
Fit is defined as the employee that is appropriate for the working of the organization. The
fit perspective is the case in which the person is best for the work.
Adaptive worker is that worker that adapts to the working of the environment and applies
the culture in their place of work.
The concepts of the fit and adaptive working is there in relation to Aetna Inc as this is the
adaptive worker association as it adapts to the working as well as the organizational culture. The
leader Ron Williams is there for adapting the specific traits of the organization in a manner that
helps to have better working culture and values.

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5. Role of leader in shaping and reinforcing culture
The leader plays an important role in shaping the culture of the place as it helps to have
betterments in the organizational behavior of the workplace. Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin (2013)
states that the working of the leader is there for the importance of work and to make the work
environment better in every way. The encouragement of the leader and the provision of vision to
make the employees work in purpose are some of the basic ways like Ron Williams led the
organization at the time of crisis. In addition, the leader made sure that each of the worker of the
place have the required work with them to have better loyalty with the company. Ron Williams
reinforced with the cultural considerations of the place to make the work better.
6. Managing culture
6.1 Management and approaches for the organizational culture
The culture of an organization can be managed and also betterment of the place can be
done to have required benefits both for the workers as well as the enterprise in the quality of
time.
The approaches for the change in organizational culture are as follows –
Training – Training is definitely required for the positive changes in the organizational culture
to help the worker for betterment in the work.
Ethical leadership – The leadership technique should be ethical to make sure that the
environment is positive and have required ethics in work (Hogan & Coote, 2014).

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Communication – Communication should be made at the level of priority to foster the sense of
leadership and also help the organization to have the required working in terms of
communication relevancy in workplace.
6.2 Aetna soared to develop a culture of empowerment and quality
Aetna Inc has developed for establishing the culture of empowerment and quality to have
the required level of culture and empowerment in the cultural considerations of the place. The
overall cultural consideration of the organization is to develop the rules related to empowerment
in the sense. The leader Ron Williams made sure to surge high in the leadership qualities and
have better facilities for the people who are working to have the desired effects of the business.
In addition, the Aetna Inc made way to sideline all the flaws and develop a culture that placed
them on the top of the chart within a span of seven years. The overall span of the leadership
quality is there for the betterment of the organization under the able leadership technique.

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7. References
Alvesson, M. (2012). Understanding organizational culture. Sage.
Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.
Büschgens, T., Bausch, A., & Balkin, D. B. (2013). Organizational culture and innovation: A
meta‐analytic review. Journal of product innovation management, 30(4), 763-781.
Fairhurst, G. T., & Connaughton, S. L. (2014). Leadership: A communicative
perspective. Leadership, 10(1), 7-35.
Hogan, S. J., & Coote, L. V. (2014). Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A test
of Schein's model. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1609-1621.
Tannenbaum, R., & Schmidt, W. H. (2017). How to choose a leadership pattern. In Leadership
Perspectives (pp. 75-84). Routledge.
Yukl, G. A. (2013). Leadership in organizations. Pearson Education India.