Week 10 Organizational Culture

Building Organizational Structure Through Tailgate Parties

When organizational culture comes to mind, my guess is that your first thought is not about tailgate parties. However, tailgating is as much a part of university culture as is the academics. Moreover, tailgating is a part of the socialization structure of an organization including college or university structures. According to Chapla (2012), John Sherry, marketing professor and cultural anthropologist at the University of Notre Dame, completed a study in organizational and community building using tailgating parties before college football games. The results of the study concluded that tail gate parties help to build brand recognition, protect school traditions, and helps to grow community loyalty (Chapla, 2012).

 Fans turn game-day into festive rituals, which continues throughout ones lifetime having been passed down from one generation to the next. “Tailgating is actually a very complex social, community building exercise, not simply a wild party, during which fans are able to connect with and actually help create their school’s brand,” Sherry says. Tailgating is as much a part of the school's tradition as is the marching band or school's mascot. The bigger the turnout for tailgating revelers, the bigger the brand. “Tailgating, for the fans, is literally helping to create Notre Dame, or Michigan, or USC” (Chapla, 2012, p. 1).  Moreover, tailgating is a fundamental part of the football program at any university. The fans help to create the culture of the school and more importantly the football program. During football season, fans build relationships with other fans building upon a group relationship as noted by Hofstede (2009). These group relationships begin to flourish in parking lots across the nation during football season and continue to grow year after year.

Fan loyalty is steeped in tradition. These traditions are related to the past and the future of the team as well as the focus regarding efforts in keeping with tradition. Fan loyalty connects directly to Hofstede's Long Term versus Short Term Orientation, related to the choice of focus for people's efforts: the future or the present and past (2009). Thanks to fan loyalty, tailgate traditions happen on most college campus' around the country on game day. This process builds upon the connection the fans have with their school or team and in turn builds upon the brand. The majority of fans wear school regalia to show support for their chosen team as seen in the photo above right. However, not all fans celebrate in the same way. "Grounding their research at Notre Dame, Sherry and Bradford, and a group of student research assistants, also examine rival teams’ tailgates at Notre Dame, as well as tailgates at other college campuses. Sherry says all are rooted in tradition and celebration, but there are notable differences. For example, in the south, tailgaters dress formally in tuxedos and ball gowns. On the coast, tailgates occur in boats and yachts outside stadiums" (Chapla, 2012, p. 1). Whatever your school's chosen form of celebration, partaking in the party can help drive the team toward success.

So the next time you are asked to attend a tailgate party, remember you will be contributing to the school's brand by having fun supporting your team. Moreover, according to Chapla (2012), attending a tailgate party helps one's team throughout the game, and hopefully toward a victory.  Since SC plays undefeated Notre Dame this coming weekend, maybe the SC tailgaters will help bring home a victory for USC! One can always hope!






References

Chapla, S. (2012, September 06). University of notre dame: Not simply a party. Retrieved from     http://business.nd.edu/news_and_events/news_articles_article.aspx?id=11805

Hofstede, G. (2009). Dimensionalizing cultures: The hofstede model in context. Conceptual issues in  psychology and culture, 2(1),