Organizational Culture: Nestle Organization - Case Study Example

Organizational culture Name Institution Course Tutor Date Organizational culture Organizational culture mainly refers to the behavior of individuals in an organization and the interpretations that people have to those particular behaviors. Culture is inclusive of the organization’s norms, values, symbols, system, vision, habits, assumption, beliefs and language, it also includes the ideas of what the objectives should be (Lim, 1995). The main idea in organization culture is to make individuals reflect on the collective good of the organization because the flourishing of the organization in return also benefits its employees as well. Organizational culture has an effect on the way individuals and groups intermingle with one another, stakeholders and clients. As stated by Ravasi and Schultz (2006), organizational culture is an assortment of the collective mental hypothesis that direct interpretation plus achievement in businesses by identifying suitable behaviors for different situations. Even though a company may at times posses its own distinctive culture, bigger companies have contradictory cultures which co-exist due to the individuality of various management panels. Employee’s classification within an organization may be affected by organizational cultures (Schrodt, 2002). Organizational culture is presumed to have three levels. The first level is known as surface manifestation; the culture of an organization at this stage is simply observed by the outsiders in its architecture, symbol or language. Value is the second level. The bases that form a firm foundation of this are awareness, religious precepts and morals and are mainly displayed on the company’s website (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). The third level is the basic assumptions, that is the assumptions predetermined by an individual about an organization and how it environment, how it functions and operates (Brooks, 2006). Different organizations have different cultures over and above subcultures. Organizational cultures have a propensity to be the bigger collective objective and vision for an organization. There are many lesser sub-cultures within the bigger organizational culture which are still enthusiastic to the bigger picture, however, they have a self operating system and they work to be extra resourceful in their undertaking, in addition to their element of the bigger picture (Lim, 1995). Needle (2004) found out that organizational cultures symbolize the joint principles, values and beliefs of the organizational individuals and is a creation of factors that include history, market, product, strategy, and technology, style of management, national culture and type of employees. On the other hand, corporate cultures are the deliberate cultures formed by the management with a view of achieving certain strategies (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). In the 21st century, organizational culture is of great importance due to the impact it has on the performance of employees in addition to job satisfaction. Each and every organization should understand its personal dynamic cultures in order the managers to benefit from the insights brought about by the cultural viewpoint to exercise more control on the organization (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Organizational culture has a crucial effect on the performance of the organization. Due to the fact that technology is changing and the fast moving business field, companies are nowadays struggling to look for new and innovative means of improving their performance with the least addition of expenditure (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Most organizations have embarked on looking at sociological characteristic of the company with a move to improve its profitability. One of the aspects in an organization that is not tangible is culture; however, it has a significant role to play in the success of every business venture. Nestle Organization overview Organizational structures are important in any business. In order to survive, the organization should make sure that it accomplishes the tasks which in turn require carrying out certain obligations. Organizational structure divides the tasks of the entire company into practical smaller chunks and distributes them to divisions of the company which takes responsibilities for its achievement. It's as well that distinguished segments are synchronized and driven in a manner they achieve something (Brooks, 2006). Nestle SA is a holding company based in Switzerland, which mainly develops and produces foods and beverages. The nestle group produces its food and beverages in three different geographical zones that is, Oceania and Africa, America and Asia, Europe and globally for nestle nutrition, nestle water in addition to other Foods and Beverages. The group has another segment that includes Nespresso, Nestle health science, Nestle Professional. The group has seven diversified products groups: Ice cream and Milk products; Health care and Nutrition; Liquid and Powdered beverages; Water; Cooking aids and prepared dishes; Petcare and Confectionary (Nestle, 2014). Nestle is categorized as the largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company working all over the world and operates over 500 factories in Eighty six countries around almost all continents (Nestle, 2014). Nestle has a very strong organizational culture and it trusts the power of team work. The head office gives the guiding principles to the zonal managers in additional to informing them on their budgetary allocations. They (zonal managers) have total control in designing their plans and how they use their budgets. A similar case also happens to the regional managers. They are provided with precise targets and also provided with a specific amount of budget. It is their judgement to make plans on how to achieve the set targets within the budget allocation. The company’s internal control system is strong and effective