1. Introduction Problem statement Delimitation Research motivation...8

1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................2 1.1 Problem st...
Author: Cecil Long
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1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................2 1.1 Problem statement .....................................................................................................5 1.2 Delimitation ................................................................................................................6 1.3. Research motivation..................................................................................................8 2. Scientific Method .............................................................................................................9 2.1 Paradigms ..................................................................................................................9 2.2 Methodology.............................................................................................................13 3. Theoretical framework ...................................................................................................14 3.1 Employer Branding...................................................................................................15 3.2 Human Resource Management ...............................................................................20 3.2.1 Recruitment .......................................................................................................24 3.3 Culture......................................................................................................................27 3.4 Values ......................................................................................................................33 4. Vision, Mission & Values of Mercer ...............................................................................39 5. Research method ..........................................................................................................42 5.1 Content analysis.......................................................................................................43 6. Research design ............................................................................................................44 6.1 Internal questionnaires .............................................................................................45 6.2 External questionnaire..............................................................................................46 6.3 Sampling ..................................................................................................................49 6.4 The credibility of research findings ...........................................................................51 6.5 Secondary data collection ........................................................................................52 7. Research findings ..........................................................................................................54 7.1 Organizational culture ..............................................................................................54 7.2 Organizational values...............................................................................................56 8. Discussion of findings ....................................................................................................76 9. Conclusion .....................................................................................................................88 10. Future research ...........................................................................................................94 11. Bibliography .................................................................................................................97

Appendices are available on the enclosed CD. Total number of characters: 152.660

THE VALUE OF VALUES

1. Introduction The challenges an organization faces today include amongst others the great possibilities and dangerous hazards of the global economy. The environment surrounding publicly held organizations is a turbulent one and many organizations face the challenge of rebuilding credibility and trust after a period of time with financial crises, shareholder lawsuits, financial reporting scandals, and a general call for more transparency. Development in technology contributes further to the turbulence in the environment as it enables new products and new ways of delivering service (Cheney: 2004, Wilkinson et al.: 2009). Yet increasingly, organizations are recognizing the importance of their intellectual property and their knowledge workers, and the need to engage and retain talent (Thorne & Pellant: 2007).

According to Cowling & Mailer (1998) one issue dominates the subconscious thinking of organizations: survival; In order for organizations to survive they must be successful. Survival and success dominate the thinking of chief executives, top management, and strategic planners1. Discussions regarding the link between human resource and strategy have long been evolving. From as far back as the industrial revolution, managing human resources was seen as the most costly and uncontrollable activity of the organization (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). Later, with the complexities of global competition, diversification, and total quality management, HR management has emerged to become something which must be consistent across the organization and aligned with the strategy. More recently, with the increase of highly dispersed and diversified workforces, scholars have tried to understand how HR is coterminous and even formative for an organization’s strategy. A human resource strategy can be developed as a matching process, concerned with the manner and extend to which the stock of manpower should be varied to match predicted changes in the environment, and integrated continuously into corporate strategies. The beliefs and practices called for in a strategy may be compatible with an organization’s culture or not. When they are not, the organization usually finds it difficult to implement the strategy successfully (Kotter & Heskett: 1992) but when they are the organization can 1

‘Strategy’ is a concept borrowed from the military, where it denotes the art of war, and hence military survival. In business it denotes the art of economic survival but strategy is more commonly experienced as the logic for how to achieve movements in some direction

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experience the development of a strong employer brand that in it self attracts new employees.

As businesses recognize the opportunities that strategic HR can bring and as they are embracing the scope of employer branding activities, they recognize that the world they confront presents a growing array of demands and pressures. These are no longer signaled through markets or the traditional political processes on which they have relied on for so long (Roome: 2005). Market place competitiveness2 is essential for business survival and, in the long term, most organizations must aim for growth, whether in domestic or foreign markets, to survive. Businesses are increasingly being transacted across national boundaries within a highly competitive global context (Mikkelsen: 2005). The ‘empires’ of today’s global markets differ significantly form the traditional colonial empires and in today’s turbulent times, preparing and living with the unknown is a common challenge. This trend has according to Cowling & Mailer (1998) been reinforced by the expansion of trade within the European Union, and it is no longer only the large and wellknown organizations which are having to face up to the new human resource management implications of becoming more global. This development has placed the issue of cultural differences much higher on the organizational agenda and there is clear evidence that an increasing number of organizations must deal with cultural issues (Brooks: 2006).

