Workplace Culture and its Impact on Organization: Morrison's

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of workplace culture and its significant impact on organizational performance, using Morrison's, a leading UK supermarket chain, as a case study. The report delves into the critical assessment of Morrison's workplace culture, highlighting its influence on employee motivation, retention, and overall business success. It examines the environmental aspects affecting Morrison's operations, employing SWOT and PESTLE analyses to evaluate internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats. The report also explores the relationship between employer and employees, emphasizing the importance of communication, management hierarchy, and ethical behavior within the organization. Furthermore, it addresses corporate social responsibility and sustainability, offering insights into Morrison's commitment to its stakeholders and the broader community. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of a positive workplace culture for achieving organizational goals and maintaining a competitive edge in the market.

Workplace Culture and its
Impact on Organization

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Critically assessing the workplace culture of an organization...............................................3
Providing a critical evaluation of an organization environmental aspects in which organization
operates...................................................................................................................................5
Evaluating cultural and ethical behaviour in the context of Morrison’s..............................12
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................16

INTRODUCTION
In the context of business unit, workplace culture is highly significant as it closely
influences growth and performance. Now, for achieving success in highly competitive
environment business unit needs to make focus on developing prominent culture which in turn
enhances employee motivation. Thus, requirement in relation to building effectual culture has
increased significantly over time frame (Gravina, Cummins and Austin, 2017). The present study
is based on Morrison’s which is one of the leading supermarket chains of UK. In this, report will
shed light on the work place culture in Morrison’s. Further, it will provide deeper insight about
environmental aspects which have significant effect on Morrison’s operations. It also depicts
manner in which cultural and ethical aspects have an impact on organizational performance.
The workplace culture of an organisation have impact on both business and organisation.
Culture at workplace provides a frame work for behavioural guidance of employees. This have
both positive and negative effect of employees. Firms which considers its employees its integral
part put emphasis on building employee-employer relationship. Along with this employee are
encouraged to take active participation in activities of organization and decision making process
(Huber, 2017). Employees become more determined and committed for achievement of their as
well as organisational goal which have a significant effect of performance of organisation. In
today's world and with increasing competition it is getting more complex to achieve
organisational goals and missions. One of the major factor influencing organisational efficiency
is workplace culture. There is a direct relationship between organisational culture and
organisation efficiency (Wheeler, 2015). Individual behaviour of employee have a relevant effect
on organisation's efficiency, productivity and its performance. To guide individual behaviour is
also important for Morrisons as human resource are critical part of it. The values and morals of
organisations shall be clearly stated among employees so that they know the ethical values of
organisation and conduct their behaviours in that direction only. An ethical behaviour of
employee have significant impact on workplace and will result in increasing efficiency and
performance of both employees and Morrison's. For determination of factor that influence
organisation behaviour SWOT and PESTLE analysis will be carried out (Dorling, 2017). With
SWOT the strength and weaknesses of Morrison's will be determined and risk and factors and
activities which are a threat to Morrison’s will be identified, also, opportunities in market and
inside organisation of Morrison's will be found out and proper strategies will be formed to
1

exploit such opportunities. Pestle analysis will determine the external factor which will affect
workplace culture of Morrison's. Another factor which will be discussed in the present report is
relationship between employer and employees in Morrison's (Ghodse and Galea, 2017). An
analysis of hierarchy and flow of information from top level to bottom level management will be
done (White, 2018). So Morrison's have a moral and ethical duty to take care of society and its
environment. To evaluate duty of Morrison's towards society a study of corporate social
responsibility and sustainability will be carried out.
Main Body
Critically assessing the workplace culture of an organization
Culture of a workplace: the culture of Morrison’s is the personality and character of an
organisation. The culture at the workplace defines the organizational practices. (Holmes, and
Stubbe, 2015). The culture of Morrison’s makes the working environment unique and different
from other organization. The perceptiveness at workplace is the sum of values, beliefs,
interactions, behaviours and attitude.
Importance of workplace culture
Culture is an integral and important part of Morrison’s perceptiveness, the significance of
workplace culture is defined below:
Derives retention and engagement of employees: the work environment at Morrison’s
strengths its relation with the employees (Helmreich and Merritt, 2017). The more positive the
environment more happy and satisfied the employee are, which results in retention of existing
workers. A positive culture at workplace attracts potential job seekers and talents and towards
Morrison’s and be a part of it.
Attracts talent: a potential job applicant will analysis and evaluates the work culture of
Morrison’s. A positive, strong, clear and well communicated workplace appreciation attract a
potential talent toward the organization.
Ensures employee happiness: a positive and strong culture at the place of work make
employees happy, which results in increment in their potential and efficiency. The employee's
happiness can be directly linked to a strong and positive work culture (Guiso, Sapienza and
2

