This write-up examines the actual culture in practice at one of the multinational companies in Nigeria - Cadbury Nigeria Plc. From the myriad of culture definitions available, the student has picked the most relevant.

Espoused Culture: A Description

Drawing from a number of cultural artifacts, beliefs and basic assumptions amongst other cultural elements, it can be deduced that CN espouses:

• Integrity/transparency: Its management claims that these are central to business operations. In a country rife with corruption, this is a means to convey good corporate governance and an ethical image.
• A highly motivating work environment, where staff turnover is low. In practice, staff turnover is low in CN, but whether this is as result of high motivational levels, is something that is probed further on.
• Production oriented, in the sense that its products are in high demand, hence there is a need to churn out large volumes of brands to the market.
• Being part of a successful multinational concern, CN prides itself in being an employer of choice and equal opportunity employer. This, it attributes in part, to its ability to attract and retain a brilliant crop of managers and blue-collar workers.
• The assumption that CN has an excellent reputation as evidenced by various awards won in the country, such as the Nigerian Stock Exchange – most compliant quoted company, which it has won about 3 times. And more recently, Nigeria’s most respected company award (2005) – an independent study carried out by the Businessday newspaper and Pricewatercoopers Nigeria.
• We are a conservative company, that rules by corporate governance and we refuse to be part of the “worm of corruption”.

Some of the espoused cultural norms above are communicated through company reports and brochures (artifacts), but more through presentations, lectures and memos to employees and other stakeholders.

Culture-in-practice

The alignment between espoused culture and culture-in-practice in CN is wrought with a lot of falsehood. This is so for the following reasons (matched to the espoused culture detailed above):

• Transparency International’s recent rating of Nigeria as the 6th most corrupt country in the world, leaves the reader with no doubt as to the pathetic situation of business ethics in this climate. Cadbury Nigeria, despite its status as a private concern (most corruption malpractices are recorded in the government sector – e.g. civil service.) is one that is not immune to the prevailing national culture of - grab all you can, while you have the opportunity. 5 of the company’s seven executive directors have been directors for at least 14 years. This has turned them into tin gods who give directives and expect they are followed to the letter. In essence, a high power distance is prevalent.
• CN may have a low staff turnover, but this is not due to high levels of motivation as espoused by its management. Rather, this can be attributed to the economic climate in the African sub region, with scarce jobs and unemployment; employees are content with receiving regular salaries in spite of unfavorable working conditions. E.g. staff in production typically work 7 days a week, as a result of the company’s production orientation. This is demotivating, yet few employees resign.
• Rather that rely on market research, CN operates a volume-driven manufacturing strategy. The company incurs a lot of costs with the destruction of expired goods each year (due to excess production). This differs from the espoused belief that our products are always in high demand.
• CN may ride on the fact that it is a global business, but the observed differences between the cultures of multinational companies in various cultures, makes its claim to be closely modeled on the Cadbury Schweppes somewhat unrealistic.
• The company’s external image – also referred to as the perceived culture (2) is one which is espoused as excellent, however in reality, the company is not as highly rated as it claims. Before the new open office plan was adopted in January this year, visitors to CN’s head office were often disappointed with the run down facilities. It took the management 4 years to finally refurbish the building.

In the next section, we shall see how CN’s HRM practices have helped in shaping the (actual) culture.

How espoused, actual culture fuel employee morale

A description of CN’s HRM practices in relation to the culture-in-practice 

Major HRM practices are:

These have been selected, as they are the core activities at the heart of HRM in CN.

Main HRM practices that shape organizational culture in CN

1. R&S: The methods are in figure (ii) above. Right from this stage, prospective employees are exposed to the culture-in-practice (also referred to as actual culture). In some cases, employees have been disappointed at the quality of recruitment methods. Several complaints from employees about unfulfilled promises made during selection interviews e.g. official cars, which didn’t materialize after employment. This has created an environment of suspicion and mistrust amongst staff. Sadly, the HR function is not taken seriously in CN. In addition bureaucratic controls in medical tests – which is compulsory prior to employment – often leaves employees exhausted.

