CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.0

Background of the Study

The automobile industry plays a very important role in the socio-economic development of a country. This is because it helps with the movement of people, goods and services within a country and even across international boundaries. Organisations want to obtain the commitment of their employees and management would like its employees to identify itself with the values, norms and artefacts of the organisation, hence the need for organisational culture. Management needs to explain and imbibe its culture in its employees; this will enable the employee to get familiar with the organisational system. During this process of explanation, the employee learns about the organisational culture and decides whether he can cope with it or not.

It is the proper understanding of the organisational culture that helps the performance of the employee in the organisation. Performance is the extent to which an individual is carrying out assignment or task. It refers to the degree of accomplishment of the task that makes up an employees job (Cascio, 2006).

Organisational culture facilitates the acceptable solution to know the problems, which members learn, feel and set the principles, expectations, behaviour, patterns, and norms that promote high level of achievements (Marcoulides & Heck, 1993; Schein, 1992). It has been observed that in many foreign based organisations, business oriented values are derived consciously and

unconsciously from the culture of its founder (Asma, 1996). In a similar vein, Harrison (1994) alluded that the organisational cultures may vary based on the role, power structure and the capability to manage organisation by the expatriates managers who bring their own national cultures to the workplaces.

1.1

Statement of the Problem

Despite the plethora of studies on organisational culture in the last few decades, there is no widely accepted causal relationship between organisational culture and performance. The empirical evidences emerging from various studies about the effect of organisational culture on performance have so far yielded mixed results that are inconclusive and contradictory. Because of these contradictory results, the question of whether organisational culture improves or worsens employees performance is still worthy of further research. In addition, despite the existence of these studies, very little attention has been given to the automobile industry. This means that the impact of organisational culture on employees performance in the automobile industry has not received adequate research attention in Ghana. Thus, there is a major gap in the relevant literature on Ghana, which has to be covered by research.

1.2

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study are grouped into general and specific. 1.2.1 General

1. To assess the impact of organisational culture on employees job performance.

2. The study aims at investigating the possible relationship between organisational culture

and performance. 1.2.2 Specific

1. To ascertain if organisational culture affects employees job performance. 2. To determine empirically the relationship between organisational culture and employee

job performance.
3. To formulate recommendations regarding culture and employee job performance

1.3

Research Question
1. Does organisational culture have any effect on employees job performance? 2. In what ways does organisational culture impact employee job performance?

1.4

Significance of the Study

A study of the assessment of organisational culture and its effects on employees job performance at Toyota Ghana Company Limited is important for several reasons. First,

examine the views of employees on their levels of satisfaction on the organisational culture of the company. Secondly, the study will provide management with ideas of how employees perceive the organisational culture and come out with policies that will aim meeting employees expectation and even go beyond employees expectation.

Finally the study will ultimately benefit the management since its primary aim is to find out the effects of organisational culture on employees job performance. It is also believe that if the recommendation of this study is fully implemented, a lot of satisfactions will accrue to both management and employees. This will invariably lead to high perfomance of the company by way of high commitment.

1.5

Scope of the Study

In general the study looks at Toyota Ghana Company Limited and our main focus is the Kumasi Branch. The branch has forty (41) staff members which comprise of 1 Management Staff, 12 Senior Staff, 13 Junior Staff and 15 Contract Staff. It also has 11 outsourced employees from three different organisations who perform specific duties in the organisation. Out of the 11, 5 of the employees are from Group 4 Security Company, 4 from Charnok cleaning services and the other 2 are from Crystal Plus vehicle washing services. The study will take into consideration only the 40 employees of the branch. The reason is that, 1 of the researchers is an employee of the organisation.

1.6

Limitations of the Study

This study was carried out with limitation. The sample size was the same as the population and cannot be guaranteed to be a true representation of view from all employees of Toyota Ghana Company Limited and also with the outsourced employees. This will amount to a weakness of the study because the views of a selected cannot be generalised to reflect the view of the entire employees of Toyota Ghana Company limited in Ghana.

Also, instruments used to collect the data cannot be fully relied upon to generate the appropriate response. This is because some employees will not understand some of the questions. The analysis of the data delayed since questionnaires which were administered delayed in collection.

Again, the organisation failed to provide the researchers with the performance appraisal reports and this made it difficult to assess the actual performance of employees in Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch.

1.7

Organisation of the Study

This study is made up of five chapters. Chapter one includes background of the study, the Problem Statement, Objective of the Study, Research Question, Significance of the Study, Scope of the Study, Limitations of the Study as well as the Organisation of the Study. Chapter two presents a review of the related literature. Chapter three covers the Methodology and the Organisational Profile and includes the Sources of Data, Population and Sampling Techniques, Data Collection Instruments and Data Analysis Techniques. Chapter four deals with the Data Presentation, Analysis and Discussion. Chapter five presents Summary of Findings, Conclusion and Recommendations.

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction

The literature review covers main areas of theories under organisational culture and job performance. The chapter starts with a review of the various research paradigms towards studying organisational culture, followed by different definitions thereof. The next section, which is related to the definition and understanding of organisational culture, is to provide some insight on the theory of organisational culture and the various ways of categorising culture types. Then the different models of culture are discussed. Measuring organisational culture follows.

The last aspect covers the principles of performance. The purpose of this section was to provide insight into the definition of performance for purposes of this research. The theory on the relationship between organisational culture and performance forms the basis of the last area of the literature review. This section aimed to provide insight into the various views of the relationship between culture and performance.

2.1

Research Paradigms on Studying Organisational Culture

According to Ashkanasy et al. (2000b) common usage of the term culture reflects different views of ontology, epistemology, and methods. Following is a brief discussion of these different approaches with a view to put this study in a particular research perspective.

2.1.1

Ontology

Ontology is the study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations. Definitions of culture reflect three different kinds of ontologies. 1. The most common is structural realist ontology. This says that organisations exist as structures that have a variety of properties, including culture. From a structural realist perspective, an organisation is a kind of structure that has a culture (Ashkanasy et al. 2000b). 2. The second ontology is social construction ontology and this places emphasis on the varying regularity in events that happen and gives observers room to select which sets of events to group together into a culture. From a social construction perspective, discernible regularities in what are called work-related events constitute an organisation (Smith & Peterson, 1988). An organisation, in this view, is a kind of culture. 3. The third ontological view treats organisations and cultures both as helping each other. This means that concepts such as organisation and culture serves as the method of solving problems by way of helping us think. Structures, processes, and events are constructed or discarded as found helpful by a particular party, so that the correspondence to anything apart from the construction itself is secondary (Ashkanasy et al. 2000b).

2.1.2

Epistemology

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge. It addresses the questions: What is knowledge?

1.

2. 3.

How is knowledge acquired? How do we know what we know?

Definitions of culture can also reflect three epistemological approaches. These are: 1. Deductive approaches: It emphasizes broadly applicable cultural dimensions or analytic categories. Researchers gain knowledge by constructing these dimensions, looking to see where organisations fall on them and then revising the dimensions when they notice previously overlooked phenomena. 2. The second type of epistemology, the inductive approach, tends to recognise the presence of the tacit elements that always shape the experience of specified constructs and that can sometimes be made explicit (Polanyi, 1962). Inductive approaches emphasize investigators capability to derive categories by directly observing particular organisations. Not only relationships among variables but also the variables themselves may be unique to particular organisations. 3. Finally, radical approaches view observers as less passionately interested in accuracy than they are in producing constructions that reflect their own interests (Morgan, 1997).

2.2

Defining Organisational Culture

According to Beyer, Hannah and Milton (2000) the usefulness of scientific concepts depends to a large extent on whether they help to isolate and describe something distinctive about the phenomena under study. It is important to ask about any construct that is described what is not already captured by other constructs. With regard to the construct of culture, organisational

researchers should therefore confront the question of what is distinctive about this construct and its use in research. What does it point to in organisations that other constructs miss? Answering this question is complicated by the fact that both organisational researchers and anthropologists who specialise in studying culture disagree on what culture is and use different sets of words to define the construct.

