Exploring the Effects of Organizational Culture and Dynamics on the Success of Businesses

Chapter One

Introduction and Research Background

Background and Rationale of the Research

Over the past decades, there have been rapid changes in business management. The changes are constituted by the new hostile marketplace competition and the growing diverse workforce in numerous businesses (Besley & Persson, 2022). Convolutions in business surroundings have forced businesses to seek more effective strategies to manage activities. The pattern of progression of almost all profitable businesses outlines that they have evolved via periods of incremental changes as a result of shifts in the environment (Janićijević, 2020). In this interest, an emphasis on organizational culture and dynamics has become significant to all business sectors (Nguyen, 2015). Research provides enough evidence that their performances improve when workers are directed or guided by the same values and norms in their workplaces. Organizational culture is crucial for unifying numerous company cultures in a corporate group structure.

One of the key theories that address the issue of developing a competitive advantage in changing environments is the dynamic capabilities approach that identifies the aptitudes of an organization to adapt an organization’s resource base decisively. Thus, dynamic organizations are expected to incorporate a culture where innovativeness and creativity are stimulated and a culture focused on realizing set goals and objectives (Besley & Persson, 2022). Even though numerous authors and researchers outline organizational culture as significant in sustaining a business’s dynamic nature and illustrating cultural characteristics that would enhance business success, they hardly offer empirical support for such assertions. Business managers may utilize this research to advance their understanding of the role of organizational culture and dynamics in enhancing the success of a business (Handayani et al., 2018). Therefore, this research provides a thorough explanation of how organizational culture and dynamics influence business success.

Problem Statement

Organizational culture and dynamics play an essential role in the development of a business (Janićijević, 2020). In this interest, poor cultural integration negatively influences organizational performance. It is important to note that ample research has been conducted on the effects of organizational culture on significant organizational activity, such as employee commitment and job performance (Ellinas et al., 2022). However, very few research has been conducted in the context of restaurant businesses, particularly the Ledbury restaurant in the UK. Therefore, this research aims to explore the company’s culture and its effect on the business’s overall success and effectiveness.

Purpose of the Research

This research aims to determine the impacts of organizational culture and dynamics on the success of businesses, precisely, the Ledbury restaurant in the UK.

Significance of the Research

The study’s results may be helpful to business managers facing difficulties when trying to advance workers’ performances and productivity of businesses because it will contribute experiences and knowledge on the role and importance of organizational cultures. The study will also be crucial to employees because they will gain an understanding of a safe cultural environment. Also, the study will be essential for policymakers seeking a reference point in formulating policies on organizational culture. The study will serve as a reference for researchers and academia interested in researching the current topic. Further, findings from the research might shed light on the credibility and relevance of theories upon which the research is founded.

Research Question

What are the effects of organizational culture and dynamics on the success of Ledbury restaurant?

Main Objective

The main objective of the research is to determine the impact of organizational culture and dynamics on the success of the Ledbury restaurant business.

General Objectives

To examine the impacts and importance of culture on the performance and effectiveness of a business

To determine the role of culture in the organizational dynamics

To explore the characteristics of organizational culture

Chapter Two: Literature Review

This chapter will incorporate an empirical framework that will discuss various studies associated with organizational culture and dynamics as well as its influence on the success of a business. Besides, the chapter will include a theoretical framework incorporating theories significant to the study.

Theoretical Framework

The theory of organizational excellence developed by Robert Waterman and Thomas Peters in 2014 illustrates that cultures adopted by an organization are directly connected to its success. The authors suggest that successful firms are characterized by cultural practices emphasizing entrepreneurship, closeness to clients, simplicity, economic resource utilization, lean staff, value-based efforts, and productivity (Osborne, 2006). In this case, organizations are more likely to succeed if their cultural values offer stakeholders room and opportunity to perform. Therefore, the excellence of Ledbury restaurant can be traced back to its cultural attributes. On the other hand, the Dynamic Capability (DC) theory, founded by Teece, Pisano, and Shuen in 1997, states that organizations should reconfigure their strategies and resources to attain a competitive advantage and enhance superior performances in the rapidly changing environment. The authors suggest that to respond to a changing working environment efficiently; organizations should consider or address the role of organizational culture (Aghimien et al., 2021). Therefore, the two theories significantly outline the importance of organizational culture to the success of a business.

