Category: Corporate Culture

Over the past few decades, the hospitality industry has changed beyond recognition. Today hotels can satisfy any even the most demanding needs of their customers and in turn, clients have come to expect a very high standard of service from hotel companies. In this regard, hotel employees must focus on solving new problems and take differing approaches to the development and maintenance of the hotel infrastructure in such a competitive environment. Organizational culture has an impact on the hotel’s performance and therefore inherits responsibility for creating an effective business. The profit and success of the hotel is directly related to its corporate culture. (Kotter, 1992, pp.10-12). According to Kotter, it is important that the hotel management and their team of workers share common values. These values are transformed into norms of behavior and ultimately contribute towards improvement in the quality of services provided. Corporate culture leads towards joint efforts in solving any current or long-term problems.

The hotel industry is no different from any other in the way that the corporate culture of a hotel company directly influences its competitive positioning and helps to increase sales. Corporate culture is used as a tool to achieve the future goals of the hotel.

The successful operation of hotels depends on its employees. Kotler in his book ‘Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism’ writes: “The hospitality industry is unique in that employees are part of the product. The employees must be excited about the company that they work for and the products they sell”. For all companies operating in the service sector, the number one priority is to have customer-oriented employees. A friendly and approachable customer service offering twinned with in-depth, professional knowledge of all the hotel’s business processes is the golden standard that needs to be cultivated and encouraged. The current trend in the development of the hospitality industry is a concern for employee wellbeing, for the people who, ultimately, create the foundation of this industry. Therefore, it is especially important that the hospitality industry ensures every employee shares the same values and principles of corporate culture as the enterprise that employs them (Morrison, 2003, pp.287-288).

Another important feature of the corporate culture in hospitality is a focus on standards. The main objective of standards is for all hotel employees who share a similar job position to fulfil their duties equally and in line with the same set of standards. In this respect, corporate culture helps to deliver both the formal and informal value systems of an enterprise to its employees.

The hotel industry’s main focus is on providing higher quality services than their competitors. In order to win the custom of an individual over the competition’s offerings, satisfying and even exceeding guest’s expectations becomes pivotal (Kotler, 1999, pp.320-321).

Hotels with strong corporate cultures ensure their continued success as it helps them to become more competitive and efficient. A companies’ corporate culture, its strategic objectives and the values it offers, should be clear and visible to all its employees and its customers. It should allow companies not only to provide the highest quality service, but also to constantly develop upon their offerings. The success of hotels depends not only on them implementing a customer-oriented strategy, but also on them showing due care to their staff. After all, as Kotler said: “Satisfied employees create satisfied customers”.

Google’s company culture is legendary throughout the world. Google has been known as one of the tech companies that has the best corporate culture. Their employee perks and benefits have long been the subject of many stories on corporate workplace culture, and their employees have been the envy of other workers all around the world. There are many corporate cultures that Google had been implemented with their employees to motivate them.

First and foremost: perks and benefits are one of the most well-known cultures that Google use to motivate their employees. Like many companies, Google provided the usual benefits such as no-cost health and dental benefits, tuition reimbursement, 401K plans (one type of a retirement savings plan), and insurance. However, Google had come up with a very unique way of offering benefits and described it as uncommon and affordable. Google has very distinctive perks that can attract or motivate their employees into the happiest workplace in the world. For example; Maternity benefits of 18 weeks off at about 100 percent pay. Also, the father and mother of the newborn are given expenses of a maximum of $500 for take-out meals in the first 3 months they spend at home with the baby. Not only for the father and mother, but Google also provides financial support for people that adopt children too. “Googleplex” which is the corporate headquarters complex of Google is the area that employees can find most of the benefits such as an onsite doctor, free fitness center, and facility to wash clothes. Another benefit that people already knew is free of charge lunch and dinner that Google provides for their employees. It is not only that employees can have a free meal but they can have both free and healthy meal prepared by gourmet chefs and nutritionists. There is one of the most interesting and touching perk call “The death benefit”. This perk basically means if a Googler dies while they are under the employment of Google, their spouse will receive 50% of their salary in a cheque for the next ten years. Moreover, any children of the deceased will also receive $1,000 a month until the age of 19. Google put a very careful thought for their employees as Google’s Chief People Officer, Laszlo Bock said: “…turns out that the reason we’re doing these things for employees is not because it’s important to the business, but simply because it’s the right thing to do.”

Inspiring work is the next motivational culture that Google had for their employees. There are so many reasons why employees don’t feel motivated at works but one of them is that the work assigned to them is frequently deficient in variety or challenge. The monotonous nature of the work with no growth in sight dulls employee motivation. Google makes sure that they don’t let that kind of work demotivate their employees. The most obvious policy would be the 80-20 rule where the company encourages employees to spend 80% of their time on core projects, and roughly 20% (or one day per week) on “innovation” activities that speak to their personal interests and passions. Gmail, Google Maps, Twitter, Slack, and Groupon all started as side projects and then develop to something actually successful. By giving the employees the freedom to work on their own interest, it unlocks the company creativity and innovation. Therefore, the company can generate lots of side projects that can actually convert to a very big and innovative project in the future. From the employees’ point of view, this 20% time can help them achieve their personal goal. Here is one of the examples, one Google engineer by the name of Chade-Ment Tan had a desire to make world peace a reality in his lifetime. Though this may have seemed an impossible and unusual dream to many, Google didn’t discourage him. Eventually Tan designed a very successful course on mindfulness and it is a great hit in his company. Tan is additionally an authorship of the New York Times bestseller entitled “Inside Yourself.” Google not only inspire work and make it challenging,but it also provides a fun aspect in theirs work. This aspect include frequent breaks, facilities for indoor activities like wall climbing, beach volleyball or bowling; and personal creative sessions. Moreover, there are pajama days, dress up days, and a Halloween costume party.

Language used by O’Leary became synonymous with Ryanair. He can tell anyone to ‘fuck off’ and his favourite insult is ‘wanker’, he used his own ‘bolloxology’. A volatile atmosphere was created at the airline, where people were impatient, shouted and roared when they shouldn’t.

Ryanair does not publish an official vision and mission. However, the literature acknowledges that Tony Ryan’s original vision was modified over the years. Ryanair was established as a ‘value for money’ company, which provided affordable air fairs, with excellent and professional customer service. O’Leary had only one vision – to make money. He was concentrating on providing deals and ignoring the value that it brings to the customers.

O’Leary is cutting costs in every organizational aspect. Basic assumptions of the staff that they would get uniforms, refreshments, health checks, airport passes, vetting procedures, car parking spaces or Christmas parties have been changed. Working in Ryanair means that you are paying for these things yourself. It is staff’s responsibility to get pens, post-it notes or paperclips. Moreover, they are not allowed to charge mobile phones at the airline’s expense or use cover sheets when sending a fax.

