Concepts of Organisational Culture

Concepts of Organisational Culture What is organisational culture? Organisational culture is often referred to as something which tells us more about the organisation. This something may be the personality, philosophy, ideology or even the overall climate of the organisation. Organisational Culture is therefore an element which differentiates each organisation from the other and gives it a unique identity (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). The managerial writers vs. the academic social scientists The debate arises when theorists try to define culture. The management academics and consultants perceive this culture as a collection of values and beliefs, myths, symbols, heroes and symbols that possess a uniform meaning for all the employees. Whereas, the academic social scientists see it as a subjective reality of values and beliefs, artefacts, myths, symbols etc. They believe that organisational culture is formed through the social interactions of the organisations members and hence it is produced and reproduced continuously (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). This essay takes up both these contrasting perspectives separately in the light of various theoretical models and the examples of real life organisations. Organisational culture: following or adopting? The Managerial writers such as ouchi,1981; Deal and Kennedy,1982; Pascale and Athos,1982; Peters and Waterman,1982 and Schien,1985; believe that culture being an attribute of the organisation is given to its members who do not participate in its formation and accept or tolerate it as the organisation has it (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Thus it is a collection of some basic assumptions that all organisational employees share and hence if these assumptions are changed, the culture will automatically be changed (Schien, 1985 Cited in Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Schien (1983) in his three levels of culture points out one of the sources of organisational values as those values which were the idea of a single person (founder) and are later modified by the companys current senior management. In contrast, Buchanan and Huczynski (2004) argue that if such is the case then these values may not be adopted by employees but only followed by them. And if senior management are the source of creating organisational values then these value may cause chaos when mergers and acquisitions take place. Then it will be a question of which of the older companies value will be followed in the newly formed organisation. Organisational culture as a means of unification and control The managerial writers suggest that if the basic assumptions are integrated amongst members and the organisation has a unified culture, then employee control will be possible and this will lead to greater productivity and profitability (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). On the other hand, the academic social scientists argue that a unified culture is never possible as organisational culture is pluralistic in nature due to the different subcultures present in every organisation. (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). Where managerial writer talk about extending the same unified culture to all the employees Brown (1995) argues and states the following facts that influence culture: Even if the employees are enthusiastic and intrinsically motivated as suggested by McGregors theory Y, most of them only give a fraction of their time to the organisation. They are members of other variety of clubs, societies and unions and hence they may not accept the culture whole heartedly and without any question since their demands and constraints are also influenced by these other bodies Part time or temporary workers are less likely to adopt the culture and some of them are actually working part time to avoid cultural control systems. Large numbers of people perform relatively unrewarding and undemanding jobs just for the sake of the financial reward. These workers may be only loosely attached to the organisation and may even go against a dominant culture in the organisation Contractual workers who are hired by organisations are actually members of separate organisations and it will be extremely difficult to make them feel part of the organisation. Therefore, the changing patterns of employment and organisational forms are actually impacting many of the very strict and cohesive cultures. The managerial writers believe in symbolic management of employees i.e. the use of organisational culture and selectively applying rites, ceremonials, myths, stories and legends to direct the behaviour of employees. The academic social scientists argue that since people enter organisations with different expectations, experiences, values, beliefs and motivations hence these factors also influence their behaviour in different directions In the practical world, we see companies using both these ideas, some try to reconsider their values and beliefs; and under the banner of changing culture try to come up and introduce new values and beliefs. It is argued that such attempts at changing culture may change behaviour of employees but not their deep rooted value and beliefs which do eventually have an impact on some of their behaviours (Thompson and Findlay, 1999). A simple example would be of the recent importance to corporate social responsibility. In such a case an employee may differ on his value and belief for a certain ethical issue, say the employee may not believe in child labour but what will he/she do when the company may have to outsource its manufacturing to a third world country (where majority of children are used as cheap labour) in order to cut down cost. Here, the employee may be convinced to change his behaviour and he/she may do so to save their job but at the end of the day their value and believe rema ins unchanged. On the other hand, some companies increase their employee interactions in a way that changes employee behaviour automatically. An