The Effect of Organisational Culture on Woolworths Performance

This literature review examines the effects of organizational culture on employee performance and productivity within Woolworths Group Limited. It begins by defining organizational behavior and culture, emphasizing the shared beliefs and values that shape workplace conduct. The review analyzes Woolworths' organizational culture, exploring Handy's cultural model and its implications. It determines the importance of organizational culture on employee performance, highlighting how a positive work environment, clear expectations, and resource allocation drive employee engagement and productivity. The review also investigates the impact of culture on performance, emphasizing its link to team productivity, organizational objectives, and employee efforts. Finally, it identifies effective strategies for maintaining a positive organizational culture, such as establishing ethical values, fostering collaboration, providing learning opportunities, and recognizing employee contributions, to improve employee performance and productivity. The review concludes that a strong organizational culture is crucial for fostering employee engagement, motivation, and overall success within Woolworths Group Limited.

OB Literature Review

Contents
TOPIC .............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................1
Theme 1: To analyse the organisational culture of Woolworths Group Limited........................1
Theme 3: To determine importance of organisational culture on performance and productivity
of employees of Woolworths Group Limited..............................................................................2
Theme 2: To examine the impact of organisational culture on performance and productivity of
employees of Woolworths Group Limited..................................................................................3
Theme 3: To identify effective strategies of maintaining a positive organisational culture to
improve employee productivity and performance in Woolworths Group Limited.....................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

TOPIC
“The Effect of Organisational Culture on Employee Performance and Productivity within
Woolworths Group Limited.”
INTRODUCTION
Organisational behaviour is termed as study of behaviour of humans within an enterprise,
interface among company and human behaviour as well as the business itself. Organisational
culture is part of organisational behaviour which is delineated to system of shared beliefs, values
as well as assumptions that reflects workforce what is suitable along with unsuitable behaviour
(Shujahat and Et. Al., 2019). Literature review is a cost effective and adequate source for
collecting information about a topic. Present literature review emphasises towards effects of
organisational culture on employee productivity and performance in a company. The aim of the
literature review is to examine effects of culture on performance and productivity of employees
of a company that is Woolworths Group Limited.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theme 1: To analyse the organisational culture of Woolworths Group Limited
As per Stewart (2020), culture is termed as combined values, behaviours, attitudes addition
to values of a company in which staff members fit in (Stewart, 2020). It covers the ways in
which people are expected to think as well as act in specific manner at workplace. An
organisation with strong workplace culture promotes structured and positive work environment
which assists in attaining success heights. An establishment with strong culture tends to become
more successful at location which promotes engagement, performance and productivity of its
workforce. In aspect to Woolworths Group Limited, organisational culture creates an atmosphere
at workplace addition to influences nature of long term plans which move the company to its
mission and vision. It dictates policies along with processes which enable managers of the
company to live or carry out practices for business mission every day.
Parent and Lovelace (2018) says that Handy’s cultural model is a framework that states
that there are four kinds of culture that a company follows (Parent and Lovelace, 2018). One is
power culture that is centralised culture which emphasises towards key decision makers. If
power culture is followed in Woolworths Group Limited, members of the company can respond
fastly to disaster due to clarity of line of command and attract certain profile of people which are
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politically minded, power oriented and risk takers. Another kind of culture is role culture which
is more formalised culture with number of jobs having clear procedures addition to lines. If role
culture is followed in Woolworths Group Limited, individuals can know their positions or
designations within hierarchy. Within role culture, each and every personnel is delegated
responsibilities as well as roles in accordance to specialisation, interest and so on aspects for
extracting best from them. Another kind of culture is task culture in which emphasis is on
particular projects and activities. If Woolworths Group Limited follows task culture, then
individuals can brought in for working on tasks and required to share ideas across divisional
heads. People culture is also a category of Handy’s cultural model in which workforce have
considerable freedom for performing or acting independently.
In Woolworths Group Limited, role culture is followed which permits bringing expertise to
reign over power. It provides employees with huge stability, continuity and certainty (Culture of
Woolworths Group Limited, 2022). With this culture, Woolworths Group Limited strives to
provide truly inclusive place of work wherein each person is provided opportunity for making
decision for what best they can do as well as willingly accept challenges.
