Background of the problem

Background of the problem

Organizational culture entails the norms and conditions, experiences in their work setting. These norms mold the members’ behavior and their adaptation mechanisms to the working environment. Organizational culture can be described as the way members of an organization interact amongst themselves.(King, 2012) states that organizational culture is the systematic values that silently and subconsciously drive individuals to make choices and decisions in an organization

(Bolboli&Reiche, 201 4) state that there are a lot of business managers struggling for survival in this very competitive international market due to the very many different business characteristics which are very challenging. Meeting the demands of the stakeholders, competing for market prices etc. are an example of these challenges (Bolboli&Reiche, 2013).managers and all people in leadership positions in companies and corporate groups are the ones who face the most difficult challenges when working to establish a working organizational culture. A working organizational culture is very crucial in improving how employees perform and motivate them towards increasing their productivity (Kenny, 2012).

For any business to exist, expand its reach there is a very important factor- probability.it also play a big role in the growth of the business (Erdorf, et al, 2013).business managers are met by new and different challenges when they begin to establish a working organizational culture (Lee & Gaur, 2013).companies with a large cultural diversities where integration of cultures is poor are affected in their economic performances .the value of the shareholders and the companies as a whole are all affected (Idris et al, 2015).

A very large percentage of most business initiatives do not succeed due to the inadequate cultural integration (Bolboli&Reiche, 201 4). (Weber &Tarba, 2012) the difference in culture between the employees is a big barrier to employees’ performance.

In a working environment, lack of a functional organizational culture and inadequate or poor cultural integration affects the general performance of the employees and decreases their productivity (Idris et al., 2015). More than 70% of leaders in management positions agree that organizational culture is important and directly impact how their employees perform. The other percentages do not agree with this implication. This lead to poor performance of the employees in the organizations (Eaton &Kilby, 2015)

The purpose of this research project will be is to examine the different strategic ways that companies management apply in establishing positively working organizational culture to boost employees performances and motivation successfully. The findings of this research might provide crucial information towards the management of companies establishing positive organizational culture. It may also help them understand the reason why cultural integration is important (Eaton &Kilby, 2015). The population am targeting for the research is the management staff as participants because they are in positions that make them aware of the effects that organizational culture has on the employees they manage. It may also provide the managers with the necessary skills and strategies to boost employees’ performance and motivation. The results of this research may also benefit the public, if companies better understand how to make organizational culture work positively, they may need to grow their business and increase their workforce hence hiring more workers

Statement of the problem

Following are the research questions of the study:

1. What is the impact of the organizational culture of Aldi and Woolworths have on the motivation of the employees?
2. Are there any differences in the motivational management practices of Woolworths and Aldi?
3. What effect do the weak and strong organizational cultures have on employees’ motivation?
4. Whether the organizational culture is a determinant of improved employee productivity and performance? If so, why?
5. How the organizational culture affects the performance of the employees?
6. Which characteristics of the organizational culture are significant to the workforce in determining their level of job efficiency or work performance? 

Qualitative research 

When carrying out a research, there are different methodologies and designs to follow(Yin, 2014).it is important that one uses the right or most effective research methodology. They include qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods (Kumar, 2012; McNulty &Zattoni, 2013).quantitative is mostly used for comparing two or variables. Qualitative is mostly used in social situations or where the researcher has to interact with people to get the results. Most of the information gathered in this method is mostly experiences from members of the population (Tsang, 2014).for the purpose of this project; I will be using the qualitative research method.

The objective of this research project is to describe and give insight to the impact of organizational culture on employee’s performance. Qualitative research studies mainly describe situations. This method is the ideal one for this study.  I will also use the quantitative method to analyze the data with a different variable. This research will be conducted in the form of a survey.

(Holloway and Wheeler, 2012) state that the size of the sample does not have any effect on the importance and quality of the study. They also state that there is no specified way of measuring qualitative data. The sample may change depending on the number of people who will participate in the research project so the research has no way of clearly asserting the sample size; Sampling continues until saturation is achieved (until there is no more new information to be generated (Holloway 2007). Until all the factors that affect the success of internationalization of companies in emerging markets have all been completely exploited then in our case saturation will be achieved. From the design of the study, the sample size is quite small. Qualitative research is designed to deal with a small population and a small sample. The design also calls for the sampling procedure to be both theoretical and random.

When selecting the best candidates for the research, I will be looking for people who have the knowledge and experience. They are the people that can answer the research question since they have the relevant information (Pouli et al, 2013). Seniority, experience, and role in the company are some of the characteristics to consider when selecting the participants. They should hold an executive or managerial position for more than 4 years. Senior management staff is very important since they have access to all the information regarding organizational culture and can give me insight to how they use this information toward improving employee performances (O’Reilly et al., 2014).

Project objective

Ethically, am required to respect the demands brought forward by the participants when am selecting them. For me the researcher to get the most reliable information, I have to develop a level of trust with the participants. All participants should voluntarily join the research. If the participants trust me and I have a good relationship is important in ensuring that the participants share their experiences (Poortman&Schildkamp, 2012).