According to Ajiferuke and Boddewyns (1970, p.154) there are almost as many meanings of culture as people using the term. Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) already suggested in 1952 that there were as many as 164 meanings of the term culture. Since then it was hoped that the field may have been further refined and a more common definition may have been agreed upon. Instead, what culture is and the nature of it are still hotly contested (Bolman & Deal, 1991).

Fortunately, some areas of overlap can be discerned. Most basic is that there seems to be general agreement that organisational cultures are based in sets of meanings shared by some groups of people. This focus on what is shared has been neglected by other constructs used to study organisations and thus give the culture construct a useful distinctiveness for organisational research (Beyer, Hannah & Milton, 2000).

At a basic level, culture may be defined as the way we do things around here (Deal & Kennedy, 1988. p. 4) or the way we think about things around here (Maull, Brown & Cliffe, 2001, p. 305)

Other definitions of organisational culture refer to some unique characteristics: 1. Patterns of shared values and beliefs over time, which produce behavioural norms that are adopted in solving problems (Deal & Kennedy, 1982: Schein, 1990). 2. Culture is to the organisation what personality is to the individual a hidden yet unifying theme that provides meaning, direction, and mobilisation (Kilmann, Saxton, Serpa & Associated, 1985). 3. Organisational culture is glue that welds managers together for effective implementation of organisational strategies, and the absence of this glue would bring about disastrous effects on the organisation (Alder & Morris, 1982). The most commonly accepted definition of culture is the one by Edgar Schein (1985, p. 9) A pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those processes. In the literature organisational culture often gets confused with the construct climate. The approach taken in this study is consistent with Denisons (1996) view that culture and climate are not strongly differentiated. Instead, they represent different but overlapping interpretations of the same phenomenon.

The lack of clarity between researchers on the different meanings of the terms used to describe cultural elements supports the fact that so far it has not been possible to find a common language to define such a complex concept as culture.

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2.3

The Levels of Organisational Culture

Figure 2.1
SOURCE:

Layers of an Onion
Groeschl, S. & Doherty, L. (2000). Conceptualising culture. Cross cultural Management An

international journal, 7(4): pg. 14)

Many researchers combine culture with another term to define its boundaries. Pizam (1993) for example, argued that culture exists at various levels of society. Accordingly, he created a hierarchy of cultures. The national culture is a geographical distinction, based on the physical boundaries of the nation state, whereas industry culture, occupational cultures, corporate culture, and organisational structure and managerial practices form distinctive patterns of behaviour of a social unit. Many other authors use similar approaches and define the boundaries of culture through different subcultures (Schein, 1985).

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Groeschl and Doherty (2000) pointed out that culture consists of several elements of which some are implicit and others are explicit. Most often these elements are explained by terms such as behaviour, values, norms and basic assumptions. To simplify these manifestations of culture many authors use the layers of an onion as a metaphor (see figure 2.1). The shallow, first layer is behaviour and represents the explicit culture. The implicit culture includes a second and deeper layer namely values. The core of culture is formed by basic assumptions.

According to Schein (1985), culture may be studied at its most visible level through the examination of its artefacts and creations, which include physical space, technology, art, symbols, language, mottoes, and overt behaviour. At the next level are the values espoused by individuals as the organisation faces and deals with new situations. These represent what ought to be, as distinct from what is (p. 15).

Finally, at the deepest level of culture are the basic, underlying assumptions. When actions that are taken in response to problems of external adaptation or internal integration are seen to be effective, the values on which they were based become accepted as truth, sink below the conscious level of culture, and become taken-for-granted assumptions that organisational members use to guide their behaviours and attitudes.

2.4

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE TYPES

Organisational literature acknowledges the difficulty of identifying a typical framework for different organisational culture types mainly because the shared assumptions and understanding

12

lie beneath the conscious level of individuals (Lund, 2003). There are multiple classifications of organisational culture types. 2.4.1 CULTURE TYPES Wallachs (1983) organisational culture index profiles cultures in three stereotypical dimensions: 1. Bureaucratic 2. Innovative 3. Supportive Table 1 below shows the three different dimensions and characteristics of each dimension. Each culture is defined according to the type of workplace, type of employees, orientation and type of company. Table 2.1: Wallachs cultural dimensions Element Workplace Types of employees Bureaucratic Hierarchical Unimaginative Innovative Exciting & dynamic Entrepreneurial ambitious Orientation Type of company Power orientated Results orientated Supportive Warm & fuzzy & Friendly focused Relationship orientated Highly environment supportive & people

Large market share in a Creative stable market; efficient systems and procedures

Source: Wallach, Q. P (1994). Organisational Cultural Dimensions (pg. 154). California: Sage Publication, Inc.

2.5

Models of Organisational Culture

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Models of organisational culture are abundant in the literature. Following is a brief description of the more prominent ones.

2.5.1

Scheins Model of Organisational Culture

Schein (1985) identifies three levels of culture, i.e. artefacts and creation, values and basic assumptions (see figure 2.2).

Figure 2.2

Scheins Levels of Culture

Source: Schein, E.H. (1985). Organisational culture and leadership: Adynamic view. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. ( pg. 14)

2.5.1.1

Artefacts and Creations

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Artefacts are conscious, obvious expressions of culture. Artefacts are visible, tangible and audible demonstration of behaviour supported by organisational norms, values and assumptions. Artefacts range from physical aspects such as architecture to forms of language to rituals (Schein, 1985). See table 2.2 for examples of artefacts.

TABLE 2.2

CLASSIFICATIONS OF ARTEFACTS Examples Flags, buildings, signs, pictures Architecture, office Authors reporting on Artefact (Ott, 1989)

Type of Artefact Symbols Physical arrangements

design, (Shultz, 1995; Raefaeli & Worline, 2000) stories, (Alvesson, 2002; Hatch, 2000; Ott,

decorations, dress code Patterned behaviour Language, jargon,

scripts, tales, myths, jokes, 1989; Shultz, 1995; Wilson, 2001) sagas, rituals Role models Ceremonies Heroes Celebrations, rites (Ott, 1989; Schein, 1999) (Ott, 1989; Trice & Beyer, 1984) legends, metaphors,

Source: Schein, E.H. (1985). Organisational culture and leadership: Adynamic view. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. ( pg. 15)

2.5.1.2

Values and Norms

Values represent the principles and standards valued by organisational members. Values indicate what is important to organisational members. Values are the foundation as to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. That which is considered right and wrong forms a

15

system or an ethical code. Values operate at the level higher than assumptions, though not obvious; values operate uppermost in members minds. Organisational members are able to recognise their values especially when challenged by others (Schein, 1985)

Norms are related to values. Norms help to indicate what the expectations are among organisational members. Norms provide the unwritten rules that indicate the expectations in terms of actions applicable in a number of situations. Norms within the environment could include appropriate dress codes in different situations (Schein, 1985). The relationship between norms and values is that what is considered acceptable can be traced to what is valued in a particular culture. Therefore, organisational members share values and conform to norm because the foundational assumptions support the norms and values. Norms and values support the manifestation of more obvious aspects of a culture, the artefacts (Schein, 1985).

2.5.1.3

Assumptions and Beliefs

Assumptions and beliefs are the basis of an organisations culture. Where solutions to problems, work continuously, and the solution is used unconsciously and become the way things are done by the group. Beliefs and assumptions are the foundation of an organisations culture. Assumptions are the basis for how organisational members think and feel. Assumptions are unconscious and are taken for granted. The assumptions are complex in the variety assumptions apply in a culture at a time (Schein, 1985).

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2.5.2

Hofstedes Model of Organisational Culture

From figure 2.3 Hofstede attempted to develop a cultural typology for the relationship between organisational cultures and their local national cultures. Figure 2.3 shows the onion diagram model of organisational culture developed by Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohavy and Sanders (1990).

