Defining Workplace Culture in Organizations

Discuss about the Corporate or organisational culture of Coles Australia.

A common avenue where people work together in unity to earn profits as well as contribute to their standards of living is referred to as an organization (Juneja, 2018). An organization is a place where individuals are accorded the opportunity of making their dreams come true and big. Each organization has its special style of working which reflects the culture of such an enterprise. It is the values and beliefs that form the culture of a particular organization. Workplace culture regulates the way workers behave towards each other and also with people outside the organization (Juneja, 2018). Culture has the effect of dictating the way workers interact in their work environment.

A healthy culture motivates workers to remain motivated and loyal towards the executive. Also, the workplace culture extends far and beyond in encouraging a healthy competition in an organization. As such employees strive and give their best in performing better than their respective workmates and achieve recognition and appreciation by the superiors. It is the workplace culture that motivates employees to perform better in their workstations. Organizations are tasked with setting guidelines that enable workers to perform accordingly.

In a nutshell, an organization is identified through its established culture. The corporate culture develops a common platform that unites all employees (Juneja, 2018). As such employees are to be treated and regarded equally and no employee should feel neglected or isolated in the workplace. It is crucial for employees to adapt well to a corporate culture in order for them to deliver their best. The culture of the organization also enables employees to be united more so in the case that such employees hail from diverse backgrounds where different families have different mentalities and perspectives towards issues in life.

A corporate culture of a particular organization stands for certain policies that are predefined and has the effect of guiding employees and providing them a set of direction while working. In such a framework every employee is clear about the roles and responsibilities they play in the corporation and thus fathom how to accomplish tasks well ahead of the deadline (Manetje, 2009). It is not practical to have two distinct organizations with identical work culture. It is the culture of the organization that gives it an identity. The work culture has a long way in developing the brand image of the corporation.

Benefits of a Healthy Workplace Culture

Some organizations adopt a culture where all workers irrespective of their ranks have to be on time in the workplace (Juneja, 2018). With such a culture, employees are motivated to be punctual and this benefits the company in the long run. Corporate culture has the effect of making individuals develop a fulfilling career and profession necessary for making a particular organization successful. Corporate culture ensures that every employee understands their duties and responsibilities and as such strive hard to attain the tasks within the stipulated period as per the guidelines.

When it comes to implementation of policies, it is never a challenge in organizations where individuals follow a particular culture. The new workers also give their best to fathom the culture associated with the workplace and ensure that the organization is one of the best places for work. The organization culture also encourages healthy relationships among workers as no single worker treats work as a burden and as such employees mold themselves based on the culture (Juneja, 2018). Corporate culture has been associated with tapping out the best out of each group member. A culture that entails management being specific with regards to a specific reporting system, workers however busy ensure that they send their reports before the day ends. As such no one gets forced to work. Culture is instrumental in establishing habits among employees which makes such workers succeed in their workplace.

Power culture dimension

A culture that is power oriented is one of the dimensions of the culture model of an organization. In any particular organization, power is needed in exercising aspects of control and influence desired behavior. Power-oriented culture can be defined as the corporate culture that is based on aspects of inequality with regards to resource accessibility. A power-oriented culture enterprise is marked with high degrees of centralization and low modes of operation. (Manetje, 2009) Power culture has a sole power source which spreads influence in the entire organization. What this means is that power is centralized in this context and members of the organization are linked to the center through strings that are either functional or specialist-oriented (Manetje, 2009). This kind of culture is deemed as being purely rule oriented from the fact that it emphasizes on respect of authority, work division, and normalization. The center is the legal authority and possesses the power to control and influence tasks and operations within the organization.

This type of corporate culture ensures that the incumbent leader sits in the center and is surrounded by subordinates who are the dependents this case, personal and informal style of management is more valued. Thus, organizational culture represents web structure that is hierarchical in that context (Manetje, 2009). Such a web structure indicates that the entire structural system that links the central power while being hierarchical means that power is to be shared from the executive to the subordinates both the large and small organizations employ culture that is power oriented.

Corporate Culture and Guidelines for Employees

In small enterprises that are presided by power-oriented leaders, leadership is said to reside in few individuals and rests on the capabilities and competencies (Manetje, 2009). The individuals exercising such power strive to establish and sustain absolute control over their juniors. In such dynamics, the size of the enterprise is a problem since the existence of many web links may make it break.

In some of the research conducted it has indicated that larger organizations are the worst power-oriented institution cultures as they tend to rule by fear and cases of power abuse for personal gains on the side of leaders and their proteges are rampant (Manetje, 2009). This implies that in larger corporations there is a habit of instilling fear in workers and abuse power. This can propagate and advocate nepotism and favoritism.

