Organizational Behavior: Morrison's Culture and Environment Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Morrison, a leading UK supermarket chain, examining the impact of business culture and the natural environment on its organizational behavior. It delves into the influence of cultural factors, such as power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation, as defined by Hofstede's model, on Morrison's operations. The report also explores how climate, environmental regulations, and consumer demands affect the business. Furthermore, it highlights Morrison's initiatives to mitigate environmental impact, including reducing plastic usage, installing electric vehicle charging points, and supporting food redistribution programs. The report concludes with a PESTLE and SWOT analysis to assess the external and internal factors influencing Morrison's strategic planning and overall business performance.

Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Impact of business culture on organizational behaviour..............................................................3
Impact of natural environment on business behaviour................................................................5
PESTLE ANALYSIS......................................................................................................................7
SWOT ANALYSIS.........................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Culture is a key part of every organization whether it is small, medium or large. It
influences the business in aspects, that is, from decision making to the business functioning.
Business culture is related to ethics, behaviour and etiquette etc. It takes in to consideration
organizations values, mission, vision, working style, habits and beliefs. Business culture differs
in every country and if managers are not able to adapt it then it may hamper the success of the
organization. Along with business culture, natural environment also has an impact on the
business. Natural factors which includes climate, minerals, soils, rivers and oceans have a huge
impact on the functioning and growth of the business. The environment in which business
operates is dynamic and have an adverse impact on the organization. The environmental factors
act as a barrier for organization in achieving its goals. It can be in the form of competition,
economic performance of the country, technological advancement, location etc. The
environmental factors that affect the business is the changing weather conditions which is life
threatening to other lives.
In this report, Morrison is taken as an organization. It is a leading supermarket chain,
headquartered in UK. It was founded by William Morrison as an egg and butter stall in 1899. It
is a Yorkshire based retailer with almost 500 stores along with online home delivery services. It's
business is mainly food and grocery and it processes most of the fresh food through its
manufacturing facilities which helps in ensuring high quality and build trust among its
customers. It has covered more than 11 million households through its online service. It has more
than 110,000 colleagues working hard to provide quality service to the customers. Morrison is
committed to helping its customers save money. It has huge customer base. It is known for its
ethical working environment. It works on 6 priorities which includes to be competitive, serve
customers better, find local solution, developing useful services, simplify and speed up, to make
its supermarket chain strong again. This report explains about the impact of business culture and
natural environment on the organizational behaviour of Morrison. It also covers the
environmental analysis of the business with respect to the factors affecting it which includes both
internal and external factors for which Pestle and swot analysis is done.

MAIN BODY
Impact of business culture on organizational behaviour
The business culture plays an important role in organizational behaviour. There are
different characteristics of culture that impact the organizational behaviour. According to Geert
Hofstede, values are influenced by culture. He developed a framework which helps in
understanding the differences in the culture across countries. But it can be used in analysing the
difference within the organization. It has determined the way in which culture vary. There are six
dimensions to it. A detailed discussion is given below.
Power distance index: It takes into account the extent to which power and inequality are
expected in a culture (Dąbrowska and Fiegenbaum, 2017). In Morrison, low power distance is
followed where culture encourages organizational structure that are flat and decentralized
decision making responsibility. It also implemented participative style of management and puts
emphasis on power distribution.
Individualism vs collectivism: It refers to integration of society into groups and their
dependence on the groups. Individualism indicates personal goals and collectivism indicates well
being of the group. Morrison takes care of these thinks and tries to maintain a balance between
the two by satisfying the individual as well as group goals.
Masculinity versus femininity: Masculinity refers to the characteristics such as gender
roles, achievement and wealth building whereas femininity stands for modesty, caring and
quality of life (Hock, Clauss and Schulz, 2016). Morrison puts equal emphasis on both by
maintaining a good working environment, increasing the job satisfaction level of the employees
also equal emphasis on participation.
Uncertainty avoidance index: It refers to the relationship of culture to the uncertain
future. It indicated the extent to which society feel comfortable with uncertainty. The high
uncertainty avoidance index, implies low tolerance level which can only be minimized through
strict rules (Odor, 2018). On the other hand, low uncertainty avoidance index, implies high level
of tolerance and it is openly accepted.
Long term versus short term orientation: The long term orientation, puts focus on the
future to achieve long term success. It puts emphasis on persistence and long term growth. In
case of short term orientation, it focusses on near future, which involves delivering short term
success and stronger emphasis on the present than the future. Morrison has ensured that both the

