Organizational Culture: Leadership and Multiculturalism Analysis

This essay examines the essential elements of a strong organizational culture, emphasizing the role of leadership in fostering inclusive and multicultural organizations. It references social science theory to support its arguments, highlighting the importance of a clear vision, mission, values, communication, and people in building a robust organizational culture. The essay further discusses how leaders can ensure inclusivity by focusing on skill sets, implementing management and training programs, and promoting shared commitment. A critical reflection on multiculturalism within McDonald's provides practical examples of the challenges and strategies involved in managing a diverse workforce, including addressing cultural differences and promoting understanding among employees. The conclusion reiterates the significance of organizational culture and leadership in achieving competitiveness and success in today's global environment.

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Introduction
Organizational culture refers to the manner in which individuals feel about a certain
company. It also shows how people perceive the management and the authority system, as well
as the degree of staff commitment and involvement in meeting organizational goals.
Organizational culture is the lifeblood of a company since it shapes and directs behavior towards
the organization’s desired destination. This essay identifies the essential elements of a strong
organizational culture and discusses how leadership ensures that there is an inclusive and
multicultural organization by referring to the social science theory. The last part is a reflection of
multiculturalism in an organization of choice.
Part A
Essential Elements of a Strong Organizational Culture
The advantages that are associated with a strong organizational culture are considered to
be both intuitive and they are supported by the social science theory. Culture is viewed to
account for almost 20-30% of the differential in corporate performance if compared with
competitors who are culturally unremarkable as noted by Heskett (2012). For a business that is at
its infant stage or at the maturity stage, the culture that it practices is important to its overall
success. Each organization has its own unique culture and there is a myriad of factors that are
used in creating this culture (Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin, 2013). There are several elements
that contribute to a strong organizational culture. Being able to isolate these elements is the first
step to building a differentiated culture and a lasting organization. Some of these essential
elements include:
The first element is having a clear vision and mission. A great organizational culture is
observed to start by having a focus and a well-stated mission and vision statement. Generally,
these simple turns of phrases help in guiding an organization’s values as well as providing the
organization with a purpose. In turn, this organizational purpose helps in orienting each decision
that is made by the employees (Hogan & Coote, 2014). If the vision statements are prominently
displayed and deeply authentic, the good vision statement may assist in orienting suppliers,

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customers, as well as stakeholders. For the non-profit organizations, they mostly excel because
they have compelling and simple vision statements. For instance, Oxfam envisions “a just world
without” poverty. If an organization has a vision and mission statements that are clearly defined
and every staff understands them, this indicates the potentials of a strong organizational culture.
Most of the successful organizations are aware of what they intend to accomplish and as a result,
they are moving in a clear direction (Bortolotti, Boscari, & Danese, 2015). Companies that lack
this type of guiding mission and vision statements often struggle to identify their identity, thus
they are unable to separate themselves from the competitors. A vision and mission statements are
simple but they are foundational elements of a strong culture.
Also, the values of an organization are among the essentials of its culture. While an
organization’s mission elaborates its purpose, a company’s values offer a set of guidelines on the
kind of behavior and mind-set that is needed to attain the mission. These values should be
prominently communicated among all the staff and should involve how the organization vows to
serve its customers, treat colleagues as well as uphold the professional standards. Among these
values is fostering respect among the staff (Wiewiora, Trigunarsyah, Murphy & Coffey, 2013).
The top management should treat the subordinates with respect and should strive to ensure that
they are happy in their jobs. When the staffs feel that they are respected, they remain actively
engaged in their jobs and perform better. However, if the managers and the staff do not respect
each other, the culture might be chaotic and it translates to high turnover rates.
Additionally, a common thread among organizations that possess a strong organizational
culture is a solid communication. Having a solid communication means that the top management
freely communicates with the subordinates and vice versa. Mostly, such organizations have put
in place an open door communication policy with the staff. An organization that has put in place
good communication policies with its employees is likely to avoid conflicts since employees
work through the issues that they may face. However, organizations that are not transparent and
are inefficient in disseminating information to all the employees face a hard time in remaining
operational.
A strong organizational culture should involve people. There is no organization that is
capable of building a coherent culture without individuals who share the company’s values or
who are capable and willing to act according to those values. This is the reason why the most

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successful firms across the globe have put in place stringent recruiting policies. The best firms
always recruit potential candidates that are most talented and who are best suited to a specific
organizational culture (Choo, 2013). Mostly, individuals stick with cultures they like, and as a
result, bringing on board the best “culture carriers” reinforces an organization’s culture. One bad
hire can result in negative effect within the department. The people who are hired by a company
represent its culture outside of work. This is the reason why it is important to hire individuals
who share the organization’s values.
Many organizations that have a strong organizational culture are able to achieve superior
results. An organizational culture that is strong results in happy staffs and managers. A strong
communication assists the departments and the staff to work together. With these elements in
play, most organizations perform better and thus put out better results. The products produced by
such companies are of higher-quality and the production rate is higher than in companies with
poor culture.
Leadership in an Inclusive and Multicultural Organization
It is no longer the norm to have an organization that consists of individuals originating
from the same cultural background. Currently, it is possible to have a person deployed in the
Middle East branch of a United States-based multinational organization working with staffs that
originate from South Asia and dealing with Australian and Europe-based business partners.
However, the globalization of corporations, as well as the increased connections between
nations, have not helped in minimizing cultural differences (Meeussen, Otten & Phalet, 2014).
On the contrary, there have been cultural barriers, thus presenting organizations with new
challenges. As communication and information technology evolves and the world gets smaller, it
is important that a manager learns how to lead a multicultural team. Managers can ensure an
inclusive and multicultural organization through the following ways:
The leaders should focus on skill sets. When confronting diversity in an organization,
leaders may consider features that make individuals different or alike. A leader that is able to
make observations that are centered on an individual’s inherent qualities is able to group these
qualities into narrow categories and identifies opportunities to achieve the potential associated
with a multicultural workforce (Aritz & Walker, 2014). If a certain job needs special skills or

