Organisational Culture - Case Study Example

Organisational Culture Name: Course: Tutor: Institution: Date: Introduction The global market level of competition has increased over the years. In this regard, the traditional organisational competitive edges, such as a strong financial base as well as developed infrastructure are becoming increasingly unsustainable. This has been characterised by the rise of alternative management and production technologies and techniques globally. To this effect, a majority of the global organisations have reversed to the adoption of intangible assets as their main market competitive edges (Kelle and Price, 2011, p.93). The use of intangible assets as a competitive edge is based on their sustainability in the long run period, as it is hard for the competition to copy and imitate them. Among the main intangible assets used in the modern market are organisational cultures. An organisational culture is the approach, belief and the manner through which functions, duties and relationships are developed, executed and maintained by an organisation (Pareek, 2006, p.101). This essay develops thesis that in order for organisations to acquire and retain competitiveness in the highly competitive global market, they should strive to develop and retain a positive culture. As such, the essay describes the various merits and gains of adopting a positive organizational culture. Employee Satisfaction The development of an organisational positive culture has a direct impact on the level and nature of employee satisfaction in the respective organisations. In this regard, the development of a positive culture implicates on the employee interest alignment with the organisational goals (Naranjo, Jimenez, and Sanz, 2011, p.58). Under this approach, the development of a culture involves increasing employee participation and empowerment in organisational decision making through decentralised decision making as well as enhanced efficiency of upward communication systems. Thus, this has a ripple effect of increasing the employee needs and interest incorporation in the organisational strategies and policies. Consequently, the process enhances the development of a supportive employee culture. Employee support of organisational policy, through their participation and inclusion in the subsequent strategies, ownership reduces employee resistance of the policies and the resulting support and success of the respective policies (Naranjo, Jimenez, and Sanz, 2011, p.63). Hence, the adoption of a positive culture encourages employee satisfaction in an organisation, and the resulting high organisation staff retention rates and reduced employee turnover. This development has the resulting impact on the employee value proposition (EVP) rise. An EVP is the key motivation aspect that increases an organisational attractiveness as an employer over peers in the market (Heger, 2007, p.132). Thus, an increased EVP allows organisation to advance and improve on its ability to recruit and acquire qualified and befitting employees over its peers in the market. This allows for the acquisition and development of a quality HR workforce, that facilitates increased organisational operations efficiency and increased market competitiveness in the long run period. Similarly, an increased organisational retention rate, due to a positive culture that increase employee satisfaction and retention allows for reduced recruitment and selection costs (Salvendy, 2012, p.484). The HR recruitment and selection function incur huge management costs in a bid to acquire and train a new workforce on the organisational practices. Moreover, the recruitment process incurs the indirect cost on low employee productivity as they learn and adjust to the overall organisational working environment and conditions. Thus, through a positive organisational culture, organisations reduce on the frequency of recruiting their employees, which reduced both the direct and indirect recruitment costs, resulting in reduced overall organisational operational and production costs. Therefore, the above analysis evidences that through the development and adoption of a positive organisational culture, employee satisfaction, loyalty, and retention are facilitated (Lowe, Levitt and Wilson, 2008, p.46). Consequently, this causes the indirect benefits of reduced recruitment and section costs, as well as increasing an organisational EVP, which is a critical component in attracting and recruiting qualified and suitable workforce for long term objectives realisation needs. Customer Loyalty and Service Quality A second rationale as to why organisations should strive to develop and retain a positive organisational culture is its impact on increased customer satisfaction. Based on an analysis of corporate culture variables, one of the key variables is employee productivity and employee motivation (Evans, Lindsay and Evans, 2008, p.433). Customer service delivery and quality is based on the employees’ availability, skills, and motivation to deliver and meet the customer needs. Therefore, customer service satisfaction is low for organisations with insufficient employees or those with lowly motivated employees. On the contrary, customer satisfaction is relatively high in organisations that have enough employees who are motivated and feel a sense of ownership of the organisational culture and practices (Evans, Lindsay and Evans, 2008, p.437). Therefore, this evidences that culture plays a critical role in facilitating customer satisfaction. On one hand, through the development of a positive culture, there is increasing employee retention as discussed above. The retention rates ensure seamless service provision to the consumers as it promotes uniform employee productivity over the long run period. It allows the customers and employees to develop individual long term relationships, which increase the customers’ confidence and trust in organisations. In this regard, in the event that an organisational positive culture was absent, it implies that the rate of employees turn over would be high (Jackson, Schuler, Werner and Jackson, 2009, p.96). Consequently, this would result to a continuous breaking of