Sportasia's Customer Orientation Culture example essay topic

Sportasia Ltd: A Community Company 1 Sportasia's Company Culture Peter Beeby and Richard Jones started to build Sportasia's culture from the very beginning of the company. But unlike many other founders, they did not let it just happen, hoping that all would develop in their sense, but started influencing the culture by various measurements. Based on written 'Community Pillars', the active conversion of these into practice is the real difference to other companies, where similar objectives remain often a declaration of intent. As a result Peter Beeby and his team managed to implement a strong culture at Sportasia. The employees' perception of the culture obviously leads them to work due to an emotional rather than the legal contract. 1.1 Vision First of all, Peter Beeby has the vision of how the company and its culture should be.

He was and still is following this vision of a community company day by day giving his personal example to the employees. And he committed himself 'to engage staff in discussions about shared values', already at a time, when he hired his first employees. Today Sportasia's culture is reflecting many of Mr. Peeby's personal characteristics such as strong customer focus, team orientation and openness. 1.2 Employee Selection Crucial for the success of the company as well as the culture development was the selection of people.

The first two employees, who 'were extremely capable and self motivated people who shared his attitude', were therefore cornerstones of this success, because they transferred their goals and work behaviour to the next employees. To eliminate luck in the people selection process, the management later sought for professional and experienced help, resulting in the engagement of Rick Norris. This step was probably the most effective to influencing the company culture, since it ensured that 'people with shared goals and values... who are focussed and passionate about doing whatever it takes to make the organisation succeed', where hired. During the socialization process of a new colleague, the personal fit to the company culture is vital to a prosperous development.

More successes and fewer failures in recruitment's are a good example of the operating Attraction-Selection-Attrition framework at Sportasia. The actual measure by the management to influencing the culture is the set-up of the company's recruitment procedures. They focus on the selection of people that do not just have the required skills and experiences, but also are compatible with the existing culture. Each employee starts the encounter stage with the induction procedure and workshop sessions. It is followed by formal assessments to check the individual fit with the culture during the metamorphosis stage. As a result, Sportasia's performance and high productivity as well as the flourishing culture are mainly based on optimum human resource management.

1.3 Stories and Rituals New colleagues learn the culture in many ways. According to Robbins, the most potent are stories, rituals, material symbols and language. Sportasia's management is actively using at least stories and rituals to give direction to the culture development. Examples of useful stories are: SS those of the early days of Sportasia ('Clocks were not an issue... ' ), which are still told by Peter Beeby in a similar way on the 'School Trends' website, SS the 'nights out with Jonesey', maintaining personal relationships and culture, SS and especially the overcoming of minor disasters, which 'forged a sense of community'. Even the co-operation of Sportasia's management to issuing this case study and in that way publishing the great success of the community company model can be seen as an active influence by enhancing the pride of Sportasia's staff on their company and culture. This will certainly lead to a new story.

The 'early day' requirement of everybody's help during production peaks has developed into a yearly ritual, which forms and supports the team spirit. The involvement of the managing and financial directors in the production work not only helps to reach output levels but also give production employees the feeling, that their work is important for the company and helps them to see their personal influence on the company's success. Even if it were possible, to overcome these peaks with part-time workers, the management would probably not allow it to keep the spirit alive. 1.4 Customer Orientation and Ethical Culture Customer focus is one of Sportasia's major strengths and important part of their culture. All employees, not only the sales representatives, are trained to understand and satisfy the customer's needs.

Choosing back-to-work mothers as sales representatives for example has a quadruple advantage in terms of customer orientation, sales performance and culture development: a) Mothers of pupils know the needs of the customer better than any other b) They have good and natural contacts to the decision makers in school c) They understand the need for quality on children's garments and can give a direct feedback to the company, when improvements are required d) They often have shared experiences, which help them to get accustomed with their colleagues and to transfer the company values. The responsibility to protect and enhance the 'community culture by showing fairness, consistency, respect and support' form the ethical culture of Sportasia. Employee involvement and contribution to decisions, the salary system and the information policy illustrate the management's influence to the ethical culture. The management team thereby gives a benchmark for appropriate behaviour to the employees.