Harrison and Stokes’ (1990) Classification Scheme

According to Harrison and Stokes’ (1990) classification scheme, Ryanair, since its establishment, maintained a power culture. In the early days, Tony Ryan, who had no shareholding in the company, actually ran the business. The central power role was transferred to the new CEO, O’Leary. The company continued to be driven from the top to down, where O’Leary always had a final say. Opposing discussions by other managers were not tolerated. A flat management structure (three layers) was kept despite rapid growth of the company. Only numbers of aircrafts, pilots, in-flight people and engineers were increased. This enabled them to avoid bureaucracy. Ryanair has the ability to react and respond to competitive threats quickly, which is crucial in the competitive environment within which they are operating.

Slocum and Hellriegel (2007) Framework

Ryanair’s aim and objectives are very clear: to be profitable; to be Europe’s leading low-fares scheduled passenger airline; to prevent further airlines’ domination in the market; and to generate traffic numbers through low fares. Its relationship with employees is performance-based. Everyone in the company can benefit from the company’s success. When the company was established its employees became shareholders. The performance-based rewards scheme was strengthened and taken to a different level after the agreement between Ryan and O’Leary. His bonus percentage was directly linked with company’s profits. Under O’Leary’s management, employees’ salaries are productivity based and related to incentives and commissions for on-board duty free goods sales and for numbers of hours flown. The above-examined factors enable us to make assumptions that, according to Slocum and Hellriegel’s (2007) framework, Ryanair culture can be classified as a market culture. The concept has not changes since the company’s establishment.

Impacts of Ryanair’s culture

The impact of Ryanair’s culture will be discussed from two perspectives. Firstly, what impacts have to be faced by the organisation. Secondly, the influence perceived by the stakeholders.

Impacts on the Organisation

“For decades air travel had been the preserve of money classes” (Ruddock, 2008:231). Ryanair low-cost fares revolutionised air travel. The concept of budget airlines became the norm across Europe. Moreover, due to Ryanair’s low-cost fares, a new short break phenomenon developed. Furthermore, Ryanair became one of the most profitable of Europe’s low-cost airlines.

After establishment, Ryanair was known as a small company with a very positive atmosphere. However, because of O’Leary and his ‘bolloxology’ used to insult any stakeholder on his way, the Ryanair brand is being seen as cheap, nasty and rough to anyone (Byus, 2005; Ruddock, 2007). It is disliked, even by the customers who continue to fly with it. The organisation’s revolutionary impact on the airlines industry is often forgotten.

Impact on Stakeholders

Gratitude or appreciation for its stakeholders is not acknowledged in Ryanair’s corporate culture or policy. Two groups of stakeholders: customers and employees are mostly impacted by Ryanair’s culture. Cost-cutting strategy applies in every aspect of the company.

During the years, O’Leary is sending a message to the public that it is a cheap airline with no concessions. The airline’s commitment to the customers is to provide the lowest fair, and a safe and on-time flight. Its attitude to the passengers when something goes wrong is not to provide anything extra because they are paying too little and have no right to complain. The no frills concept includes everything where the right to use of a wheelchair or use of toilets in the airplane can be charged.

The staff at Ryanair are seen as a tool for maintaining high productivity. The concept is to make them work hard through long hours and short holidays, get rid of them when they are not useful and put in a fresh team. Ryanair’s culture and especially its customer service policy are perceived as embarrassing by the staff, and causes high staff turnover in customer service-related positions. Conversely, the main advantage of Ryanair’s culture is that it stimulates a company’s growth and opportunities for promotion are considerably higher than in other airlines.

Management

In the organisation’s early days it was believed that those who joined Ryanair – joined a dream. It was easier for management to contact and negotiate with employees because everyone had the same dream and the company was small. Nevertheless, the young staff employed weren’t restricted by union conditions and job definitions. In a crisis, employees were expected to help out where they could, this flexibility was crucial to Ryanair’s development. After the 1990s, people were joining an airline. The rapid expansion of the airline complicated direct contact with employees. A tough management style, policies and cultural dissatisfaction increased threats of strikes.

Conclusions

Ryanair’s culture and its low-cost strategy had a major impact on airlines, the tourism industry and society lifestyle. Power and market cultures identified in the airline have not changed since its establishment. However, the CEO, Michael O’Leary, revolutionised the company’s cultural artefacts, values and basic assumptions. There is strong evidence that the cost-cutting concept is implemented in every aspect of the company’s operations. Customers cannot expect to gain anything more than a cheap, safe and on-time flight. If something goes wrong, nobody has the right to complain and the company does not take any responsibility. Employees can be awarded for excellent performances, but at the same time abused and ‘bolloxed’ if they made a mistake. Language used by O’Leary internally and externally is a cultural attribute which had direct impact to its corporate culture and image. A volatile atmosphere is dominating the company. The brand is recognised for its rudeness and nastiness by various stakeholders. The only measurement of success is profits and there is no place for loyalty appreciation or gratitude to stakeholders. Management of the company can be seen as complicated because there are high demands and very few incentives provided.

I chose to document because I find Google’s work environment very fascinating and it has one of the highest employee retention rate. It has won the award ‘Best Company to Work for’ by both Fortune magazine and the Great Place to Work Institute a total of 7 times. It also received this accolade in 2017. This is no accident; Google is deliberate in its actions and does not do things by chance. As a data driven company, Google makes calculated decisions for everything it does; including its HR policies. Google also like my family business is very diverse in its deliverables and I hope to learn and apply the learnings quickly. Hence, to have a complete and broader take on HR policies I chose Google.

With the mission ‘to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful’ google started as a search engine company co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin on September 7, 1998. It is based in mountain view, California and is the leader in the field of online advertising, search engine and technology.

Google as a company, is part of the knowledge economy. Its human resources; the people who work within the company are the most important determinants of Google’s ongoing success and growth. Like most tech companies, Google’s workforce is comprised mainly of young people, and a large number of Millennials; with an average employee age of 29. If we look at the US workforce’s average age of 42.2, this number is considerably young. As a result, this youthful workforce demands a different type of work environment.

However, Google’s employees are not the only driving force behind Google’s innovative ‘people processes’. As a tech company, Google uses data to inform all of its decision making, including its HR processes. The combination of Google’s HR management approaches for forecasting, identifying issues with surplus and shortage of employees, and balancing of human resources supply and demand effectively supports the human resource needs of the firm. Google uses conventional methods and techniques together with advanced information systems to analyse human resource data to support HRM decisions. By adopting this scientific approach to its processes; from improving employee retention, workplace collaboration, diversity, to hiring algorithms which indicate which prospective candidate has the highest probability to succeed at Google. “All people decisions at Google are based on data and analytics”. The goal is to … “bring the same level of rigour to people-decisions that we do to engineering decisions”. Nothing is left to chance.