Figure 2.3:

The Hofstede Levels of Organisational Culture

Source: Adapted from Hofstede as cited in Maull et al. (2001, p. 307)

It has four main elements; symbols, heroes, rituals and values. The core of culture is formed by values, which are broad tendencies to prefer certain states over others and are the deepest level of culture. Rituals are collective activities that are considered socially essential and heroes are persons who possess characteristics that are highly prized and are often the winners or those who get on in an organisation. Symbols are the most overt element of culture and are the

17

gestures, objects or words recognised by those who are part of the same organisational culture. Structure and technology and competencies help the other elements to work properly.

2.6

Measuring Organisational Culture

Although the concept of organisational culture has been prominent in organisational and management literature since the 1970s (Barley, Meyer, & Gash, 1988), scholars still disagree on the best way to measure it (see OReilly, Chatman, & Caldwell, 1991; Rousseau, 1990). Some writers have suggested the use of multiple methods (e.g., Martin, 1992; Rousseau, 1990), but these methods are often complex, expensive, and time-consuming (Ashkanasy, Broadfoot & Falkus, 2000).

The literature since 1989 on the study, diagnosis and measurement of culture has been sparse. Perhaps this is because there has been so much emphasis on the characteristics of a quality culture that managers are no longer concerned about the kind of culture they have; but only about the kind of culture they want to have (Lewis, 1995).

2.7

PERFORMANCE

Because this research is performance research with culture as the cause and adherence to service level agreement as the effect, it is important to discuss the main issues relating to performance.

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2.7.1

DEFINITION OF PERFORMANCE

The first problem in defining performance is that the definition of performance will depend on the stakeholder involved. Organisations inevitably have an array of stakeholders, and any particular measure of performance often tends to compete against another (Denison, 1990). Shareholders prefer performance in dividends, while managers regard performance in operational processes as important. From a traditional perspective, organisational performance is commonly referred to as financial performance where considerations of budgets and assets are crucial in determining the overall bottom-line of an organisation (Yeo, 2003). In this research, performance will be defined in terms of adherence to the agreed five-day service level agreement.

According to Langton (2000) performance implies the action of doing things, using things, and attending to conditions, processing, communicating, and achieving results. It is not a static concept, but an active concept. Langdon (2000) describes performance as consisting of four dimensions: 1. Behaviour 2. Standards 3. Support 4. Human relations An organisation cannot perform unless all four layers are present. A high performance organisation is one in which the culture provides employees with the accountability and responsibility necessary to meet customers needs in a timely manner to ensure business

19

success (Allerton, 1998). He defines characteristics of a high performance organisation as follows: 1. well-understood vision and values help guide decision-making; 2. decision making occurs at the lowest level; 3. risk taking is encouraged; 4. performance feedback comes from peers, customers and direct reports.

From Allertons definition it is clear that he is of the opinion that a specific type of culture is important to create the environment in which an organisation can perform. Not all corporate cultures will allow decision making at the lowest level or encourage risk taking. As Jacobs (2005, p.1) states in his article: How a company decides who is authorised to make what types of decisions can have a profound effect on its business, both in terms of everyday effectiveness and the bottom line.

2.7.2

FACTORS AFFECTING PERFORMANCE

Cummings & Worley (2005) advocated that six factors other than culture can affect the performance of organisations. The key components of the six elements are as follow: a) Context: Context refers to the environment in which the organization operates and includes both external and internal environments. Organisational characteristics such as business strategy, strategy and structure as well as organisational culture form part of the context. b) Purpose: This will represent the goals and objectives of the organisation. In this study it will focus on the objective of achieving a five-day service level agreement.

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c) Composition & Diversity: The demographics of the group will be identified in this variable. d) Structure: Size of the group will be taken into account. e) Processes: The formation and socialisation processes play a critical role in the performance of an organisation. These ties back to Scheins (1984) where he stated that a group must be together for a long enough time to resolve problems. It can therefore be concluded that performance can be determined by the length of time that a group has been working together. f) Leadership: The type of leadership behaviour will have an influence on performance. Research has shown that a transformational leadership style does result in increased performance (Lok & Crawford, 2004). It can be concluded that culture is an important contributor to performance, but not the sole contributor.

2.8

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AND PERFORMANCE

The pioneering work of Deal and Kennedy (1982) incited the interest of researchers to the concept of corporate culture and how these values and philosophy guide the employees behaviour in the organisation towards greater success. Following this pioneering work, many authors have researched the relationship between organisational culture and performance. The table below shows the authors and the type of culture that they regarded as beneficial to enhancing organisational performance.

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Table 2.4: Authors and type of culture as a predictor of performance Author Ouchi (1981) Dension (1990) Kotter & Heskett (1992) Type of culture as a predictor of performance Clan culture Participative culture Participative for all constituencies (customers, stockholders and employees) Deshpande & Farley (1999) Indian firms entrepreneurial culture Japanese competitive culture Franco & Bourne (2003)
Source: compiled by researchers

Entrepreneurial

2.8.1 STRENGTH OF CULTURE AND PERFORMANCE According to Robbins (1996) an organisation culture is strong if it is distinctive and characterised by a significant consensus between organisational members regarding their beliefs, values, norms and ideals. A culture will therefore be strong if all members in the organisation are in agreement on the way they should act and behave and agree that the particular behaviour will be beneficial to the greater good of the organisation. A strong culture can have a positive impact on the effectiveness of the organisation (Denison, 1990). An organisation is postulated to have a strong culture when the culture is widely shared among employees (Lee & Yu 2004). Peters and Waterman (1982) claimed as early as 1982 that there is a link between a strong culture and superior performance. Kilman (1985) supported this view that strong culture can have a major impact on the success of the business due to its persuasive influence throughout any organisation.

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Schein (1984) opposed this view. According to Schein organisational culture in the whole and not cultural strengths, may or may not be a predictor of performance. This view was supported by Van der Berg & Wilderom (2004). According to them cultural strength only indicates the degree of employee consensus and such consensus does not indicate the level of organizational culture, i.e. strong or weak. This study will not focus on the strength of the culture but it is important to recognise that various authors have considered this as an important factor.

CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY AND ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE 3.0 Introduction

The chapter deals with the detailed information on the methods or procedures used for the research. It presents the research methods comprising of the population and sample size, the procedure, the research instruments, methods of collection and analysis of data. It shows the outline and explanation of the ways for obtaining the primary and secondary data with regards to the effects of organisational culture on employees job performance at Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch. It also outlines the background of Toyota Ghana Company Limited dwelling mainly on the Kumasi Branch.

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3.1

Sources of Data

There were two main sources of data used in conduction of this research. These are primary and secondary data.

3.1.1

Primary Data

The primary data was collected through the field of survey. The data collection methods for the study were obtained through the use of questionnaires, interview and observation. The questionnaire was an already existing one and this is the Humming Corporate Culture Questionnaire. It has been designed to provide incumbent Management Groups with a view of the organisation that enlightens on the subject of Corporate Culture and Performance. This questionnaire is a litmus test and provides a reflective view of an organisations Business Culture and Performance. This was used because the responses can be quantified and

summarized and large samples and large quantities of data can be collected which is relatively inexpensive. All the same it could have possible response bias. The interview was conducted for four employees in the organisation. The four employees were chosen from the various employment levels in the organisation. One employee represented each level. The employment levels are junior staff, senior staff, contract staff and management. It was used because it provides a source of rich data. Nonetheless, it is relatively expensive. The observation was done based on the levels of organisational culture. These are: 1. Artefacts 2. Norms

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3. Values 4. Basic assumptions The observation was used to collects data on actual behavior, rather than reports of behavior and was adaptive whereby we can modify what we chooses to observe. But there are difficulties in coding and interpretation.

