Organisational culture

What is organisational culture?

Organisational culture is a collection of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs,

which states how a person should behave in an organisation. These shared
values have a strong influence on the people in the organisation and dictate how
they dress, act, and perform their jobs.

These values are stable, conscious and evaluative beliefs that guide us through
our process of making decisions in our day to day life in a variety of different
situations. They help us differentiate between good and bad. In Organisational
culture, values are discussed as shared values, which are the values that people
in an organisation have in common, and, hold importance to. For eg. in Subway,
several employees take their day off on Tuesday or refuse to touch non
vegetarian food due to their shared religious value of not touching non-veg food
on Tuesday’s. Shared assumptions, however, are non-conscious perceptions that
are usually taken for granted and/or ideal patterns of behaviour in certain
situations that are repetitive in nature. These assumptions usually get rooted into
the employees and can be generally observed by analysing the employees and
the decisions they make.
Subway comes under role culture and power structure. Subway being related to
role culture, where each member of the organisation has a clearly dined job to
do. Subway mainly operates as a take-a-way/ restaurant. The organisation even
follows power culture depending upon the situation. Basically power culture
depends on individuals rather than them relying on groups or committees. The
benefits of the hard work done by the staff in this culture are rewarded to the
respective managers and the employees. The managers controls the
staff Subway offers rewards to their employees based on their performance and
tries their best to maintain a positive environment at the workplace. The subway
franchise model empowers individuals to own their own business, creates job
opportunities and stimulates economic development in local communities
worldwide. They are encouraged to use a learning ladder approach for staff
development to promote achievement, a sense of pride, and provide an avenue
for career advancement.They have branches all over the world, but considering
each branch the organisational structure they come under is the flat structure.
Being a bis chain of small restaurants, there aren’t many people working at a
single branch. Staff gets their bonuses and are appreciated for their work. There
isn’t much of a workload on the staff or/and the manager. Understanding the
customer satisfaction, Subway has set a trademark on their goods. The taste and
quality of the food, as well as the behaviour of the employees on the
organisation and the organisation as a whole is effective. Due to culture and the
structure of the organisation, subway is completely different from their
competitors. It’s fast, flexible, and inexpensive to maintain.
Subculture

Where an organisations culture is discussed, we usually talk about the culture

which is more dominant in an organisation. In big organisations various
subcultures are given birth in its numerous branches across its various stored
present in different geographic locations. These locations will have a pre-
existing culture, values and beliefs. This culture may work for, or, against the
favour of the organisation. In an organisation like Subway which has a
presence across the globe the subcultures are also numerous.

Types of organizational cultures

We have chosen to utilize the Handy model of organizational culture for the
purpose of this research project. According to this model there are 4 types of
organizational cultures, they are as follow:

1) Power culture
In this type of culture the power/authority to make decisions related to the
operations of the organisation stays with a handful of people. These
individuals enjoy special privileges at the organisation. They are usually
the most important people at the workplace and are the big shots at
making decisions of the organisation. They are the ones responsible for
delegating tasks/responsibilities to their subordinates. In such types of
organisations, the employees have no to very little freedom to make
decisions and must adhere to their superiors’ commands. Managers in
such types of organisations can favour some employees over others and
may be partial towards them.
2) Task culture
This is the type of culture in which teams in the organisation are formed.
These teams are formed to achieve the targets that have been set by the
organisation as well as to solve any serious problems faced by the
company. In such types of cultures, usually, individuals with the same
interest and similar specializations come together to form teams. Each
team usually consists of 4-5 members. Every team member has to have an
equal contribution towards the success of the team as a whole.
 3) Role culture
This is a type of culture where every employee is given a role and
handed responsibilities according to his specialisation and
capabilities. employees decide what is the best course of action to
take and then take it. Each individual has some responsibility or
task to fulfil and has to take full ownership for the same. In this
type of culture, power is directly proportional to the amount of
responsibility he/she has.

4) Person culture
In a person culture, individuals are more concerned about their
own self rather than the organization. In such organizations the
employees feel that they are more important than their
organization. Such organizations follow a culture known as person
culture. In such types of cultures, the goals of the organisation
come after the goals of individual employees. Where such a
culture prevails, the employees just come to the office for the sake
of the salary and nothing else. They are rarely loyal towards the
company or the management and rarely favour the company.
At Subway Subway being related to role culture, where each member of the
organisation has a clearly defned job to do. Subway mainly operates as a take-a-
way/ restaurant. The organisation even follows power culture depending upon
the situation. Basically power culture depends on individuals rather than them
relying on groups or committees. The benefits of the hard work done by the
staff in this culture are rewarded to the respective managers and the employees.
The artifacts of organisational culture

1. Organisational stories and legends

These comprise of certain stories or legends of employees who achieved
phenomenal tasks while their tenure at the organisation. These legends could
include them breaking certain sales records or provide extraordinary service that
changed how the organisation is perceived, either in public or for the employees
themselves. These legends can be both, good and bad for the organisation.
Organisations usually work hard at hiding the bad legends.