Theme 3: To determine importance of organisational culture on performance and productivity of
employees of Woolworths Group Limited
In accordance to viewpoints of Chen, Jiao and Harrison (2019), organisational culture is
important for a company as it influences all aspects of business, from tone of contractual terms,
employee benefits and punctuality (Chen, Jiao and Harrison, 2019). In context to Woolworths
Group Limited, work environment which entails organisational culture is driven through clear
expectations addition to purpose. It inspires together with motivates employees to become more
engaged in work based duties together with interactions with others that results in higher
workforce engagement levels contributing to driving employee productivity at Woolworths
Group Limited. Strong connections to company and its personnel creates an environment of
positivity which is significant to drive performance and productivity of workforce. Moreover,
effective organisational culture guides superiors to arrange resources, equipment and tools that
are required by employees for achieving success. It contributes in impacting on performances
and productivity level overall. For instance, role culture of Woolworths Group Limited assist
people to devise decision for best they can do and accept challenges willingly which bring
workforce of same skill together. People who share similar skill sets, educational qualifications
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and backgrounds work more fastly collective at the time of tackling projects that signifies
importance of organisational culture on productivity and performances of employees.
Pattanayak (2021) says that organisational culture builds high performing workplace
which strengthens work of people in the establishment contributing to overall employee
experience in terms of higher productivity and performance overall (Pattanayak, 2021). Business
concern, for example, Woolworths Group Limited promotes community in workplace that is
more likely to retain best of its people. Delegation of responsibilities accordance to
specialisation, interest and educational qualification makes employees great at jobs as well as
know value of skill sets yields greater productivity and higher performance at workplace.
Furthermore, organisational culture improves workflows together with guide process of decision
making of employees. With role culture, teams of Woolworths Group Limited overcome barriers
related to ambiguity. People who are informed as well as knowledgeable for certain practices and
processes are more motivated for completing projects with greater performances and higher level
of productivity. Clear culture unifies manpower along with promotes organised structure of work
which assist team working with purposes to achieve visions.
Theme 2: To examine the impact of organisational culture on performance and productivity of
employees of Woolworths Group Limited
According to Harbour (2018) companies culture is highly linked to employees productivity
and as a leader of an organisation it is important for them to understand the relationship
(Harbour, 2018). Companies culture is intentionally created, nurtured and maintained thus highly
linked to productivity of workforce as they impact each other to great extent. There are certain
ways in which culture impacts performances such as productivity of team accelerates,
organisation's objectives are supported and employee efforts are improved. In context to
Woolworths Group Limited, firm's culture influences mindsets of individuals which further
impacts their efforts to achieve organisational goals. High performance culture facilitates high
performing workforce as employees takes it as positive peer pressure. Great culture within
Woolworths Group Limited leads to more productive people as they feel engaged in firms
activities. Culture of firm presents the people who work for them, what they think is morally
right and wrong, what they believe in and how to react in certain situations. If managers takes in
practices to exploit staff in order to increase quantity of production unit, then it might result in
hampering employee's performances. Thus having appropriate behavioural patterns in leaders
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can highly improve culture of firm which will further enhance potential of employees to do their
best.
As good productivity is outcome of motivation and effective leadership, it is essential for
leaders of Woolworths Group Limited to thrive robust culture. The extent to which company's
goals are properly perceived by its staff, rises the probability of employees engagement in
planning procedures to attain them. Impelling culture in Woolworths Group Limited tends to
facilitate a structure where employees are part of decision making process which results in
positive outcomes in terms of increased participation. Organisation culture helps in driving
innovation, employee improvements, retention and eventually lead the company in direction of
its objectives (Upadhyay and Kumar, 2020). Employees within organisation develops affirmative
relationships with other individuals at workplace as they feel an important part of company's
culture. Highly committed employees of organisation yields high outputs and their performances
are also supported by great motivation. The management of Woolworths Group Limited
undertakes collaborative culture which helps to enhance productivity, cooperation and
collaboration so that employees feel encouraged throughout competition. The firms adopts
principle driven policies which guides employees to make reasonable decisions. Thus, it is
assessed that Woolworths Group Limited culture has robust link to productivity and
performances of employees as well as highly impact personnels mindsets and resulting in
engaging them in work. The foundation of strong productivity is winning culture as human
beings excel when they feel happy and engaged in the work they do for organisation.
