Background
The number of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand is currently 2,736,744. They comprised about 39.6% of Thailand’s GDP (OSMEP, 2016). As a comparison, there are only 2,000 large enterprises in Thailand. SMEs account for about 80.3% of jobs in Thailand. This demonstrates that SMEs hold an important role in driving Thailand’s economy.
However, SMEs in Thailand still struggle with many problems. One of the most serious problems comes from employees. The Office of SME’s Promotion (OSMEP) supported the idea that owners of SMEs were good at marketing, innovation, and management so that the company could survive, but the problem of SMEs still existed because they lacked human management skills. SMEs rarely had skilled employees and it proved to be more difficult to maintain skilled employees in the company. One of the key strategies to solve this problem was to change corporate culture.
From a strategic point of view, an organization’s culture represents motivation for employees as well as a way to increase productivity and team cohesion. However, problems with corporate culture can inhibit a company’s growth or even contribute to hindering innovation in terms of products and services.
Creating culture, managing culture, and changing culture were important leadership functions that enable SMEs to succeed. Organizational leaders helped their organization respond to these political, economic, cultural, and social pressures and created the kind of culture that achieved greater organizational success (Ezekiel & Darius, 2012; Malte et al., 2015). For example, Kotter and Heskett’s study investigated a healthcare organization, and found that the culture of the healthcare organization directly influenced its ability to manage human resources and serve patients, and ultimately had a strong impact on its economic performance. It was believed that corporate culture influenced actions and patterns of communication (Slocum & Hellriegel, 2011) due to its effects on the employees’ attitudes and behaviors in workplaces.
Problem Statement & Research Objectives
Some researchers had suggested that corporate culture was a strategic resource that had value in ensuring the continuing existence and success of organizations. This study found the link between corporate culture and motivation in employees in SMEs.
In Bangkok, dental clinics are ubiquitous with strong competition in many areas. It was quite difficult for new entries to survive in the market. For example, in the Asoke area, there were more than 10 clinics. However, there was an interesting dental clinic that opened in the Asoke area and had more than 4,000 patients within 2 years of opening. The number of employees in this dental clinic was 20. The purpose of this study was to investigate the type of corporate culture in the dental clinic as the case study.
Scope of Study
This research focused on the case study of one dental clinic, which was located in Bangkok. This study focused on the types of corporate culture and characteristics that motivated employees in SMEs. This paper will benefit entrepreneurs who want to set up or improve corporate culture.
Expected Benefits
This study provides a successful case study about corporate culture and corporate characteristics that motivated employees and ultimately helped an organization maximize its performance. The case study can motivate entrepreneurs to set up the proper corporate culture and helped the company to be more sustainable.
Literature Review
Definition of Corporate Culture
Deal & Kennedy (1982), said corporate culture was the way we do things around here, or what keeps the herd moving in roughly the right direction.
The definition offered by Edgar Schein (1992, p. 6) is that corporate culture is “A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, was taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.”
Robbins and Judge (2013) gave the definition of corporate culture as a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguished the organization from other organizations.
Based on the research and understanding of corporate culture, corporate culture can be best described as an implied belief system and the core of a company that is generally created by the combination of characters traits from people who are hired by the company. Corporate cultures are developed over time and are one of the key factors in distinguishing businesses from each other.
Functions of Corporate Culture
According to the research conducted by Schein (1992), Daft (2008), and Robbins and Judges (2013), the researcher concludes the function of corporate culture as follows:
To distinguish itself from other companies, the first function of a culture is a boundary-defining role to help businesses stand out from others.
Individualism is critically important for organizations, and corporate culture can assist with creating an identity for both the members as well as the clients of a business.
The road to a successful business starts through the commitment between the employees and the organization. What corporate culture does is to assist in helping the members of a company prioritize the needs of the company over their own personal needs/concerns for the betterment of the organization.
