Abstract: This research exhibits the results of the analysis of the corporate culture of a Maritime Services', company dedicated to the provision of services related to maritime transportation. The use of the deductive meth-od made it possible to reach the objective of describing and obtaining the analysis of its corporate culture through the model of the thirteen dimensions of Zapata, Rodríguez, and Sánchez (2008) using a descriptive and qualitative type of research. Consequently, it was identified that the company functions as an open system and through a process of internalization and externalization. lt has painstakingly forged its unique identity by melding together elements that have evolved since its inception with seamlessly integrated components that have been added progressively over the years
Keywords: Corporate culture, organizational culture, dimensions, marine services.
Resumen: La presente investigación expone los resultados del análisis de la cultura corporativa aplicada a una empresa dedicada a la prestación de servicios de transporte marítimo. Se consideró el tipo de investigación cualitativa y descriptiva. El uso del método deductivo hizo posible alcanzar el objetivo el cual facilitó describir y obtener el análisis de la cultura corporativa mediante la utilización del modelo de las trece dimensiones de Zapata, Rodríguez y Sánchez (2008). En consecuencia, se identificó que la compañía funciona como sistema abierto y mediante un proceso de interiorización y exteriorización construyen con el paso de los años su identidad, la cual está determinada por elementos que se han modificado desde su inicio y otros que han ido integrando progresivamente y que han aportado a la identidad de los empleados y permeado a las diferentes áreas de la organización.
Palabras clave: Cultura organizacional, talento humano, dimensiones de la cultura organizacional, empresa de servicios marítimos.
Business and Management
Analyzing the Influence of Organizational Culture on Co-worker Identity: A Case Study within the Marine Services Sector
Análisis de la influencia de la cultura organizativa en la identidad de los colaboradores: Un estudio de caso en el sector de los servicios marítimos
José Morelos-Gómez jmorelosg@unicartagena.edu.co
Lina-Marcela Amaris-Puello lamarisp@unicartagena.edu.co
Yina Magdaniel-Socarrás
Received: 05 September 2022
Revised document received: 09 October 2022
Accepted: 30 November 2022
The existence of organizational culture as a visible aspect in companies is not a new issue, even from the administrative model presented by Taylor there are traces of what would be the corporate culture considered as an important variable for the productivity of the company (Posthuma et al., 2023; Maskály & Kutnjak, 2023; Martínez, 1995).
Subsequently, people like Ford delved deeper into the subject by establishing new concepts within the organization such as work cells and multipurpose workers for the alignment of personal objectives with organizational objectives (Pedraza et al., 2023;Safón, 1997), Fayol continued with his contributions regarding the organization of management with his administrative model aimed at formalization and its 14 principles, However, with Elton Mayo in 1924, a closer approximation to this factor began through his experiments and the search for hypothesis tests on the relationship between variations in the organization and the relationship between personal and organizational objectives (Bagga et al., 2022; Safón, 1997).
The concept of organizational culture acquires a concise definition through Pettigrew (1979) defining such concept as a public meaning accepted by the entire collective belonging to a group and at a given time. Another concept is provided by Shwartz and Davis (1981), similar to Pettigrew (1979) who define organizational culture as beliefs and behaviors expected by all members of a group, an example of which are organizations that convert these beliefs into norms in order to influence the actions of all members and groups of the company (Secer et al., 2023; Morelos & Fontalvo, 2014; Kemp et al., 2023).
Measuring organizational culture is essential in order to establish variables that serve to collect information that allows to reflect the reality of organizations (Hoang et al., 2023; Maan & Srivastava, 2023)), in that order of ideas the study carried out by Hofstede et al. (1990) "measuring organizational cultures: a qualitative and quantitative study in 20 cases" established that cultural manifestations in organizations were classified into four categories: symbols, heroes, rituals (the three visible practices) and values (Noh et al., 2023; Rass et al., 2023; Sampat et al, 2022; Osei et al., 2023).
Likewise, the model of Zapata, Rodriguez & Sanchez (2008) is used to analyze organizational culture, it is divided into 13 dimensions, which are detailed below (Table 1):
Finally, other dimensions considered for measuring organizational culture were formulated by Oriade et al. (2021): people orientation (teamwork, collaboration, concern for co-workers, respect for rights), innovation (experimentation, dynamism and entrepreneurship, commitment to innovation, risk-taking, incentive for creativity), customer focus (value provided to the customer, customer relations, meeting expectations), employee development (empowerment, opportunity for growth) and formality (structures, rules, policies, results ethic, achievement orientation) (Barjak & Heimsch, 2021; Mikusová et al.,2023).
