Organizational Culture Transformation Through ba(place) Creation—Sugamo Shinkin Bank

There is a credit union where many elderly people gather together on the Days Ending in Four (the 4th, 14th, and 24th of every month), when a festival is hosted in the Sugamo Jizo-dori Street Shopping Mall. As part of its service to its customers, the credit union, Sugamo Shinkin Bank, serves tea and sweets to visitors free of charge, providing a place for relaxation. True to its corporate motto, Share joy with customers, each member of Sugamo Shinkin Bank’s staff develops and implements measures that benefit customers. How did the credit union successfully enable such an organizational culture to take root among its staff members working in the financial industry, where a follow-the-crowd mentality predominates? In this study, we focus on how this credit union worked to realize organizational culture reform.