The term culture, in corporate culture, acts as the unifying bond between the employee and the organization by providing what is considered acceptable behavior within the company. By following a “standard” in the company, members share a common goal and build unity. It can be more commonly thought of as the rules that the members follow in an organization. Because each organization is different and wants to be unique, there are some rules, understandings, and behavioral dos and don’t’s that employees are required to conform to in order to be part of the organization.
When an organization lays a foundation with clear principles, goals, and expectations, it makes it easier for the employees to conform and come to an agreement about the work scope. Consistent, positive behavior can only come from an organization that fosters these ideals and corporate culture is the foundation that these ideals can be built upon for a successful future.
Types of Corporate Culture
Based on the review studies of corporate culture conducted over many years, including the research conducted by Slocum and Hellriegel (2011), Daft (2008), Cameron and Quinn (1999), and Denison (1990), we found that the attitudes and components of corporate culture types went in the same direction, but they used different names. The researcher developed this following table 1:
According to the research conducted by Slocum and Hellriegel (2011), Daft (2008), Cameron and Quinn (1999), and Denison (1990), corporate culture was basically categorized into four types as described below:
1. Adaptability culture – the culture that motivated employees to be creative and take risks. Employees were able to work with more flexibility. This kind of organization adapted themselves when the environment changed fast.
2. Achievement culture – the company has vision and a mission. The leader shared a specific vision and mission with employees. Employees understood and worked with the exact target and goal in mind. They considered the competition, which resulted in employees taking their working seriously.
3. Involvement culture – employees were able to make decisions and self-manage. This culture made employees felt that they were the owners of the company. As a result, employees got involved more in activities of the organization and worked as a team.
4. Consistency culture – the culture that provided clear and consistent values so employees worked in the same direction. They achieved the goal together.
Characteristics of Corporate Culture
Even though corporate culture may not be immediately observable, identifying a set of values that might be used to describe an organization’s culture helps us identify, measure, and manage culture more effectively.
One typology that has received a lot of research attention is the organizational culture profile, in which culture is represented by seven distinct characteristics. Chatman (1911), O’Reilly (1911), and Robbins and Judge (2013) categorized the characteristics of corporate culture into 7 characteristics, which were:
1. Innovation and risk taking – Employees were able to innovate and were also challenged in their work.
2. Attention to detail – Employees analyzed and exhibited precision in detail.
3. Outcome orientation – Management focused on the outcome as a priority.
4. People Orientation - Management took into consideration the effect on people.
5. Team Orientation – Work activities were organized around teams or individuals.
6. Aggressiveness – People were aggressive and competitive or easygoing.
7. Stability – Organizational activities emphasized maintaining the status quo or growth.
Characteristics of SMEs
Prior business research in the SME domain has studied specific SME characteristics, including corporate culture, human resources (HR), systems processes and procedures, and organizational structure (Barker, 2002; Datta, 1994; Freel, 2005). One of the most comprehensive sets of SME characteristics was described in Wong and Aspinwall (2004). We adopted their characteristics and grouped them into five broad categories discussed as follow.
Ownership and management structure. Most SME owners act as ownermanagers and play the part of the company’s strategic initiator. Their intention adopted knowledge management systems, including formulating the vision, allocating resources, facilitating management processes, and setting up corporate procedures. Management support was proposed to be the most important factor in successful knowledge management adoption. A flatter organizational hierarchy in SMEs led to greater flexibility in work but with a limited or less clear division of responsibilities. There was a lower degree of job specialization with more generalists. Communication lines were shorter, which allowed for easier and more direct information flow. This structure led to higher levels of coordination and cooperation (Anheier & Seibel, 1987; Liedholm & Mead, 1987; Cook, 1999, Yew Wong & Aspinwall, 2004).
Customers and markets. SMEs depend on a small customer base and focus on local or regional markets, with a few international markets. They usually have limited product/service lines and sometimes cater to niche markets. Employees have close relationships with their customers. Customer satisfaction was one of the main criteria in measuring performance, because SMEs used word-of-mouth as their primary mechanism for growth. Moreover, because of the closeness of relationships, specific requirements of the customer were more easily understood (Cook, 2000; Yew Wong & Aspinwall, 2004).
