Every organization is comprised of people with different ideologies, philosophies, values and attitude that work collectively to achieve some goals. To achieve these goals effectively and efficiently, it is therefore important for top management to explain and inculcate its values on its employees in order to make them familiar with the organization system. The ability of top managers and strategist to successfully integrate and unify the various cultures within the corporate group will help to improve communication and performance (Idris, Wahab, & Jaapar, 2015).
Antic and Ceric (2008) stated that it is practically difficult to examine present day organizations without referencing their corporate culture. Nonetheless, different authors characterize ‘culture’ in an unexpected way. Accordingly, organization culture faces numerous difficulties and it is anything but a simple errand to characterize this term (Antic and Ceric, 2008). Albeit, organization culture is a broadly utilized term that appears to offer a level of ambiguity regarding assessing its adequacy on changing factors within an organization (O’Donnell and Boyle, 2008). Organization culture has risen as a subject of focal worry inside the business network throughout the previous ten years (Tierney, 1988). Fleury (2009) indicated that culture is relatively, a well-known subject in the scholarly plan, being debated about in everyday discussions within organizations. Notwithstanding, further investigations are constantly required as individuals are dynamic and therefore their convictions and encounters are changing and ought to be consistently considered accordingly (Muthanna, 2011). The study of organization culture is consequential to the accomplishment of organization strategies (Bashir et al., 2012). Organizational culture is the ingredient that propels an organization to achieve success. It generates an operational situation wherein each employee endeavors to accomplish the objective set by the organization (Tănase, 2015).
Organizational culture is found on the shared history and beliefs of organizational members, combined with its current leadership values. It is reflected by what is valued, the dominant leadership styles, language, symbols, routines and the definitions of success that make an organization (Cameron & Quinn, 2006). Employees imbibe the shared values, practices, and acceptable behaviors of an organization through the process of socialization. Once a proper understanding of organization culture is gained, employees’ performance will be enhanced. This suggests that organizations are learning systems. Therefore, it is important for organizations to create a culture that extends support, position the firm in the industry in which it operates and bring about continuous improvement. It is a quintessential element needed to grow a vibrant organization” (Schein, 2010).
Across the globe, many organizations struggle to survive due to the challenging characteristics of business such as the increasing price competition and satisfying the demands of different stakeholders (Bolboli & Reiche, 2013). Managers of corporate entities are confronted with the challenge of sustaining an effective organization culture, which is an overriding factor to improving performance and productivity (Kenny, 2012). Profitability is a key determinant for the survival of any business, and expanding the scope of business is also crucial for business growth (Erdorf et al., 2013). As businesses grow and diversify, they tend to face different challenges in managing and controlling resources which therefore establishes the need for managers to change the organization culture to be more responsive to their employees. Creating an effective culture within diversified organizations poses additional challenges for managers in corporate groups than for managers in a single company (Lee & Gaur, 2013). The absence of an effective corporate culture is the root cause of low performance and productivity in the corporate group (Eaton & Kilby, 2015).
As indicated by Idris et al. (2015), poor cultural integration within diversified companies affects shareholders value and the economic performance of corporate groups. Additionally, 90% of business excellence initiatives fail to excel as a result of the inability of managers to consider and properly integrate culture into the corporate group (Bolboli & Reiche, 2014). Weber and Tarba (2012) also pointed out that the major barrier to corporate performance is caused by the cultural differences that exist within the group. Owoyemi and Ekwoaba (2014) revealed that when organizations are efficient and its performance is expanding, then organization culture ought to be supported. To fuse the varying structures within a corporate group, it is crucial to initiate an effective organizational culture (Kenny, 2012).
The culture of an organization is a very persuasive force that influences employees’ behavior. It molds behavior by communicating a sense of identity to workers, fostering commitment and providing a recognizable and acceptable premise for decision making. It impacts on employee’s commitment, engagement and retention. The aim of every manager is to get employees commitment which is an important determinant for organizational effectiveness. Empirical investigations between corporate culture and performance have been the subject of research in various fields of business management in the last few decades. Moeljono (2003) stated that to improve the performance of an organization, it needs professional human resources and strong culture. This is supported by empirical investigation of Ojo (2009), who concluded that organizational culture positively influences employee performance. Ebtesbam et al (2011) showed that organizational culture has significant and positive influence on performance. Puspakumari (2008) study showed that significant and positive relationship exists between job satisfaction and employee performance. The influence of both variables will occur if mediated by employee behavior. Employee commitment, which leads to performance, is basically derived from employee identification with the organization. Khyzer (2001), results showed that organizational commitment impacted positively on performance. These studies prove that the difference between successful and less successful organization lies on its organizational culture (Himmer, 2013).
