Organizational Cultural Audit - Essay Example

? Organizational Cultural Audit and Gap Analysis Introduction McDonald Corporation is a global form that operates in nearly all the five continents in the world. The firm specializes in the food and hotel industry with diversity in its marketing and production skills. The corporation also employs a labour-force with the required skills and professional competence in order to ensure that the quality of its products and services match the expectation of the customers. However, owing to the complexity in the global business era, the success of the company has been highly affected by the entry of other firms in the industry thereby making it very competitive. On the other hand, internal and external factors within the Corporation have had a significant role to play in the development and economic prosperity of McDonald Corporation. Some of the macro-environment factors that affect the performance of McDonald include legal policy frameworks enacted by the relevant authority. In this respect, the success of the organization will be influenced by these legal policies and regulations enacted to regulate and control the operations of an organization. Legal policies are aimed at monitoring the operation of the organization and ensuring that the organization complies with the taxation policy other than other business regulatory frameworks. Internally, the operations of McDonald is influenced by its ability to have full control over the internal affairs such as managing the cultural diversity, ethical considerations, resource management, and serving the interests of the stakeholders. Stakeholders are the engine of the corporation therefore, there needs and demands must be met by the organization in order for the organization to succeed. Although these demands are very diverse, all the leading stakeholders have a role to play in the corporation, an indication that their specifications must be met however conflicting these needs may be. Stakeholders and the Business Organization In this global era of the 21st century, business organizations sector has undergone a transformation in order to breakthrough because of the stiff nature of competition brought about by globalization and economic liberalization. Globalization and free trade has opened up boundaries for international trade and exchange of good and services. Besides, the concept of free trade and globalization is important for growth and development of industries through mobility of essential factors of production including labor and capital (Spitzer, 2012). Through the global economic liberalization, the quality of good and services produces in the economy has significantly improved in order to increase the competitiveness of these products. However, the success of an organization heavily depend on how the resources at the disposal of the organization and managed. Not only the management that are at the helm of the success but all the stakeholders to the organization. The stakeholders of an organization that have a role to play in the organization include managers, customers and consumers, owners, and the community (Carroll, & Buchholtz, 2010). Therefore, the varied difference in the demands and expectation of these groups must be fulfilled by the organization. This is because all the stakeholders of the organization have a role to play for the success of the organization. Besides, all the stakeholders of a firm must draw benefits from the organization for pledging their loyalty and service. For instance, shareholders and firm owners benefits from their investment into the organization through wealth maximization, while customers are paid for loyalty through quality and affordable products. Therefore, the success of the business organization depends on the ability of the organization to satisfactorily meet the needs and expectation of the key stakeholders. Corporate Social Responsibility The future of an organization goes beyond the capacity of the organization to meet the demands of its stakeholders with direct involvement with the organization. In order to succeed and be at the top amid competition from other industries or firms operating in the same industry, it is important for the organization to take responsibility for its activities both negatively and positively. This is measured by the ability of the organization to give back to the community and society as a whole through the concept of being socially responsible. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the modern approaches to building a positive image of the organization among the consumers (Nakamura, 2004). This implies that socially responsibility organizations have strong positive reputation among the consumers. Corporate social responsibility is the way organizations gives back to the community by compensating for the negative externalities that results from the uncontrollable side effects of the production process such as pollution. CSR by take the form of financing the cost of environmental cleaning, funding other social activities of the community such as sports, meet the educational costs for the most deserving students in the community, and providing other sponsorship programs for the benefit of the entire community (Weis, & Andrews, 2009). Sustainability of the Firm and Change in Technology The success of a firm is also measured by the sustainability of the firm. This concept refers to the ability of the firm to succeed beyond today. A successful business organization must be in a position to remain in operation beyond morrow. It therefore implies the policies enacted by the organization must those with the potential and ability to see the organization succeed and remain sustainable in future. To be sustainable, the organization must remain popular among customer and realize market dominance. One of way of being sustainable is by considering increasing its market share through globalization (UCLA, 2004). Globalization is important in increasing the customer base of the organization my expanding its operations to cover international markets. Globalization would not only be beneficial to the organization but to the customers too through increase in the product range and quality. However, the major challenge that comes with globalization is embracing technology in the production. The use of modern technology in order to reduce the cost of production and improve on the quality of output is prone to technological risks owing to the fact that technology keeps changing with the old techniques being obsolete and irrelevant (Nakamura, 2004). For this reason, an organization with a vision for success must be ready to spend resources in modern technology. Managing Workplace Cultural Diversity In the 21st century, the success of an organization is highly determined by the quality and competence of its workforce. The production capacity of a firm depends on the productivity of the employees and the resources employed by the organization. It is therefore important for the management of an organization to invest in its human capacity. However, there is one aspect of the workforce that is neglected yet is plays a critical role in the organization with respect to the management of the human capital and resources. Promoting workplace cultural diversity is of significance importance to an organization and therefore should be embraced. Cultural diversity and competence is an important skill that enhances workplace performance and effectiveness especially in this global era. According to Trompenaars & Turner (2010), workplace cultural diversity refers to the norms, values, and traditions that affect the behavior, reasoning, thinking, interaction, and perception of a group member within a given environment. Cultural competence on the other hand is the ability of an individual to effectively interact with persons of different cultural origin. Differences in the cultural calendar also affect the normal operations of a firm and such cultural differences are often characterized by resistance to change (Richard, 2012). To promote workplace cultural diversity, a tolerance attitude and cross-cultural skills are necessary. Organizations should where the staffs are culturally incompetence often suffer from conflicts and miscommunication that in turn endangers the productivity and performance of workers. An organization must allocate sufficient resources to train its employees and the rest of the staff on cultural diversity. Besides, managers promote cultural diversity by warding off changes and involving the entire staff in the execution and formulation of diversity initiatives in the organization. This allows the employees to freely express their honest ideas, views and opinions for the success of the organization (Richard, 2012). In conclusion, with the increased economic globalization, the nature of workplace is also increasingly being diverse. The success and competence of an organization is measured by its ability to create a culturally diversified working environment. References Carroll, A. B., & Buchholtz, A. K. (2010). Business & society: Ethics and stakeholder management. Mason, OH: CL-South-Western Cengage Learning. Conference on the Changing Business Role in Modern Society, & In Steiner, G. A. (2004). The changing business role in modern society: [proceedings]. Los Angeles: Graduate School of Management, UCLA. Nakamura, M. (2004). Changing Japanese business, economy, and society: Globalization of post-bubble Japan. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Richard, T. A. (2012). How to Increase Workplace Diversity. Wall Street Journal stories and video interviews with CEOs, 12 (11). Spitzer, C. E. (2012). Raising the bottom line: Business leadership in a changing society. New York: Longman. Trompenaars, A., & Turner, C. (2010). Riding the waves culture understanding cultural diversity in business (2nd ed.). London: Nicholas Brealey Pub. Weis, A. H., & Andrews, V. (2009). The business of changing lives. Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group Press. Read More