Linking Organizational Culture to Employee Performance at Waitrose

RESEARCH PROJECT

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1 ...........................................................................................................................................3
Research title, aims and objectives .............................................................................................3
Rationale of research project.......................................................................................................3
Literature review .........................................................................................................................5
Research methodology ...............................................................................................................6
Time, Action plan and budget .....................................................................................................7
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................7
a) Qualitative method ..................................................................................................................7
b) Quantitative method ..............................................................................................................8
C) Type of sample........................................................................................................................8
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................9
a) analysis for Qualitative method ............................................................................................9
b) Analysis for quantitative method ..........................................................................................10
c) Recommendations .................................................................................................................15
TASK 4 ........................................................................................................................................15
a) Appropriate format ...............................................................................................................15
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................16
APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................18
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INTRODUCTION
Organizational culture provides an outline of the ways in which the employees complete
tasks and interact with each other (Yiing and Ahmad, 2009.). It comprises of various beliefs,
rituals, symbols, values which define the operating style of an organization. There are various
aspects of an organization which are impacted by organizational culture. Employee performance
is one such aspect which of great significance for organization (Podsakoff and et.al., 2009). The
present research project aims to analyse the impact of organizational culture on employee
performance with respect to Waitrose. In the project, a research specification has been
formulated. Implementation of research project is done within agreed procedures and
specification. Research outcomes have been evaluated. Lastly, attempts have been made to
present research outcomes.
TASK 1
Research title, aims and objectives
Title: Impact of organizational culture on employee performance: A study on Waitrose
Aim: To analyse the impact of organizational culture on employee performance at Waitrose
Objectives: Following are the objectives of research:
 To understand the concept of employee culture
 To analyse organizational culture at Waitrose
 To analyse the impact of organizational culture on employee performance at Waitrose
Rationale of research project
Background
Every organization has a system of shared assumptions, beliefs and values on the basis of
which it operates. This system governs the behavior of people within the organization. A strong
influence is exerted by this shared system of beliefs and values upon the employees within the
organization (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). The way employees dress, act or perform their jobs
is all defined by organizational culture. For a retailer like Waitrose which is in tough competition
with other giant retailers like Tesco and ASDA, it is of extreme importance to reflect upon
employee performance and the factors impacting it (The Waitrose Way, 2015). Employee
performance determines the customer satisfaction, attainment of goals of company and success
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of the organization on the whole. This suggests that organizational culture is important to be
studied for improving employee performance (Takeuchi, Chen and Lepak, 2009). The rationale
behind undertaking this project is to gain knowledge about the ways in which organizational
culture impacts employee performance.
Factors that inspired to undertake the project
Following are the factors that inspired the researcher to undertake the project:
 Personal interest- The first factor that inspired me to undertake this project is personal
interest in the topic. Employees are an important part of every organization. It is
important to possess knowledge about all the aspects which influence them.
Organizational culture is an area which aroused my interest to analyse its impact on
performance of employees. Hence this topi was chosen.
 Experience- Another factor which contributed to the selection of this topic is the
experience from the past job. From my past experience, I learnt about the concept of
organizational culture and felt the need of analysing its impact on performance o
employees.
Ethical issues
Various ethical issues may be encountered by the researcher while carrying out this
project. These have been discussed under:
 Consent- It is extremely important for the researcher to obtain consent of the
participants if the research comprises of primary data collection. It may be possible that
every participant does not agree to take part in the research. According to principle of
voluntary participation, it is unethical to force the respondents to take part in a research.
This may lead to ethical issues. In the present research on organizational culture at
Waitrose, the research plans to deal with this issue by obtaining written consent of the
participants.
 Confidentiality- Ethical issues may arise if the data provided by respondents is not kept
confidential. It is ethical responsibility of the researcher to protect privacy and
confidentiality of data. Ion order to deal with this issues, the researcher plans to
maintain confidentiality of data by checking unauthorized access to it.
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