Systems, processes and procedures. SMEs had simple planning and control systems and informal rules and procedures. There was less standardization of work processes. The operations were less complex. Processes were more fluid and were adaptable to various situations. SMEs also had a narrow scope and mostly focused on operational, rather than strategic, processes. Rather than creating knowledge repositories, they were more adept at sharing tacit knowledge (Costa & Bogdány, 2013; Yew Wong & Aspinwall, 2005).
Human capital management. Owing to the limited number of expert personnel, human capital was an important resource, and high turnover rates severely affected operations. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) was a complex task; the project team needed to possess diverse expertise and knowhow. Since SMEs had less clear employee responsibilities, a lower degree of job specialization occurred, leading to greater employee versatility. Human capital development was done according to specific needs in an ad hoc manner. Employee performance evaluation was not standardized (Daft, 2007; Pauli, 2015).
Culture and behavior. SMEs usually had an informal, organic, and unified culture. The small size of the organization fostered recognizing the company instead of looking at single departments or functions. The behavior of employees was more easily influenced by the owner-managers’ philosophy and beliefs. An open culture that allowed employees to work independently not only enabled the knowledge creation process, but also allowed knowledge to flow easily among participants, a phenomenon that Cook (2000) called “the shadow system” of the organization for knowledge sharing.
According to Wong and Aspinwall (2004), management of SMEs had many specific characteristics. In small companies, due to the small number of employees and managers, many functions were accumulated within the competence of only a few workers, informal leadership was more common, oral communication was preferred to written, and so on.
Research Methodology
This research was qualitative research. The topic of the research is corporate culture, and so qualitative research is characterized by its aims, which are related to understanding some aspect of culture, and its methods, which (in general) are generated by words, rather than numbers, as data for analysis (Bricki & Green, 2007).
Population and Sampling
The researcher selected all of the employees in “A” Dental Center. There were 20 persons, including 2 receptionists, 10 dental assistants, and 8 dentists working in this dental center as full - or part-time employees.
Company Background
The “A” Dental Center is located in the Jasmine City building right in the center of Bangkok and covers an impressive area of 235 square meters. The “A” Dental Center is the all-in-one private dental center in Bangkok. The clinic is outfitted with state-of-theart technology and laboratory facilities.
The “A” Dental Center has been developed with a significant emphasis on technology. The center has been set up as a completely wireless and paperless enterprise – x-rays are taken digitally in x-ray rooms and transferred to treatment rooms in a matter of seconds.
This is the vision and mission of the company. Vision: To be the leading brand dental service in Thailand. Mission: We will provide world-class standard dental treatment at an affordable price.
Data Collection
Face-to-face interview.
The researcher used open-ended questions as an instrument because it helped respondents provide examples and opinions during the interview. With open-ended questions, participants were free to answer in their own words, and these responses tend to be more complex than simple yes or no answers (Denzin, 2000). The length of the interview was 30-60 minutes per person. Some examples of the questions are provided below:
The researcher used audiotape recordings to gather the data and took notes after the interview to note impressions, changes in behaviors or attitude that would not appear in the verbatim transcription.
The author also collected data about patients’ opinions regarding the quality of services. The author collected opinions from comment boxes, the Facebook fanpage, Groupon feedback from e-mail, and other social networks.
Content Analysis
The author chose the “coding” method to analyze the data that the author gathered through in-depth interviews. The reason was that the interviews had a specific purpose, so it was necessary to store the responses in a relevant, usable, and accessible form to fulfill this purpose (Raymond, 1992).
The coding method could be divided into 4 levels (Hahn, 2008). In this research, the researcher used only the first and second levels of coding, because it was enough to perform data analysis. The first level of coding was the initial coding and opening coding. In this level the researcher looked for keywords. When the interviewees mentioned those terms or words, the researcher focused more and kept this data to the next level of coding.
