Human Resource Management- Organizational Culture and Job Satisfaction - Essay Example

Wilton (2011) defines organizational culture as knowledge and standards that have been combined together by employees in understanding the environment of the organization (Wilton, 2011). The founder of Wal-Mart Sam Walton showed concerns and respected its staff members since the beginning of the company which developed an air of trust which persists to the current day. The founder used to call staff by their first name and encouraged them to perform better which developed trust. Southwest Airlines is known for its relaxed culture which encourages informality at work. Employees are motivated to help each other which reduced the turnover rate of the company as compared to the industry average. This culture was influenced by unconventional CEO Herb Kelleher (McIntosh & Doherty, 2010). Similarly, Virgin Airways culture allows every single person to participate in coming up with innovative ideas for the company. Microsoft considers its employees their assets and they try to make innovations in compensation packages to make their employees satisfied. Toyota is another example that has the highest job satisfaction rate recorded because it applies to the procedure of implementing employee morale surveys in a certain period of time (Gilmore & Williams, 2009). These organizational cultures are related to the job satisfaction of employees which has made these companies successful over the years. A satisfied employee is able to bring revolution inside a company which can transform it into better ways (McIntosh & Doherty, 2010). 

The people who govern the organization provide rules and regulations to maintain ethical behavior inside organizations for the perspective of controlling the actions of employees. However, too many rules and strict policies can have a negative impact on the satisfaction level of employees and would ultimately result in lower productivity (Sempane et al., 2002). In the case of Southwest Airlines, the casualness of culture provided the company to reduce the turnover rate. Similar to the case of Toyota which performed employee surveys to check their satisfaction rate and make changes accordingly in organizational culture. The company monitors the morale rate and finds out reasons for employee dissatisfaction and makes changes (Swart et al., 2005). A company that has a supportive environment and supervisors tend to support friendly mentoring of their subordinates then it would lead a better career development and would help in decreasing turnover rate (Knights & Hugh, 2007).

The culture of the organization and their working styles highly impact the performance of employees. A motivated employee who is highly compensated for better performance and is being provided with rewards tends to have high morale and strive to exceed expectations for higher growth (Egan et al., 2004). Walters (2010) describes that the productivity of an employee is directly proportional to incentives that are provided by the company (Walters & Walters, 2010). The culture of an organization determines policies to handle employees’ compensation packages and treatment of employees over their performance (Roos & Eeden, 2008). A company that tends to provide various facilities, attractive packages, and fair treatment, is bound to increase job satisfaction.  (Greene, 2011). Microsoft introduced a culture of providing good compensation packages for employees which made them satisfied (Herzberg, 2003).

Organizational culture is deeply embedded in the organization and it is how organizations conduct their business over a long period of time. Schein (2010) describes that job satisfaction is in relation to the context of the organizational climate, and organization culture is in relation to the context of work produced by employees. Job satisfaction is the difference between the actual and perceived outcome of the organization (Schein, 2010). If an employee perceived the culture of the organization as competent and supportive then employees would be inclined towards having greater expectations from the company. However, if a company does not meet its desired perceived company culture then it would result in a higher absenteeism rate in a decrease in productivity (Wilton, 2011).  

Despite the intangibility nature of organizational culture, it is meaningful to the organization which overall affects the organization's operations and employees' satisfaction at work. A positive organizational culture increases the motivation of employees and thrusts for more work and interaction. In the case of Virgin Airways, it allows freedom to its employees to express their ideas which develop a sense of recognition amongst employees and increase job satisfaction. It is the culture of Virgin Airways that has emphasized its attention upon giving freedom to employees (Appelbaum & Fewster, 2003). Similarly in Wal-Mart, Sam Walton increases the interaction with employees on a positive note and made this the culture of the organization which developed trust (McIntosh & Doherty, 2010).

In conclusion, it is comprehended that organizational culture is directly in relation to job satisfaction. This has been proved through various corporate examples that they changed the corporate culture in order to satisfy their employees at work. Employees' work performance is affected by organizational culture and values which are deeply embedded in the organization. A company that has supportive culture tends to produce greater employee commitment which in turn yields greater profitability.