Like everything at Google, happiness levels too, are monitored and researched; with data driving new directions and policies. A particular internal group known as PiLab carries out these experiments and plans its human processes in accordance with its findings. This research includes determining the most effective approaches for managing people and maintaining a productive environment (including the type of reward that makes employees the happiest). Google have also notably increased the health of its workers by lowering their calorie intake at work by relying on such scientific data; and an experiment which decreased the size of its canteen plates.

This focus on employee happiness and health extends beyond the world of work. Google’s ‘Pay-for-Performance’ compensation package provides considerable compensation for strong performers and coaching and training for under-performers. On the job learning, training sessions from experienced managers, as well as inspirational talks from famous people such as Sen. Hillary Clinton and Lady Gaga help to inspire its workers. Google also provide gourmet meals to all of its employees. All of these perks create a happier, healthier, more engaged workforce with high company morale.

Google has a philosophy that work should be challenging and challenges should be fun. Hence, as a part of inducing employee creativity it emphasises on innovation and considers each employee as a contributor of these innovation activities. It expects every employee to realise that they are an important part if google’s success. Also, the HR practices work under the name ‘People Operations’, which is designed to underline the fact that it is not an administrative function. Google recruits through Employee referral, college recruitment, professional networking, and recruiter training. Being a giant company, it has contacts with over 350 professors at major colleges and effectively uses networking groups like linked.

While recruiting the interview panel looks for mainly four qualities in any individual: leadership, role-related knowledge, how one thinks, googleyness.

To encourage creativity and interaction among employees, Google’s office is designed so as to provide colours, lighting, and shared room locations. This makes google’s workplace different from other organisations and is touted to be the most creative one.

Conclusion

The most important lesson one can take from google is that happier employees are more likely to go above and beyond, and do the very best for their employer once they feel valued and appreciated. Also, as the organisation grows, need for right evaluation system is mandatory to make the system just and reward the right person at right time.

Not only in IT, Google is a talent magnet across the board. Google attracts and retains the top talent in all areas from IT to marketing, sales, sustainable development, engineering and more. It is this ability to hire and retain the best talent that accounts for Google’s continued success and dominance on the world stage.

Google has developed a relaxing working environment for their employees, Googlers. There are a lot of bikes placed around the company so that Googlers can move to and from different offices more easily (Le, 2012). Google also provides cafes, sushi bar, espresso stations, gyms, volleyball courts, shower facilities, swimming pools, massage rooms, gaming facilities and others for employees to use (Noviantoro, 2014; Tran, 2017). At the offices of Google headquarters which located in Mountain View, California, there are even pianos and lava lamps placed in the lobby (Nelson & Quick, 2012). All of these are built because of Google cares about their employees (employee-oriented). Google wants to motivate them and let them being comfortable and happy during the work because the company believes and assumes that a happy employee will become more productive in the workplace. In addition, most of the walls in this company are covered with magnetic whiteboard so that Googlers can jot down their ideas at anytime and anywhere when they found out the solutions (UK Essays, 2018). Le (2012) has mentioned that in Google, there are only very few individual offices as this company wants to promote interaction and communication among the employees. The desks and chairs in the company are made to be flexible, in which they can be adjusted to suit the height of persons to improve the works quality. This company also provides a big area of floor space to solve the bored casual meeting which takes place in conference room (UK Essays, 2018). These designs or physical structures and symbols reflect the collaborative and creative/innovative cultures in Google.

As mentioned by Element-360 (2015), Google had created a list of its own core values, where the first one is “focus on the user and all else will follow”. Google always put its users first, for instance, unlike other companies which often concentrate on marketing their sites and raising the advertising profits, Google tends to remove all the distractions on its searching page and provide the users with a ‘clean’ page which contains only the search box and company logo without pop-up of advertisements because the company thinks that the appearance of advertisements may be annoying to the users (Noviantoro, 2014). Google has often put its effort on improving the user experience and this is believed as one of the factors which lead to its success. According to Element-360 (2015), the other core values of Google are shown as below:

• “It’s best to do one thing really, really well”;
• “Fast is better than slow”;
• “Democracy on the web works”;
• “You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer”;
• “You can make money without doing evil”;
• “There’s always more information out there”;
• “The need for information crosses all borders”;
• “You can be serious without a suit”;
• “Great just isn’t good enough”.

Besides from the above 10 core values listed by Google itself, Google company also practice other shared value, such as encouraging the employees to take risks smartly (Carpenter, Bauer & Erdogan, 2010). This can be viewed through a previous incident, in which the vice president who is responsible for Google’s advertising system had made mistake and caused the company to lose millions of dollars, but Larry Page (Google’s co-founder) did not scold her, on the contrary, he did praising this employee for taking risks and generating mistake. Next, Google also permits its engineers to devote approximately 20% of their precious time to the projects that chosen by themselves (Tran, 2017). In fact, risk taking is important in innovation. If the persons refuse to take risk and often worry about making mistake, then they will never be totally innovative.

Limiting the bureaucratic framework is also one of the values that Google takes to heart as this framework kills ideas (Gupta, 2016). In Google, the decisions are made in team, by consensus instead of just made by the top management and implemented top down. It is so usual for the small teams to attack every problem and for employees to share their ideas or try to affect one another with the use of rational persuasion and also data (Carpenter, Bauer & Erdogan, 2010).

Corporate culture refers to the beliefs and behaviours that determine how a company’s employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions. Often, corporate culture is implied, not expressly defined, and develops organically over time from the cumulative traits of the people the company hires. A company’s culture will be reflected in its dress code, business hours, office setup, employee benefits, turnover, hiring decisions, treatment of clients, client satisfaction and every other aspect of operations.

Types of Corporate Culture

According to Robert E. Quinn and Kim S. Cameron at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, there are four types of organizational culture: clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy:

1. Clan oriented cultures are family-like, with a focus on mentoring, nurturing, and ‘doing things together’.
2. Adhocracy oriented cultures are dynamic and entrepreneurial, with a focus on risk-taking, innovation, and ‘doing things first’.
3. Market oriented cultures are results oriented, with a focus on competition, achievement, and ‘getting the job done’.
4. Hierarchy oriented cultures are structured and controlled, with a focus on efficiency, stability and ‘doing things right’.