The second level of coding was category development. The researcher used those keywords or terms to group the words into categories, which were to provide deeper coding analysis.
The author observed non-verbal signals such as posture during the interview, behavior, or tone when answering the question. This data generated more information and was a part of data analysis, along with observation of work at the clinic.
Findings and Discussion
Observation Findings
This clinic opened at 10:00 a.m. every day, and employees were to be prepared to work at 9:30 a.m. From my observation of 5 days at the clinic beginning at 9:30 a.m., there was only one person who came on time and the others came around 9:45-10:15 a.m. When employees came, they went directly to record their fingerprint at the attendance machine. Then they went to see the schedule of dentists and patients and prepared for them. During preparation, all the staff had their mobile phones and liked to listen to music while working. Sometimes they played games and joked with each other. Every day, when the manager came to the clinic, he greeted every employee. They always wai (bow) to each other and said, “How are you?” During lunchtime, sometimes, dentists and staff had a party with Thai salad together in the dining room. There was no specific responsibility for each employee. They worked at various jobs such as reception, customer services, dental assistant, and lab technician. Even some dentists helped the receptionists to answer the phone when the clinic was very busy. Some employees who finished work earlier went around to say goodbye before they left. Sometimes when the clinic closed late, all the employees waited for each other before leaving.
From the observations above, this dental clinic had an involvement culture with loose regulation. The relationship between employees and between employees and bosses was very close.
Demographic Profile of Respondents
Table 3 shows the demographic profile of respondents in this research. This demonstrated that there are two groups of respondents: those who have a higher education (dentists) and earned more than 50,000 baht, those who have bachelor’s degree (senior staff) who earned 15,000-50,000 baht, and those who have less education (staff) with a lower income who earned less than 15,000 baht. The average age of the respondents was 30 years old. From the data, it is possible to conclude that “A” Dental Clinic gave equal opportunity to people from all backgrounds and gave each person an equal chance to work together in an open-minded community. There was no discrimination between social, educational level, and gender classes.
Types and Characteristics of Corporate Culture in “A” Dental Clinic
From in-depth interviews, 20 respondents were interviewed on their career, attitude toward this organization, and their experiences.
Respondents were from different areas of occupation such as dentists, dental assistants, receptionists, and maid. The results revealed that most respondents agreed that “A” Dental Clinic had an “involvement culture.” For the characteristics of corporate culture, this dental clinic majority had a “team orientation.”
Involvement Culture
The answers of all full-time respondents and some of part-time employees implied that “A” Dental Clinic’s corporate culture was an involvement culture (18 out of 20). There were 2 important components of involvement culture, which were: 1) Strategic focus and 2) Needs of environment. These were the answers that showed involvement culture in this dental clinic.
1) Strategic focus. The interviews showed that this clinic had strategic focus on internal elements:
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“… Every day I came to work I didn’t feel any stress at all. Doctors were very kind and took care of me.”
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“…I felt warm and I felt everybody in the company was my family.”
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“…I always said you are not a dental assistant, but you were my brother.”
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“…A big change in this clinic was when someone had to quit. In my opinion, this person did not match with us. I could tell that she always separated herself individually. I tried to talk to her but she did not talk. I tried to find out why she acted like that and I found that maybe it is her personality. When she resigned, the boss looked better and atmosphere in the clinic was better as well.”
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“…A big change of the clinic is the behavior of other co-workers towards me. At the beginning, I felt I’m weird and no one talked to me much. Right now, we could talk and joke with each other. I’m very happy.”
2) Needs of environment. The respondents’ answers implied that this clinic had flexibility with respect to the environment.
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"…I work with other full time co-workers every day and every time. Once someone was absent and there was chaos for me because the workload went to me. Fortunately, the receptionist helped me in the dental lab.
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"…My work is not the same every day. It depends on how many patients there are and how many assistants work on that day. If there are enough assistants, I prepare the sterilization; if not, I help the dentists.
