The impact of organizational
culture on the success of the
company
--The case of Alibaba company
Bachelor Thesis
Author: Wang Tianyi
Supervisor: Shqipe Gashi Nulleshi
Examiner: Viktorija Kalonatyte
Term: VT20
Subject: Entrepreneurship
Level: Level 1
Abstract
This thesis describes the influences of organizational culture on the success of Alibaba company. In this thesis the influence of organizational culture on the success of Alibaba is explored from 4 aspects. These four aspects include: a) the definition of organizational culture, b) the characteristics of organizational culture, c) the effect of organizational culture on employees, d) the organizational culture model. This thesis uses the case study and interview to explore the relationship between the organizational culture and the success of Alibaba company. The result of the thesis is basic on the answer to the interview from the employees of Alibaba company. The author found that the reason of Alibaba becoming a successful company is its' established organizational culture based on the value of all employees. All the employees believe and trust the organizational culture and they use organizational culture to demand oneself whatever in the company or life. The organizational culture pushes the company and employees' development and growth, which is the main reason for Alibaba company to be a success.
Key words
Acknowledgments
I would like to appreciate to several individuals who have contributed greatly to the creation of this bachelor’s thesis.
Firstly, we would like to thank our supervisor, Shqipe Gashi Nulleshi and Professor Viktorija Kalonaityte, for their generous support and advice throughout the entire research process.
Table of contents
1 Introduction 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Problem Description 2
1.3 Research Question 3
1.4 Purpose and Delimitation 3
2. Methodology: 5 2.1 Research Approach 5 2.2 Research Strategy 6 2.3 Research Design 6 2.4 Data Collection 7 2.4.1 Secondary Data 7 2.4.2 Semi-structured interview 8 2.4.3 Case study 8 2.5 Data Analysis 9 2.5.1 Research Ethics 9 2.5.2 GDPR 9 2.5.3 Coding 10 3. Literature Review 11 3.1 Organizational culture 11
3.1.2 Characteristics of Organizational Culture 12
3.1.3 The Effect of Organizational Culture on Employees 15
3.1.4 The organizational culture Models 16
3.2 Company Background 19
4. Empirical Finding 21
4.1 Empirical Finding 21
4.1.1 Case Study of Alibaba 21
4.1.2Interview 22
5. Analysis 34
5.1 The organizational culture 34
5.2 The characteristic of organizational culture 35
5.3 The Effect of Organizational Culture on Employees 39
5.4 The organizational model 40
6. Conclusion and Contribution 44
6.1 The answer to the research question 46
6.2 Contributions summary 46
6.3 Implication for future research 47
Reference: 48
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1 Introduction
This chapter is an explanation of the introduction to the chosen subject. The background connects with problem description and purpose of the research, which is based on the exploration with a simple literature review. This part also brings up practical delimitation and explanation of the structure of the thesis.
1.1 Background
During recent decades, the digital economy has rapidly grown all over the world. Due to the fast development of the Internet and the mobile infrastructure, several “young” firms quickly became national market leaders and have moved into international markets (China Daily, 2016). As a leader in e-commerce companies, its success cannot be ignored.
Electronic commerce (e-commerce) refers to economic activity that occurs online. The types of e-commerce are including retail shopping, banking, investing and rentals. Under this business model, the internet because one of the most important uses in the world of commerce （Molla and Licker, 2001）. And with the development of the internet, more and more people or companies choose e-commerce to develop their business （Riggins and Rhee， 1996）.
Chinese e-commerce website Alibaba has had a transformative effect on the lives of many of its users. It matches buyers with sellers in the same way as eBay, has grown into an internet behemoth (Sullivan, 2016). Alibaba was founded in 1999 by Jack Ma and now it already became the largest e-commerce company all over the world. According to Pavie (2016), Retail News Asia (2016) and Sun (2015), one of the main reasons for Alibaba to be a successful company which is Alibaba has a strong organizational culture to lead the company and all of employees’ continuous development and breakthrough.
2(52) Alibaba, all the staff is treated equally and be seen as the family members in the Alibaba family (Liu, 2018). All of them have the right to express their opinions even they are working at a different level. The reason of why Alibaba can develop fast is this company can open to diverse criticisms and good advice from their employees.
In this organizational culture, the creativity and innovation ability of Alibaba employees are also outstanding. As China's largest e-commerce platform, Alibaba has advanced technology and rich sense of innovation, which is also produced under the influence of its strong organizational culture.
1.2 Problem Description
In an increasingly competitive global market, organizational culture plays an important role in maintaining the core competitiveness of business development (O'Reilly＆ Chatman，1996； Schein，1985). Organizational culture is the foundation of the company’s core competitiveness, which forms and accumulates in the long-term development of the company (Chatman & Jehn，1994). The organizational culture also plays a role in sharing values and regulating employee behavior in the process of enterprise development (O'Reilly ＆ Chatman ， 1996 ； Schein ， 1985). A good company needs to work with a strong organizational culture (Wang, 2010), a strong culture is a common denominator among the most successful companies.
Organizational culture is not just a set of beliefs; it is comprised of values, patterns of behavior, and accounts and narratives that reinforce those values (Nelson, 2013). The leader of the company communicated and reinforced organizational culture through various methods in order to shape and lead employees' perceptions, behaviors and understanding (Ashworth, 2015). It means that a good organizational culture which can motivate employees to coordinate their behavior towards a vision and specific performance goals because the members of the organization agree upon and care seriously about the same organizational values.
3(52) which can influence the company to be successful (DeMers, 2015; Upadhaya et al., 2018). This implies that in different companies the organizational culture is different when the leader develops their business.
However, in China, the concept of establishing an organizational culture is sometimes overlooked by companies, but many large companies have a strong and comprehensive corporate culture (Upadhaya et al., 2018). Organizational culture is an important factor for company's development and success, and it lays the foundation for the company's values and mission (Alvesson, 2002). The difficulty for most Chinese companies is they try to copy the contents of the book and cannot establish their own organizational culture (Wang, 2010). Therefore, there is limited research to explore organizational culture in the Chinese company and how the organizational culture influences business success in China.
