Research Group Project
Investigation and analysis of parameters "Corporate Culture" and
"Teams and Teamwork" in the multinational "KFC" company
Corporate culture in KFC:
Culture simply refers to the customs, behaviors, and artifacts that members of society use to communicate with one another. However, corporate culture is a set of assumptions, experiences, philosophy and values of the past and present of an organization that have kept the people of an organization together (Lanier & Kirchner, 2013, p.62).
Every organization has its own unique culture that defines it based on a specific pattern and guides and directs employees based on predefined policies. It is based on this cultural paradigm that an organization can determine what is right or wrong or how to respond to unforeseen crises and sudden changes. All employees have a responsibility to adapt to the culture of the organization so that they can communicate properly with others and meet the expectations of the organization(Mahmudur Rahman, 2019). With this brief introduction, it is possible to understand how critical organizational culture is for achieving the strategic goals and success of an organization in a competitive market. Some of the most important features of KFC organizational culture include the following.
KFC vision statement
The vision statement is one of the indicators of organizational culture and describes the future position of the company and its long-term goals and aspirations. KFC Vision Statement is concise, comprehensive and accurate. The company has not used long dialects and dialogues to provide its opinion and stance to the public and related stakeholders. The KFC vision statement is as follows: "To sell food in a fast, friendly environment that appeals to price conscious, health-minded consumers" (Zhou & Zhang, 2012, p.16).
Three levels of corporate culture in KFC
If we assume that organizational culture is circular, it will have three layers. The outermost layer of artifacts will be the middle of values and beliefs and the inner layer will be basic assumptions (Cui & Ting, 2009). KFC organizational culture is its strongest asset and can be analyzed on these three levels:
1. Artefacts of KFC’s organizational culture:
Artefacts form the outermost layer of organizational culture, which includes tangible aspects of KFC organizational culture. Some examples of artifacts include open door policy, office layout and formal dress code for employees. The cultural artefacts of the KFC are easily observable by the outside world, but difficult to interpret (Lanier & Kirchner, 2013, p64).
2. Values within the KFC’s organizational culture:
As Zhou & Zhang (2012) explain, the core values are parameters that are not easily visible, because they are in the middle layer. The KFC’s core values are the shared goals, principles and standards. These core values are accountability, diversity, quality, collaboration, passion, integrity and leadership. The KFC management recognizes the significance of communicating the core values so that each employee could accept and modify the behavior accordingly.
3. Assumptions indoors the KFC’s organizational culture:
The assumptions include the deep ideologies and philosophies that underlie KFC organizational culture. Organizational assumptions are usually "well-known", but are not discussed, nor are they written or easily found. On the other hand, employees are generally unaware of these basic assumptions, but these assumptions play an important role in shaping their thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, and feelings (Mahmudur Rahman, 2019).
Analysis of KFC corporate culture according to “Hofstede” model
The organizational culture model presented by "Hofstede" is of great importance among analysts. This model, which has six dimensions, is often used to analyze the organizational culture of any company (Hofstede Insights, 2019). In my analysis, I will briefly focus on the six dimensions of KFC organizational culture according to Hofstede's cultural model.
Dimension 1: Means oriented versus goals oriented
A mean oriented organizational culture emphasizes over ‘how’ the work is carried out and reflects the people’s risk avoidance behavior. While, the goal oriented culture emphasizes over the results, focus on ‘what’ can be achieved, and it shows the tendency of people to take more risks (Lanier & Kirchner, 2013, p.65). According to Klement (2018), KFC has successfully achieved the right balance between Means oriented and goals oriented. Focusing on the mean orientation, KFC emphasizes that employees must follow ethics and use integrated methods to achieve the company's set goals. In this way, employees are encouraged to promote only healthy competition. By focusing on goal orientation, KFC encourages its employees to do their utmost to achieve the company's goals. In addition, employees are not punished for taking risks, but are encouraged to take risks only if they are valuable(Hofstede Insights, 2019). Thus, the analysis shows that KFC intends to find the right equilibrium position for the means oriented and goals oriented, and this can be one of the reasons for the company's strategic success.
Dimension 2: Internally driven versus externally driven
In a company with an internal organizational culture, they attach great importance to ethics and honesty and believe that in order to achieve the desired results; one must be committed to moral values. In contrast, organizations with an external culture believe that meeting customer demands is more important than business ethics (Hofstede Insights, 2019). As a result, they take a more pragmatic rather than a moral approach. KFC organizational culture is more internal than external. Despite ensuring a quick response to the changing needs of their customers, they emphasize the importance of an ethical attitude while responding to market needs (Cui & Ting, 2009).The company has a strong commitment to ethics and integrity in its business activities. This culture has enabled the organization to have a superior business ethic over its competitors.
Dimension 3: Open system versus the closed system
Organizations with open systems welcome new employees, keep their doors open to outsiders, welcome diversity, and, in a word, are more flexible. On the other hand, in organizations with a closed system, it is difficult for newcomers to set up and communicate, they do not accept diversity, and they are generally exclusive (Hofstede Insights, 2019). The organizational culture at KFC shows that the company has a clear desire for an open system. KFC has open lines of communication and the organizational culture is flexible and diverse. This cultural system has enabled the organization to use the knowledge, skills and competencies of employees in various fields(Mahmudur Rahman, 2019). Incidentally, KFC's competitive advantage lies in its highly diverse workforce management ability.
Dimension 4: Employee orientation versus work orientation
An employee-centered organization puts employees above its customers and shareholders, and human capital is strategically important to them. On the other hand, in a purely working-class culture, organizations tend to put too much pressure on employees and place too much emphasis on maximizing work efficiency, even at the cost of destroying the general well-being of employees (Hofstede Insights, 2019). KFC management truly understands the value of its human capital and prioritizes employee satisfaction and motivation. They maintain a balance between duty and employee well-being and avoid putting pressure on employees that may lead to burnout. By motivating employees through rewards and training to manage stress, the organization takes time to improve the performance and mental health of its employees (Zhou & Zhang, 2012, p.21).
