Organizational Culture Analysis: International Business Law Firm

This report examines the various group voices prevalent in an organization, focusing on a law firm setting. It analyzes hierarchical, individualistic, fatalistic, and egalitarian perspectives, highlighting their impact on employee engagement and organizational culture. The report identifies solutions to address issues arising from these voices, particularly individualism and fatalism, which contribute to high employee turnover. Paradigm theories and approaches are discussed in the context of improving employee morale. The positivistic approach is noted for its effectiveness in problem-solving. The analysis reveals a need for a stronger hierarchical culture and a more balanced approach to individual and collective interests within the organization.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The given report throws light on the various voices that are prevalent in an organization which
tend to have a huge influence on the decision making of the firm. The organization chosen for
the discussion is a law firm; I have had certain experience in. The given report discusses the four
voices followed by analysis of the varying solutions for each of the problems being faced.
Furthermore, an analysis of the different voices missing has been made.
The different kinds of paradigm theories and approaches have been utilized by the company as
this helped them in increasing the morale of the employees in an effectual manner. The
positivistic approach has been used in the organization that has helped in solving the different
issues in an effectual manner.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
About the company:.........................................................................................................................3
Group Voices...................................................................................................................................4
Solutions generated..........................................................................................................................8
Analysis of the voices....................................................................................................................11
Paradigm Analysis.........................................................................................................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................21

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Introduction
An organizational culture plays a very crucial role in the development of the
organizational objectives and it also ensures that the organizational is able to easily adapt to the
varying needs of the business environment. The success of any organizational largely depends
upon the success of the management that tends to given the organization. For this reason,
employee engagement largely depends upon the management and the varying attitude. The given
report throws light on the various aspects of the organization and the different voices that tend to
govern the firm (Davis, White and Stephenson 2016). It will be observed that various aspects
like Fatalism and Individualism are prevalent in the given organization which then gave rise to
the self centered nature of the individuals. The solutions used and their approach will also be
stated.
About the company:
The company in which I was working was a small law firm which engaged in various
legal and business services. The company had a very good name in the market and it was able to
perform various services for the customers in a well defined manner. However the company had
been facing certain problems with respect to the management of the firm. The primary problem
relating to the organization was that it was unable to deal with the different employees who were
working in the given organization and that lead to poor employee engagement (Fan et al. 2016).
The turnover rate of the given organization was very high which lead to higher costs for the firm.
The ever changing workforce also lead to a loss for the various business organizations which
would then cause, an environment of unrest and lack of customer loyalty as well. The primary
reason behind this was an individualistic and fatalist approach was followed in an organization

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which would lead to a lack of culture among the various members. This lack of culture then gave
rise to a various issues for which the new joiners did not want to adjust. As a result, they kept
leaving the firm. I left the firm after a period of few months as I was unable to adjust with the
given culture.
Group Voices
The group dimensions specified by the Grid-Group Culture theory help in describing how
people connect with each other. At one point of time they are known to be distinct and separate
individuals, with a very no sense of connection and unity. On the other hand, individuals have
combined sense of identity that relates more personally and deeply to one another. The people in
the group have stable relationship and like to spend more time together. While the grid
dimensions helps the people in determining how people are different in their groups and take on
their different roles.
Hierarchical theory The hierarchical theory put a major focus on collective thoughts and
actions for achieving the common goals. In this culture theory social rules mainly focus on
putting the needs of the community prior to the individual needs and promote selflessness.
People engaging in hierarchical style of thinking view the organization as big organizational
charts and titles and positions are placed above everybody else (Eisenstadt and Geddes 2017).
The hierarchical thinkers always deviate from such people who do not follow the formality and
structure best suited for them.
Application to the organization
While working for the law firm I recognized that Hierarchical culture theory was lacking
in the organization. The employees working in the law firm were very ill-mannered and