As the economy continues to develop, Chinese companies are gradually becoming successful through continuous learning. Establishing an organizational culture suitable for the development of the company has gradually become a goal that Chinese entrepreneurs’ value (Wang. 2010). As a company representative with excellent organizational culture, Alibaba's development and success are inseparable from its own organizational culture (Qiao, 2019; Wang, 2010). Therefore, the author wants to take the Alibaba business model as an example to explore the reason for how organizational culture influences business success.
1.3 Research Question
RQ: How organizational culture influences the overall performance of the company?
1.4 Purpose and Delimitation
4(52) explore how the organizational culture is an important factor to influence the overall performance of the company
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2. Methodology:
In this chapter the methodological approach will be discussed, methods and techniques applied in this study, and the data gathered are explained below in detail.
2.1 Research Approach
There are three different types of research approaches: deductive, inductive and abductive approach (Bryman & Bell, 2015). The deductive approach is an approach which is based on the existing theory, develop hypothesis and design research strategy and guide the process of collecting data to test the hypothesis (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2016). This type of research approach usually connects with the quantitative study, the numerical data is collected and analyzed for accepting or previously stated hypotheses related to an existing theory. Babbie (2010) put forward that If a causal relationship or link is implied by a specific theory or case, then it may turn in some situations. A deductive design may test whether a more extensive case of a relationship or a link can be obtained. And deductive research can be quicker to complete, albeit that time must be devoted to setting up the study prior to data collection and analysis (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2016).
Inductive approach is also known in induction reasoning. It starts from collecting data to explore a phenomenon and generate or build theory (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2016). The step of inductive approach is “involves the search for pattern from observation and the development of explanations – theories – for those patterns through series of hypotheses” (Bryman and Bell, 2011). It is important to emphasize that inductive methods do not imply that the theory is ignored in the development of research questions and objectives. This is the case, the method aims to generate meaning from the collected data to identify patterns and relationships to establish the theory; however, induction does not prevent researchers from using existing theories to develop research topics (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2016).
6(52) strategy to test the theory. The author decides to use the inductive approach in this thesis to construct the relationship between theory and research. The motivation for choosing the inductive approach is to explore a phenomenon based on existing theories examine perspectives using qualitative data.
2.2 Research Strategy
There are two types of research methods which are qualitative and quantitative. According to Bryman and Bell (2011), qualitative research is common in social and behavioral sciences. They can help researchers to understand human behavior and functions. It is more subjective because it does not use numerically analyze to involves information. That means it connects with the reality is relative to location time, culture, situation and value of a society. The purpose of the qualitative research is to understand the human nature and behavior; for example- social sciences.
Quantitative research is using gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people. It is more objective and scientific than qualitative data because the quantitative research involves the implication can be researched through be quantified and measured (Bryman and Bell, 2011). Where Bryman and Bell (2011) described that quantitative research is basic on the number and it can be expressed by some numerical value.
In this thesis, the author chose qualitative method because the qualitative method is more useful to explore the research question through previous studies, experience, meaning, and perspective (Bryman & Bell, 2015), it uses the ‘factual’ data to help the author find the result, these data are usually not amenable to counting or measuring. In this research, the author will use semi-structured interviews to seek views on a focused topic to collect data, thus collect background information of the target group.
2.3 Research Design
7(52) study and interviews to collect data and information, whereas, the quantitative research is devoted to the hypotheses testing and measuring through statistical data (Hair Jr, et al., 2015).
In this study, the influences of organizational culture on the success of Alibaba company is explored through the literature review, case study and interviews. Therefore, the qualitative research design is adopted.
2.4 Data Collection
2.4.1 Secondary Data
8(52) 2.4.2 Semi-structured interview
The semi-structured interview is a qualitative interview. The interviewer may prepare a list of questions but does not necessarily ask them all, or touch on them in any particular order, using them instead to guide the conversation (Bryman and Bell, 2011). The semi-structured interview allows for the objective comparison of candidates, while also providing an opportunity to spontaneously explore topics relevant to that particular candidate (Bryman and Bell, 2011). And it gives an opportunity for the interviewer to probe into the topic for a deeper understanding (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
The author conducted semi-structured interviews with several employees who work in Alibaba company at the (XXXX department) and in some way directly or indirectly contribute to how the organizational culture affects their company development. The interviews brought forward the status quo of the organizational culture from the employees' perspective. Individuals interviewed are employees from the same department in Alibaba company. The interviews were to collect as much information as possible on the topic that may have been overlooked by the stakeholders and the author. Therefore, the interview questions are designed based on the literature review. (See the interview questions in Appendix)
2.4.3 Case study
The case study is a researcher based on a single case to detailed and intensive analysis (Bryman and Bell, 2011). The case study research is concerned with the complexity and particular nature of the case in question (Stake, 1995). The case study approach is a popular and widely research design in qualitative research (Eisenhardt and Graebner 2007), and it usually was used in some business and management research. The case can be a single organization, a single location, a person or a single event (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
9(52) organizational culture help Alibaba to be successful. The case is the existing story, the author will analyze the case with theories of organizational culture and connect the case and interview to get the result of the research question.
2.5 Data Analysis
2.5.1 Research Ethics
The thesis circles around the effect of the organizational culture on creativity and innovation. This would mean that during data gathering, the research methods would be carried out mostly with the interview and prior research. During the collection and analysis data, the ethical concerns need attention. There are four main areas of ethical perspective, they are (1) Whether there is harm to participants, (2) Whether there is lack of informed consent, (3) Whether there is the invasion of privacy and (4) Whether deception is involved. These principles are more relevant for a qualitative research strategy (Bryman and Bell, 2011).
In qualitative research, the ethical issue cannot be ignored, it also brings in the role of business and management research studies. The ethical perspective influences the qualitative research whether to possess the integrity of the research. The author ensures that the privacy of all interviewees will not be violated.
2.5.2 GDPR
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a Data Protection Ordinance use in all EU countries since 25 May 2018. The ordinance asks all process of personal data must follow the fundamental principles described in the Data Protection Ordinance and processing the personal data must have a justified cause and followed the time limitate to guarantee the data security.
10(52) compilation, and deletion. The person who decides the purpose and the measures for the processing of personal data has the responsibility to protect data and follow GDRP. In order to legally use data, the author will follow five rules to process data, 1) the data should be processed in a legal, correct and open way to use; 2) guarantee stated and justified purposes to collecting data; 3) the data should be adequate and consider the limitation of data; 4) the data should be correct and if necessary updated; 5) during the data processing, which needs guarantees adequate protection of personal data.
