Exposition on Organizational Culture in Bangladesh: study on

Royal Homes Limited

Prepared By
Syed Maksum Zabid Senior Officer Royal Homes Limited e-mail: zabid@royalhmesltd.com website: www.royalhomesltd.com

Date: 7th March 2012

Acknowledgement

First of all, I express best gratitude to almighty Allah for completing this assignment successfully. The report titled as Organizational Culture in Bangladesh: study on Royal Homes Limited a short exposition has been prepared to establish an example of corporate culture in Bangladesh In this exposition, I attempted to focus on the organizational culture of Royal Homes Limited, a leading real estate company in the eastern part of Bangladesh. I also wish to express my gratitude to all of my colleagues at Royal Homes Limited (www.royalhomesltd.com) for rendering me cooperation to complete my assignment successfully. Thanking you. Syed Maksum Zabid

Executive Summery
While organizational culture is the term that reflects culture in any type of organization be it school, university, not-for-profit groups, government agencies or business entity, more concrete

business terms are corporate culture and company culture or company's culture In this exposition, I look first at the importance of the business context such as why the organizational culture contributes to the bottom line. Secondly, culture is clearly a complex subject and one we will need to explore in some detail. It refers to the totality of knowledge in an organization or society. Thirdly, we need how cultures affect organizational growth. Moreover, I tried to focus on a real estate company, namely Royal Homes Limited to establish example of good organizational culture.

Introduction
Organizational culture has been one of the most enduring buzzwords of popular management. Organizational culture is apparently unifying and this strongly appeals to managements concern
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with projecting an image of the organization as a community of interests. Perhaps most importantly culture penetrates to the essence of an organization it almost analogous with the concept of personality in relation to the individual and this acute sense of what an organization is its mission, core values seems to have become a necessary asset of the modern company. There is the upset question of whether or not organizational culture can be managed. Academics interested in understanding and analyzing culture tend to say no. While there may be no definitive answer to the question, the critical and the managerial sides of the debate and inform and renew each other so it remains important to explore both.

Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is the collective behavior of people that are part of an organization, it is also formed by the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, and symbols, and it includes beliefs and habits. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders.

Organizational Cultures in Bangladesh

"Its the way we do things out here". This was the easiest to understand definition of organizational culture. It essentially implies that there is nothing right or wrong about corporate culture, different countries have adopted different corporate cultures according to the local values, customs, language, religion etc. Discussing corporate culture in the context of Bangladesh could be a very interesting issue, but the scope would be very broad. I thought to focus on a very small aspect of it the way in which we call each other at Bangladesh corporate sector. Bhai and Apu are the most widely practiced caller ID in our work places. Calling the boss as Sir/Madam still exists in a few organizations. Especially government offices still fondly harness the hierarchical call protocol. On the other hand, in the private sector corporate, where the substantial number of worker-base is fed by private universities, Bhaiya-Apu call culture is widely popular and practiced. Having completed three levels of education and work experience in

three different countries, I have come across quite varied work place cultures, allowing me to witness different vibes at different locations. Different context and country require different culture as long as the job is done effectively and efficiently, culture is not a barrier.

How Organizational Culture Affects Organizational Growth

There can be both strong culture and weak culture where the affects are respectively positive and negative. Strong culture is said to exist where staff respond to stimulus because of their alignment to organizational values. In such environments, strong cultures help firms operate like well-oiled machines, cruising along with outstanding execution and perhaps minor tweaking of existing procedures here and there. Conversely, there is weak culture where there is little alignment with organizational values and control must be exercised through extensive procedures and bureaucracy. It is observed that, organizations that foster strong cultures have clear values that give employees a reason to embrace the culture. A "strong" culture may be especially beneficial to firms operating in the service sector since members of these organizations are responsible for delivering the service and for evaluations important constituents make about firms. It is also observed that organizations may derive the following benefits from developing strong and productive cultures: Better aligning the company towards achieving its vision, mission, and goals High employee motivation and loyalty Increased team cohesiveness among the company' various departments and divisions Promoting consistency and encouraging coordination and control within the company Shaping employee behavior at work, enabling the organization to be more efficient

Innovative organizations need individuals who are prepared to challenge the status quo, groupthink or bureaucracy, and need procedures to implement new ideas effectively.