example would be of an organisation that increases employee interactions with the customers and through this the employees are better aware of what behaviours please the customers. The changing nature of culture Another argument against the managerial writers would be that since they see organisational culture as something that has been pre determined and cannot be changed, how would they take into account the several changing factors that influence culture generally. An organisations culture may be influenced by its history, primary function and technology, its customers, its goals and objectives, size, location, top executives, strategy, structure and its environment (Mullins, 2007). The argument therefore is what happens to the culture when either of these factors changes. What will happen if there is new top executive in the company who may modify the founders ideas as per his values and beliefs? What happens if the organisation steps into a dynamic industry and requires a new structure and strategy, will its culture not automatically change or will the whole process of laying down new basic assumptions (values, beliefs, myths, stories and artefacts) will have to be put into action to ma ke the culture change? What happens if an organisation makes an international move and faces a new national culture? How will it now rely on its old stories, myths, legends and artefacts to induce a change in this new national culture? This argument is supported by the academic social scientists who consider culture to be produced and reproduced through different interactions. A fairly new concept is the learning organisation which was conceived by Peter Senge as a place where people at all levels are in a continuous state of learning and individual learning results in organisational learning (Mullins, 2007). Although it may seem as a utopian concept but it strengthens the academic social scientists view of the is culture which is in a state of continuous re-production. Therefore one can agree that the culture of the learning organisation would be one which would continuously change with every new organisational learning. At the learning organisation the has culture would be seen as one which would bound learning and may not appeal to the intrinsic sense of the employees to challenge, learn and achieve. On the contrary critiques like Harrison argue that the sum of the learning of individuals does not necessarily equal organisational learning (Mullins, 2007) Pixar is one such organisation which believes in creativity and learning at not only the artistic level but the technical level as well. The underlying reason for such a belief is that a movie contains many ideas all of which do not necessarily come from the producer or the creative head, but these ideas come from people dealing with cameras, characters, lightening etc. Pixar follows a peer culture where they have open discussions and exchange of ideas over any piece of ongoing work. They also have peers who look at and analyse daily motion work, unlike Disney where only a small senior group has the responsibility to do so. Therefore, at Pixar learning occurs from all directions and all employees which is due to its belief that everyone should have the freedom to communicate with anyone and it must be safe for anyone and everyone to offer ideas. That is how they foster collective creativity and learning (HBR, 2008). Organisational culture and the psychological contract The psychological contract of employees is another component which may be viewed in the light of the two perspectives of organisational culture. If the has culture is considered the psychological contract may be seen as the same for all employees as all share the same basic assumptions and clear controls are in place and hence the employer and employees may be contracting with each other on the same set of expectations. On the other hand the is culture will produce many different psychological contracts of employees and it will become very hard for the organisation to manage them, as each individual on the basis of their different interactions and interpretations will have a different set of expectations. (Herriot and Pemberton, 1995). The dilemma in cultural practice A major problem for an organisation can be sticking to any one of these cultural ideologies. This is due to the fact that an organisation on one hand may have an espoused culture i.e. how its senior management describes it and on the other hand it may have its in-practice culture i.e. the culture as it is experienced and lived by its members. Therefore even if it claims to be following a certain ideology it will always have more than one culture running in the organisation. Organisations rarely possess just one unified culture. One culture that superimposes the organisation culture is the stitched together patch of sub cultures in an organisation which may be overlapping and conflicting as well. (Brown, 1995) We see this conflict in the organisational culture of Nokia where on one hand it claims to nourish new ideas and innovation amongst employees (http://www.nokia.com/careers/nokia-as-an-employer/nokia-way-and-values) where as on the other hand it seems to have lost a head start at touch screen technology. This was when its stifling bureaucratic culture killed the idea of a smart phone with internet and touch screen technology and the management reasoned it to be a development Nokia would not be interested in. