“A critical investigation into the organizational culture of Massy Stores”

Organizational Background and Problem Definition

Massy Stores is one of the biggest supermarket chains of Trinidad and Tobago. It is a premier retailer principally based at Caribbean Basin. The vision statement of the company states that the company is focusing on expanding the reach constantly. Massy Stores super market focuses on value creation. It emphasizes on transforming lives through maintain commitment to the customers and satisfying the customers for making them happy. The company has been focusing on developing trust and achieving customer loyalty as a part of their growth strategy.  Massy Stores is a retail chain which is thriving to deliver a pleasant, safe and delightful experience of shopping to the customers. Massy Stores Supermarket is also emphasizing on fostering the mutual beneficial as well as ethical business relationship with the aid of suppliers. The mission of the company includes it cares about the organizational environment and the commitments made by the organization. The supermarket chain has specific set of values which help in maintaining the internal as well as external standard of service. Practicing honesty helps in strengthening the personal as well as professional growth. It helps in improving the reputation for integrity. The organizational culture emphasizes on showing respect to others which helps in appreciating others leading to a positive working environment.  The fair business practice helps in developing good relationships which encourages the employees (Massystorestt.com, 2014).

Presently, it has been observed that the company has been confronting major labor issues. Shortage of labor is a significant problem in Trinidad and Tobago. There are many vacant positions in the organization which could not be filled. Hence, existing labors have to work for longer hours and share additional job responsibilities. It is leading to a major problem in the company and affecting the organizational culture (Singh, 2014).

Research Question

Research questions are designed for briefly discussing the major concerns of the paper or the core problem needs to be solved. The research questions for this research study are given below:

• What are the strengths of the existing organizational culture of the Massy Stores?
• What are the weaknesses of the existing organizational culture of the Massy Stores?
• How the weaknesses of the Massy Stores can be improved?

Research Objective

The objectives of this research paper indicate the purpose of the research study. It denotes the desired outcome of the study. The research objectives of this paper are given below:

• Understanding the organizational culture at Massy
• Identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the organizational culture.
• Recommending best solutions for improving the organizational culture by improving the weakness identified in the organizational culture.

Literature Review

The literature review section will include the relevant organizational behavior theories. The literature review will consider the aspect of the resistance of individuals to change in an organization. Resistance to the change indicates the activities of individual or group when they find the change threatening. The individuals resists to the change when they are not clear regarding the consequences of change. It has been found that the employees of an organization resist to the change if they perceive that the job security of the benefits may be affected (Orridge, 2009). This section will include some relevant theories such as the Kubler-Ross Change Curve, The Change Cycle etc.

Kubler-Ross Change Curve

The change curve was proposed by Elisabeth Kubler Ross to explain the different stages of grief in case of individual. This theory can be applied in case of dramatic changes in life. The five stages denial, anger, bargaining, depression and therefore acceptance which is the result of adaptation. The five stages are briefly discussed below:

Shock and Denial:

The first and prompt reaction to the change is initial shock followed by denial. Due to lack of information as well as fear regarding uncertainty leads to the major problem. Individuals keep on asking the reason for change as they are comfortable with their own status quo and they feel threatened. The fear of failure is the major issue in this case (James, 2003 p.28).

Anger and Depression:

The resistance to change leads to anger which can be manifested in different ways. People who are dealing with the change can be angry as well as depressed. The fear and denial leads to suspicion, skepticism and frustration (Orridge, 2009). Sometimes anger of individual at the time of change may lead to depression. It has a negative impact on the individual and it affects the behavior and performance of a person.

Experiment:

At this stage the individuals who denied accepting the change starts bargaining. They look for a better option through negotiation and ready to compromise. At this point of time, the individuals become flexible (Peper, Doorne-Huiskes & Dulk, 2005).

Decision and Integration:

Ultimately, the implication of change is understood by the individuals. Once they identify the positive aspects of the change, they get ready to accept the change. Thus change is integrated.

(Source: (James, 2003 p.28))

The Change Cycle

The change cycle helps in identification of the major ix stages of change. Each stage of the change cycle is briefly discussed in this section.

Stage 1: Loss – In this stage the individuals become cautious of the change and fear of loss paralyzes the behavior of individual.

Stage 2: Doubt –  In the second stage people become skeptical and resist the change.

Stage 3: Discomfort – In the third stage, people becomes anxious and confused. Ultimately individuals become unproductiv  (Craine, 2008).

Stage 4: Discovery – In the fourth stage the individuals are energized and creative.

Stage 5: Understanding – The individuals thoughts are pragmatic at this stage and they feel confident.

Stage 6: Integration – Ultimately the change is integrated when the behavior of individuals is generous and thoughts are focused.

