Kudler Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior at Kudler Fine Foods

Every company's level of efficiency and its potential for success in the marketplace can be evaluated in various ways whether by assessing pertinent data or by evaluating their policies and practices. This paper will review Kudler Fine Foods, a virtual organization, by identifying its apparent culture and describing its organizational structure. The leadership style at Kudler will be also identified based on organizational performance. Lastly, this paper will identify several internal and external events that could drive change at Kudler.

An organizations' culture is "a system of shared values, assumptions, beliefs, and norms that unite the members of an organization" (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002, p.108). Kudler Fine Foods' (KFF) mission is to provide consumers the finest selection of gourmet foods, wines and other related culinary needs. One of the high priorities at KFF relates to customer relations, therefore, each employee receives extensive training and must attend development programs in order to meet the company's customer service standards which is to serve customers' courteously and with knowledge. KFF's compensation philosophy is that highly satisfied employees lead to highly satisfied customers. The company offers a pay scale above market and an employee recognition program for outstanding employees. Such reward programs as Associate of the Month and Discretionary Spot Bonuses are awarded to employees based on short term performance. Store Associate of the Year and Company Associate of the Year, are awarded to employees based on annual performance. The company provides an Employee Handbook outlining employee benefits, conduct, policies and rules. Behavior such as drug use, violence, lying and insubordination are deemed unacceptable. The handbook also contains a strict dress code in which employees must abide. An employee's appearance can influence what customers think about the company, therefore, personal appearance is held at a high standard. In addition, open communication between employees and managers is encouraged and is believed to create a better work environment. KFF has core beliefs which are the organization's principals and are widely shared, operate unconsciously and are considered nonnegotiable (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002, p.109). Employees who do not follow policies and rules established to achieve the company's vision, may be subjected to disciplinary action which may include termination.

Organizational structure can make a company extremely successful or set up for failure. A company needs to have employees reporting to the right authorities at the right time. Kudler Fine Foods is a small company, with a small organizational structure. "Organization structure is a formal system of relationships that determines lines of authority (who reports to whom) and the tasks assigned to individuals and units (who does what task and with which department)" (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002, p.232). Vertical dimension of organizational structure can be defined as who has the authority to make the decisions in the company and who is authorized to manage departments within particular associates (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002). At Kudler Foods, vertical dimension is can be seen in the three California stores. The department managers are responsible for managing the employees in their department, while the store manager oversees each department manager. Horizontal dimension is defined as "the basis for dividing work into specific jobs and tasks and assigning jobs into units such as departments or teams" (Gomez-Mejia & David Balkin, 2002, p.232). At Kudler Fine Foods, horizontal dimension is practiced by dividing the store into departments. Dividing the store into departments helps organize and help run the stores more efficiently.

Companies deploy different management techniques to help their employees and organization to succeed, this might also work for Kudler Fine Foods. In addition, Kudler Fine Foods might also change their organizational structure in an effort to add fresh ideas and provide overall company growth. Having the right people in the right jobs within the organization will better position Kudler Fine Foods to be a leader in their industry and encourage engagement and loyalty within their organization.

In just nine short years, Kudler Foods has achieved substantial success with their three gourmet food shops. In reviewing the human resources data from the intranet site, Kudler management can reference their structure, job descriptions, policies and procedures and employee information.

Kudler uses a combination of both an autocratic and a democratic style of leadership. Kathy Kudler is responsible for setting the goals and objectives as well as the policy and procedures of the company. Autocratic leadership occurs when decisions are made without input from others and announced as a done deal, (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002 p. 290). However, KFF's democratic style of leadership is seen when Kathy solicits input from the customers on the satisfaction survey and when she allows the store managers to make their own purchases, hire their own people, complete performance evaluations and assist in determining product offerings.

Another characteristic that can be seen at Kudler is the use of legitimate, coercive or reward powers to solicit obedience. This is described as transactional behavior by Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, (2002 p. 298). The primary rating criteria for a pay raise is based on how well the employee is meeting the expectations of the company based on the policy and procedures designed by Kathy. In addition, there seems to be no consistency in the actual determination of pay raises from store to store or even within departments. For example, Harvey Stephens, Director of Finance and Accounting, describes Matthew Vu as a "solid, steady performer," with a rating of meets expectations (ME), Matthew's fine work has paid off with a 3.5% increase in pay. Meredith Nguyen is described as a "great employee that sets aggressive goals and always meets or exceeds expectations," but is only rewarded with a 2.3% pay increase. People's beliefs about the "fairness of the rewards they receive relative to their contributions," is known as the Equity Theory, (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002 p. 312). This inconsistency in raises will do very little to motivate Meredith to continue to work hard if his reward for accomplishment is less than his colleague.

According to Herzberg, the extrinsic factors such as "salary, fringe benefits, company polices and working conditions are called hygiene factors," (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002 p. 307). These