This research analyzed the corporate culture of a company that offers maritime services, it is a company that has been operating in the market for approximately 10 years, the staff has been recently renewed. The type of research is descriptive racional y propositivo. The approach used is qualitative because it seeks to identify and describe variables that allow analyzing the characteristics of the company's corporate culture. The research method is deductive, based on the general methodology related to the study of organizational culture, in this case, the tool to be used is based on the application of 13 dimensions proposed by the model of Zapata et al. (2008). Accordingly, the research sources used were, on the one hand, primary research sources such as questionnaire surveys to 55 employees - from different strategic, technical and operational levels - of the company, a semi-structured interview to the Corporate Wellness Leader and a non-participant observation from a visit made to the company, applied in the second half of the year 2022. On the other hand, the secondary sources come from books, studies previously conducted on the same subject, scientific articles, research available in databases, the company's website and documentation provided by the company.
Based on what has been previously described and supported by Zapata's analysis method, the following system for data processing and analysis is proposed (Table 2):
The case study describes the aspects in a company of the maritime services sector with headquarters located in the city of Cartagena-Bolivar, the results show the following characteristics:
It is a company with approximately 10 years in the market, it is a family company where the owners in addition to being the majority partners are spouses and hold the positions of director of corporate affairs and director of operations, which means that its family character is strong since both ownership and management underlie the family, who throughout all these years have faced various structural problems, one of the most chaotic situations was in 2019, during that year they had no contracts with any of their clients, they had to do without several employees and manage to stabilize because without income they were running the risk of permanence in the market. However, it was a situation that they were able to over-come and despite the fact that in 2020 they also had some turbulence due to the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the provision of their services, they did not stop providing their services for a single day of the year.
As for their services, they initially began by providing many services that they do not currently have, by changing some of their processes they have had to eliminate certain activities and services, being a middle-aged company for its range between 5 to 24 years (Berger and Udell, 1988) allows lower that it is in the process of building and strengthening its identity, its history has been marked initially by a personal initiative that started from the knowledge of the Captain for his expertise in the specific activities associated with the services provided, he is the person who for the rest of the employees represents that authority and starting point, the decisions are made under his ultimate criterion and the support of his wife, the director of corporate affairs.
The general management has instituted the responsibility to protect the environment in the services they provide, they provide assurance to their clients that the processes are carried out to offer services that comply with the established procedures and the design of the same is in accordance with the current environ-mental policy. They have a strong interest in continuous improvement and at the same time respect for the living environment that surrounds them externally, that is why they have an open relationship with the external environment; social, environmental, political and economic forces are influential in the development of their work.
Regarding the relationship with its customers, they take special care of their services because they know how important is the support from the companies that make contracts with it, the public is a specific public and its purpose (through the relationship with its customers) in providing guarantees and effectiveness in operations, customers that highlights the company are: Boskalis, Sociedad Portuaria Regional del Caribe, Contecar, Terminal de Contenedores de Buenaventura, Wilhelmsen Ships Service and Cerrejón.
Based on the information analyzed on the corporate philosophy, the following characteristics of mission, vision and competencies will be presented (Table 3):
The policies and other aspects of the corporate philosophy are generally made known during the induction of new employees, who consider that aspects such as vision and mission have a direct impact on the functions and objectives of the position. However, as for the objectives, employees state that they do not know them, therefore, they do not know how they contribute to the development of these objectives.
The description given of this dimension from the corporate welfare department is informal, both in the words used within the company and the use of the means of communication, despite having a corporate email its use is not frequent as is the flow of information spontaneously, the WhatsApp messaging service is used by management, which means that the personal number of the manager is public for all employees of the company, it is worth noting that, according to the results of the interview and the questionnaire conducted the language has not changed over the years.
However, the communication towards the management and direction is based on respect, and based on the meaning of its slogan, a commitment is demanded from the management to carry out the activities, so that the employees have first of all a commitment that demands a fair and respectful treatment, which is not detrimental to the use of informal words, typical of the coastal slang that characterizes all employees.
In the maneuver work it is necessary that there is a correct flow of information between the maneuver coordinator and the operational personnel at sea, the coordination before, during and after the maneuver must be done strategically by the maneuver coordinator who must ensure that the rest of the workers are at the appropriate time and place, communication is everything in this operation and the way it is carried out before the process is informal, the citations are made by What-sApp group, during the operation a technical and concrete language is used, at the end of the maneuver it returns to be informal.