Zingales, 2015). A happy and satisfied employee led to the attainment of organization goal in
more efficient and effective manner.
Gaining competitive advantages: Morrison’s with stronger culture at its workplace
outperforms their competitors with regard to financial performances and such organizations are
more successful than the other.
Factors affecting workplace culture:
The culture at Morrison's is changing with becoming more of task based culture rather than
power culture of past.
Leaders and interaction with employees:
The manner in which a leader communicate and interact with its employees affects
immensely the workplace culture of a Morrison’s. What leaders communicate, what they
emphasize, the future goals and vision are discussed (Laschinger and et.al., 2014). Theconcept
was introduced by Marc Ballond in which. The employees were told about the expectations
from them, they recognize and celebrates the success of employees, the decision are taken with
the participation of employee which build a sense of trust and makes the perception and belief of
employees strong for the organization.
Management and communication hierarchy
How Morrison’s is managed- the systems, procedures, the movement of hierarchy, the
controlling process, organizational structure nag the importance given to objectives and goals of
the business defines the management of an organization. An effective management in
Morrison’s was introduced through professional, process driven and business-like approach
which results in increasing effectiveness of the managers and empowerment were given to
the employees in Morrison’s. A constant interaction and participation in the decision process
empowers the employees.
Policies and philosophies:
The policies at workplace includes dress code, attendance, code of conduct and
scheduling. These are the policies which can be applied to the extent which employees can
tolerate, too rigid with the policies makes employees unsatisfied and unhappy at work which at
3

Morrison’s are flexible. The philosophies of Morrison’s are hiring polices, compensation,
leaves, performance and appraisal, internal promotions and transfers, all this lead to create a
positive work environment.
Values and ethics:
The clarity of mission, vision and value is essential for Morrison’s because these are the
pillared on which the business of Morrison’s survives for financial and moral success. The
managers shall see that whether they honestly reflects the beliefs and philosophies of the
organization. The inspiration they give to the employees and extent of their stability. They must
be communicated properly in the organization among the employees and shall be continuously
emphasized upon.
People at the workplace
The personalities, behaviours, ethical and moral valves, ovaries skills, the temperament
of the person an organization have a major impact on the work culture of the Morrison’s. The
everyday behaviour, the types of interaction among the employees, affects the overall work
culture. Morrison’s keep its focus on maintaining the interaction positive and keep a healthy
environment among the employees.
Providing a critical evaluation of an organization environmental aspects in which organization
operates
Critical evaluation of an organization.
Morrison is a leading supermarket in United Kingdom. Business entity has more than 498
stores. An organization has its own websites from where customers can easily access the
information about company. Business entity offers wide range of products including other brand
as well as own label goods.
Organization evaluation is defined as systematic procedure which is conducted in order to
gathered information about business performance. This process also assists manager in
identifying the factor which has direct as well as significant effect on organizational
performance. An organizational assessment differs from other types of evaluations because the
assessment focuses on the company as the primary unit of analysis.
4

Swot analysis is considered to be as an effective tool which can be utilized by manager in
an enterprise for executing the internal assessment of an organization. Another major advantage
of using swot analysis is that it helps an organization in identifying the way to gain competitive
advantage. The major limitation of swot analysis is that certain capabilities or factors of a
company can be both a strength and weakness at the same time except Swot, Tows analysis is
also considered to be as an appropriate technique which help manager in identifying the strength,
weakness, opportunities and threats (Ray, 2014). Tows analysis is an instrument which support
management in identifying ways to overcome weakness and increase its strength.
SWOT analysis
This is a process used to evaluate the micro environmental factors which helps in
identifying overall strengths and weaknesses of Morrison's. It has four different factors, for
example,
 Strengths: This factor helps in identifying the internal strength of an organization which
can help in improving their business. For example, Morrison's has a good brand name in
industry which can be its strength. It has highly skilled workers as well.
 Weaknesses: In this factor, it helps in determining the weaknesses possessed by
company in their system requiring improvement. For example, Morrison's is not that
good in product demand forecasting. Also, they have poor financial planning which can
affect their business.
 Opportunities: This factor helps in determining opportunities that are available in
market. For example, Morrison's can expand their business in different countries which
can help them in generating a good revenue. New trends in consumer behaviour is also a
good opportunity for the organization.
 Threats: There is huge threat for Morrison's which they have to deal effectively. For
example, there is high increase in the market share of their competitors like, Tesco and
Asda. Increase in taxes and change of government policies is another threat for
organization.
Critical success factor of Morrison is that business entity has effective management
system. Manager in an organization have good leadership quality. The another critical success
factor of Morrison organization is high performing culture which has driven organization
5