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An Example of Organizational Culture in Bangladesh: study on Royal Homes Limited

Royal Homes Limited (RHL) is brand that has set a benchmark in the real estate industry through its quality, professional management and commitment to the customer satisfaction. Royal Homes Limited is one of the leading real estate companies in Bangladesh. They believe that it is the organizational strength that has enabled RHL to achieve market leadership.

Organizational Cultures in Royal Homes Limited

Royal Homes Limited always keeps an eye on organizational culture in order to increase productivity, growth, efficiency and, reduce counterproductive behavior and turnover of employees. Some characteristics of RHL are given below has been observed: Acceptance and appreciation for new ideas from employees. Regard for and fair treatment of each employee as well as respect for each employees contribution to the company. Employee pride and enthusiasm for the organization and the work performed. Equal opportunity for each employee to realize their full potential within the company. Smart communication with all employees regarding policies and company issues. Company leaders with a good sense of direction and purpose. Ability to compete in industry innovation and customer service, as well as quality. Low turnover rates. Investment in learning, training, and employee knowledge.

Moreover, performance oriented cultures have been shown to possess statistically better financial growth. Such cultures possess high employee involvement, strong internal communications and an acceptance and encouragement of a healthy level of risk-taking in order to achieve innovation.

Organizational Structure of RHL

Figure: Organizational Structure of Royal Homes Limited.

First Impression about Royal Homes Limited

Royal Homes Limited is fantastic in first impression for the customers and visitors at the office that also represents their professionalism, smartness and gorgeousness. When a person comes to RHL office and talk to any one of its employees he or she may get a good example of sound organizational culture by observing everything and become satisfied with their service. Such as:
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Office Decoration: Very few offices are decorated so nicely in Sylhet city and RHL is one of them. Employees Outlook: All the employees are capable to talk both in Bengali and English language fluently as the clients are both Bangladeshis and NRBs (Non Residence Bangladeshis). Every employee is dressed formally as it is mandatory in the companys code of conduct. They keep their mobile in silent mode inside the office. They only receive official phone calls and give customers quicker and better service face-to-face and also over the phone. Holidays: Only Fridays are weekly off day and other government holidays are also off day in RHL. They can take 26 days extra holidays every year. Compensation: Career with RHL can be a great opportunity as they offer a handsome amount of starting salary as well as performance based increments and promotions every year. Employees perform better, and there is a win-win situation between the employees and employer. Communication: They communicate with each other in a friendly but professional way. There is no hierarchical strictness or bureaucratic problem. So customers can get faster, further and deeper service. The supervisor and supervisee relationship is more likely than friends or mentor disciple. No Late in Attending Office: They do no late to arrive at office as wages of half day from monthly salary will be cut if they are 10 minutes late in any 3 days of the month. Actually, they come early as Sylhet is still a bit free from traffic jam unlike Dhaka. Lunch Time: Every employee get 30 minutes break between 1.30pm to 3pm as lunch break. RHL is also flexible to give extra time for the employees who do pray in the prayer room at the office. In short, I observed that their organizational culture is very flexible, free and friendly, but they are really professional. The combination of all these ensure better output of Royal Homes Limited.

Findings
The findings of my study are given below: Healthy organizational culture is very much essential for all including country, company, employees, customers etc. Weak organizational cultures may affect national growth directly or indirectly. For example, a customer may get bad service when he or she is in need of quicker and better service. Organizational cultures in private organizations are better, smarter and suitable for corporations than public organizations in Bangladesh. Impact of organizational culture is mostly in service oriented organizations.

Recommendations
At the ending part of the assignment, I would like to recommend some points below: Organizations should make its culture healthy and therefore, it should hire employees carefully and provide them proper training. There should be sound organizational culture for better output in every organization especially in service organizations like Banks, Real Estate Companies, Brokerage House etc.

Conclusion
Bangladesh is a country of possibilities and future progress. So it should maintain the trend of the corporate culture to maintain the healthy working environment. These help an organization to higher its productivity and strengthen the countrys economic and social structure. Despite all due diligence, commitment, and application, the culture may not change or it may not change in the intended direction, or even in an appropriate direction. It is an expensive and long process without guaranteed results. So In case of Bangladesh, the corporate culture the country is practicing now;
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the trend of this should be continued till the visions of the corporations are not yet achieved.

References
Organizational Behavior Stephen P. Robbins (Ninth Edition) Office observation, and their official website www.royalhomesltd.com & portals Others Internet Search. Face-to-face oral discussion with all of my colleagues at Royal Homes Limited. Emailinfo@royalhomesltd.com