Theme 3: To identify effective strategies of maintaining a positive organisational culture to
improve employee productivity and performance in Woolworths Group Limited
As per Maamari and Saheb (2018), several organisation believed that high pressure and lack
of proper culture can hinder potential financial success (Maamari and Saheb, 2018). In a
workplace, leadership and strategic firm directions as well as robust management impact
workplace culture to high extent. A positive workplace culture can lead to improved team work,
accelerates morale, maximises productivity and efficiency of employees. Affirmative workplace
culture helps in reducing stress in employees and support high staff retention. In context to
Woolworths Group Limited, managers can take on several strategies to keep a positive
organisational culture which can result in improving productivity and performances of its
workforce. Management can strive to establish clear ethical values and factors which they
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considered right and wrong. They can make certain policies and action which provides strong
basis to employees operations. Managers of Woolworths Group Limited can foster collaboration
and communication by encouraging open and honest interactions as well as teamwork to
maintain positive working environment at workplace. This will provide opportunity to
employees to foster and nurture connections in organisation.
Continuous learning opportunities will enable teams to evaluate their implicit prejudices
which can affect their engagement with firm and other employees. Management can take
necessary steps to build an inclusive environment of work where all employees are supported,
valued and respected irrespective of their gender, race or colour (Ganguly, Talukdar and
Chatterjee, 2019). They should maintain strategies in ways that provides every employee with
equal opportunities to further progress in their career, this motivation factor will result in highly
enhancing productivity of employees. One of significant strategy that could be adopted by
Woolworths Group Limited is expressing gratitude towards its employees for their contribution
in firm's success. It involves appreciating them for their hard work and efforts as this will
eventually lead to enhance their further performance.
Woolworths Group Limited can prove its loyalty and concern towards its workforce by
prioritizing their rational, physical and wellbeing. Employees retention will increase with help of
this strategy as every human being wants to work in company with culture that promotes their
wellness. Allowing proper perks and incentives to employees who does extra work or showed
peculiar interest in achieving organisational goals can help in enhancing their performance in
firm. For this, firm can adopt transparency to measure progress and performances of employees
so to encourage employees to take on every opportunity that comes in their way (Hickman and
Silva, 2018). When objectives are affirmatively reinforced as well as when achievements are
acknowledged, it results in staff feeling valued and celebrated which in turns produces positive
culture at workplace. An affirmative culture in Woolworths Group Limited is crucial for
fostering a feeling of pride and belongingness amongst the work force. When employees feel
motivated and have maximised engagement in organisation, then they work with their full
potential which improves their efforts and productivity.
CONCLUSION
From the information presented above, it has been concluded that organisation culture is
sum of accepted values, beliefs and practices which governs and instructs activities of all
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members of an entity. Role culture in organisation means to delegate duties and responsibilities
as per specialization and expertise of subordinates to extract out the best out of them. It helps
companies to foster healthy team environment, alleviate maximum productivity and enhance
performances of team. Maintaining a positive culture can assists management to increase
communication with employees and better engage them with business activities.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Chen, J., Jiao, L. and Harrison, G., 2019. Organisational culture and enterprise risk management:
The Australian not‐for‐profit context. Australian Journal of Public Administration.
78(3). pp.432-448.
Ganguly, A., Talukdar, A. and Chatterjee, D., 2019. Evaluating the role of social capital, tacit
knowledge sharing, knowledge quality and reciprocity in determining innovation
capability of an organization. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Hickman, C. R. and Silva, M. A., 2018. Creating excellence: Managing corporate culture,
strategy, and change in the new age. Routledge.
Maamari, B. E. and Saheb, A., 2018. How organizational culture and leadership style affect
employees’ performance of genders. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.
Parent, J. D. and Lovelace, K. J., 2018. Employee engagement, positive organizational culture
and individual adaptability. On the Horizon.
Pattanayak, S., 2021. Psychological Contract, Happiness, and Organisational Culture: A
Symbiotic Relationship. Organization Development Journal. 39(3).
Shujahat, M. and Et. Al., 2019. Translating the impact of knowledge management processes into
knowledge-based innovation: The neglected and mediating role of knowledge-worker
productivity. Journal of Business Research. 94. pp.442-450.
Upadhyay, P. and Kumar, A., 2020. The intermediating role of organizational culture and
internal analytical knowledge between the capability of big data analytics and a firm’s
performance. International Journal of Information Management. 52. p.102100.
Online:
Culture of Woolworths Group Limited. 2022. [Online]. Available through:
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/community-and-responsibility/group-
responsibility/our-people/an-inclusive-place-to-work
Harbour. S. 2018. Company Culture is Linked to Employee Productivity, 2018. [Online]
Availbable through: <https://www.zenefits.com/workest/company-culture-linked-
employee-productivity/>
Stewart. A. M. 2020. Why organizational culture matters. [Online]. Available through:
https://www.hcamag.com/au/specialisation/corporate-wellness/why-organizational-
culture-matters/211101
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