Introduction:
Organisational culture is difficult to define because it has many diverse definitions. But “the way we do things here” is the most fundamental and straightforward description of organisational culture (Lundy and Cowling, 1996). The explanations of organisational culture try to enumerate its various aspects, and as a result, organisational culture can be defined as deeply ingrained views and beliefs that are held by those who work for an organisation (Sun, 2009).
So, organizational culture is the acknowledged strategy used by every employee in a company to accomplish specific goals. Similar to this, an organization’s culture also comprises its goals, objectives, common standards, shared beliefs, and customs (Needle, 2004).
Importance of a strong organisational culture:
Conducive organisational culture is crucial for the achievements of any organisation. Deal and Kennedy (1982) have declared that, organisational culture becomes “the glue that holds things together”. A strong culture, according to them, generates a productive environment, which leads to the organization’s success.
Numerous experimental studies have shown that organisations with solid and responsible cultures outshine those with weak cultures in terms of success rates.
If every employee in a company is committed to a single goal and upholds the company’s shared values, then this positive outlook is more likely to result in the success of the company.
As Simirich, (1983) said,
“Firms that have cultures supportive of strategy are likely to be successful, while firms that have insufficient “fit” between strategy and Culture must change since it is the Culture which supports the strategy” (Simirich, 1983).
Selected Company’s Background:
Bristol Water Company is one of the leading water supply companies based in the city of Bristol. The company supplies clean water to 1.2 million customers daily and has just under 500 employees (Bristol water). I selected this particular company for my blog because I had the chance to meet some of its employees, where I got to know about specific flaws in its organisational culture.
Organisational problems faced by Bristol Water Company:
The major problem faced by Bristol Water Company is the high employee turnover and inefficient recruitment and reward system. The high employee turnover indicates that there is some flaw in the organisation’s culture of the company, which culminates in the employees leaving the company. Being one of the leading water supply companies, the high employee turnover is creating doubts about the company’s recruitment and reward system. Moreover, the high employee turnover means that the company would always do new recruitments, which also needs a proper culture based on fair recruitment of suitable people. My personal learning also indicates that high turnover always reflects a flaw in organisational culture.
Impacts of Employee Turnover:
Employee revenue can either be effective or ineffective for an organization (Khaola et al., 2015). The turnover is functional when it benefits the organisation. It can either be because the replacement of the outgoing employee is easy or the cost of new hiring is reduced compared to the one leaving the company. Similarly, turnover is dysfunctional for an organisation when it costs the organisation. It can be either because of the fact that the outgoing employee is skilled and experienced and it is not easy to replace it (Bosomtwe & Obeng, 2018).
However, it is significant to understand that frequent turnover is related to the organisational culture. There are studies that suggest that employee turnover is directly related to organisational culture. Jacobs and Roodt (2008) opine that “there is a significant negative correlation between organisational culture and turnover intentions as knowledge sharing, organisational commitment, organisational citizenship behavior, and job satisfaction, as well as various demographic variables contributed to nurses’ turnover intentions”. Haggalla (2017) opines that clan culture within an organisation is crucial to the employee’s job satisfaction. According to him, those employees who deem the organisation as their clan perform better and hence result in less employee turnover and vice versa.
Strategies to overcome Employee Turnover:
The above section established that there is a negative correlation among organisational culture and employee turnover. Therefore, it is pertinent that Bristol Water Company needs to change the existing corporate culture in the organisation and replace it with, which can bring job satisfaction to the employees and thus, reduce the employee turnover. Being a student of MBA and having interests in human resource management, I would suggest to Bristol Water Company the following recommendations:
Recruitment and reward culture should be based on talent performance:
The basic strategy that needs to be implemented to manage the organisational culture at Bristol Water Company should aim at establishing a culture of rewards and promotions that are based on performance and talent. Nepotism or age-based promotion often leads to the dissatisfaction of the employees who are talented and hardworking. Therefore, the reward and recruitment system at Bristol Water Company should be based on performance. Human resource managers and executives at Bristol can play a significant role in this regard.