3.1.2

Secondary Data

The secondary data were collected from some relevant documented report as well as articles concerning organisational culture and performance, magazines from Toyota Ghana Company Limited which are Team Toyota and Toyota News, and internet services from the World Wide Web (www). Also other information was obtained through research papers, text books and other publications. Secondary information is data and materials previously collected. The secondary information provided in this thesis is gathered from scientific reports and scientific articles as well as from literature in the field of organisational culture and employees job performance.

As described by Arbnor and Bjerke (2009) when using secondary data there is often a problem with the compatibility and the trustworthiness of the used sources in connection with the actual research. In order to secure the quality of this study the secondary data has been collected with consideration to where it has been published, for what purpose, the actuality of the information and also to the given perspectives being present in the source.

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3.2

Population

The study looked at the total employees of Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch. They are 40 in number. It comprises of 1 Management Staff, 11 Senior Staff, 13 Junior Staff and 15 Contract Staff. They are under 5 departments namely; Sales Department, Spare Parts Department, Service Department, Accounts Department and Administration Department. The total population is also the sample population.

3.3

Sampling Techniques

The total number of employees in the organisation which represented population was used as the sample size. Due to this, there was no sampling technique used.

3.4

Data Collection Instrument

The data collection instruments were mainly questionnaires, interview and observation. This was to basically find the relationship between organisational culture and employees job performance. Organisational culture is intangible yet its impact on an organisations operations is very tangible. This suggests that, whilst quantitative measures may be used, they are likely only to yield comparatively superficial information about the organisational culture. In order to probe beneath the surface of the organisational culture, to examine the less overt aspects of the organisational culture(s) and subcultures, it was important to combine quantitative and

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qualitative methodologies for data collection. A mixed data collection instrument will be used for the empirical data collection, using numerical and verbal data, in order to gather rounded, reliable data.

3.5

Data Analyses Techniques

The data obtained were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences software (SPSS). The data was presented into simple frequency distribution tables, bar charts, pie charts and percentages. The components of Culture based on the questionnaire that were analysed are Business Focus, Discipline, Values, Behaviours, Communications and Workplace

Harmony/Socialisation. 3.5.1 Scoring the Results

Strongly agree = 5, Agree =4, Neither agree or disagree =3, Disagree = 2, Strongly disagree =1. These scores were applied to each question and a master was created totalling all responses and divided by the number of participants. This provided a mean score. Questions: 1, 2 & 10 related to Business Focus. A score of > 10 would indicate you have some work to do focusing the organisation. Questions: 3, 4, 9 &11 related to Internal Communications. A score of > 15 would indicate you are missing a vital opportunity to build your Culture. Questions: 5 & 21 related to Values. A score of > 8 indicates that the foundations of a strong Culture are absent. Questions: 6, 7, 8 & 13 related to Discipline in the business. A score of > 15 would be poor. Discipline is a vital element in building employee commitment and positive workplace Behaviours. Questions: 12, 14, 15 & 22 related to workplace Behaviours. A score of > 15 would be poor. Workplace Behaviours stimulate consistency that

27

leads to productivity and profitability. Questions: 16, 17, 18, 19, & 21 related to Workplace Harmony. A score of > 20 would be poor. It is rare for an organisation to score well on this measure if the other scores are poor.

3.6

Organisational Profile

Toyota Ghana Company Limited was incorporated in Ghana in January 1998 by the investment of Marubeni Corporation, Japan and Marubeni Auto Europe S.A, Belgium and started operations in April 1998. Under the Ghana government divestiture program, Toyota Ghana Company Limited acquired four assets of interest in Ghamot Company Limited namely plot numbers 15, 30, 43 and 85. The plot numbers represents the head office in Accra and the Kumasi Branch. Toyota Ghana Company Limited can now boost of two new branches which includes Tema and Tarkwa Branches. It is worthwhile to mention that Toyota Ghana Company limited acquired the assets but not liability of Ghamot. The company is registered with an initial stated capital of US$3,000,000. Toyota Ghana Company Limited is the sole representative of Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan (TMC). Consequently its principal activity is the sale and distribution of new Toyota vehicles and spare parts and the provision of after sales support for the vehicles (3S).

Vision 1. To provide our customers with the best vehicle life experience.

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Mission 1. Become the most customer focused and environmental friendly automobile company in Ghana. 2. Provide inter rated 3s (service, sales, spare parts). 3. Provide adequate and up to date training for our staff, dealers and fleet users with up to date skills. 4. Establish a service network that fixes it right the first time anytime, anywhere and with the right components. 5. Contribute to society as a good corporate citizen.

Toyota Ghana Company Limited is the sole distributor of Toyota vehicles in Ghana. Toyota Ghana Company Limited is a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) of Japan, the parent producer and seller of Toyota vehicles worldwide. Just as it is that Toyota Motor Corporation is the worlds largest producer and seller of cars, TGCL is also Ghanas leading retailer of Toyota vehicles. Toyota Ghana Limited is now headed by Mr. Takahiko Takabayashi who took over from Mr. Masato Kimata from 21st April 2010. The Kumasi Branch which is our focus has 40 staff members which comprise of 1 Management Staff, 11 Senior Staff, 13 Junior Staff and 15 Contract Staff. The branch has five departments namely; Sales Department, Spare Parts Department, Service Department, Accounts Department and Administration Department.

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3.6.1

Sales Department

This department sells brand new Toyota vehicles to individuals and companies.

3.6.2

Spare Parts Department

The above department stock spare parts of Toyota vehicles, supply spare parts to the service department for servicing, sells to customers and prepare proforma invoices for customers whose vehicle has been involve in an accident to their insurance companies.

3.6.3

Service Department

The service department is one arm of the operational departments of Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch. It is an after sales department with the sole aim of making sure that customers of Toyota vehicles enjoy driving these vehicles throughout the life span of their vehicles.

3.6.4

Accounts Department

The accounts department monitors and controls the flow of cash receipts and disbursement to meet the business and investment needs of the organisation. Also, it oversees to minimise risks and losses that might arise from business operations.

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3.6.5

Administration Department

The administration department oversees daily operations, event coordination and staff management of the organisation. Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi branch upholds Toyotas pledge of Quality that rewards you everyday.

CHAPTER FOUR DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 4.0 Introduction

The chapter talks about and discusses the findings of the study. The discussion addresses the research question and its objectives as presented in the questionnaire, observation and interview outcomes. The bio data of the respondents in the questionnaire in Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch revolved around age, sex, educational background and employment level.

4.1

Age Distribution of Respondents

31

Table 4.1 Age distribution of respondents for Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch
Age of Respondents Cumulative Percent 50.0 92.5 100.0

Years 20-30 31-40 41-50 Total

Frequency 20 17 3 40

Percent 50.0 42.5 7.5 100.0

Valid Percent 50.0 42.5 7.5 100.0

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

The table above indicates that the age of respondents range, 20-30 years, were the highest which represents 50% of the total population. The respondents age range, 31-40years, was the second highest which was 42.5% followed by the age ranges 41-50 which was 7.5%. It was realised that there were more vibrant staff in the organisation in terms of the ages between 2030 and 31-40. 4.2 Gender
Gender distribution for Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch
Gender

Table 4.2

Gender male female Total

Frequency 32 8 40

Percent 80.0 20.0 100.0

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

The table above, 80% of the employees are male and 20% are females. The indication is that males dominate the organisation. This is represented in the pie chart graph (fig. 4.1) below.

32

Figure 4.1 Gender Distribution of respondents

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

4.3

Length of Stay in the Organisation Length of Stay in Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch
Years of work for organisation

Table 4.3

Years 0-1 2-5 6-9 10 or more Total

Frequency 9 24 4 3 40

Percent 22.5 60.0 10.0 7.5 100.0

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

33

60% of the respondents have worked in the organisation within 2-5 years, 22.5% fall within 01, 10% are within 6-9 years and 7.5% within 10 or more years. The majority of employees that have worked in the organisation are within 2-5 years. It was observed that the ages between 20 and 30 of the respondents form 60 % of them and the other age group forms 40%.

