Q1. Develop and define the organizational culture that you require in the hotel. How will you build and measure this culture?
According to Deal and Kennedy (as cited in Morrison, Brown, & Smit, 2006) organisational culture in an informal set of standard protocols, socially agreed in an organisation that helps the employees understand how life actually works inside the premises that include rewards and punishments offered at times. The organisational culture of an organisation can be identified from the work lifestyle of an organisation which usually portrays the beliefs and views of the management team which has a direct effect on the symbols and rituals followed in the organisation (Pettigrew as cited in Morrison, Brown, & Smit, 2006). Carroll and Nafukho conducted a research in 2006 which was cited in (Fard, Rostamy, & Taghiloo, 2009) and found out that the system of set protocols are shared amongst the organisations employees, and they have to be accepted by new members. Sheil and Martin (as cited in Mathewa & Ogbonnab, 2009) explain organisational culture as the key to enhance job satisfaction and commitment of employees. This can be achieved by linking the organisational culture to the performance of the employees which will result in job satisfaction, increased commitment, better productivity and top quality.
To develop an organisational culture in a hotel the ‘Three levels of organisational culture’ explained by Schein (as cited in Schueber, 2009) needs to be understood. According to Schein a culture is founded on the basis of the artefacts such as language spoken, social behaviour, dressing styles, rites and rituals, and espoused values like the mission statement, those which justify behaviour and actions; and the basic principles that guide peoples’ perception. Schein (as cited in Fard, Rostamy, & Taghiloo, 2009) says that an organisational culture is comprised of two layers namely visible which is the outer layer and the invisible layer which is inside a person. The visible layer is made up of the artefacts such as the social behaviour; languages spoken; etc. and the hidden layer is formed by the values, beliefs and the people’s attitude. Fard et al., (2009) in their work have mentioned Hellrigle and Slocum model on types of organisational culture says that the culture in an organisation depends upon the size and the environmental adaptability of the organisation.
Building an organisational culture can be best explained by assuming the 8-step model of Kotler (1996). Farkas conducted a research in 2013 to understand how Kotlers model can be implemented to create a culture of assessment that is embedded in the organizational culture of an academic library. According to Kotler (as cited in Farkas, 2013) gives us eight steps to developing and implement a sustainable organisational culture. The eight steps are subdivided into three groups, viz. Prepare, Implement and manage. The process starts with creating a need of urgency for a change or why do we need an organisational culture? This is followed up by understanding the resistances and removing the obstacles that may bring difficulties to achieve the learning in hotel. Once the barriers are removed an image needs to be created to give the culture a direction for achieving short term and long term goals. Once the vision is finalized, it needs to be communicated to the organisations internal stakeholders. There will be some obstacles and negative perceptions created amongst the employees that are needed to be removed as it may resist the implementation of the new organisational culture. Once the obstacles have been cleared measure the success of the implemented organisational culture by developing an assessment plan. Once the assessment has been reviewed, and the necessary changes have been made the learning needs to be anchored in the organisation.
Measuring an organisational culture implemented in the new setup hotel is a difficult job as