Data collection requires the skills and knowledge on how to utilize the right tools of data collecting (Yin, 2014).this research design is the most effective for my project. According to (Khan, 2014) to acquire the relevant information in the most efficient way, one has to carefully choose the right research design and data collecting tools.

The research does not have a big population and the sample will be small. Since my research will be mainly focusing on two companies Aldi and Woolworths and the research is in a small scale interviews and questionnaires will be the main tools for collecting data. I will conduct an interview with some of the participants and give out questionnaires to each and every one of them.. (Kaczynski et al. 2014) states that the questions for the interviews should not be leading or biased for conclusive evidence. (Jacob and Furgerson 2012) indicated that being directly involved in the process of data collection is crucial in the accuracy of the data. I will be directly interacting with my population I exploring the impacts of organizational culture in employees’ performance. Questionnaires are among the most effective primary data sources while doing research. However, when designing them, the researcher has to make sure that they are “valid and reliable (Richards & Schmidt, 2012). The questionnaires will have the right questions.

Qualitative data analysis is the process by which data collected through the use of qualitative data collection methods is a move to a form that explains the situations of the individuals we are studying. There are two different approaches for qualitative data analysis; deductive and inductive. The deductive approach mainly focuses on the research questions to group the information and compare it for differences and similarities. This approach saves time since it does not require a lot or time or resources to carry out. The other approach –the inductive approach focuses on the design of the qualitative research. For this study, I will be using the deductive approach in order to save on time and resources.

Literature review

After all the relevant information has been collected, it will be organized, sorted and then analyzed. This will provide the findings of the study and help me in writing a report

Schedule Gantt chart

task	duration	Start date	End date
Literature review
Completing the research proposal
Await approval
Data collection
Data analysis
Submit report

 Conclusion

With keen observation on the hypothesis derived from the literature review I have a sense of what the findings of this research are going to show and as result I have made the following conclusion: it is evident that weak or inadequate cultural integration negatively affect the productivity of employee. It is also important to note increasing motivational factors in a working environment boosts the morale of employees and this, in turn, increases their productivity.

Most of the funds will be used in the data collection and analysis.in the interviews, there is the acquiring of recording devices .recording the interview conversations is easier quicker and way cheaper compared to recording the conversations on paper.it also ensures that I get all the information. I will not miss any information provided by the participants. The only downside to recording the conversation is if the recording devices malfunction. To make sure this does not happen, I will make sure I will acquire backups. I will need funds in the amount of $4000 to cater for the purchasing cost and transporting cost to the places I will be conducting the interview

I will also need more fund for the printing of the questionnaire materials $1000 is required to print the needed number of questionnaires and the excess amount will be used for emergencies

expense	Amount in $
Printing cost	500
recording	2000
transport	2000
emergencies	500
TOTAL	5000

 References

Bolboli, S., &Reiche, M. (2013). A model for sustainable business excellence: Implementation and the roadmap. The TQM Journal.

Bolboli, S., &Reiche, M. (2014).Culture-based design and implementation of business excellence.The TQM Journal.

Eaton, D., &Kilby, G. (2015). Does your organizational culture support your business strategy? Journal for Quality and Participation, 37(4), 4-7. Retrieved from https://www.asq.org

Erdorf, S., Hartmann-Wendels, T., Heinrichs, N., &Matz, M. (2013). Corporate diversification and firm value: A survey of recent literature. Financial Markets
and Portfolio Management.

Idris, S., Wahab, R., &Jaapar, A. (2015). Corporate cultures integration and organizational performance: A conceptual model on the performance of acquiring companies. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Jacob, S. A., &Furgerson, S. P. (2012). Writing interview protocols and conducting interviews: Tips for students new to the field of qualitative research. The
Qualitative Report, 17(6), 1-10. Retrieved from https://www.nova.edu

Kaczynski, D., Salmona, M., & Smith, T. (2014).Qualitative research in finance.
Australian Journal of Management.

Khan, S. (2014). Qualitative research method: Grounded theory. International Journal of
Business and Management.

Kenny, G. (2012). Diversification: Best practices of the leading companies. Journal of
Business Strategy.

Kumar, A. (2012). Using phenomenological research methods in qualitative health research.International Journal of Human Sciences.

Lee, J., & Gaur, A. (2013). Managing multi-business firms: A comparison between Korean Chaebols and diversified U.S. firms. Journal of World Business, 48, 443- 454. doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2012.09.001

McNulty, T., &Zattoni, A. (2013).Developing corporate governance research through qualitative methods: A review of previous studies.Corporate Governance

O’Reilly, C., Caldwell, D., Chatman, J., &Doerr, B. (2014). The promise and problems of organizational culture: CEO personality, culture, and firm performance. Group
& Organization Management,

Poortman, C., &Schildkamp, K. (2012).Alternative quality standards in qualitative research?Quality& Quantity.

Poulis, K., Poulis, E., &Plakoyiannaki, E. (2013). The role of context in case study selection: An international business perspective. International Business Review.

Yin, R. K. (2014).Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.