During this research, the author will follow the GDRP to collect data and processing data. This thesis will collect data by interview, the author will require the interviewees’ consent. And for personal data, all the data collection has used the research of how to develop creativity and innovation from mangers' perspectives. All the data will be registers in Linnaeus University, the other people who want to use this data need to required consent of the data owner.
2.5.3 Coding
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3. Literature Review
In the following chapter, a literature discussion will be presented regarding the organizational culture. Particularly, the definition of organizational culture, the characteristic of organizational culture, the effect of organizational culture on the employees and the organizational culture model. These four aspects in this chapter are based on the prior literature review.
3.1 Organizational culture
3.1.1 The Definition of Organizational Culture
12(52) Organizational culture has been an important theme in the business and management literature for some two decades. One reason for this is that organizational culture has consistently been seen as having the potential to affect a range of organizationally and individually desired outcomes. Ritchie (2000) notes that, from the time of the earliest writers on organizational culture (Deal and Kennedy, 1982, and Ouchi, 1981), “it has been suggested that organizational culture affects such outcomes as productivity, performance, commitment, self-confidence, and ethical behavior”. Similarly, more recent writers have repeated the assumption that “organizational culture impacts significantly on an organization, its employees’ behavior and motivations and, ultimately, that organization’s financial performance” (Holmes and Marsden, 1996). The organizational culture is the key to a successful organization, which basic on a strongly held and widely shared set of beliefs that are supported by strategy and structure (SHRM, 2020; Kohll, 2020; Deloitte, 2018), when the organization has a strong culture, there are three things will happen: first, employees will be followed the same way to solve the question with the top management; second, employees will trust the expected response is the proper one; third, employees will understand their organization's values can bring the rewarded.
3.1.2 Characteristics of Organizational Culture
13(52) Innovation (Risk Orientation): companies with the organizational culture what place a high value on innovation, they encourage their employees to take risk and innovation in the performance of their working process. Courses.com (2020) shows that companies with the innovation culture are more flexible and adaptable and they are easier to experiment with new ideas. And due to the high value is placed on new product innovation, it is the foundation for winning in the marketplace (James, 2018; Chang and Lu, 2007).
Attention to Detail (Precision Orientation): this characteristic of organizational culture dictates the degree to which employees are expected to be accurate in their work. The company with an organizational culture that places a high value on attention to detail, which expects its employees to perform their work with precision (Courses.com, 2020; James, 2018). This characteristic emphasis on measures, performance, and accuracy indicates there is a high value on attention to detail (Chang and Lu, 2007; Arad, Hanson, and Schneider, 1997).
14(52) 1990). This characteristic holds employees and managers have responsibility for success, and under the situation, the company rewards tied to performance indicators as opposed to seniority or loyalty. Research indicates that organizations that have a performance-oriented culture tend to outperform companies that are lacking such a culture (James, 2018; Chang and Lu, 2007; Arad, Hanson, and Schneider, 1997). Emphasis on People (Fairness Orientation): this characteristic emphasizes treat employees with respect and dignity in the company, which means organizational culture values fairness, supportiveness, and respect for individual rights (James, 2018). The company with organizational culture has a greater emphasis on and expectation of treating employees with respect and dignity.
Teamwork (Collaboration Orientation): the embody of this characteristic on the company with a positive relationship with their coworkers and managers (Chang and Lu, 2007; Arad, Hanson, and Schneider, 1997; Schein, 1990). The company with this characteristic of organizational culture emphasizes cooperation among employees. In the company, there is a systematic training to facilitates a good relationship during the teamwork to tend more positive relationships with their coworkers and particularly with their managers.
Aggressiveness (Competitive Orientation): This characteristic of organizational culture dictates whether group members are expected to be assertive or easygoing when dealing with companies they compete within the marketplace (James, 2018; Schein, 1990). Companies with an aggressive culture place a high value on competitiveness and outperforming the competition at all costs (iEduNote, 2017; BizEdu, 2017).
15(52) 3.1.3 The Effect of Organizational Culture on Employees
According to DeMers (2015), organizational culture is heralded as one of the most important factors for a business’s long-term success. The first job of building organizational culture is to establish a clear set of priorities that align with the company’s overall goals because, for large companies, the purpose of the company also suited to their employee and the company expected to do all the “right” they can at their respective levels (DeMers, 2015; Hatch and Schultz, 1997; Yücel, Karataş and Aydın, 2013).
This process of the organizational cultural transmission work on both a top-down and bottom-up level, which means employees through organizational culture keep the core mission at heart and follow during their working life to achieve that help company to stay on with its identity and purpose (DeMers, 2015; Hatch and Schultz, 1997; Schein, 1990). Therefore, a company with a strong organizational culture that may able to encourage their employees to keep the mission at heart.
A good organizational culture also can help companies attracting new talent to join (DeMers, 2015; Yücel, Karataş and Aydın, 2013). Every organization needs enough talent to stay afloat and development, even the long-established companies, attracting talent also is the challenge for their development (Schein, 1990). Therefore, organizational culture plays an important role when the company wants to hire professional recruiters or headhunt at professional networking events (DeMers, 2015; Hatch and Schultz, 1997). The reason is the talent want to choose a company where worth them to embody their values. People tend to choose the company with the organizational culture which meshes well with their personalities, rather than only focus on the higher salary. And the company also will choose talent who can suit with the organizational culture (Yücel, Karataş and Aydın, 2013).
16(52) However, a strong organizational culture is key to help the company keeps its employees. According to DeMers (2015), employee retention and organizational culture have a kind of self-sustaining relationship. The stronger organizational culture is, the less likely employees are to leave. Similarly, the more employees stick around, the stronger organizational culture will become (Schein, 1990). Therefore, it is important to find a good organizational culture which fit for employees and develop company with happy and consistent employees.