Within the service sector, finance, insurance, and business services account for about 60% of all employment created in the industrialized economies over the past decade3 (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). Thus it can be argued that human resource management and employer branding are more important for achieving strong performance outcomes in the service sector than elsewhere due to the direct customer/provider interaction. In today’s business environment, an organization’s reputation has become one of its most valuable assets and employer branding is integral in building a strong reputation. As businesses struggle to remain competitive in a global environment characterized by change, it is becoming increasingly evident that employer branding has achieved a new level of importance in the lives of many organizations. The employer branding department of an 2

on price, cost, value, quality, and innovation Community, social and personal services, including health and education, account for the remaining 40% (Wilkinson et al.: 2009)

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organization can help facilitate a competitive advantage through reducing competitive pressure. This is done by becoming uniquely attractive to key talent which makes it harder for other organization to compete. In particular, developing employer brands can be one of the ways in which organizations can ensure a consistent supply of talent. ‘Talent’ and the ability to engage talent to produce ‘high performance’ are buzz-words which can be found in organizations in every industry, reflecting the growing awareness of the importance of being able to attract, manage, and retain the right employees (Holbeche: 2009).

Value based organizations are generally more successful than the average organization and surveys suggest that amongst the 100 most successful American organizations, 90% have clearly defined values (van Hauen et al.: 1997). Though a similar survey has not been conducted for Danish organizations yet, it can be argued that the same to some extend applies to large, successful organizations as diverse as Maersk, Danske Bank and Arla where values are an important, integrated part of the organization4. However, it is not just the large Danish organizations that can benefit from clearly defined values: as employees are becoming more and more demanding of the attributes of their employer, it will be beneficial to virtually every organization to develop a strong employer brand based on organizational values. Managing an employer brand through the use of HR processes can be difficult regardless of the business the organization operates in but managing a business within the field of human resource consulting itself can be even more difficult for example due to the broad range of stakeholders. Especially the potential employees are of great interest to any organization that wishes to perform well in the challenging business environment and the war for talent. Renewing and retaining the stock of human resources are a primary task for organizations, and include all the considerations and activities involved in the sequence of attracting, selecting, and starting new employees, and retaining the best. With reduced resources available, every organization is competing for the same people and today’s younger employees are much more mobile than previous generations (Thorne & Pellant: 2007). In fact, a report published on July 14 2011 from the Institute of Leadership and Management in collaboration with Ashridge Business School reveals that 57% of new graduate recruits plan to leave their current position within two 4

Maersk’s values are: Constant care, humbleness, uprightness, our employees, our name (www.maersk.com) Danske Bank’s values are: competence, orderliness, value creation, engagement, accessibility (www.danskebank.dk) Arla’s values are: Lead, sense, create (www.arla.dk)

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years5. Thus, a strong employer brand and additional organizational benefits are crucial for winning the war for talent. Penny de Valk, Chief Executive at the Institute of Leadership and Management, commented in connection with the report that recent graduates are highly ambitious and are looking for a rapid career progression. Research suggests further that most global organizations are encountering staffing problems in emerging markets, and they are also having a difficult time finding talented younger managers to replace baby boom retirees (Fernández-Aráoz et al: 2009).

The American organization Mercer is a world leader within the field of human resource consulting, outsourcing and investment services. In Denmark, the focus of the organization is primarily on insurance and pension guidance. On July 6 2011, Mercer was named European Pension Consultant of the year at the European Pension Awards. The award recognizes Mercer’s service and commitment to pension fund clients, delivery of pension consultancy and general understanding of the market’s needs. Francesca Fabrizi, Editorin-Chief at Perspective Publishing’s European Pensions and Pensions Age magazines, said that Mercer was selected: “for its clear dedication to excellence when it comes to client service, its recognition of the importance risk management plays in today’s pensions environment and its tireless commitment to remaining innovative across a broad range of disciplines” (www.mercer.com/press-releases/1420160).

1.1 Problem statement On the basis of employer branding theory it will be determined how corporate values can position an organization when fighting the war for talented employees. In order to highlight the potential significance of organizational values it will be investigated how potential employees amongst the graduate segment categorize the Mercer values. Based on a combination of quantitative research and theory it will be determined if it is in accordance with the culture of Mercer Denmark.