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hierarchical thinkers were missing in the law firm. In the Hierarchical or collectivist culture
theory, people are connected to each other very strongly yet they are different to each other. This
therefore leads to the development of hierarchies, institutions and laws. Moreover, this also
regulates the individual actions and helps the weaker social members. The people do not have an
equal and loving attitude towards themselves. The people with a collectivist thinking tend to
create a balance between the taking care of others and themselves. In the law firm, the people
mostly want to show off and grab attention as they are highly self centered. I could not survive in
an organization where group interest is not given more importance.
Individualistic cultural theory emphasizes value of individual over society. This leads to
place more focus on personal interests and actions rather than the frameworks of community,
family and state. In addition to this, a human being should judge and think independently. The
people are only concerned about themselves and their dear ones. In individualistic culture people
only tend to think about their own self instead of focusing on the overall interest of the
organization. The individuals take the centre stage and tend to be more self-reliant. Employees in
the law firms were motivated to perform harmful actions that would create a negative impact on
the success of the organizations. Narcissist people often believe they are unique and special in
their own way. The people in the firm were mostly individualistic thinker are arrogant and lack
empathy for others.
Application to the organization:
While working in the law firm I observed that employees are self-centered and
individualistic thinking is more relevant and dominated. This is highly ineffective for the growth
of the organization as well as the individuals (Svare 2016). Individualism is mostly linked with

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less or no satisfying networks for social support that is very low involved. Therefore strong
individualistic beliefs and values associated with the individualistic culture. Moreover, this also
leads to increase level of suicide ideation and hopelessness. The people in law firm did not help
each other and the people are highly. People in the organization often used to act in a way that
harms other people emotionally. This leads to create dissatisfaction among the employees. Due
to individualistic thinking the organization could not achieved its desire goals. Team work is
missing and this creates dissatisfaction among the employees. This further prevents the
development of the overall employees and they fail to achieve the group goals. The voices were
suppressed within the law firm.
Fatalistic voice. The fatalist culture tends to have differences amongst the limited
bonding that takes place between different individuals. This means that individuals who have
access to a certain amount of resources feel that have very little to do anything with people who
do not have any obligation. This clearly means that those individuals who do not have access to
great resources or have certain limited capabilities tend to survive on their own. When
individuals are treated in this manner and they are just left to themselves, this might work in both
ways and it is not clear whether they would react to it positively or negatively. The people who
are left behind in this manner generally tend to become apathetic and they do not want to help
themselves, nor do they want to help others. They change their views and become simply
negative towards life.
However, this is not the case for all and there is a certain population who actually
succeed in their activities. These people are self built and have succeeded in the given field
owing to their own capabilities and tend to portray that they have been in this position as a result
of their own merits. They often tend to use the example of those who are less successful to prove

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the given point. Hence, these individuals receive no help from the outside sources. They are
generally isolate and there exists a power imbalance between the various players. Their nature
can be described as uncertain and dangerous.
Application to the organization
In my law firm, where I was initially working, the work culture was not appropriate. The
individuals who would join new were not supported enough or provided with adequate help and
other facilities. They will left by themselves and were asked to figure out how to proceed with a
case or with the general operations of the given firm. The adaptation of this largely depended
upon the individuals themselves who would then struggle to find their place and succeed in the
firm. Some were not able to do so and the others who were often found success on their own.
This law was largely expressed.
Egalitarianism theory. In the egalitarian culture, there exists no such hard or fast rule
which states that every individual is required to help others but there exists voluntary
environment which encourages others to help one another. By observing this it can be stated that
the helping aspect was is more dependent upon values rather than being dependent upon the
laws. The external laws are necessary only when the character of the individuals who are being
governed by the law is weak. If the character of the individuals is strong then there exists no
need to actually enforce a legislative law.
In this given culture, the individuals are similar to one another in the sense that they
belong to a similar background which goes a long way in helping them to help others to succeed.
As similarity leads to agreement between the different people, value adaption becomes
comparatively easier. The given state in an organization can be described as an ideal state which