The roles of organizational culture are not only giving people an ideal cultural environment for preventing them from quitting but also help employees feel truly invested in their job (DeMers, 2015). For the employees, a good organizational culture which can make them feel that the office is an extension of their home and will feel both excited and passionate about the work they’re doing (iEduNote, 2017; McLaughlin, 2020; Embee, 2019). A good cultural environment can make employees get more passion, which means the product, creativity and innovation will increase. In a way, an organizational culture is a tool that keeps employees feel happy and motivation during their working life, which helps the company has more opportunities to push new boundaries and tread new ground (DeMers, 2015; iEduNote, 2017; McLaughlin, 2020; Embee, 2019).
The organizational culture also providing employees a sense of identity with the organization (Embee, 2019). In the organization, the organizational culture is different, the culture of every organization is unique, being the part of the organization gives employees a sense of identity that is shared only by the people who belong to that organization (iEduNote, 2017; McLaughlin, 2020). According to Embee (2019), the organizational culture also cultivates a sense of belonging and commitment towards the corporation and develops a sense of unity in the workplace.
3.1.4 The organizational culture Models
17(52) 1999). He mentions two functions of organizational culture. The first is to create a community among the employees and create a plan atmosphere in the daily work and the second is to adapt the organization to the external surroundings to survive and grow (Schein, 1999).
Schein (1999) explains that, in shines understanding of culture, there is no difference between talking about an organization or group culture occurs between a larger or a smaller group of people who have something in common, whether it can be called that an organization or a group does not matter in this context.
The way the members of the organization act concerning values, norms and terms define the culture of the organization (Schein, 1999), culture is just a way of explaining the organization's being.
Schein offers the following definition of organizational culture, a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the organization learned, as it solved its problems of external adaption and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid (Sechein,1999). And therefore, to be taught to new members of the organization as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems.
18(52) At the upper level, which has artifacts and behaviors. Artifacts are the first thing people see when they visit a company for the first time, both from the outside and internal enter the company (Schein, 1999). It can be the company's buildings and facade, the logo, the way employees dress, the interior design, such as furniture, selection and deck all the art on the walls, the reception desk and the way the front staff perceives you. This physical evidence is an essential part of the artifacts, but also the way the employees talk to each other, as well as how they speak to customers or employees, in person and on the phone are part of the artifacts. The artifacts provide an insight into how the organization wants to appear at first sight, and how it appears to the public (Schein, 1999). The interpretation of artifacts is subjective, and we look at them from our point of view (Schein, 1999), people relate them to the world of life and associated values.
At the next level, we have espoused values. They are the organization's stated values and norms and purpose sent the form of rules under which the organization works (Shein, 1999), the management of the company determines the values and form of the framework for the work. These values include, for instance, the company's website, the organizational structure, annual reports, brochures and other written materials. The espoused values are fast the expressed publicly announced principles and values that the members of the organization claim to live by (Shein, 1999).
Visibl Espoused Values
19(52) At the bottom level, we have the basic assumptions of the company. This level represents the core of the organization. If a basic assumption is firmly rooted in group members will perceive any behavior based on any other basis as incomprehensible (Schein, 1999). Basic assumptions are routines and norms in everyday life, that it neither be challenged nor debated and are therefore extremely difficult to change. This is where culture has real power and there is a correlation between the three levels (Schein, 1999). Therefore, when analyzing a given culture, it is essential to compare the expressed values with the basic assumptions. Organizational culture can be considered as an important tool for the managers, leaders can consciously influence the culture in the design direction.
3.2 Company Background
Alibaba is the most famous Chinese e-commerce company, based on its common mission, vision and value system, Alibaba company and its subsidiaries have established a strong organizational culture as the cornerstone of their business (Wang, 2010; Hai, 2009; Liu, 2018). Alibaba's business success and rapid growth depend on its respect for entrepreneurship and innovation, and consistent attention and satisfaction of customer needs (Alibaba, 2008). According to the codes of conduct of employees of Alibaba (2017), when new employees join the Alibaba company, they need to participate in comprehensive induction training and team building courses at the Hangzhou headquarters. The course focuses on the company's mission, vision and values, and Alibaba will re-emphasize these contents in regular training, team building training and company activities (Alibaba, 2008). No matter what stage the company grows to, this strong common value allows Alibaba to maintain a consistent corporate culture.
20(52) opportunities, and then adjust their strategies to expand their business (Hai, 2009; Alibaba, 2008; Liu, 2018). At the same time, Alibaba hopes to become the company with the highest employee happiness index and become a "live 102 years" company, spanning three centuries (Alibaba was established in 1999).
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4.
Empirical Finding
In this chapter, the empirical finding will be presented by case study and semi-structured interviews. This chapter is divided into four parts, which are based on the prior literature review.
4.1 Empirical Finding
4.1.1 Case Study of Alibaba
Although many companies realize the importance of cultural construction and spend a lot of energy to produce slogans to organize team-building activities, and promote corporate values, it still has many people think organizational culture is nothing more than a brainwashing tool or a formality (Wang, 2010). However, Alibaba has managed to root culture in the blood of every employee. What did Alibaba do right?
22(52) difficult times, to fear hardship, to thank customers, and to thank their families for their contributions to the company and employees.
As Jack Ma said (2005), the festival is to make an ordinary day sparkle and let the small kind of goodwill come together. Through the design on "Ali Day", the organizational culture of Alibaba was promoted (Wang, 2010). “Ali Day” wants to tell all of the employees of Alibaba is: 1. When faced with a crisis, the team will be united and go up against the current; 2. Advocate a value and keep in mind customer service, which was refined as the customer first in 2004; 3. Advocate for a grateful heart to thanks the families of employees for the support and assistance of the work. It is not only a fixed ceremony and festival, but also a psychological contract spread to a wider range (Ali employees' family members and customers).
General organizational culture take place internally, while “Ali Day” spreads to a larger area. Alibaba also made the company's humanity more specific. Every year on Ali Day, group weddings are also the most popular and attractive events. Last year, Jack Ma not only witnessed the marriage, Alibaba also held a grand collective wedding for these newlyweds and provided Chinese custom-made dresses and arranged a wedding room for them. Many Alibaba employees who have participated in the group wedding will register as volunteers for the next group wedding, hoping to pass on the warmth and heart to more employees.
“Ali Day” is not just a Memorial Day; it has now evolved into an "open day". In addition to commemorative activities, group weddings, friendship with friends, and reunion with former employees, it also plays a role in infecting new and old employees internally and exporting foreign culture (Qiao, 2019).