(Source: (Park & Pena-Mora, 2003)

Research Methodology

Research methodology is an important aspect of a research study which depicts the overview of the components of the research and a comprehensive approach for designing the routes which will be followed by the researcher in order to achieve the research objectives. A researcher needs to be very careful while determining the research methodology as it is crucial to the success of the success of the study. Research methodology will include the specific approach adopted for the research, research design, methods for collecting data and the purpose of the evaluation (Baur & Ernst, 2011). It is very important to design the procedure of the research which will guide the researcher in meeting the goals of conducting the research.

Research Onion

Research onion is a systematic approach which helps in conducting the research activities by following the crucial stages for each situation. Every layer of the research onion has a specific implication. The major responsibility of the researcher is to start exploring from the outer most layers of the research onion and going through each layer of it in order to conclude successfully. The research onion assists the researcher in recognizing the most suitable pathway for carrying out the research study. The research onion has been found to be significantly helpful in structuring the research activities as well as strategies in order to undertake the research study for meeting the research objectives (Lodico, Spaulding & Voegtle, 2006).

Research Philosophy

The very first layer of the research onion is the research philosophy and hence it can be implied that other phases of the research study are significantly reliant on the adopted research philosophy. The principal objective of the research paper is to identify the strengths as well as weakness of the company. Additionally, the strategies need to be designed in order to improve the weaknesses of Massy Stores.  Positivism philosophy will be helpful in meeting the goals of this research study. It will emphasize on the information which will be derived by using mathematical tools as well as logical thinking and the knowledge must be gathered from the authentic sources. In order to achieve the objective of identification of strength and weaknesses of Massy Stores, positivism theory will be suitable (Johnson & Christensen, 2008).

Research Approach

This is the second layer of the research onion. It has been found that researchers use two most common research approaches for undertaking different researches: inductive and deductive. Inductive research approach collects data and considers various observations and the findings of the research are analyzed and new theory framework or recommendations are provided at the end of the study. In case of the deductive research approach, the study is thoroughly dependent on the established theories, setting hypothesis and testing it, analysis of data and finally validating the theories (Lodico, Spaulding & Voegtle, 2006). This paper has adopted inductive approach as this study will collect data and therefore come up with some recommendation by analyzing the data. Hence, the inductive research approach will be suitable for the existing research study.

Research Design

The third layer of the research onion is the design of the research which is related to the pathway of the study or the specific direction to the study. Research design significantly helps the researcher by establishing the framework for undertaking the entire study. The research design correlates the pathway of the research with its objectives. It is evident that the research study is significantly dependent on the research objectives. Effective research design helps in enabling the researcher to maintain the superiority of the study. There are three major types of the research design which includes exploratory, descriptive and explanatory. For this particular research study, the researcher needs to adopt descriptive design which provides support to relate to the research objectives. The descriptive research study analyzes the findings and connects how it answers the research question. Ultimately it leads to draw a firm conclusion which will fulfill the requirement of the study. Thus descriptive research design will help the researcher in identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the organizational culture at Massy Stores in Trinidad. Additionally, it will analyze the data and use relevant theories for delivering recommendations in order to help the organization in overcoming those.

Data Collection Method

Data collection is an important activity of any research study. The study is extensively dependent on the gathered information on the basis of which the analysis will be conducted and the conclusion will be drawn. In this study, both primary as well as secondary research will be undertaken. Hence, this section will describe how the organization will collect relevant data required for undertaking the study effectively.

References

Baur, N., & Ernst, S. (2011). Towards a process-oriented methodology: modern social science research methods and Norbert Elias’s figurational sociology. The Sociological Review, 59, 117-139. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954x.2011.01981.x

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Craine, K. (2008). Managing the Cycle of Change. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 36(2), 50-54. doi:10.1109/emr.2008.4534324

Creswell, J. (2008). Educational research. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Dalton, T., & Evans, R. (2004). The life cycle of psychological ideas. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.

Giddings, L., & Grant, B. (2006). Mixed methods research for the novice researcher. Contemporary Nurse, 23(1), 3-11. doi:10.5172/conu.2006.23.1.3

James, D. (2003). Team and Personal Development (pp. 27-28). Global Professional Publishing.

Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Johnson, R., Onwuegbuzie, A., & Turner, L. (2007). Toward a Definition of Mixed Methods Research.Journal Of Mixed Methods Research, 1(2), 112-133. doi:10.1177/1558689806298224

Lodico, M., Spaulding, D., & Voegtle, K. (2006). Methods in educational research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Massystorestt.com,. (2014). About Us | Massy Stores. Retrieved 27 December 2014, from http://massystorestt.com/about-us/

Orridge, M. (2009). Change leadership. Farnham, England: Gower.

Park, M., & Pera-Mora, F. (2003). Dynamic change management for construction: introducing the change cycle into model-based project management. System Dynamics Review, 19(3), 213-242. doi:10.1002/sdr.273

Peper, B., Doorne-Huiskes, J., & Dulk, L. (2005). Flexible working and organisational change. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Singh, N. (2014). Massy opens first SuperCentre in T&T. The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper. Retrieved 27 December 2014, from http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2014-12-13/massy-opens-first-supercentre-tt