2. Rituals and Ceremonies

Rituals are the programmed routines of the of daily organisational life that
dramatize an organisations culture. These are the general day to day working of
the company. These include opening of the store, how customers are greeted on
entering the store, the rounds senior executives take while checking up on
frontline staff, and the time taken off by employees for lunch on a daily basis all
come under rituals. Rituals are repetitive predictable events that have a
symbolic meaning and which reflect on the organisations values. Ceremonies
are more formal than rituals. Ceremonies are not conducted as often as rituals.
These are planned activities like employee workshops, publicly rewarding or
punishing an employee, etc,. Subway employees are trained to work in
whichever field they would be joining before they join it and are drilled to a
point where they can make a sandwich with a blindfold. They also hold certain
team building activities from time to time.
3. Organisational language
Organisational language consists of the way employees talk to one another, the
customers, their superiors, express their emotions, etc., in the workplace and are
the verbal symbols of cultural values. At Subway, all the employees respect one
another and have achieved harmony in the workplace. They try their best to
maintain a positive attitude towards customers and each other in the workplace.

4. Physical structures and symbols

This includes the infrastructure, geographic location and the building itself that
is owned by the organisation or where the organisation performs its services.
Subway is the largest food chain in the world with more than 40,000 outlets
worldwide. Subways worldwide are equipped with a high end kitchen and an
ambient dining area where customers can sit and enjoy their meals.
Strengthening the organisational culture

1) Actions of founders and leader

These consists of the actions taken by the founder of the organisations or
anyone in a position of leadership in an organisation. The positive actions of
anyone higher up in the hierarchy automatically encourage the employees to
work harder or better. In the case of Subway, the founder, Fred DeLuca, laid out
certain principles that would lay out how everyone in the organisation should
behave, including himself. These principles are
b) Always provide exceptional service to your valued guests
c) Provide the highest quality menu items at a price everyone can afford and
enjoy; and
d) Keep operating costs low and ensure you have great systems in place and
never stop improving.

These early principles continue to serve as the foundation for Subway

restaurants around the world.

2) Aligning artifacts
Artifacts are the mechanisms that keep a culture in place. These artifacts can be
altered or created by leaders to potentially alter shared values and assumptions.
Organisational cultures can also be altered/strengthened through stories and
behaviours of the employees/founder.
3) Introducing rewards
Performance based reward systems are certain artifacts that usually have a
powerful effect on strengthening/reshaping and organisations culture. At the
Subway outlet in sector 70, monetary incentives were offered to employees for
working a certain number of hours or on reaching a specific sales target.

4) Attracting, selecting and socialising employees

Attraction: People tend to stay away from jobs that don’t seem to have any
value. The applicants don’t apply for jobs for companies that don’t seem to have
a high visual standing or business prowess or for company’s whose values differ
from their personal values and goals. Subway is a stepping stone for people who
want to excel at managing restaurants. It is also easy to land a job at subway
because of its numerous outlets which are packed tightly.
Selection: This is where the company selects worthy applicants after conducting
a number of interviews. The selected applicant’s cultures values and beliefs
usually align with those of the company.
Attrition: This factor states how well a persons beliefs align with those of the
organisation. People whose values don’t align tend to leave the organisation
after a while and look for opportunities elsewhere.
Summary

Subway was founded in 1965 by Fred DeLuca and Peter Buck, headquartered in
Milford, Connecticut, United States of America, Subway is an American
restaurant franchise. It operates in over 100 countries across the globe in 41512
locations.The company has 5 regional centers worldwide. Subway has
consistently been a part of the Top 500 Franchises list in Entrepreneur magazine
since the year 2007. By 2010, Subway owned 33,749 restaurants and became
the largest food chain in the world. It was ranked #3 om the “Top Global
Franchises” list and #1 as the “Fastest Growing Franchise” in 2015. in 2018
however, it was revealed that another 500 chains would be shut down. This was
done due to three consecutive years of decreased profits and footfall in the
stores by a whopping 25% since 2015, according to the Washington Post. The
core product of Subway is the submarine sandwich, called known as the sub.
Other than that, the company also offers wraps, salads, paninis and baked goods
such as cookies, doughnuts and muffins. Subway's vision is to make the
restaurants and operations as environmentally and ethically responsible.
Subway strives to conduct business in a way that has a good impact on the
environment.
Subway believe that using good, environmentally sound business practices help
increase their franchisees' profitability, improve their customers’ satisfaction
experience. Subway has a flat organisational structure. A flat organisation is an
organisational structure which consists of a few or no levels of management,
between the management and frontline employees and managers. Such
organisations promote increased involvement of their employees in the
organisation’s decision-making processes and less on supervising them. The
communications take place horizontally. The chain of command from top to
bottom is short. The frontline workers act as a direct link between the company
and its customers, so that changes can be made in the business according to
customer requirements, in order to maximize profits and customer satisfaction.
Subway also takes part in its fair share of CSR and gives back what its required
to give to the community.There are various methods to which employees are
rewarded in the organization. Subway relies on performance based
organizational rewards to motivate employees. They are engaged in rewarding
the staff members for achieving challenging sales goals. Employee engagement
proves to be a strong predictor of the employee itself and the work unit
performance. Subway is responsible in providing efficient workforce planning
which is the basis of a comfortable working environment to its employees. They
also provide an up-to-date schedule available to everyone in the organization
which minimizes scheduling and time & attendance discrepancies and leads to
employee engagement in the organization. Subway comes under role culture
and power structure. Subway being related to role culture, where each member
of the organisation has a clearly dined job to do. Subway mainly operates as a
take-a-way/ restaurant. The organisation even follows power culture depending
upon the situation. Subway also has certain artifacts like their performance
based pay system that strengthen their organisational culture. We also
interviewed a manager and learnt how they motivate their employees to perform
better