4.4

Educational Background of Respondents

Figure 4.2

Level of education for Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

From the responses 52.5% of the respondents indicated that their educational background is at the Polytechnic level, 35% at the University level, 5% at the Vocational/Technical level, 5% again at the SHS level and 2.5% at the O/A level. It is therefore obvious that most of the respondents appeared to have polytechnic educational background and this dominates the organisation. 4.5 Employment Level
Employment Level for Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch Employment level

Table 4.4

34

Frequency junior staff contract staff senior staff management Total 13 15 11 1 40

Percent 32.5 37.5 27.5 2.5 100.0

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

From the respondents, it was found out that 37.5% are contract staff, 32.5% are junior staff, 27.5% are senior staff and 2.5% represents the management. The indication is that the organisation has numerical flexibility. The implication is that Toyota almost equal number of employees at all the employment level. 4.6 Factors Contributing to Performance Level

Table 4.5 Factors Contributing to Performance Level for Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch
factors contributing to performance level Frequency working conditions job satisfaction challenges of the job culture of the organistion Total 10 9 14 7 40 Percent 25.0 22.5 35.0 17.5 100.0 Valid Percent 25.0 22.5 35.0 17.5 100.0 Cumulative Percent 25.0 47.5 82.5 100.0

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

In response to factors contributing to the performance level, 35% of the employees stated challenges of the job as being the main contributing factor to performance level, 25% attributed it to the working conditions whiles 22.5% linked it to job satisfaction and 17.5% associated it to the culture of the organisation. This is depicted in table 4.5. The indication is that challenges of the job and the working condition appear to contribute significantly to the performance level. It was interesting to know that the ages between 20 and 30 of the respondents 60% indicated challenges of the job and the ages between 31 and 40 indicated, 70% indicated working condition. Surprisingly culture of the organisation was the lowest and there was 100%

35

indication from the ages between 40 -50. This shows that the organisational culture is not strong.

4.7

Assessing the Organisational Culture and Performance

The components of culture, based on the Hummings corporate culture questionnaire are Business Focus, Discipline, Values, Behaviours, Communications and Workplace

Harmony/Socialisation.

4.7.1

Business Focus

Business focus is the ability of an organisation to concentrate on its major activities and the reason for its existence. Questions 1, 2 and 10 relate to Business Focus. According to Humming Corporate culture questionnaire analysis, a total mean score of > 10 would indicate that the organisation has to focus more on the organisation.

Table 4.6

Business objectives and operational objective understood by all employees

36

Question 1. the organisation has clear business and operational objectives that are understood by all employees Frequency strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 1 6 2 22 9 40 Percent 2.0 15.0 5.0 55.0 23.0 100.0 Valid Percent 2.0 15.0 5.0 55.0 23.0 100.0 Score 1 12 6 88 45 Cumulative Percent 2.0 17.0 22.0 77 100.0

152

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

In response, 2% of the respondent for strongly disagreed the organisation has objectives understood by all employees, 15% disagree, 5% neither agree nor disagree, 22 for agree and 9 for strongly agree. This give a total score or 152 and a mean score of (152/40) 3.8. This implies that the business objectives are not understood by all employees.
Table 4.7 Individual effort contributing to business success
Question 2. employees understand how their individual efforts contribute to business success Frequency Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 5 1 20 14 40 Percent 13.0 2.0 50.0 35.0 100.0 Valid Percent 13.0 2.0 50.0 35.0 100.0 Score 10 3 80 70 Cumulative Percent 13.0 15.0 65.0 100.0

163

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

50% of the respondents agree, 35% strongly agree, 13% disagree, 2% neither agree nor disagree and there was no respondent for strongly disagree. This give a total score or 163 and a mean score of (163/40) 4.075. It can be deduced that 85% of the respondents understand how their individual efforts contribute to business success as opposed 13% of the respondents who do not. This enhanced their attitude towards work bringing about quality of service.
Table 4.8 Hiring of new employees

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Question 10. management put a great deal of effort into hiring new employees who will fit into the organisation Frequency strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 10 5 2 19 4 40 Percent 25.0 13.0 5.0 47.0 10.0 100.0 Valid Percent 25.0 13.0 5.0 47.0 10.0 100.0 Score 10 10 6 76 20 Cumulative Percent 25.0 38.0 43.0 90.0 100.0

122

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

47% of the respondent agrees that management put a great deal into hiring new employees who will fit into the organisation, strongly agree, 25% strongly disagree, 10% strongly agree and 5% neither agree nor disagree. This give a total score or 122 and a mean score of (122/40) 3.05. The indication to this is that new employees hired into the organisation are perceived by other employees not to really fit into the organisation.

The total mean score for the three questions is (3.8 + 4.075 + 3.05) 10.925. According to Hummings corporate culture assessment when the mean score is > 10 it shows that the organisation has to let all employees understand the business objectives and make sure that employees understand how their individual efforts contribute to the business success and hire new employees that will fit into the organisation.

4.7.2

Discipline

Discipline is about controlling behaviour and an area of activity where necessary to bring out good results.

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Questions 6, 7, 8 and 13 relate to Discipline in the business. A score of > 15 would be poor. Discipline is a vital element in building employee commitment and positive workplace Behaviours. Table 4.9 Performance measurement against objectives
Question 6. management measures business performance against objectives Cumulative Percent 14 6 104 25 17.0 22.0 87.0 100.0

Frequency Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 7 2 26 5 40

Percent 17.0 5.0 65.0 13.0 100.0

Valid Percent 17.0 5.0 65.0 13.0 100.0

score

149

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

65% of the respondents agree that management measures business performance against objectives, 17% disagree, 13% strongly agree and 5% neither agree nor disagree. This give a total score or 149 and a mean score of (149/40) 3.725. This implies that 78% of the employees know that management measure business performance against its objectives.

Table 4.10

Seeking feedback from clients and customers

Question 7. management actively seeks feedback from clients and customers with a view to improving service Frequency Percent 2 1 18 19 40 5.0 2.0 45.0 48.0 100.0 Valid Percent 5.0 2.0 45.0 48.0 100.0 score 4 3 72 95 Cumulative Percent 5.0 7.0 52.0 100.0

Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

174

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

From table 4.10, 93% of the respondents agreed that feedback is sought from clients and customers whiles, 5% disagree, 2% neither agree nor disagree. This gives a total score or 174 and a mean score of (174/40) 4.35. Toyota is doing well seeking feedback from clients and customers with a view of improving performance and is bound on delivering quality of service.

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Table 4.11

Ways of improving product and services

Question 8. management is constantly looking for ways to improve products and services Frequency Percent 2 3 21 14 40 5.0 7.0 53.0 35.0 100.0 Valid Percent 5.0 7.0 53.0 35.0 100.0 score 4 9 84 70 Cumulative Percent 5.0 12.0 65.0 100.0

Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

167

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

In response, 88% of the respondents agreed that management is constantly looking for ways to improve product and services whiles 7% neither agree nor disagree and 5% disagree. This gives a total score or 167 and a mean score of (167/40) 4.175. Toyota has improvement of service as a priority.

Table 4.12

Problems concerning employee performance.

Question 13. management is quick to deal with problems concern employee's performance Frequency Percent 6 6 4 15 9 40 15.0 15.0 10.0 38.8 22.0 100.0 Valid Percent 15.0 15.0 10.0 38.0 22.0 100.0 score 6 12 12 60 45 Cumulative Percent 15.0 30.0 40.0 78.0 100.0

strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

135

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

From table 4.12, 38% of the respondent agreed, 22% strongly agreed, 15% strongly disagreed, 15% disagreed and 10% neither agreed nor disagreed. This gives a total score or 135 and a mean score of (135/40) 3.375. It indicates that, not all employees feel that management is quick to deal with problems concerning employees performance.