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/hardware/Nokias-bureaucratic-culture-troubles-new-CEO/articleshow/6637291.cms).However, recently we see that Nokia is struggling to compete in the same market. If the management would have actually maintained the culture they claim, and would have fostered idea growth, they would probably have been ahead of apple today. The concept of Organisation Socialization The managerial writers believe that a process of organisation socialization has to be followed with new employees of the organisation in order to make them learn the culture so that they can follow it and survive in the organisation. (Edgar schien, 1979 Cited in Buchanan page 650). It must be remembered that these writers believe that culture must be tolerated as it is something an organisation has. But when organisations like Disneyland are considered, it may be argued that the organisation socialization process consists of two parts. One is the formal socialization where the new recruits attend the University of Disneyland on an apprenticeship programme. This is where they learn the history, philosophy, language and values of the company. The other is the informal socialization mechanisms which are also very well developed at Disney land. New recruits at some point learn through their peers that the job they are assigned, the costume they wear and the area of the park they are allotted are actually determinants of their social status at work. At the same time they also learn about Getting back at misbehaving guests by tightening seat belts, slamming breaks suddenly and drenching people standing at river banks (Brown, 1995). Now, this informal socialisation is actually another sub culture within the organisation which is limited to the employees. Hence, this reinforces the ideo logy that culture may not necessarily be taught but may be born through social interactions. Organisational Culture and Motivation When discussing motivation and culture, one may argue how a culture of motivation may be left to be developed by the social interaction of organisational members. In such an area, the organisation may have to provide a cohesive culture which can offer employees both extrinsic rewards and intrinsic rewards such as bonuses, promotions, and stories, rites and ceremonies which create feelings of belonging. An organisation may also have to employ threats of punishments such as unwanted transfers, demotions and salary decreases to deal with certain cases of lack of motivation (Brown, 1995). Here we see that the views of managerial writers are more practical of providing a certain has form of culture to keep motivation in place. Bringing about Cultural Change The managerialist writers believe that culture can only be changed by changing the basic assumptions by the senior management (Schein 1979) we see that these writers specifically Schein are also compelled to believe and have written that when an organisation is in the last stage of its development i.e. maturity where it may also see declining profitability and loss of key people and outsiders have to be brought in to manage the organisation, such an influx of outsiders may induce cultural change. (Brown, 1995). Although, Schein states that such a change occurs due to change in the stage of organisational development (from birth and early growth to organisational midlife to organisational maturity) but it may be argued on the basis of the academic social scientists that such a change was induced by the change in key people and new social interaction induced a change in culture. Change is therefore viewed as intentional, predictable, pre-determined and brought about after careful planning, thus it follows a rational step-by-step procedure to effectively manage change(e.g. Kotter, 1996). An argument for cultural change is that changing only one factor as suggested by managerial writers such as a basic assumption may not be enough to bring about a cultural change. Ram Charan gives the example of cultural change at Home Depot involves multi-directional changes in the ways people worked to support the business model. A change was made to four main dimensions: Behaviour expectations were clarified and identification and measurement methods were put across. Metric such as data quantifying customer perceptions of the home depot experience clarified the expectation of accountability. Processes of how work was done were changed to fit the new culture e.g. instead of the old memos a video cast went out to all stores which focused on the upcoming promotions, new product lines and sales targets and bonuses for the week ahead.of new product lines, the revenue needed in the last week. Specific Programmes were put into place to support the cultural change e.g. competitive simulation and role-playing exercises where employees had to act out situations which clarified to them why the huge changes were made. Changes in the organisational structure made it easier to follow the new culture e.g. changes were made in purchasing processes to lower costs. Cultural change management takes place in an open system where the organisation has to simultaneously react to external needs and demand. In the recent years, factors such as globalisation, diversity, equality, increasing number of immigrants and avoiding discrimination have had a vast impact on how organisations manage cultural change. Is cultural change manageable? Cultures are a complex social phenomenon produced as a result of interactions. Therefore they are a product of humans, created by humans, sustained by humans and therefore can also be changed by human intervention. Therefore even if it is not planned to be changed, it will change as the social interactions change (bate, 1994) page 137 The main question is whether cultural change is manageable? i.e. whether persons can change culture deliberately, intervene by will and change the path of development of culture. This is where cultural change programmes fail to succeed since they do not take into account studying in detail the culture that has to be changed. An in-depth knowledge of the current culture is the basis for managing cultural change. (bate, 1994) page 137-138 Organisational Culture, Structure and Strategy What we notice and experience as cultural change depends directly on how we conceptualize culture (Meyerson and Martin, 1987 cited in Bate, 1994) page 9 The supporters of the has culture see culture as a component of an organisation which is no different to the other components such as structure, strategy, staff and so on. (Bate, 1994) page 11 One such model which details this is the Mckinseys 7-S framework which puts