2. T&D: In Nigeria, the industrial training fund (ITF) was established to encourage training in businesses. Hence a large percentage of training expenditure is refunded to companies. Despite this, CN refuses to tap into this opportunity, by providing relevant professional training. Rather, the policy in place is that bosses must approve training for employees based on TNAs carried out during appraisal sessions. In a culture, where politics plays a major role in relationships, this leads to inequity and demotivation.

3. R&C: Despite espousing PRP, in practice pay is based on what your boss thinks of you. This is largely due to the functional organizational structure in place. Line managers simply have too much power, and your career is virtually in the hands of your boss. Most manager conform to theory x, believing it is their sole duty to motivate and provide direction to subordinates. What then is HRM for?

4. Conflict Resolution: This is meant connoted in 2 threads. First, the management of tension between trade unions (in this case the food, beverage union) and the employer (CN). Second, the way squabbles; problems and disputes are handled amongst employees. HR should provide the basis for conflict resolutions. Some firms have Industrial relations advisors for such roles. But it appears that culture plays a part even in such issues. E.g. An employee sent a death threat to a manager, and the policy is to dismiss such an employee. However, he was let alone, because the manager begged HR not to dismiss him, for fear that it may boomerang. Why didn’t HR act in line with laid down procedures. Definitely practices such as this send wrong signals. With the result that, many staff bottle up their pressures, knowing that HR is ineffective in this regard.

Espoused Culture Vs Culture-in-practice: Drawbacks 

Indeed wide variations exist between the cultures. (3)

1. Integrity: During employee “town hall” meetings, staff are encouraged to speak their minds about issues, which have a negative impact on their work. However, despites managements constant integrity song, staff are actually castigated by others for opening up cans of worms. Company directors with hold finance for legitimate business purposes, but are known to quickly change their official cars and indulge in other expensive company pecks. In its 2003 annual report, it reported the adoption of a 360-degree feedback mechanism, but this was only adopted in October 2005!
2. The diversity of the national culture as outlined earlier, is certainly not harnessed to the company’s advantage. What this has resulted in, is the upward progress of averagely performing staff simply because he/she is from the dominant tribe. This is in violation of the espoused “fair career management practices”. The fact that 85% of the workforce is from one ethnic group implies that the company is really not getting the best in terms of a varied selection of talent.
3. Reality Shock (4): Most employees high expectations of working for CN are dashed when faced with the reality of what is on ground. The shock is a killjoy that dampens high spirits and has led to staff resigning almost immediately.
5. Despite the espousal of employee involvement schemes, several company initiatives are launched without recourse to employees’ suggestions.

One interesting thing is that despite the above differences, some of the subcultures in CN display strong cohesive features. The sales department for example, is a team that is admired by other teams, for the fact that it is seen as a place to work hard and have fun. More importantly, the power distance level is low, unlike what obtains in the larger company. In addition, the team head is seen as a boss who is there for his people, hence he commands a lot of commitment and high performance from subordinates.

Despite the success of this team, there are some elements of groupthink in its’ operations, such as the recent resistance to the deployment of a new sales software. Indeed, culture is too complex to fully comprehend.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Recently, Cadbury Schweppes launched a global change program. Entitled Sharpening the culture, it aims to identify lapses in the espoused and actual cultures of its’ operating companies. However, it appears that CN does not realise the value of effective change management. HR does not also know that it is the primary cultural change agent in the company.

Obviously, CN is still in the early growth stage (5)

If cultural change is to have any meaningful impact, CN must:

• Involve employees in the formulation of what requires change and how this is to be achieved. In other words, involve employees in business strategy in order to set the basis for a win-win agreement. This important aspect is often overlooked.
• Communicate effectively i.e. ensure that all stakeholders fully understand the implication of change initiatives. The success of this lies mainly in the use of multiple sources of communication eg. E-mail, company publications, presentations, speeches etc.
• Practice transformational leadership by example, where leaders practice espoused beliefs rather than communicate alone.
• Get the unfreezing strategy right, before moving to the actual change phase and do not move till it is done.
• Realise that organisational development is key to sustaining change and achieving its’ full benefits.
• The retraining of HR staff in modern HRM techniques and methodologies will equip the company with competent change agents.

Finally, CN’s management should realise that change is the only phenomenon that will provide the impetus for a sustainable competitive advantage. If it wants to remain in business, it must embrace change whole-heartedly.