Creating a Corporate Culture

A company’s culture is shaped by a number of tangible and intangible components that together create an environment that is conducive, or not, to good work. Here are some of the most-often-cited facets:

1. Values. Whatever it is that a company states is its driving force – what it values – will affect what its employees focus on. The culture of a company that values caring will be different from one that values, say, creativity or speed or precision. One isn’t necessarily better than another, it simply will impact the types of employees that are hired and what everyone is working toward.
2. Employees. To build a corporate culture that matches what leaders want the business to be known for, you have to hire carefully. Each and every employee needs to match the culture and the company’s values. Companies with the most desirable corporate cultures invest a lot of time recruiting and interviewing potential new hires because they recognize how essential each person is to supporting the culture.
3. Environment. Where employees have to work will have a major impact on the organization’s culture. Pack everyone in a tight space like sardines, with little light and few creature comforts and you will likely build a culture centred on negativity and complaints Whereas a space that is open and airy, with ample workspace, will foster positive feelings and lower stress. Workspace matter.
4. Actions. How a company demonstrates its values and priorities also shapes its corporate culture. Do its actions align with its values, or not? Companies that put customer satisfaction as its highest priority should have processes and procedures that ensure customers are delighted with its dealings with the company. Satisfaction guarantees, no hassle refunds, and no expiration dates on returns could be policies that support such a value.
5. Opportunities for bonding. Companies that set aside time outside of work to socialize and get to know each other create opportunities for more fulfilling personal relationships to form. Some companies have annual off-site meetings that bring together all employees to talk about what’s going well and what’s not. Other companies schedule more frequent, and less formal, get-togethers, such as softball teams, potluck dinners, and Friday cocktail hour. How employees feel about, and express satisfaction with, their employer is the basis of a corporate culture. The more positive and fulfilled employees are with the organization they work for, the more loyal and effective they will be. That’s the benefit of a positive corporate culture.

Routines and Culture in Organizations

The term ‘organizational culture’ refers to a shared set of rules and beliefs that employees teach one another. These rules are reinforced by employees’ attitudes and are reflected in their work routines. As a leader, you can promote beliefs and behaviours to help employees perform according to your business model.

One way to look at the culture in a business is to examine the six elements of its cultural web – stories, rituals and routines, symbols, organizational structure, control systems and power structures. These are elements that you could find in many organizations, including small businesses. Rituals and routines are typically taught by managers and repeated in the behaviours of successful employees.

Most organizations have codified policies and procedures that inform employees how to complete work routines and make decisions within the scope of their work. If you spend time writing a manual that includes these important guidelines for work routines, you give employees a helpful information tool. If you skip this step, your workers must rely on what they can observe in successful workers.

Like a policies and procedures manual, training helps employees learn appropriate work routines, usually with the helpful advice of trainers, managers or experienced workers. A successful small business is a learning organization in which employees contribute ideas to improve work routines. Managers must balance encouraging employees to follow existing work routines and encouraging their expression of innovative ideas. They also advise trainers when it’s necessary to update training to include employees’ ideas.

In a small business, it’s important to avoid making the workplace culture too homogeneous. In such an environment, employees blindly follow shared work routines, and this atmosphere can stifle innovation. Create a collaborative culture in which employees can share ideas freely, even if that means they must pass them to their manager. If employees feel supported in sharing ideas, they can help the company increase efficiency, which will be a positive benefit for customers.

Rituals of a Company

Many companies employ awards ceremonies as a rite to entice higher performance goals from employees. Award ceremonies bestow recognition on the winners, while showing the other employees what they can gain by reaching the same goals. Workers will often strive to achieve customer satisfaction standards, complete projects under budget, or develop new innovations to win the respect that comes with such awards. Rewards for award winners can range from certificates and plaques to bonus cash and travel packages.

Companies also often sponsor after-hours activities as a means to build camaraderie among workers. These rituals, such as softball teams, bowling leagues and paintball games, promote team unity, social bonding and cooperative thinking among workers who may not have had the opportunity to know each other in the workplace. Many companies also provide off-site, multi-day retreats that allow workers and executives to communicate their concerns about the workplace environment in an open and non-judgmental space.

The best salespeople are often highly motivated individuals. When a company adds the ritual of rewards for its top achieving sales personnel, the motivational factors increase for these competitive professionals. Whether the reward is the simple recognition that comes from ringing a bell after a successful sale, or comes in the form of cash bonuses and luxury items, salespeople will often pursue such prizes with a higher level of personal drive and tenacity.

Rituals of a company can be practiced weekly or monthly. Teams can have rituals to bond with each other, to stay in the loop and to building a sense community.

All organizations have rituals — from the mundane everyday routines (coffee breaks, tea time) to major, less frequent events like annual meetings and retirement parties. Smart leaders, however, recognize that rituals like these and others are levers for improving the organization’s performance and they take the creation and nurturing of rituals very seriously. It’s a subject that I study closely, focusing particularly on the lessons that can be found for business leaders from the world of sport. From that work I’ve observed that ritual acts on team performance in next ways:

• It creates a shared identity.
• It stimulates the emotions and reduces anxiety.
• It reinforces desired behaviours.

Seven Rituals to Improve Your Business

1. When you’re at work create a ritual to start your day. This might include: having a coffee at your desk, checking your PDA for appointments, not answering phone calls for 15 minutes while you read and respond to urgent emails. You might also: set an agenda for the day, plan goals for the week…the list is endless.
2. At work, find ways to meet colleagues and socialize during a lunch hour instead of running a million errands. Also, if you’re challenged and need help, you’ll have some friends that can work with you. If you work alone, join a network group that is conveniently located near you, cost efficient and helps you build your business. Make it a ritual to attend the meetings and meet new people and create a ritual to record new contacts.
3. Create time saving rituals for work. For example, only check email three times a day, organize your files, file away unused papers as soon as possible; create ‘time boundaries’, where you can’t be interrupted. Close the door, let the message machine take a call, get up and take mini breaks every 90 minutes (for productivity).
4. At the end of a busy week designate a night as Movie or board game night with friends or family. If being at home doesn’t excite you, you could sign up for sports and get out your weekly frustrations. The key is to make time for something special once you complete work; this offers you a buffer to help ease you through a hectic week as you have something to look forward to doing.
5. Create home rituals to ease into your time off. These rituals may include chores as you play ‘catch-up’ on errands. Be sure to add play to your list. Include ways to decompress, times to exercise, time with your partner, friends, family and time alone.
6. Create self-care rituals that put your needs first. If you think this is selfish, consider the rules on airplanes. Parents have access to oxygen masks before their children so they can care for their family in the event of an emergency. You’re no good to anyone if you’re exhausted, resentful or angry because you don’t have time for yourself. For example, get enough rest, make time for things you enjoy such as: walking, yoga, working out at the gym, playing an instrument, biking, reading, writing etc. whatever makes you happy.

