1.1 Introduction
Organizational culture as the set of values, norms’ beliefs, attitude and assumptions that may not have been articulated but shaped the ways in which people behave and things get done. Values refer to what is believed to be important about how people and the organization behave. Norms are unwritten rules of behaviour (Michael Armstrong, 2006). Culture as a concept has had a long checked red history. It has been used by the layman as a word to indicate sophistication, as when we say that someone is very “cultural”. It has been used as anthropologist to refer to the customs and rituals that society develops over their course of history. In the last several decades it has been used by some researchers and managers to refer to climate and practices that organizations develop around their handling of people.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The role of organizational culture in shaping the design, structures and destiny of an organization cannot be overemphasized. Culture of any organization is not inborn; it is what people learn over the time period which they spend within the organization. It helps them to solve internal organizational problems. Culture is said to be a set of assumption that is developed over a time period to cope with organizational problems that is why cultural knowledge should be delivered to the new employees. Every organization forms a bond between the employee and organizational culture. These forms of bond related to culture differentiate one organization from another and ultimately leads to a guaranteed success.
According to Black (2003) organizational culture is a specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization. Organizational values are beliefs and ideas about what kind of goals members of an organization should pursue and ideas about the appropriate kind or standards of behaviour organizational members should use to achieve these goals.
An organization’s culture embraces all the life experiences each employee brings to the organization. Culture is especially influenced by the organization’s founder, executives and other managerial staff because of their role in decision making and strategic direction. Organizational culture according to Donovan (2006) is represented in a group such as language, decision making, symbols, stories, legends, and daily work practices. A company’s bulletin board content, the company’s newsletter, the interaction of employees in meetings and the way in which people collaborate, speak volumes about an organization’s culture.
The type of organizational culture put in place will surely affect the performance of the organization. As stated by Schein (2005), culture is the most difficult organizational attributes to change, outlasting organizational products, services, founders, and leadership and all other physical attributes of the organization. This organization culture will definitely affect the performance of the firm.
In this highly competitive world many businesses are unable to survive due to rapid changes in the business environment (Tripathi, Kapoor, & Tripathi, 2000). In order to sustain in this competitive corporate world, organizations focus to change their culture, management style and relationship with their employees and try to change their internal environment in order to survive. It is important therefore, to note that, it is organizational culture that makes an organization tops among its competitors (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donelly & Konopaske, 2005).
Organizational culture is the basic pattern of shared assumptions, values and beliefs considered to be the correct way of thinking about and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization. It is what is important and unimportant in the organization. It is often thought of as organization’ DNA- i.e. invisible to the naked eye, yet a powerful template that shapes what happens in the workplace. Hence, Schneider & Smith (2004) argues that culture begins with leadership and passed on to the organizational members; it is seen as a set of forces that shape and determine human behavior.
Therefore, in Zenith Bank Offa Kwara State where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Effect of Organization Culture on Employee Performance.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the issue of maintaining an organizational culture could be challenging considering the diverse socio-cultural background of the workers that constitute an organization workforce in Nigeria. Their differences can interfere with the maintenance of corporate culture and values, when such values conflict with their personal values.
A lot of research in organizational management has focused on developed countries; 95 percent and whereas only 5 percent of the studies testing organizational theories are found to be done in developing countries (Farashahi, Hafso, & Molz, 2005) in spite of the highly dynamic environment. A number of scholars have questioned the applicability of western management practices in developing countries and since long time it has also been recognized that culture is a main source of difference in performance management practices. Thus, many researchers (Denison, Haaland, & Goelzer in Yilmaz, 2008) have called to investigate the phenomenon of organizational culture in different cultural context particularly in non-western nations like Nigeria.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to determine the Effect of Organization Culture on Employee Performance using Zenith Bank Offa Kwara State as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To examine the effect of organizational culture on organizational productivity.
- To investigate the effect of corporate identity on organizational efficiency.
- To assess the relationship between corporate culture and sales boom.
- To examine the contribution of corporate philosophy on employee job satisfaction.
- To find out the effect of corporate norms and standard on employee job satisfaction.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Does organization philosophy have any impact on employee job satisfaction?
- To what extent does corporate identity affect organizational efficiency?
- What are the impacts of corporate value on sales boom?
- What is the impact of organizational culture on organizational productivity?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypotheses One
- H0: The existence of a strong distinct corporate identity has no significant effect on organizational efficiency.
- H1: The existence of a strong distinct corporate identity has significant effect on organizational efficiency.
Hypotheses Two
- H0: There is no significant relationship between corporate value and organizational productivity
- H1: There is a significant relationship between corporate value and organizational productivity
Hypotheses Three
- H0: There is no significant relationship between corporate cultures and sales boom
- H1: There is a significant relationship between corporate cultures and sales boom
Hypotheses Four
- H0: Business philosophy has no significant link with employee job satisfaction.
- H1: Business philosophy has a significant link with employee job satisfaction.
1.7 Significance of Study
Organizational culture and norms interventions such as rules, mission statements, Visions, reward systems area of the techniques which the manager has at his or her disposal tom achieve stated organizational goals given that organization cultures and norms has the potential to me significance impact on the ideals, principles and behaviour of leadership and management in an organization.
Thus the significance of this research is that it would:
- Examine the factors that necessitate organizational culture to bring about changes in the organization
- Examine the impact of organizational culture on performance.
- Examine the problem faced by organizational culture in organizations.
- Examine the type of organizational culture that is there in organizations.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Effect of Organization Culture on Employee Performance using Zenith Bank Offa Kwara State as a case study.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Management: The act of getting things done through others
Efficiency: The ability to minimize the use of resources in achieving organizational objectives, “Doing things right”.
Manager: A person who plans, organizes, co-ordinate and controls the human financial, physical and informational, physical and informational resources of an organization.
Values: Enduring beliefs in mode of conduct or end state.
Organizational Cult: The basic pattern of shared assumptions, values and beliefs governing the way employees within an organization think about d act on problems and opportunities.