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For the full article about the survey, please refer to the online article: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1019781/graduates-itching-survey

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The design of this research project is set up to meet King et al.’s criteria of an important topic that has been overlooked in the literature and will contribute a systematic study of the area of employer branding. (King et al.: 1994). Thus, from a functionalistic perspective the use of values within Mercer will be investigated through a frame of organizational behavior theory. Through the use of employer branding theory it will be investigated how organizations can benefit from having clearly defined values as it is expected that most companies today strive to become even better at attracting the most talented employees. A survey conducted amongst graduates relevant for the field of business of Mercer will provide valuable information about how graduates categorize the values of Mercer and if this is in accordance with CEO of Mercer Denmark, Finn Rasmussen’, categorization of the culture and the values. By conducting this research, it will be possible to further develop the existing theory on especially the use of values in an organizational context in order to gain a stronger employer brand. This research project is divided into two main parts. Part one deals with the background knowledge for conducting the research and includes the sections of: Introduction; Scientific Method; Theoretical background; Vision, mission and values of Mercer; and Research method. Part two uses the knowledge gained in part one to investigate the findings and make conclusions. This part consists of: Research findings; Discussion of findings; Conclusion; and Future research.

1.2 Delimitation Cowling & Mailer (1998) state that human resource management is dynamic and contextspecific. Global HRM is not one theory, system or prescriptive approach to managing people, which can be applied globally. Each country and industry will have its own characteristics and thus its own HRM style and as the findings in this research project are very context based, the findings do therefore not represent a new best practice to be applied globally. They cannot be applied to all businesses but are specifically created based on the business of Mercer. However, the method developed for comparing the culture and the internal and external perception of the values can be applied to other businesses.

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Seeing that Mercer is an American organization working in Denmark, the context of the values cannot be neglected and must be kept in mind though no comparison of national values is conducted. According to Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimension, differences do exist between the two countries. The dimensions can provide deeper insight into the understanding of the differences in values, however, the dimensions will not be applied directly to the analysis, but serve as an underlying knowledge of cultural differences. See Appendix 01 for the cultural dimensions of the two countries.

Successful organizations are often recognized for the clear image they posses of the common goals and enthusiastic employees who share visions and values (Scott et al.:1993). Shared vision, mission, and values comprise the core of the identity of the organization and the vision can be said to emphasize the organizational values and focus of the mission. However, despite the interconnectedness between vision, mission, and values, only the values will be the focus of this research project though the connection must not be neglected. In addition, Mercer is a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies and thus it could have been of interest to investigate the vision, mission and values of that organization as well, however, as the Danish department of Mercer does not deal with Marsh & McLennan Companies on a daily basis, this has been deselected.

To gain further insight into the general work of Mercer, contact was made with the organization through various social media. Seeing that social media is used by many graduates to gain insight into organizations and potential future employers, it was determined that these channels of communication should also be reviewed though no deep analysis of the use of social media is conducted. As Mercer Denmark does not use social media as part of their external communication, the global Facebook page of Mercer Insights is used. In order to gain a slightly more professional insight of Mercer, the official webpage on Twitter is followed and to fully understand the use of social media at Mercer, connection to the Mercer LinkedIn profile has been established. Through these three channels, Mercer communicates about their surveys and findings and general topics related to their field of business, but as no localized strategy is made for the use of social media in Mercer Denmark the relevance of it will not be commented on.

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As the research for this project is conducted primarily through the use of quantitative research, namely questionnaires, it would have been appropriate to use statistical analysis when evaluating the findings. However, the fact that the researcher does not posses skills within this field and that the survey can be seen primarily as a content analysis through the use of a questionnaire, no great statistical analysis will be applied. The use of percentages is deemed to be sufficient in this research project as they do communicate well what respondents find relevant.

1.3. Research motivation All research questions must ideally satisfy two criteria. First, a research project should pose a question that is ‘important’ in the real world. Second, a research project should make a scientific contribution to a particular scholarly literature (King et al.: 1994). When conducting a research project as part of a master’s thesis program, students do tend to forget the real world and in order to provide this specific research project with a natural setting, empirical data from Mercer will be applied. This will ensure that no research conducted is irrelevant. Whether the research is ‘important’ is socially determined as not everything is experienced as important everywhere. Within the field of corporate communication, employer branding and human resource practices are highly relevant as they can serve as an underlying supportive function within the organization but also as an external communicator. Therefore the importance of the subject can in this circumstance not be neglected. The criteria of practical applicability to the real world and contribution to scientific progress may seem opposed to one another when a researcher chooses a topic. Some researchers will begin with a real world problem that is of great social significance; others may start with an intellectual problem generated by the social science literature. Wherever it begins, the process of designing research to answer a specific question should move toward the satisfaction of the two criteria as argued by King and colleagues (1994). As previously stated, this research project is grounded in a natural business environment and begins thus with a real world problem. The fact that Mercer is also very interested in the topic of this research project provides further motivation for the research as the relevance for the organization must never be neglected in order to provide the strongest research possible.