Empirical Framework

Concepts of Organization Culture and Dynamics

Organizational culture incorporates norms, beliefs, values, and behaviors that organization members experience and describe in their work settings (Xenikou & Furnham, 2013). The norms help shape how members interact with one another and how they behave and adapt to acquire positive results (Olson, 2003, Xenikou & Furnham, 2013). According to Olson (2003), culture is found in any organization and is used to set frameworks for stakeholder behaviors. On the other hand, organization dynamics is how businesses continuously strengthen resources to enhance employee performance and organizational development. Seeking new business opportunities requires a culture through which innovativeness and creativity are enthused. (Besley & Persson, 2022) In this case, understanding a firm’s culture is essential to the development and growth of organizations because it provides a robust competitive advantage.

Characteristics of Organization Culture

Culture provides a sense of identity to members of an organization (Janićijević, 2020). The more clearly and succinctly shared values and perceptions have been defined, the more sturdily individuals associate with an organization’s goals and feel they are essential. As indicated above, organizational culture is a set of shared values and norms held by an organization’s members (Teichman, 2022). The shared norms are a pattern of several crucial features. The characteristics incorporate risk-taking and innovation, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness, and stability.

Importance and Functions of Organization Culture

Culture’s importance in an organization manifests in numerous ways (Teichman, 2022). Culture guides how workers in an organization interact and helps promote healthy competition and relationships in the workplace (SUMAJA, 2020). Besides, organizational culture represents specific predefined policies that give employees a sense of direction and help develop a positive brand image (Janićijević, 2020). Culture brings members of an organization on a common platform to enhance teamwork and unity (Ellinas et al., 2022). In this case, the author states that organizational culture is a social glue that brings people together to make them feel like part of an organizational experience (Nikpour, 2017). In their research, Felipe et al. (2017) examine that the social glue is significant in attracting new staff and retaining top-performing workers. Culture assists employees in comprehending events and enables them to communicate more efficiently to enhance cooperation (Felipe et al., 2017, Janićijević, 2020, Nikpour, 2017). In addition, a robust organizational culture supports organizational development by motivating workers toward a shared objective and goal (Ellinas et al., 2022).

Further, organizational culture promotes discipline and creativity to facilitate a continuous and balanced performance (Teichman, 2022). Teichman (2022) suggests that even though the authors indicated a strong association between culture to staff attrition, levels of commitment, and positive work attitudes, they did not indicate how culture directly leads to improved organizational performance and success. Therefore, a shared sense of direction, purpose, and strategy fosters identification and strengthens members’ actions toward achieving an organization’s visions and goals.

Effects of Organizational Culture on Employees

When building an influential culture, organizations must create clear principles that adhere to a firm’s overall goals (Nikpour, 2017). In this case, the process of transmitting culture within an organization function on both the top-down and bottom-up level, meaning that employees should put the goal at heart and work hard towards achieving it (SUMAJA, 2020, Nikpour, 2017). Besides, an effective organizational culture enables firms to attract new talents because people always choose firms whose culture interlocks well with their personalities (SUMAJA, 2020). SUMAJA (2020) outlines that organizational culture helps attract talent and enables firms to retain their employees, making it easy to reduce excessive turnover, time, and cost used in training other employees. In addition, organizational culture helps workers to truly feel as if they have been invested in their job, a situation that increases their passion and motivation to perform, thus increasing innovation and creativity (Teichman, 2022). Further, organizational culture gives workers a sense of identity, commitment, belonging, and unity.

Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter will describe the methodological techniques employed in the current study to accomplish set aims and objectives. The study will incorporate research philosophy, approach and strategy, method, design, sampling strategy, data collection instrument and procedure, data analysis, ethical considerations, and limitations.

Research Philosophy

Three key research philosophies include epistemology, axiology, and ontology. Epistemology is the most used type of philosophy in all academic research. Interpretivism, positivism, pragmatism, and realism are perceptions of the epistemology philosophy (Zahle, 2021). The current research will utilize the interpretivist approach to help seek the meaning of various concepts associated with the research topic. The technique will be efficient for the study because it is qualitative, will help in stressing the exploration of intricacies of organizational practices and norms, and provide subjective data and participant’s perceptions to determine the effects of organizational culture and dynamics on the success of businesses (Zahle, 2021).

