Bottom of Form

The culture of an organization is evident through its artifacts such as its values and norms, company logos and other primary underlying assumptions. This includes all formal and informal processes, and nature of internal interactions. At Merck, mutual respect prevails and employees are encouraged and supported to meet the company’s goals while developing their skills. Employees are trusted with decision-making in the absence of their superiors.

The company mission statement, values, standards, integrity and ethics form part of its culture. The mission statement of Merck’s reads: To provide innovative, distinctive products and services that save and improve lives and satisfy customer need, to be recognized as a great place to work and to provide investors with a superior rate of return (Merck Co. Inc p.21-25). From this mission statement, it is evident that Merck has embraced employee contribution to the company. The compliance office at Merck serves to ensure that the company is in compliance with the global standards.

Merck’s organizational culture comes out as salad bowl’ since it has embraced diversity. Employees are of different ages, races, gender, ethnicity, physical ability and sexual orientation (Schermerhorn et al p. 11).  This diversity is used in a positive way to boost productivity. Different strategies have been put in place to ensure this is achieved. Employee resource groups and constituency groups have been formed. The constituency groups are made up of members from different areas of the globe, with different cultures, professions and religions. These work together for the success of the company.

Different modes of communication are embraced at Merck. Both verbal and written communication forms are employed in disseminating messages in the company.  Depending on the urgency of information, different communication modes are employed. These include; meetings, use of notice boards, circulars and brochures, emails, company websites and brainstorming sessions. The communication is always and it helps retain company culture.

In order to ensure effective management of a company, managers must have strong leadership skills, communication skills, people skills, and exhibit strong management. In Merck, the nature of leadership is hierarchical as authority and power flows from the topmost positions downwards. However, democratic leadership is practiced as employees are given opportunities to participate in company leadership. This includes employees’ inclusion in decision-making process. However, employees in disputes are to report their complaints to their supervisors or the Human Resources representative.

Employees afraid of supervisors and the HR representative are allowed to forward their issues to the office of ethics. A code of conduct of this company applies to all employees as well as the directors who all hold responsibilities. It encompasses all the ethical procedures to be followed in decision-making. This makes employees feel they also count as they can make decisions too.

Merck Company has embraced transparency in its leadership as it has an effective corporate structure of governance. Its Chief Executive Officer is appointed by a board that also determines their remuneration. The board is headed by a chairman and all employees can access the audit committee. Whistle blowers protection policies are also part of this company. This way, employees have confidence in the authority of the company. This kind of governance has got the employees at heart and deems them an asset.

Sources of motivation vary in individuals; nonetheless, companies should seek to motivate their employees in order to increase productivity. In Merck, motivation of employees has been entrenched in the company culture. Goals have been set for employees and team work on various projects is highly encouraged. Continuous training for employees is given for improvement of skills. There are incentives, rewards and promotions for those who show progressive performance. Pay rises is also used for motivating employees. The privacy of employees is also safeguarded through the compliance officer and this is a respectful act to them. Employees are an asset to Merck, which is why they are treated special (Merck Co. Inc p.29-34).

Employees in this company are faced with decision-making responsibilities. They therefore have to improve their decision-making skills by understanding their emotional quotient. The company encourages them to do this personally while it shows some efforts through seminars and sessions with guest speakers on the same. Employees’ awareness of their emotions influences a company’s productivity. They have to asses their interpersonal and intrapersonal emotions such as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, social skills and empathy. Emotional training workshops are held for employees as well as guest speakers who train employees on the same.

Merck has to some extent embraced components of virtual organization even though it is not a virtual organization. For instance, in 2009, an alternative to physical meetings was sought. Virtual meeting software was then realized and has been in use since then. Virtual conferences, symposiums are now held thanks to this software. This has greatly saved on time and travel costs. It however is still experimenting with this software to determine its viability for wider corporate meetings (Merck Co. Inc p.31-34).

In conclusion, companies should make a habit of analyzing their organizational behavior as this is key to evaluating their effectiveness. This will show how weak or strong their performance is, and what needs to be corrected in future for best performance. 

Works cited

Judge, Timothy A & Robbins, Stephen A. Organizational Behavior’. Twelfth

Edition. Prentice Hall. (2009).

Merck. Corporate Responsibility. Merck Shart & Dohme Corp., Merck & Co., Inc., 2009.

Web. 4 Oct. 2012. <http://www.merckresponsibility.com/>.

Schermerhorn, J., Hunt, J., & Osborn, R. Organizational Behavior 10th ed. (2008).