The business market today has become very competitive with quite a few companies existing in a monopolized market. Many enterprises are in the perfect competition market where numerous companies are offering similar products. As a result, a need has arisen for them to come up with ways of edging of the competition and standing out as the best. They have improved their products time again, improved customer relations, and also ensured that they price their products at affordable costs. However, the maintenance of this practices that distinguish them from their competitors is what makes them have a wider market appeal thus becoming a favorite of the customers. These practices include values held by the organization, its beliefs and its behavioral norms. These phenomena constitutively make up the organizational culture of an organization.
Organizational culture is comparable to the personality of a human being. It is what tells the public the type of an organization a certain enterprise is. If a business is known for its excellent customer relations and satisfaction, then that is what its culture becomes (Guiso, Paola, Zingales, 2015). Contrary, if a company is known for poor product Providence, then that becomes its culture. The perception that people have about a company is quite a hard one to alter. A company known for all the wrong reasons will have a hard time trying to tarnish that image and create itself as a new brand. In other words, organizational culture is the personality of business. Many companies that place less value on organizational culture end up becoming failures in achieving the ethical implications of business (Guiso, Paola, Zingales, 2015). This paper looks at Creative Colors and Art Depot, two enterprises offering similar services and products, which have different organizational structures with the aim of looking at the influence of a good organizational structure.
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Organizational Values and Norms likely to be found in the Low-Cost Art Depot
Art Depot stores could have resulted in the use of the low-cost strategy due to the non-competitive advantage of the product that they have over similar products in the market. The low prices could be aimed at improving the enterprises market share and also to increase demand for the product. This always comes with its advantages and disadvantages.
For instance, it is very likely that the Art Depot stores have a wide market share. The low-cost strategy puts it in a position where they can offer lower selling prices. If a certain competitor is selling their product at a higher price, the Art Depot could lower its price and end up acquiring a wider market. This will result in the other company lowering their prices or coming up with a way to maintain their competition. Lower prices will get the company more customers, so it is very likely that the stores have a wide customer base.
However, the Art Depot stores are likely to be characterized by little or no innovation. When using the low-cost strategy, it advocates for the elimination of any additional costs that may arise due to the company’s activities. For a company to bring on a new product, a lot of expenses are incurred in research and development. Low-cost strategists thus do not allow for the innovation of new products. They only come up with products when customers demand them. This means that the firm only results in giving what other companies are giving. In the long run, the aspect of non-innovativeness could cost the company a lot, and they could lose a large percentage of their customers. Most of the buyers today are after new products.
Also, it is quite probable that they have little or no customers. The aspect of reduction of costs causes it to remove very key aspects of a business like a customer service. The reduced costs mean that customers’ claims will not be attended to properly due to lack of personnel that is assigned to that area of work. In the modern age, customer service is quite an important element in business. Customers want to associate with a business that pays attention to what they have to say. Lack of it could have chased customers away from the Art Depot stores because they did not feel directly involved by the company.
Again, the facilities might be in poor conditions due to poor maintenance. The management does not concentrate on improving the facilities because yet again, this will come along with costs. Customers do not love to shop in a place that looks disorderly. They want to be in a place that properly maintained. Moreover, a poor looking business facility does not attract customers.
Organizational Values and Norms that Improve Employee Performance
To achieve organizational performance, it is always quite imperative for an organization to ensure that their employees. Employees are the backbone to the optimal performance of an organization. Ensuring that the organization has Norms and Values that are strong, is always key to realizing the most out of the employees in an organization.
Diversity in an organization is one key value that improves employee performance (Shahzad, Luqman, Khan, & Shabbir, 2012). Having an employee count of people who come from different ethnic, religious, and cultural background is always a great plus. People from different places and races meet under one roof to work towards a similar goal (Shahzad, Luqman, Khan, & Shabbir, 2012). Each views life differently and has different ideas that they can bring to the table. With such a vast source of intellectual resource, it is very possible to improve the performance of employees at Depot. Also, a diverse workforce improves the correlations between workers and generally to the public.
Again, it also important for the company to develop a habit of awarding well-performing employees (Shahzad, Luqman, Khan, & Shabbir, 2012). Giving awards is a source of motivation for workers. They will always work hard to ensure that they become awarded. Their hard work doubles up in productivity of the company. This awards can be offered regarding pay hikes, trips, tokens of appreciation, or even promotion at work. This kind of culture developed in an organization makes the employees feel that they are appreciated for the kind of service that they offer. It makes them enjoy work.
Another significant way is by fostering good relations between the leaders and the employees (Shahzad, Luqman, Khan, & Shabbir, 2012). The leaders should treat the employees the same way that they expect their customers to be. They should always relate well with them at all times. They should organize for programs where the employees are trained on how to offer effective customer service. An environment where the employees feel that their employer is understanding, listening and caring is one that results in optimized employee performance.