40

The total mean score for the four questions is (3.725 + 4.175 + 3.05 + 3.375) 15.625. According to Hummings corporate culture assessment when the mean score is > 15 it shows that organisation is poor concerning discipline. It implies that Toyota does not have enough measures concerning discipline.

4.7.3

Values

Values represent the principles and standards valued by organisational members. Questions 5 and 21 relate to Values. A score of > 8 indicates that the foundations of a strong Culture are absent. Table 4.13 Values that underpins business performance
Question 5. management has put in place a clear set of values that underpins business performance Frequency strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 1 3 6 20 10 40 Percent 2.0 8.0 15.0 50.0 25.0 100.0 Valid Percent 2.0 8.0 15.0 50.0 25.0 100.0 score 1 6 18 80 50 Cumulative Percent 2.0 10.0 25.0 75.0 100.0

155

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

From table 4.13, 75% of the respondents agreed that the organisation has values that underpins performance out of which 25% strongly agreed, 10% disagreed. However 15% neither agreed nor disagreed. This give a total score or 155 and a mean score of (155/40) 3.875. The indication is that management has in place clear set of values that underpins business performance. Table 4.14 Making a difference in the workplace

41

Question 21. I feel driven to make a difference in my work place Frequency Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 3 9 17 11 40 Percent 7.0 23.0 43.0 27.0 100.0 Valid Percent 7.0 23.0 43.0 27.0 100.0 score 6 27 68 55 Cumulative Percent 7.0 30.0 73.0 100.0

156

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

Table 4.14 shows that, 43% of respondent agreed, 27% strongly agreed, 27% neither agreed nor disagreed, 7% disagreed and none of the respondents strongly agreed. This give a total score of 156 and a mean score of (156/40) 3.9. The indication is that 70% of the employees feel driven to make a difference in the organisation. However, 27% of the employees who neither agreed nor disagreed raises questions in the organisation.

The total mean score for the two questions are (3.825 + 3.9) 7.775. According to Hummings corporate culture assessment when the mean score that is <8 shows that the foundation for a strong culture is present within the organisation.

4.7.4

Behaviours

Behaviours are the ways employees function in a particular situation in the organisation. Questions 12, 14, 15 and 22 relate to workplace Behaviours. A score of > 15 would be poor. Workplace Behaviours stimulate consistency that leads to productivity and profitability. Table 4.15 Rewards of specific behaviours

42

Question 12. management encourages and rewards specific behaviours Frequency strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 2 6 7 21 4 40 Percent 5.0 15.0 17.0 53.0 10.0 100.0 Valid Percent 5.0 15.0 17.0 53.0 10.0 100.0 score 2 12 21 84 20 Cumulative Percent 5.0 20.0 37.0 90.0 100.0

109

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

Table 4.15 shows that, 53% of the respondent agreed, 17% neither agreed nor disagreed, 15% disagreed, 10% strongly agreed and 5% strongly disagreed. This gives a total score or 109 and a mean score of (109/40) 2.725. The indication is that management encouraging and rewarding specific behaviours is on the low side.

Table 4.16

Reward for employees for business success

Question 14. management reward employees for business success Frequency Percent 1 3 10 18 8 40 2.0 8.0 25.0 45.0 20.0 100.0 Valid Percent 2.0 8.0 25.0 45.0 20.0 100.0 Score 1 6 30 72 40 Cumulative Percent 2.0 10.0 35.0 80.0 100.0

strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

149

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

45% of the respondent agreed that management rewards employees for business success, 20% strongly agreed, 25% neither agreed nor disagreed, 8% disagreed and 2% strongly disagreed. This give a total score or 149 and a mean score of (149/40) 3.725. The indication is that, management rewards employees for the success of the business. However, 65% of the respondents with educational background at the university level agreed Toyota rewards employees for business success and majority of them fell under the ages between 20-30 years

43

while 355% of the respondents with educational background at the polytechnic level also agreed that Toyota rewards employees for business success and majority of them fell under the ages between 30-40 years.

Table 4.17

Employees to challenge how well things are done.

Question 15. management encourages all employees to challenges how well things are done Frequency Percent 3 12 7 15 3 40 7.0 30.0 18.0 37.0 8.0 100.0 Valid Percent 7.0 30.0 18.0 37.0 8.0 100.0 Score 3 24 21 60 15 Cumulative Percent 7.0 37.0 55.0 92.0 100.0

strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

123

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

Table 4.17 shows that, a total of 45% of the respondents (strongly agree and agree) believe that management encourages employees to challenge how well things are done whiles 37% (strongly disagree and disagree)of the respondent does not believe so. However, it was surprising to know that 18% neither agreed nor disagreed. This give a total score or 123 and a mean score of (123/40) 3.075. The indication is that, management does not really encourage all employees to challenge how well things are done.

Table 4.18

The organisations future

44

Question 22. employees feel confident and certain about the organisations future Frequency strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 2 4 4 23 7 40 Percent 5.0 10.0 10.0 57.0 18.0 100.0 Valid Percent 5.0 10.0 10.0 57.0 18.0 100.0 score 2 8 12 92 35 Cumulative Percent 5.0 15.0 25.0 82.0 100.0

149

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

Table 4.18 shows that, 57% of the respondent agreed, 18% strongly agreed, 10% neither agreed nor disagreed, 10% disagreed and 5% strongly disagreed. This give a total score or 149 and a mean score of (149/40) 3.725. This indicates that there is certainty within employees about the organisations future.

The total mean score for the four questions was (2.725 + 3.725 + 3.075 + 3.725) 13.25. According to Hummings corporate culture assessment, when the mean score is <15 it indicates that the workplace behaviour helps stimulate consistency that leads to productivity and profitability.

4.7.5

Communications

Questions 3, 4, 9 and 11 relate to Internal Communications. A score of > 15 would indicate you are missing a vital opportunity to build your Culture.

Table 4.19

Business strategies

45

Question 3. management shares business strategies with all employees Frequency strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 5 15 9 9 2 40 Percent 12.0 38.0 22.0 23.0 5.0 100.0 Valid Percent 12.0 38.0 22.0 23.0 5.0 100.0 Score 5 30 27 36 10 Cumulative Percent 12.0 50.0 72.0 95.0 100.0

108

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

Table 4.19 shows that, 38% of the respondent disagreed, 23% agreed, 22% neither agreed nor disagreed, 12% strongly disagreed and 5% strongly agreed. This gives a total score or 108 and a mean score of (108/40) 2.7. The indication is that management of the organisation does not share business strategies with all employees.

Table 4.20

Business results
Question 4. management shares business results with employees on regular basis Frequency Percent 27.0 15.0 17.0 33.0 7.0 100.0 6 7 13 3 40 Valid Percent 27.0 15.0 17.0 33.0 7.0 100.0 Score 11 12 21 52 15 Cumulative Percent 27.0 42.0 60.0 93.0 100.0

strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

11

111

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

The table above shows that 33% of the respondent agreed that business results are shared with employee, 27% strongly disagreed, 17% neither agreed nor disagreed, 15% disagreed and 7% strongly agreed. This give a total score or 111 and a mean score of (111/40) 2.775. The indication is that the organisation does not really share business results with employees on a regular basis. Table 4.21 Performance feedback and appraisal

46

Question 9. management is discipline with employee performance feedback and appraisals Frequency strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 2 9 4 22 3 40 Percent 5.0 22.0 10.0 55.0 8.0 100.0 Valid Percent 5.0 22.0 10.0 55.0 8.0 100.0 Score 2 18 12 88 15 Cumulative Percent 5.0 27.0 37.0 92.0 100.0

135

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

The table shows that, 55% of the respondent agreed, 22% disagreed, 10% neither agreed nor disagreed, 8% strongly agreed, 5% strongly disagreed. This gives a total score of 135 and a mean score of (135/40) 3.375. The indication is that the organisation does not really use the employees performance feedback and appraisals.