The serious use of the values is also proved by the fact, that even their suppliers are treated in the same way, which leads to special and sustaining relationships. 1.5 Leadership Influence on the company culture by means of leadership is taken by Sportasia's management in various ways, of which some have already been touched in the sections above. The employee development system is designed to support the staff with required training as well as to give mid- to long-term promotion perspectives to the individual employee. Combined with the trust into the personal capabilities and the empowerment to make decisions, Sportasia's managers have a powerful tool for the conversion of the company values into reality. Workers can see a lot of examples up to the production director, that it is possible to reach the aspired positions, when they try hard. They can believe in the trust and support of their supervisor, which again is reflected in the culture.

The Performance evaluation via KPI's and related reward systems is another tool to demonstrate fairness throughout all management levels. By setting specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound (SMART) goals for departments and employees, everyone can examine his own as well as the departments performance. 1.6 Characteristics of Sportasia's Culture The seven primary characteristics of culture can be evaluated as follows: Characteristic Status Example Innovation and risk taking High Commission package, Ignoring accountants Attention to detail High Production process / Supplier relationship Outcome orientation High Customer and quality focus People orientation Very high Enshrined 'Community Pillars' Team orientation High Team work during peak times Aggressiveness Medium Natural contacts by back-to-work mothers Stability Medium High growth Within the two dimension scheme of Go ffee and Jones Sportasia can surely be defined as a 'Communal Organisation' due to their high sociability and high solidarity. Yet it has to be added, that these dimensions focus on internal culture and do not for example reflect Sportasia's customer orientation culture appropriately. 2 Sportasia's Further Expansion Though the company had great commercial and cultural success in the past, further growth is not without risks for Sportasia's culture. 2.1 Constraints Possible issues might come up on the following subjects: SS Maintenance of personal relationships As Peter Beeby mentioned, this was far easier, when the number of employees were low.

This would be far harder, when numbers become higher. SS Employee involvement and information policy With an increase in staff, the aspired employee involvement and contribution to decisions will probably have to be restricted to avoid delays. This would also have a negative impact on the perceived level of information. An indicator for a changed perception would be upcoming rumours regarding current or expected decisions.

SS Salary system The difference between the highest and lowest salary in the company may have to exceed factor 10 to retain top managers in the business, who could earn much more in other companies. This step is critical to maintaining the ethical culture. SS Flexibility The required flexibility for seasonal peaks and slack periods will be harder to keep. Not all the staff required in peak times will need to attend meetings or get training and development in slack periods. SS Layoffs To keep flexibility and profitability, layoffs may be required when staff numbers exceed seasonal or forecasted demands.

This would have a dramatic impact on employees' trust and willingness to support the company. SS Career perspectives Although the chance for possible promotion will increase within a bigger company, the diversity of attainable positions will narrow, because more and higher qualified colleagues will apply for the a certain, more specialized job. SS In-Group - Out-Group effects The existing high interaction and trustworthy climate will be harder to keep, when more employees enter the company and more departments are build. A 'We - They' - feeling might arise. SS Social loafing The risk of social loafing will grow, since this effect might not be detected as good as in a small company. SS Creditor and bank confidence On further growth of the company, the already high peaks in creditors will rise as well.

This might not be accepted by the suppliers and banks, forcing Sportasia to retain from possible opportunities for growth. SS Promotion for best fit to company culture vs. individual performance Will a top KPI performer be promoted, when he is less compliant with company rules, (which even could be the reason for the top performance)? SS International influences on culture and barriers to diversity Further growth may require an expansion to the international market. This would lead to a big influence on Sportasia's culture, since national cultures tend to have a greater impact on the employees than their organisations culture. Similar issues would come up on thoughts of mergers and acquisitions. SS Cultural barriers to change, when commercial environment requires changes In order to create growth, market shares have to be taken from other competitors.