too. The strong checks and balances allows them to make amendments and eradications in their plans. When the plans, do not live up to the expectations, the managers are at will to take counteractive measures and he cannot be challenged. They work to achieve the company goals through a collective responsibility (Nestle, 2014). Nestlé’s Hierarchical structure Organizational Culture at Nestle Nestle company has a strong organizational culture which is replicated in the company logo ‘Good Food, Good Life’ that is always appended on all its products which acts as the major guidance to each and every activity partaken by the company. The company believes that the source of Good Health is Good food in the whole life of an individual and therefore it puts health, nutrition and wellness as the main foundation of the organization (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). The company attempts to supplementary develop and give emphasis on those aspects. Health, Nutrition and Wellness are found in each and every one of nestle products as well as in the company mission statement. The company culture is interrelated to the people’s structure and has a culture of team all ears and equal admission policy that has stood out to be a major corporate strength for the organization. Nestle has a main focus on performance and collectivism orientation approach to persuade employees to work harder (Daft, 2000). The strategic principle mission of Nestle Company is to produce better food that will promote better life for individuals. There is a perceptible affiliation between the company mission statement and its logo. At the same time as to what the Nestle Company believes in, it endeavors to produce foods that are safe for consumers, of better quality, and ones that offer finest nutrition that meet the physiological needs to the end users. Besides, it also comes with the essential ingredients of pleasure and taste (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Nestlé’s corporate goal is to be the global best branded and largest food manufacturer, at the same time ensuring that the company’s name is tantamount with the highest quality products (Nestle, 2014). It illustrates that the company has accomplished solitary component of its organizational goal which is to be a global biggest manufacturer. The above goal is allied to another company objective that wants to ensure that the products generate value that can be continuous in the long run for employees , business partners, consumers, shareholders and the state economies in which the nestle company operates (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). One of the major apprehensions of the Nestle Company is to give nutritional value to its end users and for that reason, in the organization website, it is stated in black and white that Nestle Company is the Global’s leading health, wellness and nutrition company. The company’s CEO, Paul Bulcke onetime said that the goal is t be known as the principal leader in health, wellness and nutrition and as the indicator for financial achievement, relied by all stake holders. This statement emanating from the CEO is parallel to the reality that premeditated rationale is not only apprehensive with what the company ought to achieve but also who has authority over the rationale. In each and every company there ought to be a few individuals who have multifaceted responsibility in determining the organizational rationale. The above individuals are the stakeholders of the organization (Nestle, 2014). Effects of culture Management The effect of organizational culture primarily depends on the structure of the organization and whether a company has a strong or a weak culture. A company like Nestle with a strong organizational culture will help take each and every individual more successful and efficient. The employees of nestle company have accepted the core values and are committed to them, this makes the culture of Nestle strong and this in turn has influenced the behavior of its employees as a whole (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Strong organizational cultures do not only impact on the conduct of employees, but also have an affirmative outcome on the organizational performance. As a result strong culture moves an organization towards elevated performance and accomplishment (Cascio, 2006). Organizations are made up of managers and laymen. Laymen work specifically on the task that they are assigned and have no authority to supervise others. On the other hand, it is the duties of a manager to oversee things are working as planned and to take responsibility for other people activities. Traditionally the functions of management are; organizing, planning, coordinating, command and control (Cascio, 2006). In Nestle Company, the management levels are additionally apprehensive with value addition to the company s opposed to implementation of formal authority. Company managers at Nestle have a duty to motivate and expand individuals by the use of their own methods and open minded in additional to elevated levels of attention to other lifestyles and culture (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Involvement When employees are actively involved in setting up the company objectives and coming up with ways to accomplish the objectives, there will be less time spent on motivation and the involved employees have a tendency to be committed to the course. Organizational culture can be promoted by involving employees in helping set up the objectives, this transforms to a culture where the organization objective are an element of everybody’s commitment (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Consistency Consistency is a part of the organization culture, a consistent culture of a common objective helps move the organization forward every day. For example, Nestle has a consistency of producing products of high quality that promote health, wellness and nutrition (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Adaptability The organization approach to