culture i.e. shared values at the centre of all the other components (Structure, Strategy, Systems, Style, Skills and Staff) (Peters and Waterman 1982 cited in bate,1994)page 11 Hence culture in this framework is treated as a variable which influences and is influenced by all the other organisational components. Hence Culture has an influence over organisational effectiveness in two regards, firstly its strength and secondly how well it is aligned with the other components (e.g. the structure-culture fit).Therefore from this perspective, changing culture is equivalent to a mere tasking of removing a faulty component and inserting a new one. (Bate, 1994 page 11-12) On the contrary, the supporters of the is culture conceive culture as synonymous with organisation i.e. an organisation is culture. They see culture as a paradigm which is defined by interpersonal organisational life. Therefore they see cultural change to be the same as organisational change. Since there is no bifurcation between organisation and culture therefore change in one will automatically lead to change in another and thus no separate strategies are required for each. (Bate, 1994)page 14 Another argument against strong cultures is that they have a development strategy for culture but no change strategy and so they are more likely to get trapped in their own culture. An example of such is the Hewlett Packard case where its ideology of doing things the HP way offered some form of comforts to the employees which backfired and employees were so busy being nice to each other that they avoided making commercial decisions which went against any other employee (such as laying off or relocating people). HPs intense humanistic ways lead to the employees viewing their privileges as rights e.g. refusal to relocate to other divisions made some divisions less competitive (bate, 1994) page 127 -128 On the other hand the has perspective which reinforces the importance of a strong culture is attractive from the view point that organisations can easily audit their cultures and be proactive in changing or strengthening the shared basic assumption and they can even bring about intentional change through the process of reculturing (Stoll, 1999). The has culture takes culture as, a separate component in an organisation and hence deals with issues such as strategy culture fit and so on. Weick (1985) and Hennestad (1991) argue against such a perspective stating that culture and strategy are substitutable for one another and culture is a strategic phenomenon and strategy is a cultural phenomenon. This implies that from such a perspective formulating a strategy of any kind is actually a cultural activity which will bring about engagement in a cultural change (Bate, 1994). A real life example of such a scenario would be when a company changes its strategy from a production oriented strategy to a market led strategy, this actually brings about a cultural change where a culture encouraging market research and up-to-date market knowledge is born. Further, the perspective implies that cultural change is actually strategic change where moving from one culture to another actually moving from one strategy to another. (Bate, 1994). A real life example of this perspective would be when a company like Disneyland in its organisational socialization stage declares to its employees that customer is king , this is in itself a strategy of being customer oriented. Pg 17-23 Limitations of the two cultural perspectives The managerialist perspective of organisational culture has a number of limitations. However, arguably it limits a deeper understanding of organisational culture and analyses only surface cultural factors such as taken-for-granted values and basic assumptions held in unity by the organisational members as described by Schein (1985). Secondly, it does not take into account the impact of the external environment on organisations which may play a role in determining change processes. The social perspective on the other hand gives a detailed insight into organisational culture, it opens up to dynamic areas of culture. But it requires the collection of very rich qualitative date which may not necessarily provide a clear pathway for action and interpretation of the data becomes a tedious task (Prosser, 2007) The management of organisational change is therefore understood from an open systems perspective in the organisations reaction to external forces and its adaptation and responsiveness to external needs and demands. Conclusion There is a lack of a definite way to define, control and change organisational culture. This may be due to the fact that researchers who work on this topic themselves come from different cultures and consider different elements to be part of organisational culture. The early researchers took a more philosophical approach to the topic. A reason for this might have been the unproven influence of culture on management and organisational practices. Later the academic social scientist gave a more externally-oriented approach which may have been due to the evolution of organisational culture and its impact on organisations (Stefan and Liz, 2000). The essay, based on various theoretical arguments, suggest that there is a broad scope for debates relating to whether culture can be changed or influenced, depending on how culture is defined. Most of the authors unite on the notion that culture can be changed but they differ on how and to what extent this can be done. They also differ on the fact if culture is only followed on the surface or adopted whole-heartedly. Another area covered was the debate about unification of employees on the basis of a unified culture. Cross relations of organisational culture with other concepts such as strategy, structure, motivation, psychological contract and socialization have been discussed. The essay ends with mentioning the limitations of the two approaches to organisational culture which reveal that these concepts are also influenced by the open and closed systems that an organisation may operate in.