A threat to the ethical culture may arise, when 'standard' competitors beat Sportasia due to their higher pressure on suppliers, cheaper manufacturing or fewer personnel cost. SS Personal future of Mr. Peeby: Managing Director or Community Consultant? The tremendous and ongoing success of the community company model has already led to the foundation of a consultancy company. The personal attitude of Mr. Peeby to further developing that model and transferring it into other businesses may lead him to lay down the job as Managing Director of Sportasia's manufacturing subsidiaries. This step carries the risk of negative impact to the existing culture. 2.2 Core Issues With the possible threats to the community, which may arise on further growth, Sportasia faces a dilemma: Shall they continue to focus on their commercial goals, if this meant suffering to the community?

Shall they do whatever possible to satisfy the customer or to satisfy the community? 2.3 Application of Theories 2.3. 1 Motivation Theories While all personal needs are currently fulfilled in best way, some of the above mentioned issues, e.g. layoffs, might attack the even safety needs according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Changes on employee involvement and information policy could lead to motivation losses, as social and esteem needs are effected. When career perspectives are changed, this would affect the instrumentality according to the expectancy theory. 2.3. 2 Job Characteristics Theory / Critical Psychological States The existing community culture ensures 'high scores' on the critical psychological states.

Every change to that culture will in return affect these states with negative impacts on motivation, performance, job satisfaction and turnover. 2.3. 3 Behaviour Theory The existing leadership behaviour is higher in 'Consideration' than 'Initiating Structure', which therefore can be described as 'People Oriented'. Future growth may require a generally higher task orientation of the management in order to enhance control and thereby ensure meeting the customers' demands. The expec table drop in consideration would then presumably increase the employee turnover and affect the culture negatively. 2.4 Possible Solutions The easiest solution could be to keep the company and its productivity as it is and increase stability by maintaining the status quo. However since the company is drawing much of its motivation out of the commercial success, it might not be possible to keep the good spirit without observable growth.

As Peter Beeby said in the final statement 'breaking the business into smaller parts' could be an option to achieve both overall growth and sustaining community. The challenge in doing this is to divide the business into functional parts without dividing existing subcultures of departments, groups and personal relationships. On further growth of an undivided company, the current practices of information and employee involvement cannot be upheld. This could be countered by regularly information meetings, organised one-hour chats with top managers on the company intranet or monthly written newsletters. To overcome the dilemma of need for growth vs. further intensification of peak times, Sportasia could look for international opportunities with different customer requirements in terms of delivery dates. To allow commercial growth without increasing staff, strategic alliances with international suppliers, contract manufacturing or contract sales force could be other options.

2.5 Recommended actions To achieve an optimum balance between continuous growth and maintained culture the following steps are recommended: a) Sportasia should seek strategic alliances with international partners to increase sales of school and corporate wear. These partners should be responsible for acquisition and supply logistics. They should focus on off peak delivery times to allow Sportasia's manufacturing adequate delivery times, without increasing production staff. b) When the company exceeds a critical number of employees, an additional subsidiary only for production should be founded based on the same community model. This company should be manufacturer for all marketing subsidiaries. c) Information can be limited to the specific division, but job opportunities should be published throughout the company. d) All employees of Sportasia and its subsidiaries should be invited twice a year to information meetings with subsequent social events (e.g. 'Sportasia's Summer & Winter Games'). e) To publish the success of the Community Company Model and maintain the employees pride and commitment to 'their' invention, Sportasia should offer a yearly national reward for the best implementation of that model by another company. 3

Bibliography

Cold, Alan F., (2002) 'Sportasia Ltd.
A Community Company', Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham Robbins, Stephen P., (2003) 'Organizational Behavior', 10 ed.