4.1.2 Interview
4.1.2.1 Organizational culture
23(52) "In order to better implement Alibaba's organizational culture in the
various departments of the company, the company's HR department will play an important role. In Alibaba, HR not only needs to do its own part for the human resource management, at the same time, but they also act as "political commissars" in various departments and play a supervisory role in implementing Alibaba's organizational culture."
If the company wants to better implement and spread organizational culture to employees, the company's senior management also needs to implement the organizational culture. As mentioned by interviewee 3:
" Even the company's senior management, the company's HR and employees can still monitor their words and deeds. If they act contrary to the company's organizational culture, they will receive more severe punishment. Not only that, but Alibaba also requires senior management to set an example for employees at all times. They should lead employees to better implement Alibaba's organizational culture."
Not only that, but Alibaba also requires its employees to respect the opinions of customers and maintain the image of Alibaba anytime and anywhere. The interviewee 1 and 3 introduce that:
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4.1.2.2 The Characteristics of Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is composed of seven characteristics that range in priority from high to low. Every organization has a distinct value for each of these characteristics. These 5 interviewees explained their understanding of organizational culture to the author. All the 5 interviewees believed that Alibaba's cultural values promoted company and product innovation. The interviewee 1 said：
"Alibaba's main values are to better serve customers and help customers solve problems. In this process, employees must constantly seek some innovative ideas and methods to solve problems."
And the interviewees 3 told author that：
“Alibaba encourages employees to be bold in exploration and innovation, and supports employees to put forward their ideas, including suggestions for improvement. Employees who have innovative ideas will also be accepted by their superiors. I think this is the best way for employees to maximize their creativity and innovation."
Alibaba promotes employees' innovative behavior from their daily work, at the same time, employees are encouraged to speak up their own ideas, which lays a further foundation for Alibaba's innovation. The interviewee 2 concurred with this view, by stating that:
“Alibaba encourages employees to be brave to break the class restrictions within the company. Employees can cross the leadership of their own departments to communicate with the company's top management and share their ideas boldly. I think this is why Alibaba can have a steady stream of new ideas.”
25(52) “Alibaba requires its employees to adapt to the company's daily changes
rather than complain about problems. When we faced with changes, employees must treat them rationally and communicate fully with the organization to cooperate in good faith.”
The interviewee 2 added:
" When we face the difficulties and frustrations caused by changes, Alibaba asks us should try to adjust ourselves and positively influence and motivate our colleagues. And during our work, Alibaba hopes us have a forward-looking awareness and can establish new methods and new ideas to solve problems. I think Alibaba hopes we can create change and bring breakthrough performance improvements.”
Alibaba also is a company which attention the details. In order to allow employees to do their best in the details, Alibaba not only requires employees to be professionally dedicated and their own work in the work process, but also to strive for excellence. As the mentions from interviewee 2 said:
“When we receive a task, the leader will ask us to refine the content of the work, so as to ensure that our work can be foolproof. Even if there is a gap in the work, we will be asked to review every step of our work, find the cause of the error and correct it.”
Coming from an interviewee, his view of Attention to Detail is different, he claimed that Alibaba's control of details is also shown elsewhere:
26(52) lost with parents when they playing in the park. This behavior made the interviewee feel that Alibaba is a large careful and attentive group. This humane move has taken me determination to stay at Alibaba.”
Relative to the attention to detail, Alibaba also pays attention to the results. This performance is often reflected in the company's performance and rewards for employees (James, 2018; Schein, 1990). Interviewee 1 explained his point of view:
"There is a slogan in Alibaba, "The best performance today is the lowest requirement tomorrow." This slogan started a performance appraisal system. This system shows the B2B salesperson’s Performance determines their commission percentage, and the base of their commission is based on their next month’s performance, which drives sales staff to continuously strive to achieve performance growth."
Not only that, but Alibaba also pays more attention to the people. The interviewee 3 described his feeling of being valued and mentioning his experience as one example:
"Every year, Alibaba hosts a different but equally grand group wedding on Ali Day. This behavior is unique, but it is something everyone should look forward to. This behavior not only conveys Alibaba's concern and attention to them but also treats employees as family members. "
27(52) The interviewee 1 thinks the senior management team to share experience and motivate employees which also can show Alibaba is extremely emphasis on people. He published his views:
" On Ali Day, the CEO and CPO of Alibaba will give speeches on every "Ali Day" to build more communication with employees. Let the leadership communicate and contact employees better, like the speech of Jack Ma at Alibaba and at the wedding are very affinity. In Alibaba, there will be no deliberate actions to improve the identity of leaders. Alibaba advocates equal treatment and mutual support among employees. "
Alibaba also is a company which good at the teamwork. The Interviewee 2 pointed out his view about the teamwork:
"Alibaba hopes all of the team members to jointly undertake rewards and responsibilities and do a good job within their own responsibility. When I joined Alibaba, HR told me that every employee who join Alibaba should actively integrate into the team, be willing to accept the help of colleagues, and cooperate with the team to complete the work." The interviewee 1 told the author his experience:
"Before our need to making a decision, employees can actively express constructive opinions and fully participate in team discussions and after we make a decision, regardless of whether the individual has any objections, employees must fully support the organization's decision from words and deeds."
28(52) “Alibaba encourages employees to proactively share business
knowledge and experience and proactively give colleagues the necessary help and be good at using the power of the team to solve problems and difficulties in the work. This provides effective help for good teamwork, which makes me feel that the team is united and consistent.”
The interviewee 1 also told the author that Alibaba developed an organizational culture that is conducive to teamwork in the hope that members of the team can have the same values. At the same time, due to the same values, there is a more tacit understanding among team members.
Aggressiveness is also an indispensable characteristic of organizational culture. Almost all interviewees underlined that Alibaba is a uniquely competitive company in the industry. The interviewee 1 emphasized that:
“The reason of why Alibaba can succeed and continue to develop is the unique cultural values, it as the organizational culture of Alibaba and the core competitiveness pushing all employees working towards the same goal.”