Generally, an organization that is power-oriented adopts a top-down communication strategy. Such a corporation may be politically driven by the fact that decisions are purely made based on influences as opposed to procedural grounds. As such, the management gets threatened by changes that are imposed by both internal and external environments. Corporations rule their workers by exercising their authority to dominate and control. As such managers are faced with new managerial roles that entail power sharing.

Limitations of power-sharing dimension

Employees end up yielding into the wishes imposed by the boss as they consider such wishes to be of the highest priority despite the fact that it interferes with work that is considered crucial. Also, power dimensions discourage employees from giving information that may be bad news to the boss. Employees are also discouraged from questioning the leaders even when such leaders are the ones on the wrong side. Top-ranked individuals end up breaking rules as they regard themselves as individuals who have power.

Advantages associated with power-sharing dimension

Is the source of direction and certainty thus helps in reducing conflict and confusion during periods of tranquility and moments of emergency? However, power-oriented corporations have a positive side of their coin. One of the greatest strength associated with power cultures is their first response, however, the success of such organizations largely relies on an individual’s abilities or individuals at the center. As such, power-oriented institutions are better positioned to exploit opportunities and respond faster to threats or any impending danger.

Achievement culture dimension

Achievement oriented culture is defined as a streamlined culture which shapes people who are focused and driven by the need for common purpose. Also, achievement culture is also referred to as task culture and involves corporation members concentrating on achieving the set purpose of the institution (Manetje, 2009). Task culture involves a culture where power gets diffused based on expertise as opposed to charisma.

Power-Oriented Culture in Organizations

The mode of operation associated with achievement-oriented culture is that of low centralization. This means that natural balance between power centrality and formality is real and is shared within corporations. The structure of the organization is similar to the net where some strands of the net are deemed thicker and robust compared to others (Manetje, 2009). Power in this dimension is disseminated on a short-term basis for instance classifications of projects. Task completion in this dimension is crucial with regards to teamwork and does not promote the development of individual work.

Compared to a culture that is role-oriented where personal power plays a fundamental role in developing competencies. The primary strategic motive of this culture is to bring together the right people with the aim of achieving goals of an organization (Manetje, 2009). Team orientation here is critical and is defined as the extent to which activities in the workplace revolve around teams rather than individual employees. When people from a wide diversity are brought together, people who are specialists in their respective fields, the corporation is able to meet needs and preferences of the market.

One strength associated with achievement culture is that in business environments where there is stiff market competition, the lifecycle of products is short and as such continuous innovations are necessary and this culture is deemed as highly successful in most cases. This is as a result of functions and activities that structured in terms of group and analyzed with regards to their contribution to institutional goals.

The teams of talented individuals and resources are harnessed to concentrate on particular projects or tasks. The advantage associated with teamwork is that it develops high performance and high commitment institution. This is from the fact that teams are associated with generating positive synergy through endeavors that are coordinated. Whereas teamwork is considered a plus, the primary weakness of achievement culture is that it overcrowds personal performance.

Limitations associated with achievement dimension

Achievement dimension has been associated with becoming intolerant of individual needs and family responsibilities and social life in most cases are ignored. Also, team members only talk about themselves and as such are isolated from public life. Members of the group cooperate internally and this is viewed by others as being arrogant. The desire and passion to enhance excellence at all costs translate to waste and inefficiency.

Advantages

This dimension promotes united efforts towards goals that are considered to be mutual. Also, this culture reduces the need for control and monitoring of people. There is maximum utilization of individual talents. Also, employees in an organization employing this culture are constantly encouraged to continue learning and develop their problem-solving skills. Lastly, there is a rapid adaptation to any changes that arise.

Achievement-Oriented Culture in Organizations

Coles corporate culture

Coles is a supermarket located in Australia and is a retail chain owned by Wesfarmers and was established in 1914 (My Assignment Help, 2015). Coles is a huge cooperation with over 700 stores and has over 100,000 workers and Coles along with Woolworths another giant constitutes 80% of the supermarket industry in Australia. The history of Coles dates back to a period in 1914 when G. Coles opened Coles stores in Melbourne. In 1958, Coles was expanded from retailing foodstuffs and the supermarket acquired about 50 Dickins grocery stores. Coles utilizes heavy-handed mechanisms when dealing with its suppliers.