adaptability severely affects the ability of the organization to grow. When strict rules are set with harsh penalties for breaking the rules, a fast growing company that will adapt to the market trends cannot be created but when the organization sets out objectives that adapt and change according to customer needs, an innovative culture that gets satisfaction and recognition is created. Nestle has a research and development team that deals with product development; company requires the team to do alteration as a minimum and faster as end user expectation and to extend further than what the consumer expects (Nestle, 2014). Shared vision A soaring performance culture maintained by separate rewards and expansion is the driving force to the accomplish business and individual objectives. This is moved by clear alignment and the challenging tasks and precedence and making sure that the employees understand how their jobs affect Nestle. Individual performance is of paramount importance when determining their opportunities within the organization. If one is enthusiastic to embrace new and superior responsibilities, one has to show that he has the capability to do so. An individual has to exhibit through the performance evaluation procedure that he has performed sturdily and constantly over a period of time. This does not only mean achieving your results but one has to show that it was done in the right way. The mode of achievement is as crucial as the achievement itself (Nestle, 2014). The terminologies consistently and strongly should be paid attention to. It is of outmost importance that one is in a position to make noteworthy impact on what he does, great results should be produced repeatedly and to accomplish that one has to stick to their role and prove the results they have achieved are sustainable (Nestle, 2014). Group Think Organizational culture is capable of resulting in to group think. When the culture becomes so dominant, employer and employees may dish excellent ideas that appear to be against the organizational culture. Organizations that lack a culture that is open and flexible loose the competitive edge since they do not adopt market changes (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Assimilation Organizational culture is often seen a s a stumbling block between employees of Nestle and other different organizations. This has a long term effect to employees that find themselves trying to implement the old cuture in a new work environment and consequently are viewed as outsiders who are reluctant to adapt (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Personal Life Organizational culture sometimes takes percolate into the personal life of employees. When the culture is aggressive and strong, it has an effect on how the individual intermingle with his family(Dalglish & Miller, 2010). Lost Identity Individuals who are a component of an organizational culture for extended periods of time loose their individual indentities. The individuals find themselves always talking about their job and their life turns out to be work-centric . later, the individuals do not ralize that they have lost their personality outside the work place (Lim, 1995) Conclusion Every individual in an organization has their own separate beliefs and values that he/she is comfortable working with. At the point when one joins an organization, he/she allows himself to first internalize with the organization culture to understand whether he turn up with them or else. Organizational culture has a tremendous impact on the way the employees perform their duties and this can lead to improvement of productivity within an organization which determines the level of performance of the organization (Dalglish & Miller, 2010). There is a positive connection between strong cultures in relation to improved performance. Organizational culture has an affirmative impact on the individual’s job performance. Every employee in an organization has his or her own unique culture that they initially try to adjust to fall within the values and norms of the company. When the employees adopt the culture of the organization, it helps them to accomplish their tasks effectively and efficiently. Mcewan (2001) found out that employee’s performance causes an increase in the organizations net profit. It is easier to achieve a positive development when everyone in the organization is on a common path. Strong organizational culture helps new employees to implement the corporate culture and have a competitive advantage in a particular setting. Employee’s dedication and group effectiveness are paramount in adopting the organizational beliefs and values and it enhances organization’s performance (Denison, 1990). References Brooks, I. (2006). Organizational Behavior: Individuals, Groups and Organization. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Cascio, W. F. (2006). Managing Human Resources: Productivity, Quality of Life, Profits. McGraw-Hill Irwin. Daft, R.L. (2000). Organization Theory and Design. (7th Ed.) South-Western College Publishing, Thomson Learning. U.S.A Dalglish, C. & Miller, P. (2010). Leadership: Understanding its global impact (1st ed.). Tilde University Press. Denison, D.R. (1990). Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness. New York: Wiley. Lim, B. (1995). Examining the organizational culture and organizational performance link. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 16(5). Mcewan, T. (2001). Managing Values and Beliefs in Organizations. New York: Prentice Hall. Needle, David (2004). Business in Context: An Introduction to Business and Its Environment. Nestle (2014). Retrieved from Ravasi, D., Schultz, M. (2006). Responding to organizational identity threats: Exploring the role of organizational culture. Academy of Management Journal, 49(3), 433– 458. Schrodt, P. (2002). The relationship between organizational identification and organizational culture: Employee perceptions of culture and identification in a retail sales organization. Communication Studies, 53, 189-202. Read More