Similarly, the interviewee 4 mentioned her view about the competitiveness of Alibaba: "Alibaba's cultural values are the core competitiveness that helps
Alibaba develop and even succeed. The content that Alibaba conveys to all employees is that they want to use their best ability to achieve innovation and breakthroughs under the condition that everyone is equal. The cultural values of Alibaba are leading everyone to the same goal."
29(52) "Alibaba is the third company I work for. Before coming to Alibaba,
although my company was large in scale, it did not systematically spread and promote the concept of organizational culture to employees. At Alibaba, all employees will act according to the company's organizational culture and values. In the past few years at Alibaba, I have seen the progress of myself and my colleagues in implementing organizational culture. I believe that this rate of progress is difficult for other companies to catch up with."
Alibaba asks its employees to understand the company's development status, pursue the company's development but do not make a profit as the first goal (Wang, 2010), this behavior shows the Stability in the organizational culture. According to this characteristic, the interviewee 2 mentioned that:
“Alibaba will formulate long-term and short-term goals and development plans according to different departments. As an employee, I know the situation in my department very well and know what I want to do now and later.”
The interviewee 3 added that:
“Alibaba has standardized management of the products it produces. When the product quality reaches the standard, the company will also adjust the product according to the market situation, which ensures that the product can be widely used in the market.”
4.1.2.3 The Effect of Organizational Culture on Employees
30(52) The organizational culture can be one of the reasons to collect and recruit talents to take part in Alibaba, which can help Alibaba stay afloat and development.
But not only that, the organizational culture also affects employees in other aspect. One of the effects of organizational culture on the employees is to retain employees while. The interviewee 4 mentioned an example: “I feel that I am valued by the company, especially Ali Day. Alibaba makes me think that I am a member of Alibaba's big family, and this idea not only makes me feel recognized, but also my family members have this idea.” And he also explains the reason for that:
“In Ali Day, all of employees can bring their families and friends to visit and play in Alibaba ’s work park on “Ali Day”, family members can further understand the working environment and conditions of the employees and can also play well.”
During the employee's work, Alibaba will conduct corresponding assessments based on the implementation of the employees' cultural values. The interviewee 2 mentioned that:
“Employees who can work in Alibaba for a long time are all people who can pass the assessment of cultural values. After the trial period, Alibaba will also assess employees on a quarterly basis based on Alibaba ’s cultural values. Colleagues will all get along and work with the same values, it makes our working environment is very harmonious. Who would not want to work in such a working environment? "
Alibaba's popularization and development of organizational culture have also increased employees' sense of identity with the organization. Respondent 3 pointed out:
31(52) Respondent 5 added:
"Not only that, but Alibaba will also pay attention to the feelings of employees while promoting organizational culture. The company will find the most acceptable way for employees to penetrate the organizational culture into the hearts of employees."
4.1.2.4 The organizational model
At Alibaba, employees and customers can also see and use the artifacts with the organizational culture in their daily work and communication. Although Alibaba has no clear clothing requirements, the Alibaba logo is everywhere in Alibaba's work park. The interviewee 1 mentioned that:
"In China, when you see a logo with an orange cartoon figure, then you think of Alibaba. On the desk we work on, you can see the different dolls of different sizes and shapes. These are all Alibaba ’s mascot”.
The interviewee added that:
“In Alibaba, our office appliances are also printed with the Alibaba logo, and the company’s cultural values are also printed on the wall of the office, reminding us to take time to follow Alibaba's cultural values. "
Alibaba's organizational culture also has a great influence on employees' work and their values. Interviewees stated that Alibaba's cultural values also play a guiding role in their work. The interviewee 5 also told the author that Alibaba's organizational culture has also driven their enthusiasm for work.
32(52) This answer also reflects the impact of organizational culture on teamwork. The interviewee 3 also told the author that:
"when the cultural values of the members of the organization are unified, the efficiency and direction of the entire organization are also unified, and the degree of tacit understanding and completion of teamwork is also higher."
The interviewee 3 pointed out:
“Due to the influence of cultural values, Alibaba ’s employees will consider the interests of customers. In the process of synergy with customers, Alibaba ’s employees will think more and consider comprehensively.”
The interviewees believe that Alibaba's cultural values are an important basis for Alibaba's success. The interviewee 2 mentioned that:
"Alibaba has six core values, namely customer first, teamwork, embrace change, passion, integrity and commitment. These values are printed in the minds of all Alibaba employees and they have become our subconscious thoughts to help us to practice in our work, even in life. " The interviewee 3 added:
“In the process of educating children, I will unconsciously spread Alibaba's cultural values to my children. It has slowly penetrated into my life. For example, I will educate my children to treat others with integrity in daily life and be passionate about life. These values are actually what I learned from Alibaba's work.”
33(52) "I think organizational culture is the soul and foundation of a company
and the driving force for employees to move forward. Alibaba's organizational culture can play a good role in driving employees and let us move towards the same goal. ".
The interviewee 1 said, "Alibaba's organizational culture is very specific and will clearly tell us what to do and what not to do." The interviewee 5 also mentioned that:
“For me, Alibaba ’s organizational culture is leading. This is not only helpful for our work but also plays a significant role in our lives. In terms of education for my kid, sometimes I will use the values of Alibaba has conveyed to me to guide the development of children. "
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5. Analysis
In this chapter, analysis of the empirical study will be presented together with the theoretical points of departure. The analysis is based on the previous choices concerning methodology and is examined in accordance with the stated problem and the purpose of the thesis.
5.1 The organizational culture
Organizational culture is a toll help company can stand on society for a long time, the team is at the core of cohesion (Wang, 2010; Schein, 1985; O'Reilly & Chatman, 1996; Hogan & Coote, 2014). No matter how good the product is, the innovative business model will be overwhelmed by history. The team that only depends on the interests will eventually break down. Only the organizational culture in order to pass on endlessly. Alibaba has made the most of the application of organizational culture to develop their company (Wang, 2010).
35(52) The most effective way to shape organizational culture is from top to bottom (Schein， 1990). Within the Alibaba organization, the company has been implementing the company's organizational culture from top to bottom (Wang, 2010). The company's senior management should take the lead in the implementation of organizational culture, and lead employees to implement and abide by the company's organizational culture.