The Forbrun, Tichy, and Devanna Model (1984) talks about four HRM functions, which are related to the selection and development of employees. The four functions are selection, appraisal, development, and reward. According to this model, these four are basic HRM functions, and the effective management of these functions leads to the optimum productivity of the organisation owing to its competence at the human resource level. Though the model is incomplete, it is relevant to the present context because it discusses four constituent components of it, which are related to the case of the Bristol Water company (Kaufman, 2015).
Hence, the Bristol Water company needs to create a culture where employees’ hard work and talent are appreciated through fair rewards and appraisal. Consequently, a culture will be established, which would be based on hard work, talent, and optimum productivity, which will ultimately benefit Bristol Water.
The role of leaders in promoting a culture based on fairness and meritocracy:
Those who occupy higher positions in the hierarchical ladder of an organisation are important in the promulgation or creation of culture. They are the ones who set trends in an organisation, which later become part of the value system of an organisation. Therefore, leaders at Bristol water need to play their role in the establishment of a culture based on fairness, where talent and performance receive their due appraisal in the form of just promotion and other rewards.
Organizational Culture and Leadership (2010), the key work in leadership and organisational culture theory by Edgar H. Schein, offers a thorough outline of the role of the leaders in creating a responsible culture. Schein (2010) identifies three key sources from which civilizations have emerged:
1) The founders’ beliefs and ideals.
2) The experiences that employees had when any organisation was developing.
3) New members and leaders have brought new ideals and views.
Thus, it is obvious that the founders’ and leaders’ roles are vital in creating a culture of responsibility. The ideals and presumptions of leaders, however, do not become the culture of any organisation unless they are assimilated by every person who works there. Once they are embraced by all employees, they take the shape of organisational culture.
Charter Statement
The charter statement in the present context would be:
We value talent and hard work; join us for a successful career if you are willing to put the best of you.
References
Bosomtwe, T. E. (2015). Employees’ Perception of Organisational Merger and its Impact on Their Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention (Doctoral dissertation, University of Ghana).
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Deal, T. and Kennedy, A.A. (1982). Corporate Cultures the Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life. 1st ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Employee Turnover: Definition, Types, Causes of Employee Turnover. iEduNote. (2022). Retrieved 22 June 2022, from https://www.iedunote.com/employee-turnover.
Haggalla, K. H. Y. U., & Jayatilake, L. V. (2017). Study on Organisational Culture and Turnover Intention in International Information Technology Firms in Sri Lanka. International Journal of Scientific Research and Innovative Technology, 4(2), 47-63.
Jacobs, E. J., & Roodt, G. (2011). The mediating effect of knowledge sharing between organisational culture and turnover intentions of professional nurses. South African Journal of Information Management, 13(1), 1-6.
J, A. (2022). The Investors Book. The Investors Book. Retrieved 22 June 2022, from https://theinvestorsbook.com/.
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Khaola, P. P., Roma, P. O., & Leisanyane, K. (2015). The Influence of Culture Traits and their Imbalance on Employee JobSatisfaction and Turnover Intentions. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(2), 1-6.
Lundy, O. and Cowling, A. (1996). Strategic human resource management. London ; New York: Routledge.
Needle, D. (2004). Business in context : an introduction to business and its environment. London: Thomson.
Schein, E.H., (2010). Organisational culture and leadership (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.
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Smircich, L. (1983). Concepts of Culture and Organisational Analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28(3), p.339.
Sun, S. (2009). Organisational Culture and Its Themes. International Journal of Business and Management, 3(12).
Visualising a Culture of Career Development | Antoinette Oglethorpe. Antoinette Oglethorpe. (2022). Retrieved 22 June 2022, from https://www.antoinetteoglethorpe.com/visualising-a-culture-of-career-development/.
Maria Riaz's Reflections 