Conclusion

Rites and rituals are a powerful tool of organizational culture. They require members of the organization to participate in a performance that reinforces the norms of the culture. Rituals can take many different forms and serve various purposes. Most rituals have a manifest purpose which contributes to the functioning of the organization, but the real importance of rituals lies in their latent purpose and what values are being celebrated.

NHS Trust – Snow and ice procedure

Introduction:

This policy describes the risks from snow and ice and the actions to be taken by the Trust in relation to them.

Snow and ice may present risks to patients, visitors, staff, and others who access Trust grounds and buildings.

The Trust is required to take reasonably practicable steps in the event of snow and ice conditions and to show that it has plans in place to reduce the risk of harm.

The Trust will be able to demonstrate through this policy that all has been done so far as is reasonably practicable to avoid injury to staff, patients, and visitors, and to comply with current legislation:

General duties of employers and self-employed to persons other than their employees.

It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety. (1)

The extent of the occupier’s ordinary duty

The common duty of care is a duty to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable to see that the visitor will be reasonably safe in using the premises for the purposes for which he is invited or permitted by the occupier to be there. (2)

Every floor in a workplace and the surface of every traffic route in a workplace shall be of a construction such that the floor or surface of the traffic route is suitable for the purpose for which it is used.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), the requirements in that paragraph shall include requirements that—

(a)the floor, or surface of the traffic route, shall have no hole or slope, or be uneven or slippery so as, in each case, to expose any person to a risk to his health or safety (3)

“Arrangements should be made to minimize risks from snow and ice. This may involve gritting, snow clearing and closure of some routes, particularly outside stairs, ladders and walkways on roofs.” (4)

Responsibilities:

The Chief Executive of the Trust is ultimately responsible for ensuring that safe access and egress are provided for buildings that are used by staff and visitors and for ensuring that a suitable snow and ice policy is in place. The responsibility for ensuring this policy is implemented is that of senior managers and building controllers. All of these must ensure that all buildings have suitable arrangements in place with regard to managing the effects of snow and ice.

Managers must ensure adequate arrangements are in place to minimize the risks associated with snow and ice, including gritting procedures to provide safe access and egress in all areas.

Managers must ensure that all staff are aware of local gritting procedures and follow a safe system of work, which will form part of the risk assessment.

Managers must ensure that access is available for gritting to take place and any equipment provided, is accessible and suitable for the task.

Communication:

Warning signs are to be put in place to advise of the hazards associated with snow and ice accumulation on-site at all main vehicular and pedestrian entrances.

Strategically placed posters and information leaflets for patients and visitors and awareness for members of staff communicated through team meetings.

Appropriate internal “wet floor” signage will be provided and placed in an obvious position to warn staff, patients, and visitors of slippery surfaces and impending dangers.

Procedure:

Risk assessments will be carried out to determine what action needs to be taken in the event of snow and ice conditions. The risk assessment will determine the site-specific procedures for ice and snow conditions and identify the equipment required to safely carry out any clearance operations. Footpaths and car parks should also be incorporated into the clearance procedure where practicable.

The risk assessment should be done in conjunction with staff required to carry out ice and snow clearance on site and should include:

The sequence in which any areas affected by ice or snow will be attended to.

Priority will be given to the following areas for snow and ice clearance:

• The main entrance to the hospital and disabled access routes
• Pathways to the entrance of buildings
• Patient transport drop off / pick up areas/bus stops
• Zebra crossings and other areas where road markings need to be seen
• Delivery areas
• Car parks

When ice and snow clearance will be implemented – for example, will it be preventative or reactive?

The local Met Office or the BBC Local weather reports online may be used for forecasting ice and snow. If the forecast predicts snow or the temperature to fall to +2 degrees Celsius or below, proactive preventative operations to reduce the effects of ice and snow may be implemented.

How ice and snow clearance work will be carried out, who will do it, and when and what equipment will be used, this should also include a manual handling risk assessment, in accordance with the manual handling operations regulations (5).

• During normal working hours, 08:00 – 18:00 gritting, snow, and ice clearing activities will be performed by the day shift maintenance team.
• Out-of-hours clearing activities between 18:00 – 22:00 and 06:00 – 08:00 will be performed by the night shift maintenance team.

Any health and safety or lone working considerations for staff carrying out the ice and snow clearance.

• Musculoskeletal injury caused by failure to observe correct manual handling techniques
• Spillage of grit contents.
• Slip, trip, and fall due to snow and ice
• Low temperatures – hypothermia

Any PPE Requirements.

• PPE as identified within the risk assessment.

A system for monitoring the weather to ensure preventative gritting is carried out at the right time.

• Thermometers are positioned around the site to give an indication of falling temperatures, or electronic ice warning systems are in place.

A system for monitoring the effectiveness of operations.

• Regular site inspections to check for accumulation of snow and formation of ice along high traffic/footfall routes and implement reactive measures to deal with this.
• Ensure that there are sufficient levels of salt and gritting supplies available at all times.
• The correct storage of this material should also be considered in order for it to remain as effective as possible.
• Stock levels will be reviewed by maintenance staff periodically and the responsibility for ensuring adequate supplies are available rests with the building manager.
• Salt bins should also be positioned around the site for use by any member of staff in circumstances where additional gritting may be necessary.

Provision of suitable absorbent barrier matting in accordance with “The Building Regulations 2010 – Approved Document M” (6), BS 7953:1999 (7) and BS 8300:2009+A1:2010 (8) at all entrances to significantly reduce the amount of moisture transferred to internal floors and thereby reduce the risk of slips occurring.

Training, equipment & safe systems of work:

All employees are to receive specific manual handling training for clearance of snow and ice and gritting procedures.

Employees should be trained to correctly use all tools provided for the purpose of snow and ice clearance.

Employees should be trained to recognize the symptoms of hypothermia and the precautions to take to prevent it.

Periodic inspection:

This procedure should be reviewed at least annually and whenever there is a warning of snow and ice, with a thorough and appropriate site-specific risk assessment and regular audits to review the effectiveness of the policy and associated site procedures.

Other instructions:

It is the responsibility of all staff to immediately report areas of ice or snow that may present a hazard to others and to assist with gritting and snow-clearing operations where practicable in the following areas:

• Main access and egress routes for staff and patients e.g. main entrance
• Areas in close proximity to these e.g. pathways in front of buildings, steps leading to them
• Fire evacuation routes

During adverse weather conditions such as snow and ice, staff should always be mindful of their own health and safety and should wear appropriate clothing and suitable footwear to help reduce the risk of slipping.