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“…Even though I am a dentist, I had to answer the phone and bill patients when the receptionist was busy.”
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However, some of part-time employees (2 out of 20) were not involved in the team much. For example:
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“…I was responsible for my job as a dental assistant. I did my best in my job. So my job is mainly for helping dentists and there was no need to contact other co-workers much.”
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“…I worked only in the evening time and I came here only one day a week. I’m ok with my work and I did my best in my responsibility. Normally, besides helping dentists, I ironed clothes so I didn’t have to talk to someone else much.”
The answers from the participants showed there was a relationship between team effort and cohesiveness with regards to an employee’s working status. Being a full-time employee or a part-time employee directly correlated with the attitude of the employee and the involvement culture and the effects on “A” Dental Clinic. The responses from the part-time employees showed more individualistic mentality and the employees were more obvious in being defensive for not interacting or involving themselves with other employees. Full-time employees, on the other hand, viewed themselves as a unit, aiding others when the need arises. Unsurprisingly, assisting wasn’t dependent on the position of the employee, and even dentists assisted in administrative work. In addition, the responses from full-time employees were more positive and warmer, using words such as “teamwork” and “family” to describe their work situation. They involved themselves primarily because they felt they were part of the business and it allowed them to feel like an owner and make better, more responsible business decisions.
Team Orientation
Work activities were organized around teams in this dental clinic and it was obvious. These answers from the interview showed characteristics of team orientation.
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“…We were ‘A’ team.”
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“…At the very beginning when I started working here, I felt there was nothing here much. There were only 3 or 4 persons in this clinic. Within only 6 months, there were 8 persons working together, and I felt those 8 persons were a perfect match.”
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“…Actually, we had good teamwork here. Everybody knew what to do each day automatically. Sometimes one assistant was absent; it was a little busy but mostly part-time workers came to work instead, like this Sunday.”
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“…When I had to assign some work or solve a problem, I arranged the meeting and discussed about the topic with all the full-time employees. Then, they brainstormed and found the solution to solve the problem. They set up the responsibility by themselves. I didn’t have to help much just guided a little bit.”
It was quite clear that the “A” Dental Clinic stressed the spirit of teamwork and collaboration to strengthen the employees individually as well as a unit. By allowing the employees to freely create their own “teams” the result was effective workflow. Characteristics that determine which employees were fit and suitable to work in a team boiled down to the employee’s desire to communicate honestly and openly to achieve the company’s goals. Though the employees came from different social and economic backgrounds, the one driving factor as to why they could work effectively in “A” Dental Clinic was their entrepreneurial and competitive spirit. Granted, this quality trait is a double edge sword, and in some circumstances, having these qualities can be detrimental because of conflict and trust, but at “A” Dental Clinic, minimal management was required and the employees were able to solve day-to-day problems with ease because they were following a common goal for the type of culture that “A” Dental Clinic symbolizes.
Characteristics of SMEs in “A” Dental Clinic
“A” Dental Clinic had very similar characteristics to other SMEs, which were: flatter management structure, close relationship between employees and customers, informal management style.
Flatter management structure.
From the interview and observation, the author concluded that “A” Dental Clinic had a horizontal organization structure. A flatter organizational hierarchy in SMEs led to greater flexibility in work but with a limited or less clear division of responsibilities. This was also the evidence of flexibility managing style in involvement culture.
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"…My work had no scope, I did everything in the clinic such as reception, lab work, sterilized dental instruments, and ironed clothes.
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“…I worked every part in the clinic from the front and back.”
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“…Besides being a chair side assistant, I also checked stock, did lab work and also called to confirm patients.”
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“…My work is not the same every day. It depends on how many patients there are and how many assistants work on that day. If there are enough assistants, I prepare the sterilization; if not, I help the dentists.”
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“…I called the supplier to buy some tools that ran out. This was just very new work that I took part in.”
Close relationship between employees and customers.
