Tierney’s Organizational Culture

In terms of values, attitudes and expectations about work at Tierney, the environment is extremely collaborative, but each employee is expected to complete his or her work accordingly. Being in the account management department is the best position to understand how the entire organization works and functions together because we are the first ones to discuss with the clients their wants and needs. Once we have established what the client needs from us, the account management department hands the project to the next department that will be fulfilling the client’s needs. Therefore, people are always asking each other for their opinions or input on projects. While the employees value each other’s opinion, each department and employee are expected to work hard and complete their job or task as necessary. Additionally, the attitude around the work is extremely positive as we have the opportunity to work with interesting and fun clients such as Yuengling or the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia. Therefore, employees are interested in the work and have a desire to do a good job because our clients are oftentimes local.

People primarily communicate through email but also utilize chat rooms on Skype for Business to communicate with each other faster. While technology is helpful for communication, the layout of the office fosters an environment where employees can easily access other departments to collaborate on ideas and projects; the office is laid out in a large circle with an open plan along with various meeting rooms along the outside (the office was recently nominated for one of the best office layouts in Philadelphia!). Many employees can be seen walking to each other’s desks to discuss projects or booking “brainstorm rooms” to discuss clients. Employees will also leave sticky notes at each other’s desks if the person they are trying to speak with is not at their desk. While no particular mode of communication is preferred, employees are encouraged to constantly be in communication with coworkers both inside and outside of their departments.

Tierney is not only an advertising agency but also offers a wide range of services such as public relations or brand strategy. Especially with Tierney, the nature of the work fosters an extremely collaborative environment. The structure and flow of work is like a machine or assembly line—each person or department feeds off of another to come up with a finished product. For example, the account management team will meet with a client depending and discover their needs. Then, the account manager will discuss with the strategy team how they will execute the assignment. Depending on what the client wants, the strategy team will hand the project to the respective department and so on. While each department feeds their necessary work on to the next, they still collaborate and ask the opinions of other departments based on their knowledge or what their task is for the client. Depending on the part of the project they are on, the respective departments take on the leadership role for the project when it is their time to complete their part; leadership shifts depending on the progress of the assignment. This style requires each department to “step up” and poses the potential need for a more singular leader to oversee the whole process just in case the respective departments are not fulfilling their tasks as needed. This type of leadership is represented through department heads, who have the ability to collaborate with each other across departments and their direct subordinates within their respective departments.