References:

1. The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 – section 3 General duties of employers and self-employed to persons other than their employees
2. The Occupiers Liability Act 1957 – section 2 Extent of Occupier’s ordinary duty
3. Workplace Health, Safety, and Welfare regulations 1992 – regulation 12 Extent of occupier’s ordinary duty and:
4. Approved Code of Practice and Guidance L24 – paragraph 116
5. Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
6. The Building Regulations 2010 – Approved Document M “Access to and use of buildings” (2015 edition)
7. BS 7953:1999 Entrance flooring systems – Selection, installation, and maintenance
8. BS 8300:2009+A1:2010 Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people – Code of practice

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development’s (OECD) report on the average annual hours actually worked per worker (OECD. Stat, 2019), Korea ranked second from the top with an average of 2,108 hours a year since 2008. This means Korean work 1.3 times more than the OECD average working hours (1,770), and 1.5 times the Germany’s working hours (1,404). Do Koreans know that the number of hours they work is a significant problem? To answer this question, according to an online survey of 200 Korean managers, currently in a direct level position or higher, working in Korean company or multinational company in Korea (DHR International, 2014), 33% of respondents reported that they work more than 11 hours a day on average. However, only 40% of respondents think that they are working too many hours. In other words, many people do not believe that they work too much.

I strongly believe that the number of hours Korean work is a significant problem. First, it can cause a low fertility rate. Actually, according to World’s lowest fertility rates (OECD, 2014), South Korea’s fertility rate was 1.2 births per woman in 2014, the lowest in the OECD, whose members averaged 1.7. Many women and men have less time to have children because they are in the office long hours. “Women put in slightly fewer hours than men at the workplace, but if you add housework, they work far more hours than men. They have no time to have children”, – Dainn Wie, an associate professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, said (KIM, 2016). Second, it also can cause a health problem. Excessive work is linked to stress, and many Koreans try to release stress with frequent smoking and drinking. Therefore, stress and these behaviors can naturally impact on health. In addition, South Korea had the highest suicide rate in the OECD in 2013. It was 28.7 people per 100,000 people. Although there is no direct correlation has been proved between longer work hours and higher suicide rates, an overtime work can affect decision of suicide. Then, why are South Koreans working so much longer than workers in many different countries?

Industrial systems in Korea, an office culture and a wage structure are three main causes of the problem. Industrial systems in Korea are the first main cause of long working hours. South Korea has developed from one of the poorest countries to a developed country in just a few years. Because a manufacturing has led to Korea’s rapid economic development. Due to highly skilled workforce, world-class infrastructure, advanced research and development, and strategic location for Asia and the Pacific, Korea has been able to get high-end manufacturing. Main industries of manufacturing are mobile phones (Samsung), consumer electronics (especially semiconductors), household whitegoods, cars (Hyundai and Kia), ships and steel (Asialink Business). Most large Korean companies are based on the manufacturing industry, so the extension of work is naturally related to a productivity. In other words, the characteristic of manufacturing is that the more employees work, the higher the company take the productivity and a profit. Also, the biggest part of currently Korea’s industry is the service industry. For example, there are many kinds of cafe, transportations, pubs, restaurants, shopping malls and fast-food restaurants in Korea. Most of them open until late night or 24 hours. Therefore, these kinds of service industry enforce workers to work more. To sum up, the manufacturing and the service industry in Korea encourage employees to work for long time.

The office culture in Korea is the next main cause of overwork. Many Koreans say that the office culture is the biggest reason contributing to working for a long time. Then, what are factors in Korea’s office culture? First, the hierarchy is respected. Traditionally, Korean society’s values are based on Confucianism, which is opposite to Christian values. So, many older people want younger people to show respect for them (Frenette, 2018). Because of this construct, workers cannot leave the office before their managers who are older than them leave. The next factor of the office culture is personal relationships in the workplace. Building trust with managers or other employees is encouraged in Korea. Because it can be linked to get promoted to upper position. Personal ability is also important, but networking is more crucial to get promoted from the manager in Korea’s competent society. That’s why workers work hard to be seen well to their managers.

The last but not the least main cause of long working hours is the wage structure. The structure of the wage system in Korea companies is totally different with Western companies. The Western companies usually provide varying salary to workers depend on different experience and industries. In Korea, on the other hand, most companies pay fundamentally based on a position in the companies. For example, although there is a clear difference in an importance of roles, a new HR graduate recruit at a company is paid as same as a new graduate engineer at the same company. In addition, the workers’ salary in Korea is much less than Australian, British and American company even though the company is the major company. According to an average of salary in market in 2016, a new worker’s salary is only $23,000 annually until 3 years. Even companies such as Samsung, Hyundai, SK and LG are paying $31,000 annually for a new worker (Kocken, 2015). Although a market price is obviously cheaper than the countries which have higher salaries, it is not enough to live normally in Korea. This makes the workers work for a long time to live hardly.

Workplaces which workers are throwing away their health can make a ‘lose-lose’ situation. In other words, too much work makes workers’ productivity decrease. South Korea has cut its work limit from 68 hours a week to 52 hours in 2018. “Enforcement will be interesting”, – Ellen Kossek, a professor of management at the Purdue University Krannert School of Management, said of South Korea. “I think it’s a good move in the right direction” (Moulite, 2018).

The reduction of working hours would seem to be a good move now, but more important thing is that a significant change in Korea’s corporate culture is required right away.

Google, LLC is an American global innovation organization that spends significant time in Internet-related administrations and items, which incorporate web based publicizing advances, a web crawler, distributed computing, programming, and equipment. It is viewed as one of the Big Five innovation organizations in the U.S. data innovation industry, close by Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft.

The organization’s quick development since joining has set off a chain of items, acquisitions, and associations past Google’s: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Translate, Google Maps, Waze, Google Earth, and Street View, YouTube, Blogger, Google Photos, Google chrome. The organization drives the advancement of the Android versatile working framework. Google.com is the most visited site on the planet. A few other Google benefits additionally figure in the best 100 most visited sites, including YouTube and Blogger. Google was the most important brand on the planet in 2017 (outperformed by Amazon), yet has gotten huge analysis including issues, for example, security concerns, charge evasion, antitrust, oversight, and search non-partisan ship.

Google Mission, Vision & Values

• Google Mission Statement: organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
• Google Vision Statement: to provide access to the world’s information in one click.
• Google Values: great isn’t good enough; focus on the user, all else will follow; it’s best to do one thing really well; fast is better than slow; democracy on the web works; you can make money without doing evil; there’s always more information; the need for information crosses all bor; you can be serious without a suit; you don’t need to be at your desk.