towards achievement of success and fostering of growth. In addition to this Leadership is success
factor for firm which has assisted manager in developing team of highly talented and skilled
workforce. Policy of Morrison is to set clear expectations as well as benchmarks in order to
develop high performing culture.
Morrison has able to establish good position in the market and has able to maintain
reputation by offering good quality of products at reasonable price to customers. Business entity
has differentiated itself and has achieved leadership position in an industry due to high quality of
products. Morrison offers wide range of products to its customers. In addition to this, business
entity has an efficient supply chain and distribution network though which an enterprise has able
to provide quick delivery of products or services to customers. An organization also have more
than 450 stores in United Kingdom which has allowed business venture to deliver goods and
provides services to people at different location. Strong supply chain networks has enabled an
enterprise to provide high level of satisfaction to customers. An organization has own
distribution network (French, 2015). Business entity has strong infrastructure which has helped
an organization in reducing the cost. Strong brand portfolio is another major strength which has
allowed firm to expand business. An organization with its dedicated customer relationship
management department has able to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction. Business entity
has successfully built a culture among distributor as well as dealers where these stakeholders not
only promote company’s products but also invest in training the sales team. There is highly
competitive as well as effective working environment within an enterprise which has assisted
manager in motivating employees to work for benefit of an organization. Effective working
culture as well as safe working environment has supported business in retaining as well as
attracting more highly skilled and talented workers.
Besides the strength, the major weakness of Morrison is that firm has low Market share.
In addition to this business entity also have limited geographical reach as compared to some
other big brands.
Another weakness of firm is that due to quality issues, Morrison organization has to
suffer from Product recall which has negative influence of reputation of company. Management
in Morrison need to invest more in the training of its employees to improve their services.
Company in house services and outsourcing facility of products is complicated and can pose
6

issues during its expansions of stores. Big weakness of Morrison is that Organization structure is
only compatible with present business model which has limited the expansion in adjacent
product segments. In addition to this high employee turnover as compared to other business
entities in an industry. This is considered to be as major weakness, as high employee turnover
rate has negative effect on business performance of an enterprise. Low customer recall as well
weak loyalty program are weakness of an organization. In addition to this, business entity does
not have high potential to provide quick response to changes. This factor has great influence on
culture of an enterprise. Evidence of the statement is that Morrison organization has failed to
adapt itself to technological changes. Company struggling for achieving leadership has great
effect on company culture as well as working environment.
Some business opportunities which can be captured by Morrison includes international
expansion of business. Morrison company can increase its market share by developing effective
promotional strategies (Denhardt, Denhardt and Aristigueta, 2015) .Manager in an organization
can attract more number of customers by providing additional facilities through online channel.
In addition to this by creating new policies for employees and providing appropriate training to
them, company can retain its highly talented and skilled workers. Another weakness of firm is
that it provides the late response to changes.
Some threats which Morrison organization has to face is increase in level of competition,
inflation etc. The big competitors of Morrison are Tesco, Sainsbury and Asda etc. Another threat
is changes in law, business entity may be exposed to various liability claims given change in
policies. Increase is the technological risk is another major threat faced by an enterprise. Another
threat is changes in external factors might have negative effect on the business performance of
company. In addition to this changes in pricing strategy by competitors can lead to the decline in
profitability by an enterprise.
PESTLE analysis
Political factors
Changing governmental policy will place
negative impact on taxation. Further, Brexit
will impact operations of firm in several
manner
Economic factors
Company has its own suppliers.
Economic condition of UK has recovered
significantly after recessionary session.
Social factors
Now, customers prefer to purchase cost
effective and healthier products or services.
Technological factors
High level of emphasis needs to be placed on
social media marketing and online selling. By
7

