Chalitha Weerakkody - 1599 Organizational Culture Unilever Sri Lanka Organizational Behavior - Mr. Kishan Thomas MGT4250 What Is Organizational Culture? The common perception held by the members of the organization is called the organizational culture and it basically depicts a system of shared meaning. There are seven characteristics evolved around organizational culture which are, innovation and risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness and stability.
Some organizations wear uniform cultures such as dominant cultures where a set of core values shared by the members of the organization. There can be subcultures within depending on the department designations, geographical separation and primarily the core values are accepted throughout the organization. Cultures draw the boundary line between organizations which give each of them the unique characteristic of running the business.Members of the organization receive an identity for themselves by having a specific organizational culture as well as it increases the social stability while providing a control mechanism to fit the employees within. Sometimes a culture can be liability due to many reasonable factors.
Culture do not change easily and it is really hard to change as well. It lays a barrier to diversity which can lead to conflicts within the organization and barrier to acquisitions and mergers.Innovative people fail to perform outstandingly due to the factors regarding organizational culture which can lead to enormous downfall of performance in the organization. Keeping a culture alive is a main challenge in a corporate; There should be a selection to choose the employees who fit in with the organizations culture and a top management who controls all the behavioral norms. When a new employee joins an organization it is important to make the employee comfortable to follow the organizational culture by socializing which is another key factor.
Employees learn about the corporate culture by stories, rituals, material symbols, language and sometimes, ceremonies. There are ethical and positive organizational culture which differ from each organization. Ethical cultures are focused on high risk tolerance but it has a low to moderate aggressiveness. They set high ethical standards while positive cultures mainly focus on building employee strengths and emphasize strength and growth of the employee.
Managers should be visible role models when setting up a culture because cultures are really hard to change. Unilever Sri Lanka - OverviewFrom home, personal care to foods products Unilever has covered so many people's lives with 400 brands spanning 14 categories. Some of their popular products are Lipton, Knorr, Dove and Omo. Unilever has set up five laboratories around the world to explore new thinking and techniques to help develop their products and ? 1 billion every year for research. Unilever is always updated about the changing tastes, lifestyles and expectations as they introduce new products to the market with the results of consumer research.
They have installed strong roots in the local market to ensure their local consumers.Unilever is not just concerned about making the consumer happy by meeting daily life needs but about their health too. Unilever mention that they create and share wealth, invest in local economies and develop people's skills both inside their organization and in the communities around them. There are 174000 people in 100 countries working for Unilever, indicating that they create jobs in the market and support the jobs of many thousands of distributors, contractors and suppliers.
Unilever Sri Lanka was incorporated in 1938 with brands such as Sunlight, Lux and Pears Rose.Today, it delivers 29 strong brands which lead in the market in their own categories. Unilever Sri Lanka operates fast moving consumer goods with the operations in home care, personal care and foods. Some of the popular brands Unilever deliver to the local market are Astra, Axe, Bru, Ceylonta, Clear, Dove, Fair and Lovely, Flora, Knorr, Surf Exel, Sunsilk, Signal, Vim and Rexona. There are over 1100 people directly employed at Unilever local organization and thousands more through dedicated supplying, distributing and services providing. Primary Characteristics Of Unilever's CultureInnovation And Risk Taking.
Unilever can be called as the pioneers of their categories where they make sales as they experiment and innovate new products based on customer satisfaction levels. They have branded their products into various sections such as food brands, home care brands, personal care brands, water, cooking and eating, health, hygiene and beauty, nutrition and consumer care which indicates they have taken the maximum risk taking by dropping the shadow into almost every fast moving consumer products. Brands and innovation are at the heart of everything Unilever does.In Unilever, research and development(R;D) is the home of breakthrough technology for bigger, better, faster innovations.
It employs over 6000 professionals located in 20 countries spanning the globe from Mexico to Australia for open innovation which Unilever calls, "the pipeline". When launching a product the marketing team draw a deep inventive map in consideration of consumer preference, regulatory framework, legal considerations and competitor products to ensure best sales. Unilever is always concerned about their customers health as well as the environment which has prepared them an innovative culture in research findings.They have designed an upside-down roll-on deodorant that uses 18% less plastic in each pack.
Pureit, the battery operated home water purification device gives pure drinking water at low cost. They also have proActiv margarines that contain plant sterols, clinically proven to lower cholesterol. Attention to Detail Unilever has mentioned that they always work with honor, respect other people at all times. They set out their own aspirations which is underpinned by their code of business principles.The operational standards everyone should follow wherever they are in the world has cited there which also supports their approach to governance and corporate responsibility.
Unilever is committed to diversity in a working environment where there is mutual trust and respect and where everyone feels responsible for the performance and reputation of the company. They guarantee safe and healthy working conditions for all employees as well as to enhance the employees performance, skills and capabilities. Unilever is known to have a good working environment where employees can communicate and maintain a freedom of association.They like to work with suppliers who have the same values as they have and work to the same standards they do.
Outcome Orientation Main goal of Unilever has been to make a positive impact on what they do: through their brands, their commercial operations and relationships, through voluntary contributions and through various other ways they engage with society. Even though the outcome is important to make a positive impact Unilever focuses on business processes as well in order to make the best image in their customer base. People OrientationUnilever believes that there should be a balance between employees work and life. Also, that people are more likely to be motivated in their career if they are also fulfilled individuals. Unilever has implemented flexi working hours and are working towards creating an agile Unilever also supports the employees to get involved in sports activities because physical wellbeing is a priority at Unilever Sri Lanka and their employees take part in a wide range of sports activities such as cricket, badminton, hockey, swimming and netball. They also have a corporate gym which the membership is given for free for the employees.
They have an onsite medical centre with a resident doctor and an ambulance on call 24 hours as well as a visiting dentist, eye specialist and ayurveda physician. They conduct regular checkups for their employees in partnership with the best hospitals in Colombo. Team Orientation Ambitious plans are turned into reality by groups of like-minded people-people who share a common objective, attitude, outlook and passion. Since Unilever is a large business operating in a truly global environment their employees get to work with colleagues from a number of different countries and disciplines.Unilever encourages innovative thinking by conducting the individuals to work together with the true sense of collaboration and stimulate ideas in each other while sharing information alongside with a challenge accepted wisdom. Aggressiveness Since the progress is important Unilever invest a lot of time and effort in supporting employees to perform well and in building their capabilities.
Performance and Development Planning(PDP) helps the employees to make the most of their life at Unilever.They set up targets which are accepted by the individual and line manager in a face-to-face discussion. While surrounding the employees personal development plan it can be both financial and other business targets which individuals or teams engage in. Stability While some organizations believe that constant change and innovation is the key to growth Unilever focuses on making the customer happy by giving what they want. Also, they innovate needs and wants in customers mind which they keep a milestone in their product nature while becoming the leader of the particular product section.