dimensions are fulfilled and also it provides training and development sessions to its employees
which motivates employees and helps in ensuring long term job security along with promotion.
Indulgence and restraint: It refers to the tendency of the society to fulfil desire.
Indulgence indicates allows free gratification to society to enjoy life (Serpa, 2016). Restraint
indicates society suppresses gratification and regulates it by means of social norms. Morrison
tries to create an environment that reduces societies restraints and enhances free gratification.
According to Taherimashhadi and Ribas (2018), the organizational culture is divided into
three parts which are values, rituals and symbols. The values are already discussed in Hofstede
model and the other two are symbols and rituals. Symbols stands for ideas, beliefs or actions. It
represents motivation and values of an organization. At management level symbol is in the form
of logo, office design etc. Organizational logo is the first thing that is shared with others. This
logo is the image of its product and services. Morrison has made its logo distinct from its
competitors. Next is rituals, these are the regular interaction model which provides code of
conduct for certain situation. It refers to the activities that enhances the values of an organization.
Morrison has follows all these rules and rituals to reduce the negative impact of culture on
organizational behaviour.
So this model helps in understanding how values in the workplace are influenced by the
organizational culture. It is a great source to analyse the impact of culture on work and life.
Morrison has been doing continuous analysis for identifying changes in the environmental Thus,
culture plays a huge part in the changing behaviour of the organization.
Impact of natural environment on business behaviour
Apart from the business culture, organizational behaviour is influenced by the natural
environment within which it operates. Factors like climate, soils, rivers, oceans have a direct
impact on the functioning and growth of the organization. Some major impact have been
discussed below.
Impact of climate on business: Today, there is a drastic change in the environment due
to global warming. The extreme heat and extreme cold have a direct impact on the functioning of
the organization. For example, in case when heat and humidity rises at the high levels,
employees may face heatstroke unless proper cooling facility is provided to the employees
(Luhmann, 2018). This will affect the employee's behaviour and as a result will affect the
organizational behaviour. Morrison is taking care that its employees are active and motivated to

face such situation and also Morrison is taking steps to make its employees feel comfortable and
relax.
Environmentally driven regulatory factors: It arises when the business is operated in an
area where there is a significant demand for proper addresses to legislative rules and regulations
which may include restriction on the fuels to be used, other special tax for environmental
protection etc. All these factors affect the overall organizational behaviour (Abdelkafi and
Täuscher, 2016). Morrison has complied with the all the regulatory framework required to run its
business efficiently. So, this factor is having less impact on the Morrison.
Other than the above stated points there are other factors that may impact the business
and the ways Morrison has dealt with the situation and how it has changed the shape of the
organizational behaviour.
 The increasing demand of consumers and the pressure from the government to
take preventive actions to reduce the negative impact of environmental damage
that is caused by the organization's business operation (Corporate Responsibility.
2020). To met the requirement of the customers and to remain in the market it is
essential for the Morrison to take some preventive step for the betterment of the
environment. It is the first retailer to remove complete black plastic from all its
own brand products and drinks packaging. This move accounts for recycle of
4000 tonnes of plastic which is approximately 7.4% of plastic used by Morrison.
It has also made an effort to make all its packaging recyclable, reusable by 2025.
 To create a positive impact on the business among its customers, Morrison has
installed rapid charging point known as GeniePoint which allows it customers to
charge their cars in just 20 minutes. It is created to support those who are looking
for change to clean transport technology (DesJardins, 2018). These charging point
use 100% renewable energy which are from zero carbon emission sources. Also,
customers can navigate to Morrisons EV charger using mobile web app which is
free of charge and easy to use.
 From the past two years, Morrison has helped create 2.5 million meals by
partnering with FareShare in which it redistributes surplus food from its
manufacturing and distribution centre. It has connected to the 10000 charities
which consists of children breakfast, youth centres, lunch clubs for older people.