The company has also been using various branding and advertising techniques that are adopted by retail outlets that entail using new advertisements through innovation and creativity. Coles also pays attention to some of the promotions as they are one of the ways of attracting a large pool of clients. Some of the promotions used in the past are discount coupons for fuel offers and Apple for students aimed at promoting computers and accessories from Apple. At Coles, workers have their own values and respect their own working culture. Both buyers and suppliers at Coles are made to have full knowledge of ethical policies, codes associated with commitment values and working conditions that are free and fair.

The role of culture in an organization is indelible with regards to marketing and production principles. The Australian culture entails fresh market for items such as food and dairy products. One of the primary reasons behind the success of Wesfarmers is due to the structure of the corporate governance (Wesfarmers, 2016). It is in the public domain that management presides and controls the company on a daily basis. However, the board of directors are there to advise and offers governance which enhances supervision and direct management of the firm.

As such Coles has to ensure that it has the right management and the CEO and also the correct processes and controls in a particular group (Wesfarmers, 2016). Wesfarmers has the primary company board of directors that entails directors that are non-executive and this refers to individuals who do not work for Coles and are from diverse backgrounds and they provide an independent oversight role to the actions of management.

Coles runs all its businesses in an independent manner at the divisional level. As such employees are given much freedom to run business operations as they deem fit though each division is presided over by its internal board that comprises of senior executives from the corporate office (Wesfarmers, 2016). One of the strengths of such a structure is that Coles is able to reinforce a group culture around its many subsidiaries. Culture in this context means that people understand that the company exists so that it can yield good returns to its shareholders. However, it is more than that as it also entails understanding how the company operates. Some people define corporate culture as the way individuals behave when watching is off limits and this is a better description.

The corporate culture at Coles is about the values the company holds. In Wesfarmers, there is a number of things that are adhered to (Wesfarmers, 2016). One is that the company expects employees to operate ethically an in a transparent manner which involves high levels of honesty. Employees are expected to abide by all the rules and regulations set by the firm. Employees are encouraged and motivated to focus on delivering quality services to customers. Suppliers, on the other hand, are treated with utmost respect.

 It is also important to state how the company values its employees and always ensures that employees are looked after in a big way. The company has gone a notch higher by ensuring that its employees have a safe environment that is fulfilling whether such employees can work comfortably (Wesfarmers, 2016). The company embraces the concept of environmental responsibility. Coles corporate culture also entails making sure that all its businesses are making a robust contribution to the societies in which it operates and is situated in. The company, however, regrets in the event that people fail to live up to the values and as such the company has to be strong and decisive when such events manifest themselves and thus has to take immediate action. The company manages to achieve such operating values and with such kind of culture makes the company to have a good kind of governance making Coles one of the most successful business ventures.

The culture of Coles thus is evident that it is that of achievement, as the company strives to make sure that its shareholders that our customers, suppliers and its workers get satisfied (Hyland, 2016). With the achievement-oriented culture, the company strives to achieve excellence in all its facets. With this dimension, Coles enables its employees to have some degree of freedom in the workplace which has the effect of making sure that employees deliver to their level best.

In fact, the company has a scheme that recognizes and identifies the hardworking employees who are later awarded either bonuses or promotion to a high paying rank. Such a culture always promotes employees to value the company and deliver the best. The company also values its customers and employees are encouraged and told to treat customers with utmost respect.

Teamwork for Coles is highly encouraged as it facilitates easy problem -solving and also makes sure that people have a common goal of being united at all times. This is significant for the company as ensures that employees share their problems and weaknesses and also creates platforms for sharing such problems. The achievement culture also ensures that Coles provides a working environment that is safe and sound for its employees. According to such a culture safety is always the top priority for employees and Coles has made it possible for its workers to work in environments that are safe and hazard free.

Conclusion

Corporate culture is important for any company if it is to become successful in its operations. It is a culture that enables workers to respect and follow rules and regulations that are set in workplaces. A culture is important in the manner that it sets the pace for company to follow allowing people to coexist and behave in an appropriate manner towards each other and also towards other relevant stakeholders. It is a culture that defines and gives reputation to a company. As such culture is an important aspect of a company that defines the activities and the way employees relate with their fellows and their superiors.

References

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Juneja, P., 2018. Understanding Organization and Organization Culture. [Online]
Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/organization-culture.htm
[Accessed 21 May 2018].

Manetje, O. M., 2009. Organizational culture. [Online]
Available at: https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/1133/03chapter2.pdf
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My Assignment Help, 2015. Marketing Strategy Of Coles. [Online]
Available at: https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/marketing-strategy-of-coles
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Wesfarmers, 2016. Governance and corporate culture. [Online]
Available at: https://2016.sustainability.wesfarmers.com.au/case-studies/governance/governance-and-corporate-culture/
[Accessed 21 May 2018].