Organizational Culture of Google

Google’s organizational culture is an essence that propels the company to keep its legacy in leadership, in association of information technology sector and online advertising industry’s field. The corporate culture of the company, are based on behavioural ideas, customs, and tradition, which dominantly affects the behaviour factor of the employees. Innovation is the key for Google’s corporate culture for being active and motivates the employee to support factor of innovation in the company, to maintain the competitiveness against Google’s corporate culture competitors such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Intel, Snapchat, and Facebook. Company induce the motivating culture to keep up its mark. Google ensures that its workers are competent in directing its business needs which are affected by the external forces caused by these competitors.

Through institutional measures, the corporation develops its cultural strengths, like informal approaches, and through training, like management support and personalized leadership. To improve the characteristics continuously, the efforts of Google’s organizational culture are applied to maintain innovation and creativity.To enhance employee performance, its features are focused on Google’s culture. Through its organizational culture system the company expects effective motivation. For example, Google’s corporate culture encourages workers to think outside the box and aim for novel ideas in developing solutions to pointed customers’ everyday problems.

Thusly, the authoritative culture encourages human asset uphold for different systems, for example, Google’s nonexclusive methodology and escalated development procedures. This social help is a triumph factor in the global market for Internet administrations, advanced publicizing, distributed computing administrations, equipment and programming, and buyer gadgets.

Google’s Organizational Culture Type and Its Characteristics

Google has an authoritative culture for development. The organization likewise underlines the significance of transparency among workers, as a method of advancing an imaginative mentality. The subsequent development applies to Google’s methodologies in contending in different ventures. For example, the organization advances its mechanical resources and administrations gave to clients in the internet publicizing industry. The accompanying qualities characterize Google’s corporate culture:

1. Openness. This social trademark alludes to the sharing of data among Google’s workers. The organization’s goal in elevating receptiveness is to energize the scattering of significant information that can uphold further advancement. For instance, the corporate culture spurs singular representatives to cooperate with one another at different occasions of their normal workday, as a method of improving the information they use in their positions. In connection, Google’s activities the executive’s technique underpins this social attribute through fitting work environment designs that encourage such cooperation. Likewise, the plan of Google’s authoritative structure improves the hierarchical culture by urging labourers to impart and share their thoughts.
2. Innovation. Development is a basic achievement factor in Google’s business. The organization’s authoritative culture persuades representatives to add to the general development of the business and its items. For instance, this social trademark advances representatives’ out-of-the-case thinking to find or create new answers for current and rising needs in the global market. Advancement adds to business adequacy in tending to the patterns identified in the PESTEL/PESTLE examination of Google LLC. This condition additionally implies that the organization’s sorts and level of development changes as per the important needs recognized in the data innovation and administrations market.
3. Excellence. This social trademark centers around accomplishing astounding outcomes from all zones of Google’s business. This trait of the hierarchical culture is coordinated in human asset advancement projects to instill a thankfulness for greatness among representatives. For instance, preparing programs are intended to persuade laborers to ceaselessly improve their yield, and to not agree to unremarkable outcomes. In such manner, Google’s corporate culture advances astuteness in the labor force, and pushes representatives to make progress toward astounding work.
4. Hands-on Approach. Through its corporate culture, Google applies an involved way to deal with human asset improvement. This social trademark centers around utilizing experiential learning as a compelling method of improving workers’ information, aptitudes, and capacities. Hypothetical information isn’t sufficient at Google LLC. Laborers are relied upon to learn as they proceed in their excursion as a feature of the organization’s association. By and by, this element of the authoritative culture is executed through strategies that help workers’ inclusion in ventures and tests. Such trials test ground-breaking thoughts on the side of advancement in item improvement that influence Google’s advertising blend or 4P. Along these lines, the organization’s corporate culture upgrades representatives’ insight, remembering for the-work learning and preparing that add to human asset capabilities.
5. Small-Company-Family Rapport. Google LLC is known for its help for little organization family compatibility in its workspaces. This social trademark centres around the social connections among laborers. For instance, Google keeps up a warm workplace where representatives can without much of a stretch talk and offer thoughts with one another. The target for this situation is to utilize the corporate culture as a method of enhancing inside correspondences and thought age. This trait of the authoritative culture additionally helps Google in advancing worker confidence. In principle, warm social relations in the work environment add to worker fulfillment in their positions.

Google’s Corporate Culture – Recommendations

Google’s authoritative culture is explicit to tending to the requirements of the data innovation and online administrations business. For instance, through the social attribute of advancement, the organization guarantees that its items fulfil industry principles and are at the main edge of innovative turn of events. These components add to the qualities identified in the SWOT investigation of Google LLC. As one of the greatest innovation organizations in the worldwide market, the organization is a case of compelling authoritative plan and human asset improvement showed in the corporate culture.

A conceivable improvement to Google’s authoritative culture is the further heightening of data sharing. Right now, despite the fact that the organization’s social qualities uphold correspondences and data sharing, such sharing happens in a controlled way. Google can expand representatives’ level of opportunity in such manner, to amplify the speed and productivity of information move. This proposal intends to expand the pace of advancement in the organization’s item improvement measures. Furthermore, Google can improve its corporate culture through extra creative projects that are intended to help particular capacities among singular workers. This proposal intends to expand workers’ information, aptitudes, and capacities to improve.

Accounting scandals and cases of fraud are becoming perpetual in nature and currently one of the greatest challenges in the modern business world. Fraud in the corporate realm may be characterized as the “intentional misstatements including omissions of amount or disclosures in financial statements, to deceive financial statement users” (Gullkvist and Jokipii, 2013, pg. 45) Despite intense efforts over the last few decades, to eradicate the misappropriation of assets, and fraudulent financial reporting, it appears that fraud in its various forms is a substantive matter increasing in both frequency and severity. (Whitehill, 2017) The impact of corporate culture on an organisation’s risk profile and occurrence of fraud has been evidenced over the last several decades by a range of corporate collapses. (Lukmanjaya, 2019) There are multitudinous studies regarding the occurrence of corporate fraud and its implications on companies. Yet the paradox of the relationship between these two factors still exists, that there is a greater occurrence of fraudulent behavior in larger more developed economies as illustrated in EY’s global fraud survey in 2016. (EY, 2016) This stems from the constant need for exceeding growth and profitability targets as economies are rapidly expanding. Thus, further research is required into the linkages of corporate culture and fraud in larger developed economies as tendencies to circumvent regulation have been unveiled throughout the decades. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between corporate culture and fraud, analyzing cases in Japan. The aim of the literature review is to analyze the underpinnings relevant of corporate culture and fraud. It will critically explore a plethora of journals and seminal papers in order to establish a profound understanding of existing relevant academic literature in this particular field. This will then be compared in light of the research question sustaining the path of this study.

