Organizational Culture - Research Paper Example

? Organizational Culture Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Overview of Organizational Culture 4 Contemporary Issues 4 Organizational Culture of Walmart 5 How Is the Issue Affecting the Company? 5 How Is the Company Addressing the Issue? 6 Recommendations to Overcome the Issue 8 Conclusion 8 References 10 Executive Summary The leading global organizations are trying to increase their business efficiency and brand value through effective organizational culture. Employees and customers are the most important growth drivers of an organization. It is important for the organizations to understand the value of effective organizational culture, communication and decision making process. An organization can achieve huge success by making a strong relationship with the employees and target customers. This strategy will help the organization to achieve both social and organizational goals. The unique organizational culture of Walmart has helped the organization to operate successfully in the global market place. Identifying problems and implementing action plans has made the operation process very much efficient. An effective training and development program for the employees has helped them to increase their motivation level. These training and development programs have made them responsible towards their job profile. An effective customer service strategy is another important part of the successful organization culture of Walmart. Moreover, the organization has implemented an open-door communication strategy in order to simplify the communication process between the top level and bottom level of the organization. Bringing flexibility in the decision making process has helped Walmart to undertake effective decisions. However, the study will reveal the organizational culture of Walmart in terms work culture, customer service, internal and external communication, and the strategic decision making process of the organization. Several past researches on this area have been carried out to collect appropriate information for the study. Introduction Organizational culture is a specific study of individuals and behavior of those individuals within the context of workplace settings in an organization. Organizational culture is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates communication, psychology, management, and sociology. It is an important field of study that helps to investigate the impact of culture of groups, individuals and structures on the performance of organizations. It harmonizes the academic studies of human resource management and organizational theory. Organizational culture can also be referred to as an organizational science or organizational studies. This study will analyze the organization culture of Walmart which is the world’s largest supermarket chain. Overview of Organizational Culture Organizational culture is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates communication, psychology, management, and sociology. Organizational culture consists of the organizational work process, work culture, environment, communication process, and the decision making process. Organizational culture addresses the environment of workplace. Communication process addresses the communication between the top level and bottom level of the organization. Decision making process is one of the key processes that enhance organizational culture. The field of organizational culture has its roots in both organizational and industrial psychology. Contemporary Issues Due to advanced technology, the business environment of an organization is changing dramatically. Gigantic size of an organization is another contemporary issue. Business diversification can create several organizational issues. Adaptability and flexibility in the business environment are other contemporary issues. Innovation and cultural diversifications in the organization are also considered as the contemporary issues. Organizational Culture of Walmart It is known to all that Walmart is the largest departmental store chain. The organization was founded in 1962. The organization has started to achieve major success from 1980. The organization has implemented an effective business expansion strategy around the globe. Walmart provides a huge range of products at the low price level. This pricing and distribution strategy has increased the core competency of the organization in the global competitive market. Due to effective business strategies, Walmart has developed a significant customer base. How Is the Issue Affecting the Company? Walmart has gone through several rough patches on its way to successful operation. The death of Walton in 1992 created some critical organizational issues. The organization was criticized by several community groups such as grassroots organizations, labor unions and groups of women’s rights. Walmart’s strategy of an extensive amount of foreign product sourcing was highly scrutinized. Employee health insurance’s low rate issue, controversial gender-based discrimination, inadequate labor practices, and low resistance to union representation have been hot media subjects for last few years (Nelson & Quick, 2007). In spite of several unique activities, the image of Walmart has been affected due to several issues such as gender discrimination within the workplace. This contemporary issue has reduced the business revenue of Walmart. The organization is trying to overcome this by bringing the right of equality within the organization. How Is the Company Addressing the Issue? In spite of several challenges and issues, the organization has maintained its leading position within the industry. Walmart’s traditional organizational culture, effective open-door communication strategy and flexibility in the decision making process have helped the organization to operate effectual business practices. Walmart has wavered a little bit by fall of revenue at some point of its business operation, but it has not affected the successful business performance of the organization. Mr. Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, has initiated the organizational culture. The organizational culture of Walmart is considered as the strongest asset of the company. The organization has established a key corporate value in order to execute special business practices. It has turned Walmart into the most admired organization around the globe. Mutual respect among the employees is considered as the key aspect that keeps orderliness and efficiency in the operation of the organization. Mutual respect within the organizational culture has helped to protect the dignity of each and every employee. According to the position in the organization, each and every employee gets due respect. On the other hand, the leaders of the organization are motivated to work as sales floor members. The organization has implemented the concept of servant leadership. This concept was implemented through mutual respect. Walmart has become popular due to the effective customer services by offering a huge range of products at a comparatively lower price than the average market price. The specific organizational culture of Walmart has provided a significant promotional pull. It has helped Walmart to achieve progressive success. The sundown rule of Walmart has made the organization realize the trends and sentiments of the customers. Walmart has always tried to find out every possible opportunity in order to provide the services to its clients or customers to meet the needs and desires of customers. The 10-feet rule within the organizational culture has forced the employees of Walmart to behave friendly with the floor and online customers in order to achieve the important customer preference factor. In spite of this effective open-door communication strategy, a misinterpretation in the code translation of ethics had occurred. The Human Resource Management of Walmart has effectively monitored this issue in order to strengthen its open-door communication policy. Therefore, it can be stated that Walmart has increased its brand reputation in America through the implementation of the open-door communication process. The decision making process is one of the key processes that enhance the organizational culture. Walmart has applied superior flexibility in the decision making process. A flexible decision making process is the most significant factor in the organizational culture of Walmart. Employee engagement in the decision making process has helped the organization to bring flexibility in the business operation. Due to this strategy, the organization can gain several effective ideas that can be implemented in this decision making process (Gobbilot, 2007). The effective profit sharing scheme, attractive promotional slogans, and the effective product and pricing scheme are the results of the flexible decision making strategy. In spite of huge success, this strategy has brought some controversial issues in the organizational culture, such as lack of diversity, high employee turnover, high discrimination charges, numerous federal lawsuits and workplace sexual harassment lawsuits. These issues have reduced the brand image of the organization. However, Walmart is trying to overcome these issues in order to keep the employees happy and comfortable in the workplace. Recommendations to Overcome the Issue The niche and warm approach can be implemented in the operation process. Walmart should believe in these principles. Effective friendly bagging services by the floor staff can increase the brand image of Walmart in the global market. Walmart should provide an effective training and development program to their employees (Mathis, 2007). It will facilitate the employees to become multitask-oriented. Effective training and induction programs will increase the self-confidence and motivation level of the employees. An open-door communication strategy can help Walmart to operate its business practices smoothly. This communication strategy may bring several advantages in the business process. According to the organizational value of Walmart, employees are the strongest asset in an organization. It is the responsibility of the organization to fulfill the satisfaction level of the employees. Through the open-door communication process, Walmart can encourage the employees to take part in the communication process. A simple communication structure in an organization can help the employees to share their views with the upper level of the organization. Due to this strategy, Walmart has effectively provided value to its employees. On the other hand, the open-door communication strategy will help the employees to provide their 100% efforts to the business functions. At the end of the day, it will help the organization to increase its productivity (Flamholtz & Randle, 2011). Conclusion From the above discussion it can be said that the effective product differentiation strategy, consumer friendly pricing strategy, and valuable organizational culture have helped the organization to become the leader within the global market place. Mr. Walton had established the organizational culture of Walmart which can be considered as an effective organizational culture. The successful sundown and 10-feet strategy within organizational culture has helped the organization to retain its effective employees and maintain the high customer base. The open-door communication strategy has helped the employees to share their ideas with the top management of the organization. Lastly, the flexible decision making process has helped the organization to engage its employees in the decision making process. These strategies have helped the employees to perform effectively. Significantly, due to effective organizational culture, Walmart has become one of the leading and prestigious organizations around the globe. References Flamholtz, E., & Randle, Y. (2011). Corporate culture: The ultimate strategic asset. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Gobbilot, E. (2007). The connected leader: Creating agile organization for people, performance and profit. London: Kogan Page. Mathis, I. (2007). Transforming organizational culture: The case of Walmart. Texas: The University of Texas. Nelson, D., & Quick, J. (2007). Understanding organizational behavior. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Read More