For better financial organization culture promotion and influence employees, Alibaba has set up a variety of scenarios for the development and spread of its organizational culture (Wang, 2010). "Ali Day" is one of the most famous. In addition to "Ali Day", Alibaba also has its own anniversary, company annual meeting, and other activities. Alibaba's senior management believes that organizational culture should be slowly integrated and precipitated, but cultural activities must be fanfare, and employees must be integrated into it through rich and diverse forms and different scenarios to better understand their organizational culture (Wang, 2010). The cultural activities are a tool to help employees to experience and feel. These activities provide employees with an ideal cultural atmosphere and place and provide employees with a basis of belief (Kohll, 2020; Deloitte, 2018). These beliefs also give employees support and motivation for working in Alibaba.
5.2 The characteristic of organizational culture
The characteristic of organizational culture which identifying a set of values that might be used to describe an organization’s culture helps people identify, measure, and manage culture more effectively (Schein ， 1990). Through interviews, the author learned that Alibaba combined the characteristics of organizational culture with its own organizational culture. This process enables Alibaba employees to better understand and implement the company's organizational culture.
36(52) management and determines the climate for innovation. One of Alibaba’s organizational culture is Embrace change, it asks all employees to meet changes and be brave in innovation (Wenku, 2016; Alibaba, 2008).In order to help employees innovate better, Alibaba provides employees with a good working atmosphere and environment to help them achieve innovation. At work, Alibaba encourages employees to be good at discovering changes in their industry and company, to think, understand and actively accept changes (Wenku, 2016; Liu, 2018). When facing difficulties, the company encourages employees to constantly try new methods and new ideas to find the best way to solve the problem (Liu, 2018; Wang, 2010).
Angel (1989) discusses enabling innovation factors in the organization, which highlights the importance of information flows in the organization. While Information flows dependent on the organizational climate and culture, which means the organization culture can use effective communication to influence innovation. Alibaba's behavior of supporting employees' courage to explore and develop new things promotes the enthusiasm of employees in Alibaba's organization and also increases employees' sense of identity with the company (Wang, 2010). In Alibaba, employees can freely express their opinions and also provide a good atmosphere and environment for innovation. Employees can boldly put forward their own ideas, ignoring the company's hierarchical restrictions. This rule gives employees more space to develop their vision and thinking and provides more space and opportunities for innovation (Wang, 2010).
37(52) Interviewees agreed that Alibaba's move highlights the company's emphasis on organizational members, which is in line with the characteristics of organizational culture--Emphasis on People, it is organizational culture values, supports, and respects the personal rights and interests of company members (James, 2018), while Alibaba pays attention to employees The emphasis is on respecting employees and treating employees and management equally. Employees and practices can have equal and face-to-face communication on "Ali Day". Ashworth (2015) said that strong communication is key. In organizations where good communication is encouraged, where upper-level executives freely communicate with lower-level employees and vice versa with respect and without judgment, the company often implements an open-door communication policy with their employees. Therefore, when a company has good communication between its employees, it can often avoid conflict as employees work through challenges (Ashworth, 2015).
One of the characteristics of organizational culture is to emphasize the equality between people in the organization, and Alibaba uses this feature freely. Alibaba's cultural values mention the emphasis on employees. Alibaba ranks the interests and needs of employees in front of shareholders, which allows employees to get more equal treatment in their work and to make their roles easier.
38(52) Aggressiveness is one of the characteristics of organizational culture which measures the degree of the people are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing（James, 2018; Schein, 1990; iEduNote, 2017; BizEdu, 2017）. Organizational culture reflects the common pursuit, common values, and common interests of the organization as a whole (Shine, 1990; Dastion, 2017), once this kind of cultural concept is formed, it will generate strong cohesion and guide all employees to the overall goal of the organization. Alibaba has been disseminating and practicing the company's cultural values to all employees, and has made cultural values the company's core competitiveness, making employees work hard for it. Under the guidance of cultural values, the enterprising spirit of employees will also increase, and the company's competitiveness will become stronger and stronger.
Stability measures the degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth (iEduNote, 2017; BizEdu, 2017). Whether the organizational culture has stability plays a vital role in the survival and development of the company (Shine, 1990; Dang, 2014). Organizational culture affects the values and behavior patterns of all employees and it requires stability. This stability also affects the psychological, thinking, and behavioral habits of most employees. Alibaba has firmly imprinted the company's cultural values, product specifications and company's development goals in the hearts of employees through the dissemination of organizational culture. Through continuously deepening employees' understanding of organizational culture, the company's values also affect employees' daily behavior.
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5.3 The Effect of Organizational Culture on Employees
Alibaba has established the company's organizational culture since its establishment in 1999, which is relatively advanced compared to its contemporary Internet counterparts (Wang, 2010). Organizational culture has both a mandatory guiding role and a subtle guiding role for employees' behavior. Good organizations will use their own unique organizational culture for management (Cheng, 2018). Organizational culture can train employees that meet the needs of the organization. The role of organizational culture is to allow all employees to use their talents, and an excellent organizational culture can do more with less (Cheng, 2018). Organizational culture Reduce friction between employees, employees and managers, departments and departments through the common values of all members. The more commonality among employees, the easier internal communication and coordination.
The central task of organizational culture is to value people's value and strive to create conditions for people to realize their value (Cheng, 2018). Alibaba's behavior of inviting family members to "Ali Day" not only hopes to share the company's development and success with employees' families but also to thank family members for their support in their work. This is Alibaba's humanized expression and a way to prove employees' value. In a good cultural atmosphere, employees can better develop their talents, let employees be passionate about their work and actively face the difficulties in their work.
40(52) the company by providing employees with a relaxed and comfortable working environment, thereby reducing employee turnover.
Through interviews, the author learned that in Alibaba, when a new employee enters the job, the department head will want the employee to introduce Alibaba's cultural values. According to Shi (2007) shows that when an organization needs to establish and consolidate the culture, it is possible to train members of the organization to understand the new culture of the organization. Learn how to change your behavior based on the new culture of the organization. The deeper the organizational culture penetrates among employees and the wider the diffusion, the stronger the cohesion of the organization, and the higher the performance and satisfaction of employees (Cheng, 2018). As Alibaba continues to consolidate its employees’ organizational culture, employees’ values will gradually become unified. When old employees face new employees, they will play a guiding and training role in spreading the company's organizational culture.