Literature review

Prior to investigating the relationship between corporate culture and fraud in Japan, it is imperative to delve into the existing literature and fundamental themes in order to supplement this literature and guide the research. Themes that are commonly explored within this literature include corporate culture, internal controls, fraud as well as ethical culture.

Corporate culture, Internal Controls, and Fraud

One of the common themes emanating from the fraud literature pertains to the fact that corporate culture has considerable ramifications on fraudulent practices. Corporate culture, therefore, has over the years become a major discussion topic and increasingly recognized as a contributor to corporate misdeeds. Campbell & Göritz’ study clarifies corporate culture as “underlying assumptions that are employees’ shared beliefs of an organization and its environment and serve as a guide for the employees’ thoughts and behaviors”. (Campbell & Göritz, 2014) Their study is particularly centered on linkages between organizational culture in Germany, reflective of the more developed economies in the world. Prior research has suggested that corporations with a weak corporate culture and generally weaker internal controls are particularly susceptible to fraudulent activity and asset misappropriation, thereby sustaining the significance of corporate culture. (Zakaria, Nawawi and Puteh Salin, 2016)

Similarly, Lukmanjaya, (2019) explores the role of corporate culture in Australia and its contributing effect to occurrences of fraud and corruption. This theory has its limitations as the relationship between corporate culture and corporate misdeeds may be better understood by looking at the events leading to the misconduct and through a first-person perspective, interviewing the preparators. This establishes a more profound understanding of an organization’s culture and how it contributes to fraud.

Many studies, a fundamental one being Albrecht, (2015) have found that overriding existing internal controls creates the greatest opportunity for asset misappropriation and fraudulent behavior. Internal controls are a form of corporate governance. Corporate governance is related to culture as culture influences the structure as well as the execution of governance in organizations. (Lukmanjaya, 2019)

Organizations have different corporate cultures in which they deal with internal and external issues differently. One of the major discussions regarding corporate culture and reasons as to why it continues to be apparent in society is due to its difficulty to address in companies. Accordingly, Omar, Johari, and Hasnan, (2015) stress the magnitude of corporate culture stating although it is difficult to address, neglecting it may deepen the trajectory of the matter. Thus, it is vital for corporations to implement an effective ethical culture to mitigate the potential surge in financial statement fraud. Nonetheless, in a more recent survey with primary focus on fraud, PwC (2018) recommended organizations improve employees’ behavior through assessing the strengths and weaknesses of their culture as well as promoting an honest and open culture throughout the firm from top to bottom.

‘Tone from the top

‘Tone at the top’ is another requisite factor prevalent in many studies surrounding fraud that interlinks with the corporate culture. It is the manner in which the company’s board and senior leadership perceive their responsibilities in ‘setting the tone of an organization. The organization in turn influences the control consciousness of the employees as employees take their cue from the top management. (Soltani, 2014) (Biggerstaff, Cicero, and Puckett 2014)

Lail, MacGregor, Stuebs, and Thomasson (2015) discussed the role of a strong tone from the top in promoting a resilient anti-fraud corporate culture.

Furthermore, Schwartz (2013) provides a differing approach in his study, arguing that three essential elements must be present to minimize unethical activities by maintaining an ethical corporate culture. The three elements entail; the existence of core ethical values embedded in its policies, process, and practices; the establishment of a formal ethics program; the continuous presence of ethical leadership. In addition to the three elements, it is crucial for a company to establish a transparent and honest culture from top management downwards.

Many well-established corporations have throughout the years explored this issue by conducting surveys. A global fraud corruption survey by EY in 2016 concluded that by increasing focus on individual accountability, company leadership needs to set the right tone from the top. It is only by taking such steps that boards will be able to mitigate the impact of fraud. (EY, 2016)

Ethical culture

There is an inherent link between both the corporate and the ethical culture of corporations in the occurrences of fraud. The concept of ethical climate is a multidimensional construct which concerns the ethical culture, tone at the top, and ethical leadership and has come up in common characteristics. Murphy et al. (2012) build on this as their study examined the role of ethical climate within organizations when fraud is present. Using the appropriate measures capturing motives, attitudes, and rationalization for fraud, they showed that ethical climate plays a significant role when fraud is present within an organization. It is associated with motives such as pressure from senior management and other rationalizations. Shin (2012) conducted firm-level analyses regarding the relationship between CEO leadership and ethical climate. The overall outcome of the study showed that CEOs’ self-rated leadership was positively associated with employees’ aggregated perceptions of the ethical climate of the firm. In another survey study, Kaptein (2010) raises the question of whether organizational ethics has improved in recent years. He claimed that the ethical culture of organizations improved in the period between 1999 and 2004. Between 2004 and 2008, however, unethical behavior and its consequences declined, and the scope of ethics programs expanded.

Studies argue that unethical corporate activity is highly considered as one of the most substantial issues faced by corporate boardrooms in terms of its difficulty and detrimental impact. As a result, Mark S. Schwartz, (2013) assumes in his study that once an ethical corporate culture is developed and sustained, the extent of crime, fraud, and misappropriation of assets will be minimized. (Schwartz, 2013)

On the other hand, Hofstede, (2010) provides a different perspective and argues in his study that there are two aspects that influence corporate culture, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. His study on corporate culture within different countries unveiled that most companies in Asian countries have a high power distance and moderate in terms of uncertainty avoidance while most in European countries are vice versa.

A lack of consistent ethical and corporate culture fails any attempt to address the statute of corporate misdeeds in the business sphere. Ocansey and Ganu, (2017) in their article similarly contend that corporate culture plays a critical role in managing the risks of fraudulent acts. Particularly, when ethics is solidly implanted in corporate culture, and exemplified by top leadership, an organization is more likely to minimize internal scams.

It is widely acknowledged that most organizations that remain successful in the long run have leaders who include ethical values as part of the formal policies and cultures of their companies. (Daft, 2015)

A company that puts the focus on ethics, integrity, and accountability, is less subject to fraud risk, as internals have been educated on principles contained in the code of ethics. (Ocansey and Ganu, 2017) (Miller, 2016)

There have been many global surveys conducted by well-established organizations on the subject. A case in point is EY’s global fraud and corruption survey in 2016 which evidenced that a significant minority of executives continue to justify unethical acts. When presented with a series of options, more than one-third would be willing to justify inappropriate conduct in an economic downturn, while almost half would justify such conduct purely to meet financial targets. (EY, 2016).