Coca Cola in Africa Essay

1. Why is Coca-Cola so interested in Africa, which is typically regarded as part of the base of the global economic pyramid? Coca-Cola is an organization that has been around since 1892. Coca-Cola is looking for new emerging growth markets and Africa has proven to be that. Combined, 12 of the African countries have a GDP greater than that of Chine. Coca-Cola has 29% of the market share in Africa. 2. What unique resources and capabilities does Coca-Cola have that will help it compete well in Africa? Coca-Cola has the ability to conduct street by street campaigns, to reach the towns and villages. This will assist in improving it marketing and distributions to areas off the beaten path. The manual distribution centers will also assist to grow sales, by coaching and directing small bottlers and residents to own their sales and delivery. 3. What are the drawbacks of making such large scale commitments to Africa? Yes there are drawbacks. There are still many areas in Africa where the government and physical infrastructure is not stable. With Coca-Cola investing large amounts of money in Africa, the instability could prove disruptive to Coca-Cola operations. 4. Do stakeholders in the United States and Africa who criticize Coca-Cola have a reasonable case against it? Yes, it is a valid criticism that Coca-Cola is depleting fresh water, and encouraging environmental harmful refrigeration. Coca-Cola needs to find a way to create sustainable manufacturing that will not pillage natural resources. Why go to Africa Coca-Cola was founded in 1892, but began business in Africa in 1929. Despite the belief that Africa is unstable government, lacks infrastructure, and great conflict and turmoil, Coca-Cola decided to enter Africa and is the largest private sector employer in Africa. $12 billion was allocated towards building distribution centers and plants in Africa. Sales in the United States are declining due to the public concern over sugar. Sales in Europe and Japan are flat, while markets in China and India offer up strong completion for Coca-Cola. Africa’s middle class population is growing at a steady rate, so the disposable income is increasing. This creates an opportunity for Coca-Cola to tap into growth opportunities (Natalia Cheverri 2012). How does it work? Although there are areas in Africa lacking infrastructure, Coca-Cola operates in every country. Coca-Cola utilized a franchising manufacturing model that works perfectly for operating in Africa. Coca-Cola partnered with local licensed bottling groups to help create the product. Coca-Cola manufactures the syrup concentrate and sells to the bottlers. The bottlers add filtered water, carbonation, and sweetener to make the final product. With this model, Coca-Cola is sharing the wealth with local investors/community members. This creates sustainable business and improves community buy-in with Coca-Cola’s existence in Africa (Maritz Jaco 2010). Because partnerships are formed with local bottlers and local members of the community, there is a vested interest by the locals to keep Coca-Cola’s business successful. Through these partnerships, Coca-Cola is able to help build the socio-economic system in different towns. Distribution Coca-Cola was having difficulty distributing product to different area of Africa with no roads. In 1999, local bottlers came up with the idea to cover off the beaten path areas by any means necessary. This included distribution by bicycle, pushcart, hand-carry and even donkey-cart. This distribution method is called manual distribution and has been adopted by many organizations all over the world (Maritz Jaco 2010). Manual distribution method was even adopted by an innovative non-profit named Colalife. This organization distributes medicine all over the continent of Africa. Summary Coca-Cola took a gamble in making the decision to enter Africa. This gamble has paid off, because Coca-Cola is now one of the largest organizations in Africa and sees growth profits. References: Maritz, Jaco (2010), â€Å"Report: Doing Business in Africa, the Coca-Cola way† http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/doing-business-in-africa-the-coca-cola-way/2433/. Date accessed May 17, 2013. Steakley, Lia (2013), â€Å"Using the Coca-Cola supplier network to distribute medicines in Africa,† http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2013/04/26/using-the-coca-cola-supplier-network-to-distribute-medicines-in-africa/. Date accessed May 17, 2013 Cheverri, Natalia (2012) â€Å"Coca-Cola in Africa,† http://www.thepolisblog.org/2012/03/coca-cola-in-africa.html