From the interviews and observation, there was an emphasis that employees in “A” Dental Clinic had a very close relationship with patients.
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“…I remembered all of the patients in the clinic. Some patients, I could remember their nickname.”
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“…I always called to remind patients of their appointment.”
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“…Sometimes, I got food or snacks from my patients.”
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“…In some cases, I was very worried, and I called and checked the result of treatment.”
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“….Many patients always spread the word about us to their families, we gave them special discounts because we thought they trusted us and we were friends already.”
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“…I always saw the dentist and his patients talking about the cinema and games. They talked to each other like friends.”
Informal management style.
“A” Dental Clinic had simple planning and control systems, and informal rules and procedures. There was less standardization of work processes. The operations were less complex. According to observation and interviews, the author found that employees had no job description, no Key Performance Indicators (KPI), and loose regulations or rules.
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“…I knew that the starting time was 9:30 a.m. But sometimes, I could not come on time because I had to prepare breakfast and send my daughter to school. The manager was very kind. She never complained about this.”
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From the record, two employees were late almost every day.
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“…I made a rule that employees had to fill out a form before taking a holiday but many employees did not do this or forgot to do this. Right now, I let them go but I want to find some solution for this.”
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“…Sometimes, the environment changed so fast, I had to assign new work to my employees, such as inventory management. Because I just found that we had problems with stock. Some items were missing; some ran out. I really needed someone to help and solve this issue. I told this issue to one of my employees and let her talk to other employees by herself. Finally, they solved this problem by themselves. I think this was a good idea in solving the problem.”
There is strong evidence to suggest that flat management structure is beneficial for companies due to the fact that it allows self-realization to occur when companies try to bridge the gap between higher end positions (i.e., executives) and staff. By allowing staff to be more decision-makers, it gives them a sense of ownership, which will strengthen work flow and the bond between employees and the organization. In the case of “A” Dental Clinic, the close relationship between employees, patients, and the informal management style helped boost the company’s performance not only in patient numbers but also the quality of the work environment. The majority of employees at “A” Dental Clinic were satisfied with the style of management. This strengthened the bond between all staff and dentists, which, in turn, made work flow productive, efficient, and positive.
How Corporate Culture Impacted Company Performance
This research focused on the quality of services by getting data from Facebook, Groupon feedback, pantip.com, and comment box.
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“…Good services, Thank you doctors”
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“…After getting braces for 8 months from ‘A’ Dental Clinic I got to have a beautiful smile. The doctors and workers here were always very caring and friendly. It was very nice overall and I’m very satisfied about my choice.”
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“…Well done, 'A; Dental Clinic were always taking care of me. In the beginning, I was really afraid of dentists, but now I changed my mind.”
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“…I felt like I’m a VIP. Many dentists tried to determine the cause of my chronic symptom that I suffered for a long time. I went to many clinics but no one could help me. Since I knew this clinic from a social network, I was interested in ‘A’ Dental Clinic. I decided to come here and found that this is a very good place for me. The atmosphere when doing treatment was so relaxing. The dentists were very gentle and the assistants played jokes with me. I felt happy and the result was so great.”
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“…This was the most amazing dental service I ever had in my life. ‘A’ Dental Clinic was the best clinic in Thailand.”
The feedback demonstrated the good quality of “A” Dental Clinic. Most of the feedback was compliments towards the dental staff and some comments showed good relationships between the employees and patients. Moreover, the bonding between the leader and employees and between employees was very strong. As a result, turnover rate of the company was very low.
Due to the fact that all employees in any company strive, at the very least, to achieve a goal, it is important that leaders (managers) and employees work in a harmonious environment. It is unmistakably important that leaders and people with leadership/managerial roles have a keen understanding of their employees, their behavior, and what motivates them to work. Without the fundamentals, no company big or small can achieve their main goal(s). Leaders must find the best way to make corporate goals relevant to their employees so they, in turn, can understand and work towards those goals. Involvement culture has impacted “A” Dental Clinic in positive ways. It was the single most important factor to drive employees’ motivation and teamwork. Allowing the employees to feel like leaders and giving them a sense of ownership made their work quality better and more efficient. Without a doubt, this culture was able to make “A” Dental Clinic reach above and beyond its goals within a 2-year span, regardless of how saturated the market was with dental clinics. The main reason stemmed from the fact that “A” Dental Clinic’s involvement culture helped to bring unity to its employees and helped them to work efficiently.