A good organizational culture will form a unique cultural atmosphere for the company, and a good organizational culture can provide support for the development of the organization (Cheng, 2108). Organizational culture also plays a fundamental role in the establishment of employees' personal values, and helps employees realize their personal values at work. The establishment of organizational culture plays an important role in providing employees with adequate physical and mental protection, thereby retaining talents for the company (Cheng, 2018). Alibaba’s organizational culture plays a role in regulating behavior for the company’s managers and employees. Under the influence of the company’s cultural values, employees have increased their enthusiasm for work and loyalty to the company, which has contributed to the development of Alibaba.
5.4 The organizational model
41(52) believes that organizational culture is constantly improved during the development of the organization, and culture is a series of basic assumptions that work well and are quite effective.
Observable Artifacts, as the upper level of organizational culture, are those explicit cultural products that can be seen, heard and touched, but they are not easy to understand by people (Schein， 1999). Observable Artifacts are the most obvious to external members, but these "material forms" reveal some important characteristics of the company (Schein，1999).
As Schein (1999) shows that the interpretation of artifacts is subjective, there are different views to look at it from different perspectives, the internal people of the organization relate them to the world of life and associated values. Alibaba puts those logos and symbols which can represent the company in a prominent position in various departments of the company. For customers who visit and negotiate cooperation, these logos only can represent Alibaba, but for Alibaba's internal employees, these logos can remind them to always observe and realize Alibaba's organizational culture.
42(52) also driven employees to work enthusiasm. Working in a company with a sense of cherished and gratitude, this working atmosphere is also one of the reasons for promoting employees' motivation to work.
The foundation of organizational culture is the core values of the organization, which affects the attitudes and behaviors of organizational members (Chatman and Jehn, 1994; O'Reilly & Chatman, 1996; Schein, 1985). Shein (1999) shows that what is hidden under the artifacts is the organization's "faith and value". They are the organization's strategy, goals, and philosophy. Alibaba integrates organizational culture with the company's cultural values so that employees can understand and implement them in their work and life. Jack Ma once said in a speech that " Maintaining a uniform between deeds and thoughts is the most critical implementation of culture." Alibaba's values and organizational culture are closely linked. This is not only Alibaba hopes that its employees can have the same method and principles during their work but also hope that they can achieve their goals under the guidance of Alibaba values in work and life (Wang, 2010).
The basic assumptions mean that the core or essence of organizational culture is unconscious assumptions, values, beliefs, norms, etc. that have long taken root in people's minds. Because most of them are from an unconscious level, it is difficult to be observed (Shein, 1999). Due to Alibaba's value system is very perfect and sound (Wang, 2010). All five interviewees can brief the author on the cultural values they have been instilled in.
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6. Conclusion and Contribution
In this chapter, a summary of the contributions of this thesis is going to be discussed. Meanwhile, the research question is going to be answered based on the practical result and theatrical context.
This thesis dissertation has been focused on the discussion of the organizational culture and the success of the Alibaba company. Organizational culture plays an important role in promoting the company's development. The importance of organizational culture comes from its influence on enterprise and enterprise's business results (Lukic et al., 2014). In recent years, Alibaba has been a representative company that promotes the implementation of organizational culture. For a long time, Alibaba's development and success are inseparable from the organizational culture and values it has been practicing. Alibaba, as the leading Internet business service platform in China and even in the world, has strengthened its own connotation construction closely around its own organizational culture since the day of its creation. It has an inestimable effect on the growth of enterprises and the improvement of competitiveness.
It is evident that employees who took part in the interview are aware of how Alibaba company applying the organizational culture. Even if the company needs to adjust the organizational strategy, the employees still can follow with the new culture to be with their work. Therefore, employees in this company always adopt workably and understand the organizational culture of their company. It is a common practice at Alibaba that the organizational culture is disseminated top-down, by senior management, including middle managers as well as lower-level employees. The organizational culture is firmly embedded in all levels of the company, which narrows the differences in the understanding of the organizational culture within the company.
45(52) influence of organizational culture on company innovation, teamwork and competitiveness. These characteristics of organizational culture have played a decisive role in the development of Alibaba's products and technologies and the working enthusiasm of the employees.
Furthermore, management also often shares the impact of organizational culture on them, and employees also have more opportunities to speak freely at work. For Alibaba employees, this is an advantage and resource that also increases the enthusiasm of employees to work and has a positive impact on retaining talents for the company. Under the effect of the organizational culture, more talents will be attracted by Alibaba's working environment, which provides more talent demand for Alibaba's development. Under the guidance of the same organizational culture, employees' sense of identification with the organization will also increase, thereby enhancing the cohesion within the company. In order to better realize the spread of organizational culture within the organization, Alibaba also often trains and evaluates employees, so that Alibaba's cultural values can penetrate into the hearts of employees.
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6.1 The answer to the research question
Research question:
How organizational culture influences the overall performance of the company?
Here, in this thesis, the author taking an example as Alibaba company explores the relationship between the organizational culture and the success of the company. Basic on the result of the interview, all the interviewees believe that the success of Alibaba is inseparable from the company that has been implementing and applying the organizational culture to employees. This means Alibaba has always attached great importance to the company's organizational culture construction and practice and established a standardized system to evaluate the employees' organizational culture. The characteristics of organizational culture, the effect of organizational culture on employees and the organizational culture model are the aspects that the author wants to explore in this thesis. From these three aspects, the author found that organizational culture not only can be applied in the employees' work but also influence their social life and children's education. As the core of the company's development, organizational culture unifies the values and behavioral norms of employees, laying a foundation for the company's standardization and unified thinking. Played a guiding role for the company's overall performance in the direction of positive. Therefore, organizational culture influences the company's overall performance and help the company to be successful through its nature, characteristics, and impact on employees.
6.2 Contributions summary
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6.3 Implication for future research
According to this research, the author found that organizational culture influences the success of Alibaba and helps Alibaba company and its employees’ development. A follow up of the situation at Alibaba would provide valuable knowledge and insights. For future research, the author has some suggestions for the other researcher who want to study in the organizational culture and Alibaba company. First, future researchers can study how organizational culture influence company development from the managers' perspective. By doing so, it would also be possible to investigate how the organizational culture impacts management and how the organizational culture influences the management making decision.