The Secret of Samples Essay about North Shore That No One Is Talking About

The Secret of Samples Essay about North Shore That No One Is Talking About A Secret Weapon for Samples Essay about North Shore If you believe seawater is merely blue, you could be surprised to know it isn't just that. The atmosphere is extremely diverse at Seaside Heights and several individuals attend there. Water, obviously, is a critical portion of the beach. The small sand particles shed silver lights all around the beach. Furthermore, your lies might spoil a person's vacation! Structure Let's take a better look at the sort of our samples. Hiding the truth, in this instance, is the exact same thing as lying. It would be helpful to demonstrate a map that demonstrates where on earth the study was done (eg inset map) and the particular location of the analysis. There are lots of rides there for people that range from the time of three to whatever age you need to stop having fun. Legally, they should be prosecuted on the basis of violation of the rights. The individuals find it impossible to express their concerns or even demand for greater treatment because there's no freedom of expression. It is undoubtedly one of the worst shows on TV, but has come to be among the most popular. Life, Death and Samples Essay about North Shore It has to be insightful and possess an obvious counter argument. A rustic cherry mission hutch L-desk produced by EI Woodworking is one of the numerous American made pieces provided by Hubbingtons in Barrington. Yet neither of the 2 backs down. All your facts should be fully referenced. There are likewise a few pitfalls. This is accomplished by the usage of Nick, the male narrator. By 6 years old, they need to also have the ability to compose the alphabet without omitting letters. Incomplete submissions won't be reviewed. Boorse has been published in various different journals too. Anything more than a couple of pages is excessive. You should be sure, so far as possible, that you cite scientific papers instead of web websites or text books. Neglecting research Although you're writing a travel blog about the destination that you've been to, it doesn't signify you know everything. I find that a small mystery too, she states. Nevertheless, your adventures may give you an endless stream of emotions, but they won't be that useful when it has to do with the writing process. This scene is the point where the use of shot-reverse shot gets so essential. The truth is the scene itself is presented in a manner in which as readers we aren't sure whether it's actually happening or not. The scene, located towards the conclusion of the movie, creates a rising action to climatic degree of suspense in the total storyline of the movie. The horizon burst with unique colors. When creating a purchase, there are particular items that ought to be obtained at top dollar rather than a bargain. Without these basic things, there isn't much incentive for those people to come up with new goods, or work hard, as it will just be taken away by someone more powerful. But aside from the price tag, Rhoades explained the main situation to boast about is the caliber of the furniture. There isn't any doubt that bullying is an issue within the school system. The feeling you have is annoyance. I intend to use this to deliver a means to help change the present system and to demonstrate that the predicament is more severe than it seems. In the brief term, the issue just got worse. Your audience can easily locate this information on the web or in any low-cost travel guide. What earns the matchbook scene an exemplary scene to evaluate is the huge number of various film practices that are utilized to portray its meaning and message. This is quite a common approach seen in films. This indicates that it's a high concept film.

