Impact/Effect of Organizational Culture Change on Performance: Case study Kraft foods and Cadbury
Introduction 3
Research question 3
Research objectives 4
Literature Review 4
Methodology 5
Discussion and Finding 8
Conclusion 9
References 10
Introduction
According to Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnly, Jr, & Konopaske (2009) when companies merge financial success and the return on investment are the major considerations. Hardly do they think of cultural compatibility as it is considered as a soft factor. If there is a culture class, this could lead to a merger failure. According to Colquitt, LePine, & Wesson (2009), the success rate of cultural change is less than 20 percent. This is because it takes much effort to create and maintain a culture. This study sought to examine strategies used to implement culture change in an organization after undergoing privatization or merger and acquisition. It further seeks to establish the extent in which the change affected performance and to identify the causes of resistance to change in a case study organization.
Background of the M&A
Both Kraft and Cadburys were among the leading food processing companies in the world. Kraft is a US based company while Cadburys is a UK based company, but both operated on a global scale considering their sizes and market share in the global food processing industry. In 2010, Kraft agreed to take over ownership of Cadburys.
Aim of research
Purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of culture change in Kraft Food and how it affects performance.
Research question
- Are the strategies used by Kraft Food to influence culture change implemented effectively?
- What is the success rate of using these strategies in culture change?
- What are the main reasons for culture change in the organization?
- Were the change agents trained well for the implementation and to handle sensitive, emotional responses?
Research objectives
Literature Review
Introduction
This chapter examines the concept of culture change and how it affects performance. It offers theoretical orientation, theoretical framework and research gaps.
Theoretical orientation
When an organization is implementing culture change programs, they are likely to face the following three challenges (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnly, Jr, & Konopaske, 2009). One is majority of the company’s experience enough difficulty managing normal operational issues so trying to manage hearts and minds will be a greater challenge. Secondly, the employees get skeptical of such programs as they are translated to dissatisfaction and distrust. Thirdly, conditions in the work environment that make employees have a continuous commitment to employees are mission (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnly, Jr, & Konopaske, 2009). ‘’ cultural change initiatives may result to in unintended consequences resulting in a no win situation for all concerned (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnly, Jr, & Konopaske, 2009)
Process theory
According to Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnly, Jr, & Konopaske (2009), process theory is an approach to explaining organizational behavior based on theoretical narratives, which show multiple factors combining and interacting over time in a particular context, are likely to produce the outcomes of interest
Variance theory
This is an approach to explaining organizational behavior based on universal relationship between independent and dependent variables, which can be, measured precisely (Huczynski & Buchanan, 2007).
Organizational socialization
This is the process through which an individual’s pattern of behavior and his or her values, attitudes and motives are influenced to conform with those seen as desirable in a particular organization
Methodology
Introduction
This chapter highlights the methodology that was used in order to meet the desired result of the research as stated in the introduction. The chapter includes, research design, target population, sampling techniques, research tools and data analysis procedures.
Research design
Research design used was a survey. According to Mugenda and Mugenda (2003), survey is useful ways to determine the attitudes of people on particular questions, to determine the effect of some event, or to look for patterns of cause and effect among many variables. The research involved Kraft Food and Cadburys employees. This enables the researcher to get primary data from the organization. Research methodology used was descriptive in design. This assists in having better strategies to implement culture change and management in future.
Population
Population (N) for the study is 2000 employees. The researcher intended to collect data from Kraft Foods and Cadburys employees with the aim of examining strategies used to implement culture change in an organization after undergoing privatization or merger and acquisition. Seeks to establish the extent in which the change affected performance, and identifying the causes of resistance to change in a case study organization.
The sample population (n) was 600, which is representative. This was to make the data collected more reliable and accurate. The sample will include 5 top managers, 30 middle level managers, and 465 junior staff but did not include the CEO and external staff. This group is considered appropriate because of the concept of accessibility. Respondents were selected randomly.
Responses from the managerial staff and junior staff were be compiled and analyzed in order to fulfill the study’s research objectives on management viewpoint, employee viewpoint and the overall nature of motivational incentives.
Sampling techniques
The research used stratified sampling method, which was done to get population (n) which will be 600. Stratified is the process of splitting the population into strata (or smaller proportion) according to factors that are collected correlated with a factor under the study.
Research tools
The researcher employed two research tools in order to collect relevant data. The study used face-to-face interviews and questionnaires. The research used face-to-face interviews with 3 senior managers, 10 junior managers, and 50 junior workers.
Data analysis
Data collected was analyzed using statistical methods of analysis and presentation. The data was presented in table of frequencies to summarize the effects of conflict on performance. The data was coded, processed, and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). This consisted mainly of the information from the closed ended questions in the questionnaire. Information from open-ended questions were analyzed through narrative analysis and listing.
Discussion and Finding
Organizational behavior is the study of the structure, functioning, and performance of organizations and behavior of groups and individuals within them. Goals pursued by individual members of an organization can be different from collective purpose of their organized activity. This creates a central practical and theoretical organizational dilemma in the design and study of organization.
A major concern with performance is to have rules and procedures that are simple and monotonous to the job. These features simplify the tasks of planning, organizing, and coordinating the efforts of a large number of people. According to (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnly, Jr, & Konopaske, 2009) Organizational culture is what employees perceive and how this perception is creates a pattern of beliefs, values, and expectations. There are preferences for employees for particular cultures. For example if an employee is working in bureaucratic culture and prefers entrepreneurial culture, difficulties will likely develop. If the person’s culture alignment becomes stressful, it will probably result eventually the individual leaving the organization.
Conclusion
When companies merge financial success and the return on investment are the major considerations. Hardly do they think of cultural compatibility as it is considered as a soft factor. This study has established that cultural merger has an impact on the success and performance of companies that come into mergers and acquisition (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnly, Jr, & Konopaske, 2009).
References
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Gibson, J., Ivancevich, J., Donnly, Jr, J., & Konopaske, R. 2009. Organisations . New
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Huczynski, A., & Buchanan, D. 2007. Organisational behaviour. England: Pearson
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Mugenda,O. M. and Mugenda, A.G. 2003. Research Methods: Quantitative and
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