Research Approach and Strategy

The current research will utilize an inductive research approach, a method through which emergent and naturalistic research design is utilized to create better theoretical viewpoints that already exist in the literature. It will suit the research because it exploits the qualitative research method and stresses the importance of assessing critical literature (Okoli, 2021). Therefore, the method will help explore issues and seek stories regarding organizational culture. Numerous strategies are used in research, including grounded theory, case study, surveys, archival study, ethnography, action, and experimental research. The current research will make use of the case study strategy. The strategy will assist the researcher in completely comprehending the functional links in the study contexts (Fridlund, 1997). Besides, the strategy will help provide a holistic and in-depth research solution description.

Methodological Choice

The research will employ a qualitative research technique to determine the impacts of organizational culture on a business’s success. It is an inquiry process that enables researchers to comprehend human and social subjects and is carried in their natural phenomenon. It is an objective, systematic, and formal process that utilizes numerical data to obtain vital information on the study topic. (Bhandari, 2023) The technique will be the most effective for the current research because it will help determine patterns, make vital predictions, test casual relationships, and generalize results to a broader study population. In addition, it will help the researcher obtain in-depth knowledge of the study topic. The method will provide reliable and precise information and help the researcher analyze participants’ behaviors, feelings, and attitudes. Further, qualitative research will encourage participants to discuss the topic and fulfill set goals and objectives thoroughly.

Sampling and Sampling Technique

Two types of sampling techniques used in research include the probability and non-probability sampling methods. The non-probability technique, precisely the purposive sampling method will be utilized in this research. The method will help the researcher to select the most significant and suitable samples. The samples will be chosen based on knowledge and credibility, so only suitable participants will be engaged in the study (Patton, 2007). Participants selected according to the management level will be drawn from Ledbury restaurant in the UK. In this case, a sample size of twelve individuals will be used. The sample size will be efficient because it will provide a detailed description of the topic under study and make it easy to evaluate the representativeness of samples and generalize outcomes. Therefore, a high-quality sampling will provide valuable insights into the research question and objectives.

Data Collection

Interviews will be utilized to collect data from the study participants. They are a qualitative data collection method encompassing asking questions and communicating with respondents to obtain data on a specific subject. The technique will help in obtaining the participant’s opinions and accounts. Data obtained on the effects of organizational culture on the success of the business will be first-hand (Doody & Noonan, 2013). In addition, the technique will allow participants flexibility in their descriptions. Semi-structured interviews will be used because they allow for open-ended questions to obtain in-depth data. They will allow elasticity for respondents to provide pertinent information while, at the same time, upholding the scope of the study. Interviews will be conducted via online platforms and digitally recorded using audio and video recorder devices.

Data Analysis

A thematic technique will be utilized to analyze data. The method is qualitative and incorporates reading via a set of information, and in this situation, interview transcripts to distinguish patterns in data to create themes (Lochmiller, 2023). The method is essential because it offers a more accessible data analysis, includes fewer prescriptions and procedures, explores diverse research perspectives while highlighting similarities and differences, and generates projected insights. Besides, the method will help summarize primary data sets from a more extensive set of information and enable the researcher to develop a well-structured and clear final report.

Ethical Considerations

The researcher will adhere to numerous ethical issues while conducting the research. The researcher will seek ethical approval from the university’s research ethics committee to be permitted to study participants and will protect the dignity and privacy of the study participants (Suri, 2008). A careful evaluation of burdens, predictable risks, and benefits to the research participants will be conducted. Besides, the safety and health of the study participants will be strictly observed. Participants will be provided with an informed consent that includes crucial details associated with the study to make them aware of what is expected of them, associated risks, and benefits. They will be informed of their rights to participate or withdraw from the research at any time with no penalty (Suri, 2008). Also, participants will be recruited without coercion, and their rights to emotions, autonomy, and confidentiality will be respected. Data obtained will be retained for a suitable period to enable further analysis.

Limitations of the Research

Notably, a research process is not without errors. Deciding to collect data at a single point will prevent the researcher from capturing views and ideas that change over time. However, the researcher will create a good relationship with the participants to obtain accurate and in-depth data. In addition, the interviewees are quite few, and the number might result in cases of bias, making it challenging to obtain accurate study results. Generalizing the study results will be a limitation because the nature of the topic reduces the universality of findings. As such, study findings will not be used in another business sector rather than the restaurant industry. Most participants might be unavailable for the interviews due to their busy schedules. However, conducting interviews via online platforms will allow the participants to provide data at any time. Consequently, the basis for the current research will require support from additional sources.

Gantt Chart

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