Recommendations
Practical Implications
With so many SMEs entering the market and competition in the business field, it is daunting for entrepreneurs to set up a business and understand how their organizational leadership could influence their employees to maximize performance. Corporate culture plays a vital role for any type of business.
The type of corporate culture that “A” Dental Clinic had was that of involvement. By using this type of culture in the clinic, the feeling of “closeness” and satisfaction of the employees greatly affected staff performance and quality of services given to clients. Based on the findings, employee performances were directly correlated with how close-knit they felt with each other, especially with their manager. We could assert that organizations of any type would benefit from adapting a corporate culture that was best suitable for the needs of the company to positively impact their staff’s performance quality and service.
This research could be used as a guideline for other businesses to follow and to understand the role of a manager and how a manager embodies the symbol of leadership as well as the sole figure in setting up the corporate culture. Regardless of the type of organization or business, managers must serve as the leader and model for the staff to mirror. If, for example, a business would like to see an improvement in teamwork or an increase in involvement, as in the case of “A” Dental Clinic, the manager must be open-minded, willing to work directly with his or her staff, and create a team atmosphere. Unfortunately, corporate cultures are not fixed and change over time to adjust to the demands of the business world, and therefore a manager must be able to identify and adapt to those needs, thus modifying the corporate culture. By incorporating the most suitable corporate culture for his or her business quickly, so too the staff could be ready to adopt the culture and improve performance and service.
Limitations of the Study & Recommendations for Future Research
It was apparent that there were limitations in this study. First and foremost was the duration of time used to conduct the study. The organization was only 2 years old, and it appeared that the sample might be skewed and not entirely corrected, as over time, the findings might change or the participants’ views could alter. Therefore, it was important to look at this study over a period of several years for it to be more effective and reliable. Also, this study looked at the effects of only one type of corporate culture: involvement. As stated previously, cultures could change over time and the effects of how different cultures affect business performance could vary. If this study was conducted over several periods of time, we could develop a clearer understanding on the total effects of corporate culture on organization performance.
Another issue that affected the integrity of the study would be the close-knit relationship between the manager and the staff when conducting the research. The accuracy of the staff’s responses to the survey remained unclear, and therefore we must consider that their answers were not 100% reliable. In future studies, it could be a better option to have this conducted by an outside source when getting the data.
Biographical Notes
Dr. Papon Chongthanavanit earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Srinakharinwirot University in 2013 and his Master of Management degree from Mahidol University in 2015. Currently, he is studying for a Doctor of Communication Arts (Marketing Communication) degree at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
He can be reached at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, 126/1 Vibhavadi Rangsit Rd, Samsen Nai, Din Daeng, Bangkok, Thailand 10400 or by e-mail at icemantop@gmail.com.
Dr. Pornkasem Kantamera has been a lecturer at the College of Management, Mahidol University, Thailand since 2004. She graduated BA. in French Language from Chulalongkorn University, earned an M.A. in Teaching English from School for International Training, USA, and received her Ed.D. in General Administrative Leadership from Vanderbilt University, USA. Currently, she is teaching Principles of Management and Change Management. Prior to teaching Dr. Pornkasem worked for several years in a nonprofit organization setting as a teacher, teacher supervisor, staff developer, and Child Development Program coordinator at the processing center for the U.S. bound Southeast Asian refugees.
She can be reached at, College of Management Mahidol University 69 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, Samsennai, Phayathai District, Bangkok, Thailand 10400 or by e-mail at pornkasem.kan@mahidol.ac.th