The company under study is working for the provision of services of local, national and global scope, its capital is private and its mission is to provide quality services with a select staff of professionals in various areas, highlighting their experience of over 30 years. The services offered based on information provided by the company are (Table 4):
Regarding the production of these material goods, the employee of this organization emphasizes that the main competitive advantage is the experience in the sector, and the main service that identifies them is the practical piloting, with which they consider that they have a good level of satisfaction from their customers.
The company's slogan represents the passion and respect they have for the sea, highlighting the sea as an important natural resource and demonstrates the care and study that the company has in relation to this, in its beginnings the formula seemed to be: Effort +Love + Passion +Discipline, now heart and passion is what is most promulgated in the company, this insignia comes from the experience of the founder of the company who is passionate about the sea, they accompany this maxim with the creation of value for customers which is the ultimate goal. The logo is simple, the anchor is the symbol that employees feel identifies the company, the colors that stand out at sight are blue, its shades and gold, both the logo and the slogan and aspects related to the company project are visible throughout the length and breadth of the facilities.
On the other hand, their main capital is the human capital, the personnel that integrates their plant and the services contracted with other companies is of vital importance, they always highlight the potential and experience of the professionals that work for the company. As a particular experience, when they try to integrate a person to the organization what they offer first to the candidate is an induction before signing a contract, so that the future employee has absolute freedom to choose whether to work with the organization, in this way the company ensures to establish a transparent link with its employees.
The celebrations and ceremonies that are held consist of the celebration of the birthday of each of the employees, a decoration of their workplace is made, which the employee can also decorate as he/she pleases, a sharing is made, a detail is given on behalf of everyone and also the anniversary of the company is celebrated. These celebrations are held within the company's facilities to a certain extent, since recreational, informal and sports activities are also held. It appears that these celebrations and activities have been encouraged by management, as employees point out that there are no traditions or non-formal events that are organized directly by them and that remain over time.
Among other things, it is also noted that some practices are prohibited, such as carrying or consuming drugs and alcohol in the company or during working hours and disrespectful attitudes.
In addition to the economic benefit of remuneration for the work performed, the employee occasionally receives "little markets" or personal grooming kits, lunch invitations and active breaks during the work day.
At this point we begin to identify how interpersonal relationships could be, which ac-cording to the employees' perspective, kinship relationships are "good, pleasant, and relaxed" among all, the relationships between boss and staff and vice versa are "good" and are characterized by a hierarchical formality in the treatment between people, there are no gender preferences and no subgroups are identified within the firm.
The issue of kinship relationships is defined by the guideline that affective relationships are not allowed, despite the fact that it is a family company, the people who are part of it do not have a relationship beyond the work relationship and previous friendship or that is created within the organization, the employees surveyed believe that relationships affect job performance.
Based on the questionnaire provided, it was found that there is no hierarchical distance between bosses and subordinates, relationships are quite close, there is no excess of intermediaries in daily life, although there are appropriate channels and people who facilitate the receipt of information. The obedience of subordinates to their bosses is paramount, the purpose is to comply with the rules and guidelines previously socialized, which does not prevent the participation of subordinates to make decisions that are put under consideration. Last but not least, the sources of power come mainly from the two managers of the company and are due to their knowledge and experience in the sector.
Heart and passion is the starting point for the decisions made by management in the company, policies are extremely important for decision making, and although the members of the organization are encouraged to propose ideas or give their opinion, in the end, anything that is not strictly related to the previously established policies or guidelines will be rejected, it is the bureaucratized leadership style, however, the potential and experience of the personnel is constantly high-lighted as a competitive advantage of the company.
Since the employees working at the company's administrative headquarters are new, they identify that there are no subcultures within the company; there are more relationships with some than with others due to the nature of the functions they perform on a daily basis, but since it is a relatively small group, they all interact with each other without any distinction. Therefore, they classify their culture as homogeneous and do not emphasize differences by hierarchical levels, professions, social classes or type of contract.
According to the data provided through its website, its international organization, purchasing capacity and efficient logistics are the aspects that identify its service to provide value to its customers. At the same time, employees identify that experience, service and people give the company its identity, moreover, it is considered that everything converges in the company seen with a dominant and passionate personality, as defined by the Corporate Wellness Leader.