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even a high-set of skills, as long as the employees get the job done, how they look like or where
they come from does not matter.
Also, leaders can ensure there is an inclusive and multicultural organization through
management and training. Mostly, leaders are observed to seek diversity measures with the
intention of avoiding discrimination lawsuits that may arise if the staff believe that a company
has not adhered to the EEOC regulations. To prevent such legal fallout, it is important that a
leader develops cultural awareness programs whereby the staff is trained to avoid issues which
may include stereotypes, labeling, insensitivity, and prejudice. Among the fundamental steps in
managing diversity is developing awareness. According to sociologists that study the managers,
the best practices within an organization create a sense of responsibility through a
comprehensive strategy that consists of affirmative action plans, diversity task forces, as well as
diversity staff.
Nonetheless, the leader should ensure that there is a shared commitment. The leader
should be able to model and maintain an environment that integrates diverse groups of
individuals into an overall organization’s cultural context. However, issues which include
discrimination, bias, intolerance, as well as segregation are hard to avoid. The company leaders
may capitalize on cultural diversity by making sure that during planning, inclusion initiatives
within the organization are taken into consideration (Andrews & Ashworth, 2015). While the
leaders are among the primary players in structuring a diverse workforce, their efficiency may be
improved by their employees. This is the reason why the leaders should always make sure that
their staffs have a genuine interest and commitment to establish an inclusive environment.
Mutual accountability assists the leaders to make positive strides in diversifying their
organizations.
Apart from the leaders’ roles in ensuring that there is an inclusive and multicultural
organization, there are also laws that have been put in place to ensure that organizations do not
engage in operations and policies that exclude individuals depending on their traits such as
gender, race, or age. The federal laws set minimum legal standard that help in avoiding
discrimination. As a result, a holistic approach to affirmative employment requires that a manger
embraces the differences that exist between individuals and build on the strengths resulting from
such differences.

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Part B
Critical Reflection
Not only is the world getting flatter but it is becoming more colorful. As globalization
becomes a reality, more and more organizations are employing individuals from every
nationality, age group, race, and religious background. These individuals work side by side in the
same office building while others work a hemisphere away. This has resulted in lack of
understanding between the staffs as well as the difficulty in managing the multicultural
workforce.
Management of multicultural groups and teams within McDonald’s is of big concern. I
have observed that as a result of the cultural backgrounds from which the employees come from,
there is a tendency for the staff to group themselves into homogenous bunches. This means that
employees who come from the same cultural and social background or country form their own
groups. Such groups are not capable of integrating into one homogeneous group that has the
possibility of performing efficiently. Due to differentiation and integration, there is the likelihood
of conflicts and tensions arising between employees from different cultures or nations. Though
not visible to the outsider, such conflicts within McDonald’s store level employees’ results in
permanent non-performance.
For an organization to function effectively, there must be a proper understanding of a
company’s internal customers. These internal customers are the staffs that work in different
departments, performing different tasks, which require a level of understanding of other staffs as
well as their concerns. In some instances, it has been noticed that as a result of the grouping of
the employees within the store, tensions and conflicts were experienced mainly due to
misunderstanding among the employees. In trying to solve the cultural difference issue, the
McDonald’s management has greatly focused on enhancing the understanding of the staffs with
each other. This has been facilitated by providing training within the areas that relate to social
and cultural differences (Herbert, Mockaitis & Zander, 2014). Additionally, the McDonald’s
management has improved on opportunities for improvement as well as promotion among the
employees. Aimed at improving the performance within the organization, there is a clear

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communication of promotions as well as opportunities within McDonald’s, thus enhancing the
level of commitment and reducing the turnover rates.
Conclusion
Organizational culture is an important aspect if an organization is to become competitive
and successful. Some of the essential elements that make up a strong organizational culture
include having a clearly stated mission and vision, solid communication, should involve people,
and good values. The current environment requires hiring employees from different cultures,
thus making it necessary for the leaders to ensure that there is an inclusive and multicultural
organization. This can be achieved by focusing on skill sets, management and training, and
ensuring there is a shared commitment. Reflecting on McDonald’s multiculturalism, it is clear
that cultural differences results to conflicts and tensions in the workplace thus requiring the
management to intervene and train its staff on cultural differences aimed at making the
employees understand each other.

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References
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