Cooperative Group Example For Free - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1980 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Business Essay Type Report Did you like this example? Introduction This report outlines some of the key concerns of the Cooperative Groups employees regarding the overall ethical direction of the Group. The Group prides itself on its commitment to ethical business, be it in the fair trade, environmental or locally sourced areas, and yet it is employees concerns that such standards are inconsistent throughout the Group and are therefore undermining the good reputation of the organisation. This report is particularly critical of the ongoing decision of the group to sell non fair trade products alongside the groups own fair trade products, specifically the promotion of these on a national level. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Cooperative Group Example For Free" essay for you Create order In addition, the report emphasises the need to create much stronger links with local communities both as a means of engaging more with the communities in which the group operates, but also to create a more flexible supply structure based on the availability of local products. Fair trade and non-fair trade It is the employees considered opinion that the issue of fair trade and non-fair trade is a key problem within the groups grocery stores at present. The ethical stance taken by the group in sourcing all of its own brand products from sustainable farms and fair trade networks is certainly to be commended, however, the wider decision which has been taken to still stock products such as Nescafe and Galaxy and Mars chocolate continues to undermine this decision. The ethics of this situation are clear à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" either one is for fair trade and the wider benefits which this brings, or one is against it and believes that the free market will provide for all. By stocking and thereby profiting from products which do not take this stance the group undermines its commitment to these causes , particularly given the fact that the groups own products in this area are high sellers and are particularly competitive. A stronger commitment here would do much to boost the ethical backgr ound of the group. It is also the employees belief that this could be tied in strongly with the Cooperative Banks commitment to development projects in developing nations. It seems ridiculous to be giving with one hand and taking with the other and therefore the employees would like to see a more explicit and concrete commitment on this level which could be taken across the Group as a whole. Much of the key development literature on the problem of poverty in Sub Saharan Africa focuses on the problem of creating sustained investment and providing important markets for export for products. The Cooperative Group is in a unique position as the owner of a large bank and a grocery outlet to provide this support and could be a real leader in this field. The public relations benefits of such an approach do not need to be laboured but more importantly there is a real opportunity to use the organisation for good in the world. With the growth of ethical consumerism and the notion of g reen marketing there is a real opportunity to make a difference in this sector. Becoming truly local It is the experience of many of the Groups employees that many customers who come to the Groups grocery stores feel somewhat let down by the failure to push forward with stocking local produce. Many of these have highlighted the fact that larger retailers such as Morrisons and Tesco have made strong headway on dealing with this issue. This issue is a key one in the sense that it engages with several of the key ethical considerations of the Group, as laid out on the Groups website. These include the environmental considerations of moving products great distances. There is an important issue here with central distribution centres and the way in which these operate. It is often the case that products will be produced in one area of the country, moved to another hundreds of miles away and then returned via a wagon to a point two villages away. This undermines the credibility of the organisation on an environmental level but also on a local level. Whilst employees appreciate th e fact that such operations are often cheaper and are part of keeping the cost down, it is important to acknowledge the good public relations which could be created through enhancing the Groups commitment to local job creation. A more dynamic supply network would certainly create this as it would require a significant step up in administration for it to be successful. However, the employees of the Group believe that this would be a significant PR coup and would therefore win the Group significant support, particularly in more rural areas. It would combine to create jobs, reduce the carbon footprint of the Group and also help the Group provide a real service to local people. Most people agree that the fresher the produce, the better. Moving the organisation forward Whilst this report is critical of the Group on several levels it must be acknowledged that the Group is to be significantly commended, particularly when one considers the current situation with many of its major competitors in the Grocery market. However, in a constantly changing world it is vital for such organisations as the Cooperative Group to continue to show the lead on issues such as local produce, carbon reduction programmes and ethical consumerism. To that end the organisation needs to examine fully what it believes the next level to be. This report embodies some of the views which should be seen as coming from the shop floor. They are based on the direct experience and views of the man on the street and from those who work in the Groups outlets. Doubtless there are greater ethical considerations to be made and doubtless there are significant economic and financial aspects to be taken into account. However, for the Group to continue to pride itself on its ethical com mitment it does need to take the next step forward. This report suggests that looking to make radical changes in the sourcing of produce could provide a significant amount of jobs in the country (through the necessary management and administration structures which would be created), could reduce the organisations carbon