How to Create a Culture of Excellent Customer Service
Since the two Art Depots are already characteristic of poor customer service, this is how to establish this attribute to excellence. The first step would be to set up a customer care system where the claims of customers are heard and responded to. The system should be very effective and should always give feedback without delays. This means that there has to be staff that is employed solely for that purpose. Their only work is to respond to clients who have complaints in regards to services offered. In this way, customers will always feel recognized as an important part of the business and will develop a relationship with the enterprise.
It is also important to hire employees who are well suited for the maintenance of the culture. People have different personalities, and this should be one of the core consideration made especially during hiring. There are people who in their nature cannot establish good relations with others. Having such an employee makes it hard to establish a culture of customer service. This is because this person cannot relate well with the customers as is expected. Therefore, the company should develop a habit where they hire employees who are duly fit for the culture. Once hired, the workers should be taken through a service orientation where they are informed of what is expected of them and how to go by their jobs.
The Building Blocks of Organizational Culture
The first building block of organizational culture is the vision of an organization (Madu, 2011). The vision is a statement that shows the direction in which the company is headed towards. This statement creates a pathway for the company to follow in becoming what is to achieve and become in the future (Madu, 2011). A company can have a vision that relates to its desire to ensure that they develop excellent customer service. Having such a vision statement will always keep the employee and the business at large on toes to realize the dream of delivering the best customer service. Using this method at the two Art Depot Stores will greatly change the altitude of employees.
The second building block is the Mission. The mission is always a road map to achieving the vision (Madu, 2011). This is a statement that indicates the purpose of the business, its objectives, and how it aspires to reach there (Madu, 2011). The mission is in its basic nature the activities that an organization engages in on a day to day basis. It always forms the basis on which decisions are made in the organization. Having this clearly stipulated to the employees will make them realize what is expected of them. They will thus ensure that they live up to the mission that they are charged with to achieve the general mission of the organization.
The third block is the values that the organization has. The values are the behavioral attributes of each of the employees in the organization on a day to day basis (Madu, 2011). Having a set of values that each employee is supposed to uphold is quite vital. It ensures that a certain culture is maintained. This values should be resounding to customer service. They should depict the organization’s commitment to being consumer friendly. Employees should be kept on toes to observe them always.
The last building block of organizational culture is leadership (Madu, 2011). Leaders play a vital role in the development and maintenance of culture. They depict a picture of the transitional periods of a company by providing answers to questions like where the company was, where it is, and where it is headed (Madu, 2011). Leaders are the ones that control and ensure that culture is maintained in an organization. They observe, listen, and act accordingly to ensure that the culture is maintained. It is, therefore, the mandate of the leadership to ensure that employees always live up to the company’s culture. In this case, the leadership is charged with the responsibility of developing a culture of excellent customer service. The culture should start all the way from the top to the bottom. They should be the leading examples by which the employees should emulate.
Challenges to Organizational Culture Change
Changing the culture of an organization is something that is quite hard to do. Changing the employee’s behaviour is quite a challenge (Madu, 2011). Perhaps some employees have worked in the organization for ages and have already adopted to the current culture there. Trying to convince them to change is quite a hard process. The culture of an organization is what the organization is (Madu, 2011). Therefore, changing it is like changing the personality of a human being. It will call for the use of a lot of resources, and it will be costly. It is almost the rebranding of an organization. Again, there is also a demographic challenge due to the store’s location in Canada. The market there could be comfortable with the way the stores operate. Changing it could thus chase away customers or even demoralize employees.
Ways of Overcoming Resistance to Organizational Culture Change
In conclusion, it is important to acknowledge the fact that there will be resistance in the realization of organizational structure. However, there is a way one can overcome this resistance. The first step is by highlighting why there is a need to change (Madu, 2011). This should point out all the flaws that are with the current culture and how a change in the culture could impact the organization. After that, it is important to understand the motivations that are associated with the current culture (Madu, 2011). Understanding what holds people back from the change will help in handling the issue from their point of fear. This will make them envision what is being envisioned by their leaders. After that, it is important to provide real time examples of cases where the new culture being introduced has worked successfully (Madu, 2011). This will help solidify the reasons one has for the change of organizational structure.
References
Guiso, L.; Sapienza, P.; & Zingales, L. (2015). The value of corporate culture. Journal of Financial Economics , 117(1), 60-76.
Madu, B. C. (2011). Organizational culture as a driver of competitive advantage. Journal of Academic & Business Ethics , 5, p1.
Shahzad, F.; Luqman, R. A.; Khan, A. R. & Shabbir, L. (2012). Impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: An overview. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business , 3(9), 975-983.