Table 4.22

Communicating with employee on a host of issues

Question 11. management does an excellent job of communicating with employees on a host of issues Cumulative Percent 8 18 12 34 10 20.0 42.0 52.0 95.0 100.0

Frequency strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total 8 9 4 17 2 40

Percent 20.0 22.0 10.0 43.0 5.0 100.0

Valid Percent 20.0 22.0 10.0 43.0 5.0 100.0

Score

82

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

Table 4.22 shows that, 43% of the respondent agreed, 22% disagreed, 20% strongly disagreed, 10% neither agreed nor disagreed, 5% strongly agreed. This give a total score or 82 and a mean score of (82/40) 2.05. The indication is that the organisation does not really communicate to employees about issue within the organisation.

47

The total mean score for the four questions was (2.7 + 2.775 + 3.375 + 2.05) 10.9. According to Hummings corporate culture assessment when the mean score is <15 Toyota the organisation has a vital opportunity to build a stronger Culture.

4.7.6

Workplace Harmony/Socialisation

Questions 16, 17, 18, 19 and 21 relate to Workplace Harmony. A score of > 20 would be poor. Workplace Harmony is often a silent measure of Business Focus, Communications, Values, Discipline and Behaviours.

Table 4.23

Employee morale
Question 16. employee morale is generally high - most of the time Frequency Percent 30.0 25.0 17.0 23.0 5.0 100.0 Valid Percent 30.0 25.0 17.0 23.0 5.0 100.0 Score 12 20 21 36 10 Cumulative Percent 30.0 55.0 72.0 95.0 100.0

strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

12 10 7 9 2 40

99

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

The table 4.23 shows that, 30% of the respondent strongly disagreed, 25% disagreed, 23% agreed, 17% neither agreed nor disagreed and 5% strongly agreed. This gives a total score or 99 and a mean score of (99/40) 2.475. The indication is that employee morale is not generally high in the organisation.

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Table 4.24

Employee Tenure
Question 17. employee tenure is generally strong Frequency Percent 5 6 7 19 3 40 12.0 15.0 17.0 48.0 7.0 100.0 Valid Percent 12.0 15.0 17.0 48.0 7.0 100.0 Score 5 12 21 76 15 Cumulative Percent 12.0 27.0 45.0 93.0 100.0

strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

129

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

The table shows that, 48% of the respondent agreed, 17% neither agreed nor disagreed, 15% disagreed, 12% strongly disagreed and 7% strongly agreed. This give a total score or 129 and a mean score of (129/40) 3.225. The situation is that employees do not stay long in the organisation. 65% of the employees with the ages between 40-50 employee tenure is strong and 80% of them are senior staff. However,

Table 4.25

Socialisation Activities
Question 18. employees engage in a host of socialisation activities in and out of the work place Frequency Percent 6 3 12 15 4 40 15.0 7.0 30.0 38.0 10.0 100.0 Valid Percent 15.0 7.0 30.0 38.0 10.0 100.0 Score 6 6 36 60 20 Cumulative Percent 15.0 22.0 52.0 90.0 100.0

strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

128

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

Table 4.25 also shows that, 38% of the respondent agreed, 30% neither agreed nor disagreed, 15% strongly disagreed, 10% strongly agreed and 7% disagreed. This give a total score or 128 and a mean score of (128/40) 3.2. Toyota does not really provide socialisation activities that the employees like in and out of the workplace.

49

Table 4.26

Talking about personal issues

Question 19. employees feel comfortable talking about personal issues with other employees and management Frequency Percent 6 9 6 18 1 40 15.0 23.0 15.0 45.0 2.0 100.0 Valid Percent 15.0 23.0 15.0 45.0 2.0 100.0 Score 6 18 18 72 5 Cumulative Percent 15.0 38.0 53.0 98.0 100.0

strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

119

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

Table 4.26 shows that, 45% of the respondent agreed, 23% disagreed, 15% strongly disagreed, 15% neither agreed nor disagreed and 2% strongly agreed. This give a total score or 119 and a mean score of (119/40) 2.975. The indication is that employees do not feel comfortable talking about personal issue in the organisation with other employees and management.

Table 4.27

Relatives into Employment opportunities

Question 20. employees encourage friends and relatives into employment opportunities with the organization Frequency Percent 27.0 20.0 20.0 20.0 13.0 100.0 8 8 8 5 40 Valid Percent 27.0 20.0 20.0 20.0 13.0 100.0 Score 11 16 24 32 25 Cumulative Percent 27.0 47.0 67.0 87.0 100.0

strongly disagree Disagree neither agree nor disagree Agree strongly agree Total

11

108

Source: Researchers field work, April 2011

Finally, the table 4.27 shows that, 47% disagree (strongly disagree and disagree) whiles 33% of the respondent agreed (strongly agreed and agree). However 20% neither agreed nor disagreed. This give a total score or 123 and a mean score of (108/40) 2.7. It shows that, employees do not encourage friends and relatives into employment opportunities with the organisation and this

50

can be due to the fact that employees might not want any family to enjoy as they are doing or something different.

The total mean score for the five questions was (2.475 + 3.225 + 3.2 + 2.975 + 2.7) 14.575. According to Hummings corporate culture assessment, when the mean score is < 20 it indicates that the organisation has a measure of looking at Business Focus, Communications, Values, Discipline and Behaviours within the frame work of the organisation.

4.7.7

Performance

Putting together all the components of culture in the questionnaire, it could be deduce that, since there was good score for workplace behaviours and that stimulate consistency which leads to productivity and profitability, then there is a positive relationship between the organisations culture and performance. According to Hummings corporate culture assessment, the indication is that, poor scores would have demonstrated that the organisation has unexploited potential. That means there is lost productivity and profit opportunities but this was different based on the analysis.

4.8

Analysis based on observation

The observation was made on the basis of the artefact within the organisation, the norms of the organisation and employees, the values that they share within the organisation and, the assumptions and beliefs within the organisation. The observation was done for a period of 20 days. This was done intermittently according to the working periods of the organisation. Most

51

of the employees did not realise they were being observed but at a point in time some had a hint about it.

4.8.1

Artefacts

It was observed that the organisation had: 1. Symbols such as the Toyota crown in the offices and also outside the office to draw to the attention of customers, employees and other stakeholders about its location. Furthermore, it had it missions and visions hanged on the wall and various signages indicating its exit points and where various departments are located in and around the office.

2. The organisations physical arrangement is a well planned architecture of the office which shows clearly the various departments. Also, it was observed that the office design is one that fit the organisation and what it does. It has offices for various departmental heads and that of a shared office for the other employees which enhanced communication. From the observation, the dress code for the employees is a white shirt and a black skirt for the females and a blue shirt and a black trouser for the males. It was also observed that focused another uniform called Friday wear which is the Toyota T-shirt worn of the first and third Friday of every month.

3. From the observation, employees spoke a corporate language which is English and another local dialect Twi and were understood by if not all most of them.

4. It was also observed that, security cameras are fixed in the offices which monitor employees and security related events. 4.8.2 Values and Norms

52

It was observed, that the organisation holds Values such as punctuality, confidentiality and quality of service which was pasted on the wall. It was observed that their norms are related to their values. Their norms are to be at the office at 7:30 in the morning even though work starts at 8:00 am. This relates to the value of punctuality. It was also observed that when it is 5:00 pm and the employees have to close and a customer comes in the employees serve the customer. It was also observed that, the employee in the workshop department take their to work on a customers vehicle to ensure quality of service. In the observation, it was found out that, employees seek permission before leaving the office for something different and this is another norm in the organisation.