The company is a family business and the role of leader is carried by its founder, the staff has been changing in terms of the people who compose it, some processes, products and the maxim that serves as the axis for the development of its value proposition, communication is informal although there is formality in terms of decision making, constant communication is a fundamental key to provide an adequate service and planning is very important to avoid making as many mistakes as possible, a factor in which they have been working year after year since in the beginning it was not like that.
It should also be added that English is of utmost importance, its website is de-signed in English, maneuvers and piloting is developed under a communication in that language, the management of their social networks such as Instagram is also done deliberately through publications written in English, some employees need to have a knowledge in that language, so it is identified that it is also an aspect that takes on great importance and is part of their identity.
Based on the model presented by Zapata et. al (2008), which is based on the systems theory, the corporate culture of this company in the maritime sector is summarized as a culture that is created and given by the leadership style from the operations and corporate affairs management.
During the internalization process, the company assimilates its demographic, economic, political, cultural, geographic, legal and environmental context, since the service providers, the human talent, the services they provide and their geo-graphic location condition the company to create its internal cultural proposal through the formulation of its organizational philosophy that highlights the environmental aspect, employee competencies and, of course, the legal aspect under-lying the service provided. These concepts are reflected through its logo, slogan, the symbols that characterize them, the maxims and the entire imaginary system.
This internalization process also includes the principles and values and the processes, activities and resources that are designed in the organization in this process of adjustment of its organizational environment, therefore, it requires commitment from employees with the functions of each position, respect for the external environment and its customers, made possible by the linking of competent personnel and constant feedback through its main communication channel WhatsApp.
The systemic model includes another process called externalization, which occurs through the services offered abroad directly to its customers and with which it contributes to social, economic and even environmental development in the region, is what is known as the transformation of the intangible into tangible, immaterial into material, thus, the company works internally to configure its processes and ensure a service that satisfies all parties, especially customers along with a set of strategies that allow it to establish its identity and recognition in the market. This recognition is measured with the clients that request its services: port societies, maritime agencies, authorities and transnationals with global presence and that are in charge of large projects in the country.
As in the internalization, communication is also of utmost importance here, both internal and external, as for external communication has been opening its channels, through the website they have all kinds of channels: telephone, electronic and its address is published, also through their social networks are also open to receive feedback.
Finally, social assets are deployed taking into account the leadership style and the organizational environment that identifies the members of the organization. Based on the company's organization chart, there is schematically a wide distance between the lowest and highest levels, giving an essentially vertical complexity, taking into account the three elements of vertical, horizontal and spatial differentiation (Hall, 2001). The degree of formality is not described by the organization chart, in this case, based on the results obtained from the primary sources, it is informal in terms of communication, the means used for it, the conformation of work teams, the flexibility in terms of being open to encourage employee participation in making certain decisions, the type of bureaucratic leadership largely defines this system.
The work applied in a company of the maritime services sector in the city of Cartagena, evidences in first instance the interest of the management and the academic community in the subject of corporate culture and its characteristics; like-wise, the results obtained in the research provide valuable information that demonstrates how organizational culture is a very useful strategic tool for management.
Regarding the first dimension, history, the company is a family company that has faced situations that have put it at risk of bankruptcy; however, perseverance and passion for the service they provide have allowed the owners to continue with the project. The company has faced structural changes even in its product portfolio.
On the other hand, the language is informal, words typical of coastal slang are used on a daily basis, communication is also carried out through instant messaging channels such as WhatsApp, even from management, not meaning that it is detrimental to respect and commitment. Regarding the production systems of goods, the material ones are made up of the services provided by the company as part of the maritime services sector, some such as practical pilotage, maritime inspections, mooring service, training among others, the immaterial ones on the other hand, are represented by its logo and slogan keeping a coherence and concordance between both regarding the meaning and that makes the employees feel identified, being its human capital seen as the most important resource.
Interpersonal and familial connections are delineated by their positive disposition, devoid of any gender biases or subgroups. Relationships extending beyond friendship among employees are regulated. Simultaneously, power dynamics are constructed upon the principles of deference and loyalty between supervisors and subordinates.
The identity of the company works in favor of the philosophical or strategic aspects that have been defined by its founder and manager, who, in this case has a predominant role, however, is not attributed the absolute control of it, since it al-lows to integrate, motivate and exchange with the external environment, the identity is constantly under construction and the interaction with the external environment is key to continue developing as a company.
