Organizational Behavior At Kudler Fine Foods

Organizational Behavior at Kudler Fine Foods

Kudler Fine Foods’ mission is to provide their customers the finest selection of gourmet foods, ingredients, wines, and related needs from around the world in an unparalleled consumer environment. In order to do this, Kudler Fine Foods has set a strategic plan to make their store the purveyor of choice for customers aspiring to purchase the finest of epicurean delights. The organization structure at Kudler Fine Foods is well prepared for the upcoming changes associated with expanding the company.

Most successful companies credit their success to effective leadership. Kudler Fine Foods uses various leadership styles to positively their employees’ attitude and performance. Kudler Fine Foods has achieved great success in the past and is looking to expand their company while simultaneously dealing with the internal and external factors that can influence change within their industry. Kudler Fine Foods is prepared to achieve their goals.

Culture

In broad terms, culture is considered to be acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior (Hodgetts, Luthan , & Doh, 2005). Culture is a concept that every being in existence possesses. Culture goes far beyond that of individual; culture is an ever present and an ever changing concept within the realm of Corporate America. This type of business, as well as who is in charge of overseeing the business helps to determine the organizational culture. Organizational culture is a collection of shared values, ideals, beliefs and morals that help to conjoin the members within the organization. The culture within each business affects the employees’ attitudes toward the company (Balkin & Gomez вЂ" Mejia, 2002).

Organizational culture exists on various levels. The levels of organizational culture are: visible culture, espoused values and core beliefs. Visible culture is considered to be a tangible concept. Visible culture encompasses, but is not limited to what is heard, felt and seen. Espoused values are values that are not as easily identified as the elements within the visible culture. The level of core beliefs is the last organizational cultural level. This level is the most abstract of all levels. The core beliefs are basic beliefs present in an organization that provide the moral structure within the organization.

Kudler has an organizational culture that operates on the level of core beliefs. Kathy Kudler’s desire to develop a business was centered on a vision and the need for convenience. Kudler, who is a passionate gourmet cook, experienced frustration and anguish as a result of extensive travels to various establishments to procure gourmet items. With that in mind Kudler believed that others expressed the same sentiments. Kudler designed her company to satisfy the needs of the customer. The core beliefs of the company encompass quality, convenience, variety, superior service, and elite products.

Kudler makes sure that the individuals hired have a passion and commitment to fulfill the mission of the organization, and stand behind the core beliefs set forth. This way of thinking has contributed to the success of the company in providing exceptional service to customers by having the finest selection of gourmet items that allow for individualistic culinary visions to come to fruition.

Organizational Structure

Organizational structure is a formal system of relationships that determines the lines of authority (who reports to whom) and the tasks assigned to individuals and units (who does what task and with which department). The vertical dimension of organization structure indicates who has the authority to make decisions and who is expected to supervise which subordinates. The horizontal dimension is the basis for dividing work into specific jobs and tasks and assigning jobs into units such as departments or teams (Gomez-Mejia, & Balkin, 2002, p. 232).

This organization chart helps to summarize the lines of authority within the company. Authority (the formal right of a manager to make decisions and give orders) flows in a vertical downward direction, and each level of boxes represents a level of authority in the organization. Strategic objectives can give insight and help determine the type of structure an organization has in place, and identify if changes should be implemented. The major strategic objective at Kudler is to increase loyalty and profitability of customers by 1) expanding services and implementing a frequent shopper program to increase revenues and 2) increase efficiency to reduce costs.

Other characteristics of the organizational structure at Kudler’s company include: 1) a very short vertical structure (only a few levels of management resulting in efficiency and quick responsiveness to customer needs, 2) a very large span of control for management (managers are competent and given more responsibility), and 3) a decentralized decision-making model (which provides greater flexibility for the company to respond to change). Formalization is very high at Kudler. Formalization is the degree to which written documentation is used to direct and control employees. The Human Resources Department has policies and procedures for employee recruitment and employee training. There is also an employee handbook and written job descriptions, as well as documents on employee conduct, work rules, attendance/punctuality, and personal appearance.

Finally, Kudler’s company incorporates a functional approach to departmentalization. An organization that uses the functional approach will generally cluster people with similar skills in a department, allowing employees to become specialized and efficient. This approach works best for small/medium sized comanies that operate in a stable business environment without a lot of change or uncertainty. Disadvantages could include communication barriers and conflict between departments. In addition, employees will likely identify more with departmental goals instead of organizational goals or the needs of the customer. There are many coordinating mechanisms that could be used to minimize these, including the use of meetings, teams, liaisons, integrating managers, and organization wide reward systems (i.e. profit sharing).

Leadership Style

The transformational, postheroic and democratic leadership style of Ms. Kathy Kudler, owner of Kudler Fine Foods, is reflected in the highly motivated performance of the organization’s employees. Utilizing a complex mix of these leadership skills and management skills has propelled Kudler Fine Food to its current success. From this example