footprint and would provide fresher and therefore better produce to all of its customers. This would represents a public relations coup and would fall directly in line with the Groups ethical commitments. A further step which the organisation would like to see is through the role of the Bank. Once again, this is certainly deserving of significant support and plaudits for the work which it has done but the employees once again feel that a more concrete set of explicit principles could further improve both the reputation of the Bank as well as its ethical standing. These principles would also include a commitment to employees of the organisation but would al so include the promise of support to small businesses which would be set up in support of the wider Cooperative Group operations. One example here would be of a small firm of delivery drivers which would be operating in support of rural farms in Northern Scotland. These would directly support the work of the Group in the sense of attempting to make the Group more local through sourcing food more locally and would therefore be supported by the Group knowing that there would be strong business there as the structure of the organisation changed. The current economic climate and the Group In making these critical comments of the Cooperative Group the employees would like to stress their knowledge and acceptance of the problems currently associated with the economic crisis within Europe and the wider world. However, it remains their belief that the Cooperative Group can become a beacon of what ethical business operations can do for the communities in which they operate. The employees believe that much of the current economic crisis was caused fundamentally by greed, be it the greed of investment bankers who made investments that they knew would not pay off, or invested in projects which they knew were unethical and which would result in damaged livelihoods. The Cooperative Group can stand opposed to these problems by creating a clear charter that it will not pay Directors hundreds of thousands of pounds in bonuses but will reinvest this money in local communities, supporting local farmers and local transport networks, supporting developing nations and the farme rs who work there, helping to build links between the nations. It is the belief of the employees that if the Cooperative Group were to move forward and take on this more advanced ethical stance that it would be financially costly in the first instance as infrastructures would need implementing and there would doubtless be problems associated with this. However, it is also the belief of the employees that many people would support such businesses, particularly where they knew that it was directly affecting local business. It is certainly true that for many consumers the major consideration would remain price. However, the employees firmly belief that with hard work and the commitment of the wider Group, these ethical changes can be implemented in a successful manner. Conclusion and Recommendations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ A stronger more direct commitment to moving the organisation forward in a sustainable and truly ethical manner. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The Groups stance on issues such as Fair Trade is commendable and has been an important step in raising the profile of products such as chocolate and coffee and the issues surrounding the sourcing of the key commodities which these require. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ However, the Group must now acknowledge that the stance which it is taking on this issue is hypocritical à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" on the one hand advertising its own advocation of ethical sourcing and the importance of a fair price for growers whilst on the other hand continuing to directly profit from products which do not meet these standards. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The Group would therefore benefit from a much more clear cut and well defined ethical approach in which its Grocery stores were operated on principles similar if not identical to those of the Food Wholesaler SUMA. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The Group should oppose the sale of non-fair trade products under any circumstances and should work to source as many products as it can locally in order to support local industries, provide fresher produce to its customers and to provide greater local involvement. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ This process will encourage a greater involvement with local communities and will help the Group in becoming a dynamic and ethical supplier to local communities which becomes a part of these communities rather than being another huge chain which rips the soul out of local values and towns. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ To create an ethical pledge and commitment which will encompass all aspects of the Groups current ethical policies in a much more explicit and coherent way. One key example of this which the employees would particularly like to see is the following The Group will not only commit itself to sourcing its own brand chocolate from fair trade farms it will actively support such farms with fina ncial assistance from the bank and will undermine the market for non-fair trade products by refusing outright to stock such products. References and Bibliography Bevins, Vincent. Guardian survey reveals shoppers green concerns. The Guardian London: The Guardian, 2010. Cooperative Group. Ethical Trading and Fairtrade. Manchester: Cooperative Group, 2010. Cooperative Group. Food Ethics. Manchester: Cooperative Group, 2010. Cooperative Group. Food and Drink. Manchester: Cooperative Group, 2010. Klein, Naomi. No Logo. London: Fourth Estate, 2010. Lang et al. Food wars: the global battle for mouths, minds and markets. London: Earthscan, 2003. Moshirian, Fariborz. Globalisation, growth and institutions. Journal of Banking and Finance 32.4 (2008): 472-479. Sachs, Jeffrey. The End of Poverty: How We Can Make It Happen in Our Lifetime. London: Penguin, 2005. Stiglitz, Joseph. Globalisation and its Discontents. London: Penguin, 2002. Stiglitz, Joseph. Sen, Amartya and Fitoussi, Jean-Paul. Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. 2009. Weis, Tony. The global food economy: th e battle for the future of farming. London: Zed Books, 2007.