relationships with customers as they have to deal and relate to new employees on a frequent basis. Consequently, due to the individual and trait differences between employees, it would be difficult for the organisations to retain seamless relationships with its customers in the long run period. On the other hand, consumer satisfaction is enhanced through increased employee motivation. Through employee satisfaction and motivation by the development and retention of a positive culture, the rate of employee absenteeism is significantly reduced. In this regard, there is a high rate of employee punctuality as well as teamwork in the respective organisations (Salvendy, 2012, p.421). The development of a harmonious teamwork environment allows for sharing of tasks and responsibilities in organisations based on the respective employees skills and talents. This aspect encourages the actualization of the employee innovation and risk taking characteristics of a corporate culture. Therefore, through an increased employee willingness to take risks and innovations, they revolutionise customer service delivery, by developing new and unique approaches through which to meet and exceed the consumers’ needs. Moreover, the adoption of the innovation and risk taking culture approach allows organisation to increase flexibility in the highly dynamic market environment. In this context, the organisations meet the overall consumer needs in the market (Dahlen and Lange, 2008, p.224). Therefore, the above analysis evidences that through reduced turnover ratios and the adoption of employee innovation and risk taking cultures, a positive organisational culture encourage and facilitate increased long term consumer satisfaction gains in the market. Brand Development The third rationale for the development and retention of a positive organisational corporate culture is its contribution to the organisational marketing process improvement. In this regard, an organisational marketing capability is a critical success component in the highly competitive global market. Therefore, the retention of a positive culture enhances organisational competitiveness through elevating the respective organisation market branding and positioning (Doole and Lowe, 2005, p.264). This banding gain is achieved as an indirect impact of the employee and customer satisfaction positive corporate culture gains. On one hand, increased employee satisfaction allows for the development of increased EVP in the market. As such, organisations, through increased employee retention, develop internal CSR programs which are later used as key marketing tools. For instance, organisations use high employee retention rates and satisfaction as a critical tool to position and demonstrate their application of corporate governance and the stakeholder theory respectively (Lowe, Levitt and Wilson, 2008, p.52). Thus, through demonstrating a satisfied workforce, organisations increase the consumers and the third party stakeholders’ trust and confidence in their operations, offering them a competitive edge over peers in the respective markets. In addition, customer satisfaction, and the often resulting positive reviews and feedbacks on the organisation are applied as a key basis on which to position the organisational brand as a quality, reliable brand in the market over peers’. Thus, this illustrates that through increased employee and customers’ satisfaction, organisations marketing success and brand image are improved in the long run periods. Hence, this justifies the marketing value of developing and striving to retain positive corporate cultures. Conclusion In summary, this essay offers a critical evaluation and rationales for the development and retention of positive corporate cultures in the current market dynamics. On one hand, the essay analysis evidences that the development and retention of a positive corporate culture allow for increased employee satisfaction through inclusion and participation in the organisational strategy formulation and decision making processes respectively. Thus, this has the indirect impacts of reduced turnover rates, as well as reduced employee recruitment and selection costs, which in turn reduces the overall organisational production costs and significantly increases the profitability margins. On the other hand, the analysis establishes that positive culture enhances employee productivity and consistency, which in return facilitate increased customer service quality and satisfaction. Finally, the essay argues that through employees and customers’ satisfaction, an organisational marketing potential, brand image and positioning are improved in the long run period. References Dahlen, M., & Lange, F. 2008, Marketing communications. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Doole, I., & Lowe, R. 2005, Strategic marketing decisions in global markets, Thomson, Learning London. Evans, J. R, Lindsay, W. M., & Evans, J. R. 2008, Managing for quality and performance excellence, Thomson/South-Western, Mason, OH. Heger, B.K. 2007, "Linking the Employment Value Proposition (EVP) to Employee Engagement and Business Outcomes: Preliminary Findings from a Linkage Research Pilot Study", Organization Development Journal, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. P121-P132,P233 Jackson, S. E., Schuler, R. S., Werner, S., & Jackson, S. E. 2009, Managing human resources, South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason, OH: Keller, S., & Price, C. 2011, Beyond performance: How great organizations build ultimate competitive advantage, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J. Lowe, D., Levitt, K.J. & Wilson, T. 2008, "Solutions for Retaining Generation Y Employees in the Workplace", Business Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 43-57. Naranjo-Valencia, J. C., Jiménez-Jiménez, D., & Sanz-Valle, R. 2011, “Innovation or imitation? The role of organizational culture”, Management Decision, vol 49, no. 1, pp. 55-72. Pareek, U. N. 2006, Organisational culture and climate, ICFAI University Press, Hyderabad, India. Salvendy, G. 2012, Handbook of human factors and ergonomics, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Read More