Thus, for gaining success Morrison’s need to
meet such changing customers need and
preferences.
focusing on such aspects firm can get success
in the competitive environment.
Legal factors
Morrison’s need to comply with several laws
and legislation while operating in UK such as
Employment Act, Consumer Protection Act.
Environmental factors
For attaining success business needs to lay
more focus on recycling. Hence, company
needs to perform activities in an eco-friendly
manner for enhancing brand image.
Culture in a company indicates the beliefs, ideologies, policies, business practices
conducted by an enterprise. It provides workers with the sense of direction. Organizational
culture includes people, resources, company’s aims as well as objectives and value for people
those who works in a company. Culture within an enterprise plays important role in development
as well as implementation of business strategies. Success and growth of business is completely
based on the culture within a company. It is very much essential for leader or manager in an
organization to develop the understanding about culture, as this tactic will help leaders in making
suitable decisions. Manager in Morrison organization is required to view strategic management
from a cultural perspective, as this tactic will assist an enterprise in improving business
performance (Piaget, 2013). Culture within an enterprise has direct as well as major effect on
individual as well as overall business performance.
Morrison operates in highly competitive as well as dynamic business environment.
Changes in external as well as internal factors have direct as well as significant influence on
organizational performance as well as effect on culture within an enterprise For instances
changes in employment law has direct as well as significant influence or effect on relationship
between employer and employee. Another example in amendment in health and safety law has
direct impact on working environment within an organization. In addition to this, other
constituents such as changes in social, technological, political factors have direct effect on the
company culture as well as business. On the other hand, internal factors plays crucial role in
influencing the working environment as well as culture within a company. Some internal
constituents are business structure, communication, values, leadership style, etc.
Value plays important role in influencing the culture within an organization. It is the
factor which determines the inner culture of a company. Manager and leaders make important
8

contribution in developing high performance culture within an organization. It is very much
essential for manager or leader in Morrison to respect the views of employees and listen their
problems, as this tactic will enable employees to feel themselves as important part of company
(Hogg and Terry, 2014). It will also help leader in developing as well as maintaining strong
relationship with employees which is very much crucial for developing as well as maintaining
effective culture within an organisation.
Goals and objective of, it includes the process as well as strategies adopted by an
enterprise in order to achieve desired objectives also have major influence on organisational
culture. For instance, employee working in government company is required to follow systematic
process for completing the task.
Effective business structure includes such procedures and policies which provides high
level of satisfaction to employees. Such type of business structure supports manager in inspiring
workers to work for the benefit of an enterprise. In context of Morrison, manager in an
organization has formulated reward as well as incentive scheme or system in order to motivate
employees to increase their participation in decision making process as well as other business
activities.
Leadership style, this factor has major effect on culture as well as working environment
within an organisation. The style adopted by leaders and their behaviour has direct as well as
major influence on employees' attitude as well as performance. It is required by leaders or
manager in Morrison to have positive attitude and adopt supportive leadership style. In addition
to this participative leadership style can also be adopted by leaders, as it will help leaders in
measuring the performance of workers and analysing the behaviour of subordinate during the
task. It is required by leaders as well as manager in Morrison to gain knowledge about
management, develop leadership qualities and additional skills (Braun and. et. al., 2013). Core
competencies as well as abilities will assist manager in developing an effective working culture
within an enterprise. It will also support leader in creating a team of highly talented and skilled
workforce which is very much important in order to drive organisation towards achievement of
business objectives. In Morrisons, manager or leader in a company enables subordinate to make
their own decision. Such type of culture helps leaders in developing strong relationship with
subordinates.
9

Resources, it is major as well as long term effect on company culture as well as working
environment. Lack of resources has direct effect on employees’ performance. It also has great
influence on business performance. As unavailability of resources might lead to the conflicts at
workplace which have negative influence on culture as well as organisational performance.
Resources such as money or capital is required to develop effective culture within an enterprise.
Management in Morrison need to make investment for providing training to employees in order
to make them behave professionally with customer.
Business policies and code of conduct created by manager within an enterprise has great
effect on the culture. Regulation as well as policies are developed by manager in an organisation
for maintaining discipline and encouraging employees to become professionals. Business
policies and regulation have positive impact on employees as well as business performance. It
helps management in ensuring highly level of commitment from workforce which is very much
crucial for Morrison in order to maintain leading position within an industry (Alavosius and et.
al., 2016). It is required by manager or leader in Morrison to set specific standards, as this will
help an enterprise in maintaining leadership position in market. Rules created by manager helps
them in controlling the behaviour of employees.
In addition to internal factors, some external constituent which have influence on
company culture as well as working environment are technology, amendments in norms,
policies etc.
Commercial relationship has significant influence on employees' behaviour as well as
culture within a firm. For example, if Morrison has relationship with other business entities that
business is based on high prospects, Employees might react in their working as the reason of
those high prospects.
Technological factors plays important role in bringing positive as well as drastic
improvement in organisational culture. Manager in Morrison company can create competitive
culture can create competitive culture within an organisation. By implementing technology at
workplace, manager or leader in Morrison can encourage people to increase their working
efficiency as well as productivity. Technology reduces the face to face interaction which is the
drawback of employing the technology within an enterprise.
10