4.9

Analysis of interview

The interview was on whether organisational culture has an impact employees job performance. The interview was conducted for one member from each employment level. They were asked if organisational culture has effect on employee job performance. 75% of the respondents interviewed agreed that organisational culture has an effect on the employee job performance but as to the gravity of the effect will depend on the various employees and were they come from. One of the respondent said that one cannot tell whether it has an effect or not but to him everything concerning culture in the organisation will have to looked at very well. 25% of the respondents did not agree to it.

The respondents were asked if organisational culture determines the productivity level of the organisation. 80% of the respondents that since culture is the core aspect of every organisation productivity level will sure depend on it, this indicates that organisational culture is a determinant of productivity level.

53

The interview sought to know the respondents view on whether there is a positive relationship between organisational culture and employee job performance. This placed the respondents going through records of their past since they had to look at the contribution of the various employees within the organisation based on organisational culture and 75% agreed that there was a positive and direct relationship between culture of the organisation and employee job performance. 25% was not sure about it. The interview sought to know the respondents view on whether there is a positive relationship between organisational culture and organisational productivity. 100% of the respondent agreed that since there is a direct and positive relationship between organisational culture and employee performance, where employee performance lead to a general organisational productivity then they could say that there is a positive relationship between organisational culture and organisational productivity.

CHAPTER FIVE

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SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5.0 Introduction

The study of organisational culture is a relatively new field of study and many gaps still exist in its body of knowledge. Organisational culture is an all encompassing multifaceted construct, characterised by myriad of dimensions and perspective. It permeates all aspects of corporate life and has become a popular field of study for the promises it holds for improving organisational performance. This study assessed the effect of organisational culture on employee job performance with evidence from Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch. Questionnaires were administered to respondents to find out whether organisational culture has an impact on employee job performance. The summary of the findings, conclusions and recommendations are therefore outlined.

5.1 5.1.1

Summary of findings Factors contributing to performance level

It was generally accepted that challenges of the job and the working condition appear to contribute significantly to the performance level in Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch. However, since the factors that were contributing to the performance level is embodied in the organisational culture of then it could be said that organisational culture is instrumental in contributing to the performance level of the organisation. 5.1.2 Business focus

55

It was found out that not all employees understand the business objectivese and did not know how their individual efforts contribute to the business success. The organisation was not hiring new employees that will fit into the organisation.

5.1.3

Discipline

It was found out that, not all employees know that management measure business performance against its objectives. The organisation is doing well seeking feedback from clients and customers with a view of improving performance and is bound on delivering quality of service. The organisation improvement of service is at heart. Not all employees feel that management is quick to deal with problems concerning employees performance. The organisation does not have enough measures concerning discipline.

5.1.4

Values

It was found out that the organisation holds values such as punctuality, confidentiality and quality of service which they cherish very much based on the observation. The organisations norms are also related to its values. The organisations management has in place a clear set of values that underpins business performance. 70% of the employees feel driven to make a difference in the organisation. The foundation for a strong culture is present within the organisation.

5.1.5

Behaviours

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It was found out that management encouraging and rewarding specific behaviours is on the low side. The organisations management rewards employees for the success of the business. The organisation does not really encourage all employees to challenge how well things are done. There is certainty within employees about the organisations future. The organisations workplace behaviour helps stimulate consistency that leads to productivity and profitability.

5.1.6

Communication

It was found out that management of the organisation does not share business strategies with all employees. The organisation does not really share business results with employees on a regular basis. The organisation does not really use the employees performance feedback and appraisals. The organisation does not really communicate to employees about issue within the organisation. The organisation has a vital opportunity to build its strong Culture.

5.1.7

Workplace Harmony/Socialisation

It was found out that, employee morale is not generally high in the organisation. The employees do not stay long in the organisation. The organisation does not really provide socialisation activities that the employees like in and out of the workplace. Employees do not feel comfortable talking about personal issue in the organisation with other employees and management. Employees do not encourage friends and relatives into employment opportunities with the organisation. The organisation has a measure of looking at Business Focus, Communications, Values, Discipline and Behaviours within the frame work of the organisation. 5.1.8. Artefacts

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It was observed that the organisation have symbols of Toyota Ghana Company Limited in an around the organisation. Also, it had it missions and visions hanged on the wall and various signagess indicating its exit points and where various departments are located in and around the office. The organisation has a well planned architecture of the office which shows clearly the various departments. In addition, the dress code for the employees was a white shirt and a black skirt for the females and a blue shirt and a black trouser for the males. The organisation also has a Friday wear which is the Toyota T-shirt worn on the first and third Friday of every month. Employees spoke two different languages in the organisation. There were also security cameras fixed in the offices that monitor employee and other security related issues.

5.1.9

Performance

5.1.9.1 Questionnaire It was found out that the results from the questionnaire based on the components of culture yielded a positive relationship between organisational culture and performance.

5.1.9.2 Effect of organisational culture on employee job performance The researchers found out that 75% of the respondents based on the interview undoubtedly said that organisational culture has an effect on the employee job performance.

5.1.9.3 Organisational culture and Productivity level

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It found that 100% the respondents agreed that since culture is the core aspect of every organisation and most of all Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch productivity level will sure depend on it.

5.1.9.4 Organisational Culture and Employee Performance The researchers found that 75% of the respondents said that there was a positive and direct relationship between culture of the organisation and employee performance even though there was little hesitation in their contribution.

5.1.9.4 Organisational Culture and Organisational Productivity It was found that a 100% of the respondents said that since there is a direct and positive relationship between organisational culture and employee performance, where employee performance lead to a general organisational productivity then they could say that there is a positive relationship between organisational culture and organisational productivity.

5.2

Conclusion

Organisational culture is very important as it has a positive impact on employee job performance. Organisational culture affects the level of organisational productivity in a positive way. This study confirms that there is a positive relationship between organisational culture and employee job performance.

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Organisation should have elements of Business Focus, which will help the organisation focus on what it has to do, Discipline, giving a vital element in building employee commitment and positive workplace behaviours, Values, giving a foundation for a strong culture, Behaviours, that will stimulate consistency that leads to productivity and profitability, Communications, which also gives a vital opportunity to build culture and Workplace Harmony, often a silent measure of Business Focus, Communications, Values, Discipline and Behaviours that helps deliver high levels of productivity and stronger commitment to organisation success.

5.3

Recommendations

Considering the findings of this study the researchers have arrived at the following recommendations.

5.3.1

Methodological Perspective

This worked focused only on the employees concerning organisational culture. A more comprehensive analysis can be made by looking at the other stakeholder of the organisation. This will help form a holistic and balanced picture of the organisational culture.

5.3.2

Organisational Perspective

The following recommendations are made to the management of Toyota Ghana Company Limited, Kumasi Branch.

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5.3.2.1 Training and development The research found out that, the organisation does not use the employees performance feedback and appraisals hence it is recommended that, during training and development within the organisation, the management should take into consideration the performance feedback and appraisals. This will help them identify the training needs of the employee and train them as such. In this way, the training will not be just for training sake but rather for the improvement of performance.

5.3.2.2 Performance management It was in the findings that, not all employees know that management measure business performance against its objectives so the researchers recommend that, the organisation should make sure that their performance management process ensures that employees understand how their individual efforts contribute to business success. This can be done by the Human Resource Department explaining the business objective very well to the employees so that they get a better understanding on what they have to achieve. This can be done when employees know that the business performance is measured by its objective.

5.3.2.3 Rewards The study found out that, management encouraging and rewarding specific behaviours is on the low side and it is recommended that, the organisations compensation and reward system should encourage and reward specific behaviours that help in the improvement of organisational performance. This will encourage other employees to do same and eventually lead to productivity and profitability thereby increasing the employee morale in the organisation.

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5.3.2.4 Feedback The findings revealed that, the organisation is doing well seeking feedback from dealers and customers with the view of improving quality of service and the researchers recommended that, the organisation should maintain their quality of service and continue to constantly look for new ways that will help improve on their products and services. The feedback process can be structured in this way: C-S-S or S-S-C (Continue, Stop and Start or Start, Stop and Continue).

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