 Business operation has impacted the business adversely, so it is the responsibility
of the organization to work in the betterment of the environment. For which
Morrison has committed itself to minimize the environmental impact it has on
world. It has developed a plan to reduce its carbon footprint by 33%, by 53% and
97% by 2025, 2030 and 2050 respectively. These targets has been set up with the
help of Carbon Trust, which is an NPO, that provides support to businesses to
reduce emission.
 Also, to protect the environment, Morrison has introduced paper carry bags to its
customers which is a part of its drive to remove unnecessary plastic from its stores
and these bags have become popular among its customers. The unique quality of
these bags is that it can be reused and recycled and is labelled as “Reusable Paper
bag”.
 Last but not the least, Morrison has launched a scheme called 'Project Pollinator',
in which land is set aside for bees. This scheme has seen an increase up to 55% on
a year on year basis (Schwartz, 2017). It has also joined hands with Bumblebee
Conservation Trust which has helped in unique bee friendly flower mixture with
the aim to optimise the bee numbers.
Thus, from the above, it can be said that natural environment have a major impact on the
organizational behaviour because if Morrison is not able to meet with the changing needs of the
environment it will become difficult for it survive as whatever the changes the climate or
environment is currently facing, Morrison is having some part into it. If the organization is not
able to meet with the changing requirement it will affect its public image and may lose its
customer base. This will eventually lead to decrease in performance, productivity and
profitability of the organization. All this will affect the overall business behaviour.
PESTLE ANALYSIS
It is a framework used in analysing the external factors that may impact the business.
This tools helps in the strategic planning of the organization. A detailed analysis is given below.
Political factors (High): It refers to government invention in the business. The ongoing
instability in UK has impacted entire retail industry. The Brexit will also have an impact on the
business. As most of the material are imported from European nations and due to Brexit

organizations will be impacted in terms of increasing cost of import. So, it will affect the
Morrison in terms of cost.
Economic factor (Moderate): It refers to the economic performance of the business. The
two factors that is impacting entire retail industry is the fluctuation in the exchange rates which
will affect the global business. Another factor is increasing demand for high wages by the
employees. The store workers are demanding higher salary which will affect the business as the
retail margins will get affected. So, this factor is having moderate effect on the Business of
Morrison.
Social factor (Low): There is a shift in trend the way customers do shopping. The
customers in UK are moving towards bulk shopping and also one-stop shopping (Policy, 2016).
Also, there is increasing demand for organic products which has affected the customer
behaviour. All these factors will affect the entire retail industry. Morrison has already started
producing organic products so its impact will be less.
Technological factors (High): The emergence of RFID technology, IoT in retail to
improve customer experience and increasing popularity of the mobile payments have affected the
entire industry. Thus, it will have a high impact on the Morrison business and operation.
Legal factors (High): The introduction of new sugar law by UK government which aims
to reduce the sugar content in its drinks by 20% by 2020. This has affected the industry with its
own brand products. Thus, it will have a huge impact on the Morrison business.
Environmental factor (Low): To present a positive brand image industries are coming up
with different CSR initiatives. Morrison has taken several steps for the betterment of the
environment. For example, Morrison has committed to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by
2020. It is also making efforts to reduce its waste. Thus, it will have less impact on the business.
SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT analysis is a planning tool that helps in identifying the organization's strength,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A detailed analysis is given below.
Strengths: It refers to the factors that distinguish it from its competitors. The key strength
of Morrison is its diversified stores, the largest employee in UK, efficient supply chain and the
leading grocery store in UK.
Weaknesses: These are the factors that stops an organization from performing its best.
The major weakness of Morrison is its low cost strategy which has lead to decrease in profit