Dimension 5: Local versus professional organizational culture
In companies with a local culture, employees have a strong desire to connect with people around them, such as teammates, co-workers or the boss. On the other hand, in companies with a high degree of professional culture, employees tend to identify with their profession or work content (Hofstede Insights, 2019). KFC creates a professional attitude among its employees and at the same time, there is no duty for the specific behavior of the employees. Therefore, at KFC, fostering a professional organizational culture is critical to success in a highly diverse environment (Klement, 2018).
Dimension 6: Easygoing work discipline versus the strict work discipline
Companies with easygoing work discipline have a structure without strict hierarchy. Management exercises limited control only to ensure discipline, and culture lacks dogmatic certainty. On the other hand, companies with strict work discipline are quite hierarchical. Management exercises strict control and employees work with a serious attitude in a regular work environment (Hofstede Insights, 2019). KFC organizational culture analysis shows that the company is more closely related to a disciplined work culture with a vertical hierarchy. Instead, the creative and innovative behaviors of employees are promoted with various monetary and non-monetary rewards, but are limited due to the tendency of organization towards strict work order, power and independence(Zhou & Zhang, 2012, p.22). However, in response to the employees' need for independence and empowerment, management has decided to implement a gradual change from a centralized to a decentralized organizational structure. This change causes part of the authority to be transferred from top to bottom, and as a result, the organization achieves a new balance between hard and fluid structure(Cui & Ting, 2009).
In overall, KFC corporate culture analysis shows that the organization has successfully developed a strong organizational culture that is fully embraced by its highly diverse workforce. KFC attempts to strike the right balance for the development of effective culture, so it does not take an extreme cultural orientation. It can be concluded that one of the most important reasons for their success is the alignment between the structure, culture and business strategies of this organization. This balance and flexibility make an effective connection between the underlying assumptions, core values, and observed behaviors. Organizations with a strong corporate culture secure their place in a competitive market, and KFC is an example.
Investigation "Teams and Teamwork" in KFC
Every job needs people to be able to communicate with others in their field of work and have the ability to advance things as a team. Teamwork is a very important skill through which things can be done faster, better and more successfully. Teams is one of the most important drivers for planning, organizing and solving problems in order to achieve the strategic goals of the company (Kiat, Siew & Jamal, 2019). At KFC, teamwork goes well, staff members of all ages, men and women with different backgrounds, work well together, solve problems and introduce new skills to help each other. According to Jones (2010), KFC puts employees in the group and ensures that they all communicate well to provide customer satisfaction, and always uses this famous slogan to show the success of their teamwork; "We work together as one team, always. No matter how busy we are, we make sure we get together to talk things through" (Gosser, 2014, p.6). KFC follows a series of programs to further validate teamwork within the organization, some of the most important of which can be mention.
Schedule:
The team schedule is sent to the team members two weeks in advance, so that they can do their daily planning and adjust to it. This way, team members can coordinate with each other in advance if they need to change schedules or relocate (Jones, 2010).
Shift Planner:
In each work shift, there is a diagram of the location of the team to work in the shift. This diagram allows team members to know where they will be working, and in this way, tensions and disagreements are reduced as much as possible (Gosser, 2014, p.7).
Voice of the Customer:
There is a customer satisfaction program in all KFC restaurants. This program includes standardized reports through which team members can find out the percentage of their customers' satisfaction with the quality or service and thus improve teamwork to achieve customer satisfaction (Kiat. et al., 2019).
Communication bulletin:
Every Monday, KFC sends out communication bulletins to all restaurants. This bulletin entitled "What is Important Now" is a way to connect with all team members. Thus, team members will be informed about the latest information, tactics and important points that should be considered in the work (Mahmudur Rahman, 2019).
Division of work in teams:
Teams at KFC have a variety of tasks, including food preparation, customer transactions, health care, answering customer questions, and more. In addition, each team at KFC has its own specific responsibilities and is focused on it. As Jones (2010) described, these teams include the evaluation team (monitoring), the expert team, the shaping team, the executive team (acting), the coordinating team, the completion team, the work team, etc.
Participate in solving teamwork problems:
KFC teams have the ability to continuously evaluate themselves and improve processes, practices, and interactions among their members. For this purpose, evaluation sessions are held continuously to raise and resolve problems collectively (Kiat. et al., 2019). The management of the organization believes that the personal and personality problems of the members should not be allowed to create problems in the work process. To achieve successful teamwork, team members must freely discuss group norms and explore barriers to talent development and strategy development (Jones, 2010).
Staff training
Human resources are one of the main strategic resources and the importance of establishing a "people-centered" culture in KFC .For this reason, company annually organizes various training courses to strengthen the skills of team members and support the growth of their personality, from restaurant waiters, restaurant managers to senior management personnel of the company (Gosser, 2014, p.10). All team members are required to participate in short-term training courses to improve their professional level and to adapt to continuous changes in the labor market. On the other hand, all teams receive basic training, which includes food safety, job familiarization and online testing (Kiat. et al., 2019). Therefore, periodic and continuous training of teams and managers at different levels is one of the effective teamwork development programs in KFC.
As a result, in KFC, communication is the basis of effective teamwork. Team members believe in the parameters of teamwork such as time management, problem solving, listening, critical thinking, collaboration and leadership. Team leaders make sure that the division of labor in all teams is clear and that everyone knows their daily work. Most importantly, their culture is such that, if someone needs help and another team member knows what to do, they should help. Therefore, these features make KFC superior in organizational culture and teamwork to other competitors.
References
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