Darleen Cervera, David Spann, Virginia Waugaman, William Anderson
MMPBL 502
August 16, 2010
Thomas A Graham
Organizational Behavior Kudler Fine Foods is a chain of upscale epicurean food shops located in San Diego, California. It was founded in 1998 by Kathy Kudler in response to her personal frustrations about the lack of a convenient, one-stop shop for gourmet cooks. The first store opened in La Jolla and was greeted with immediate success. Since then Kudler Fine Foods has expanded to include three different locations in the San Diego metropolitan area and has even more growth plans set in place. This paper will examine the apparent culture at Kudler Fine Foods as well as the organizational structure. We will also examine and analyze Kudler Fine Foods organizational performances which can be traced to the leadership style evidentially reflected in the employee motivation at Kudler and discuss what things are happening external to the organization that may drive change at Kudler.
Culture
Culture is a concept that every being in existence possesses. Culture goes far beyond that of individual; culture is an ever present and an ever changing concept within the realm of Corporate America. This type of business, as well as who is in charge of overseeing the business helps to determine the organizational culture. Organizational culture is a collection of shared values, ideals, beliefs and morals that help to conjoin the members within the organization. The culture within each business affects the employees’ attitudes toward the company (Balkin & Gomez – Mejia, 2002). Organizational culture exists on various levels. The levels of organizational culture are: visible culture, espoused values and core beliefs. Visible culture is considered to be a tangible concept. Visible culture encompasses, but is not limited to what is heard, felt and seen. Espoused values are values that are not as easily identified as the elements within
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