margins (Lurati and Zamparini, 2018). Some of its stores are not working properly and also
Morrison do not conduct sufficient market research before entering the market.
Opportunities: It refers to the external factors that are favourable to the organization and
which can add competitive advantage to it. Morrison has the opportunity to implement
technology driven system in it stores like RFID, IoT etc. It can increase the use of its online
shopping website by providing all its products along with home delivery services. It can also
increase the premium range products to attract premium customers.
Threats: It refers to the factors which can harm the organization. The major threat is from
its competitors such as Asda, Sainsbury, Tesco, Aldi etc. Also the imposition of new taxes by
UK government is affecting the operational efficiency of Morrison.
CONCLUSION
It can be summarized from above that organizational culture and natural business
environment has a huge impact on the organizational behaviour. Different factors are taken into
consideration which are required to be considered for evaluating the reason for change in culture.
The Hofstede model of culture is used which has identified 6 dimensions where the change exist
and its impact on the organizational values and culture. Ritual and symbols are measured based
on observation. It plays an important role in communicating organizational culture to the
employees. Apart from it, organizational culture is divided into 3 parts which are symbols, rituals
and values which cam influence the organizational behaviour. A balance is required to be
maintained to reduce the negative impact of cultural change on the organizational behaviour. In
this modern world, it is essential for the organizational managers to study culture as they are
required to think out of the box, something new and innovative. The organizational culture are
the key drivers in shaping the organizational behaviours. The varied operational activities that
are undertaken by businesses have an adverse impact on the natural environment which has
become life threatening to the many species. It has increased the awareness among the
consumers and are demanding environmental friendly product and services. Also, society is
putting pressures on the companies to take corrective step for the well being of the society and
environment as a whole. As a result of which Morrison has taken several steps under its CSR
initiative which includes reduction of carbon emission, implementing renewable sources of
energy, putting ban on unnecessary use of plastics in its stores. Also, Morrison has positively

applied the environmental factors that are impacting it business and has come up several
developmental plans.
The businesses environmental analysis has helped in identifying the factors that will
affect the business based on which Morrison is required to be up to date with the changes taking
place like adoption of the latest technology, investment in research and development, bringing up
new and innovative product and distinguish it from its competitors and take competitive
advantages. For the analysis Pestle and SWOT has been used. Morrison can use its strength of
efficient supply chain to expand its business in the untouched market. It will help in building the
positive brand image for Morrison, creates customer loyalty, increases customer satisfaction
level and increases the performance and productivity of the employees of the organization.
Consequently, it will increase the profitability of the organization. Thus, it can be said that both
business culture and natural environment has immensely affected the organization's behaviour.
So, organizations are required to regularly analyse the changing environment and its impact on
the business, culture and behaviour. Businesses should take it as an opportunity and implement
the changes in their organization which will have a positive impact on the business. Morrison is
using it in the same way which is helping it to meet with the changes, motivate employees and
increase productivity and profitability.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Abdelkafi, N. and Täuscher, K., 2016. Business models for sustainability from a system
dynamics perspective. Organization & Environment. 29(1). pp.74-96.
Dąbrowska, J. and Fiegenbaum, I., 2017. Open Innovation and Culture: A System Dynamics
Model. In Open Innovation: Unveiling the Power of the Human Element (pp. 29-55).
DesJardins, J., 2018. Business, nature, and environmental sustainability. The Routledge
Companion to Business Ethics. p.376.
Hock, M., Clauss, T. and Schulz, E., 2016. The impact of organizational culture on a firm's
capability to innovate the business model. R&d Management. 46(3). pp.433-450.
Luhmann, N., 2018. Organization and decision. Cambridge University Press.
Lurati, F. and Zamparini, A., 2018. Communication SWOT Analysis. The International
Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication. pp.1-8.
Odor, H. O., 2018. Organisational culture and dynamics. Global Journal of Management and
Business Research.
Policy, P., 2016. What is pestle analysis.
Schwartz, M. S., 2017. Business ethics: An ethical decision-making approach. John Wiley &
Sons.
Serpa, S., 2016. An Overview of the concept of organisational culture. International business
management. 10(1). pp.51-61.
Taherimashhadi, M. and Ribas, I., 2018. A Model to align the organizational culture to
Lean. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management. 11(2). pp.207-221.
Online
Corporate Responsibility. 2020. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.morrisons-
corporate.com/cr/corporate-responsibility/>.
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