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is necessarily observed in smaller groups rather than large organizations. If there may arise a
case such that the different individuals start acting in their own motive and break the values, the
other get together and start correcting them.
This is also known as equality style and provides a delicate balance between other
individuals.
Application to the given organization
In the organization in which I was employed, the given voice was absolutely silent. The
individuals in the organization followed a fascist approach whereby they received no help which
would allow them to grow or develop as individuals. The people in the law firm I was working in
lagged values and carried on with their own work rather than helping other individuals to
prosper.
Solutions generated
As observed from the given four voice scenario, it could be observed that the
organization had a poor cultural structure. The individuals working in the given law firm were
highly individualistic and fatalists who did not bother about the development of others and just
concerned about the development of one self. This led to a huge amount of problems for the new
joiners who then faced huge problems with respect to the understanding of the work culture and
understanding the wok environment. Due to the problems which were faced by them, the
organization was not being able to develop a work culture that would prosper the environment
and also assist the new joiners in helping them to adjust with the organization.

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The management wanted to derive certain solutions for the given problem which would
then assist them in the development of an environment which would assist in prospering the
employees working. According to them, if the employees were happy, the work would
automatically prosper and the organization could easily achieve its goals and targets. Hence, they
decided to derive certain solutions for it.
The elegant solution can be described of a solution which is of fine quality. In elegant
solutions, simplicity and refinement were applied rather than conducting operations and solutions
in a rather fussy manner (Knyazev et al. 2015). An elegant solution generally relates to solutions
for problems relating to the domain of mathematics, programming and engineering and it is the
one where the desired effort of an organization is achieved with a single effort which is
extremely simple in nature.
People engaged in technical field generally want to apply this elegant solution. For
instance, when the engineers are engaged in the certain problems they tend to take out an elegant
solution for it which simply uses minimum materials and generates least waste. The elegant
solutions are also accompanied by appropriate methods and materials for the changes. Hence, in
case a big problem occurs the management would not be adopting the duct-tape method which is
a rather clumsy approach to the problem and applying proper solutions.
A clumsy or a poly rational solution can be defined as a solution which defines no clear
cut solution for the given problem at hand and instead uses a wide variety of strategies and
perspectives to solve the given problem in hand. Clumsy solutions for various problems are
generally used in order to give rise to a generic and customized solution for problems. The

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problems which are solved for the clumsy solution have no clearly defined solution and require
the application of a wide variety of problems.
Application of Clumsy solution for Problems from the four given perspectives:
Fatalists: The fatalists would state that nothing can actually be done about the problem
owing to their selfish nature and characteristics. The individuals would actually aim to look out
for solutions to solve the problem just for themselves and would not want to solve these
problems for the welfare of the given organization.
Hierarchists: The hierarchists tend to look for a well defined set of goals and objectives
for the purpose of problem solving and want to enforce a disciplinarian approach in order to sort
out the given problem (Font, Garay and Jones 2016). They want to have well defined rules and
apply it to all.
Individualists: In elegant solutions, the individualists generally tend to depend upon the
market forces to solve the particular problem. They also tend to encourage creative competition
among the different employees so as to ensure and engage solutions for it.
Egalitarians: The egalitarians tend to have a valued approach towards the entire problem
existing. They tend to solve the problems of the various solutions based on values and supportive
programs.
The clumsy approach
The clumsy approach solution asks for creative solutions based on a wide variety of
perspectives.
The clumsy approach to the given problem would be as follows:

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Individualists
The individualist would stress upon technical innovations and try to address the problem
with the organizational culture from every perspective. They might suggest various solutions
which would then require application of innovations like a common database system, training
and development of staff and other perspectives.
The Hierarchists
The hierarchists are individuals with a set defined rules and laws. For the problem
relating to the organization, these individuals would have to enforce a stronger regulation in the
organization in order to ensure that the individuals are working collectively towards the
achievement of organizational objectives (Selden and Fletcher 2015).
Egalitarians
The egalitarians would like to work towards the successful completion of the various
tasks and ensure that the members of the organization would contribute towards the success. The
organization would then be able to prosper.
For the chosen law firm, the approach used by the organization was a clumsy approach
which was based on individualistic approach whereby the organization chose to key the market
forces decide upon the problem solving issues. Due to this no well defined solution was formed
as this approach was unable to bring out any well defined solution and the employee engagement
was not achieved.