FedEx wished to instill their own systems on Kinko's but were not sure how to affect that sort of organizational change.
Ultimately, change at Kinko's has come slowly, primarily through attrition. In an attempt to further impose organizational change on Kinko's, FedEx has just announced they will change the name of the unit to FedEx Office. Yet the entire experience is an example of how even a company with as strong and well-supported culture as FedEx can run into problems in disseminating that culture throughout all parts of its organization.
Conclusion
For the most part, FedEx has successfully built a corporate culture that best supports its business model. The structures that support the culture - human resources, communications, motivation - are well-integrated and focused towards the singular goal that is encapsulated in the PSP philosophy. The company attributes its ability to meet its organizational goals on its ability to build the sort of group behaviors that facilitate an exceptionally high level of service.
Even a company as strong as FedEx has challenges, however. One of the toughest challenges for any company is to enact massive organizational change on a newly-acquired subsidiary. Changing the culture at Kinko's has not only proven difficult but has also been an impediment to achieving the synergies for which the merger was originally sought. All the same, FedEx is determined that...
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