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In addition, the mix between marketing related strategies and human resource management creates an interesting field where the employer branding departments can take charge of and have a greater say in corporate strategy. Employer branding has been developing rapidly in recent years and several consultant organizations offering employer branding services have emerged. Therefore it is only natural to try to evaluate and refine the way in which organizations undertake employer branding. The recruitment process must in this research project be experienced as an add-on to employer branding theories as they are know today.

2. Scientific Method In conducting research as part of an academic report, it is of extreme importance to consider the scientific traditions at hand in order to structure the production of knowledge. Within science, knowledge is often claimed to be individually dependent and knowledge creation is thus connected to the personal understanding of the researcher. Consequently, dissimilar assumptions give rise to different beliefs, and thus a wide range of scientific fundaments as well as methodological choices. As a researcher, it is important to reflect upon the consequences and affects of the specific view as it will influence the research method and the findings (Nygaard: 2005). With basis in Guba’s understanding, what a paradigm is will be described in the following before the concepts of ontological and epistemological assumptions will be described.

2.1 Paradigms Paradigms were introduced in 1962 by Thomas Kuhn in his work The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Many definitions of paradigms exist but researchers have not managed to agree on one6 and as Guba (1998) comments, even the founder of the

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The fact that consensus on one definition does not exist is not necessarily a negative since many research areas have not been defined either; for example culture and organizations.

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concept of paradigms, Thomas Kuhn, applied several different definitions in his research, though he in this first publication defines paradigms as:

“Universally recognized scientific achievements that for a time provide model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners.” (Kuhn: 1963: x)

However, in order to determine the scope of a paradigm in this research project, Guba’s definition will be used:

“A basic set of beliefs that guides action, whether of the everyday garden variety or action taken in connection with a disciplined inquiry” (Guba: 1998: 17)

Thus, in this research project, a paradigm is understood as a system of thinking. It includes basic assumptions, important questions to be answered, and examples of what good scientific research looks like.

According to Guba, four different paradigms exist: 1. the positivistic paradigm 2. the post- positivistic paradigm 3. the critical paradigm 4. the constructivist paradigm

These four paradigms differ in the way they answer the three basic questions about how to perceive reality. The paradigm is the answer to the question whereas ontology, epistemology, and methodology all answer questions about the reality

Ontology: what is reality? Epistemology: how is the reality of the question realized? Methodology: how is the reality researched?

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The order of the three questions is not accidental. The ontological question serves as the foundation and basis and thus it influences the way in which the remaining questions are answered as the view upon reality will effect how the reality is realized (epistemology) and researched (methodology). Each of the four paradigms is consistent within itself when answering the three questions and thus a logical connection exists between the three levels. In order to validate the choices made for this research project, the importance of the four different paradigms will be described briefly before a paradigm can be selected.

Positivism Classical positivism is said to be developed through the philosophical works of Auguste Comte and was based on an open approach to data. Due to the context in which Comte developed his thoughts, the period of Enlightenment, paired with his own beliefs, his work became based on experiencing the world as it is (Bryant: 1985). In its strongest original formulation, the positivistic approach argues that the logic of inquiry is the same across all sciences, both social and natural science. Most positivists would also argue that the ultimate goal of research is to develop a law of general understanding, as knowledge is found in particular observations and can be extended to general beliefs if they can be confirmed (Hollis: 1994). Furthermore, scientific knowledge is verifiable and all research must be proved through empirical means, not just arguments. Hence, common sense must not bias a research project including the relation of theory to practice where research should be as value-neutral as possible (Philips: 1993). This has often been parodied as “if it cannot be seen or measured, it is not meaningful to talk about” and though this portrays a rather negative image of the paradigm it can still serve as the foundation for many research projects today. However, positivism in its many variations has been in decline within the philosophy of science for several years (Caldwell: 1994) and especially the Austrian philosopher Karl Popper countered the claims of positivism although he agreed with much of the positivistic way of thinking. Popper developed the approach and turned the paradigm into a subject of critical rationalism centered on falsification and deduction (Popper: 1975).

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Post-positivism Post-positivism is a development of the traditional positivism with the same basic understanding of reality; post-positivists agree with the positivistic assumption that a reality exists. They differ, however, in the extend to which researchers can discover the truth and the knowledge of reality. This reveals itself in a more critical attitude towards the concept of complete objectivity as post-positivism argues that researchers are not capable of separating themselves from their attitudes and beliefs (Nygaard: 2005). Thus, postpositivists aim at becoming as objective as possible and to uncover the ideal, though they are aware that it is not possible. The post-positivists have developed the positivistic methodology in the way that they conduct research in a more natural setting as opposed to the more strict methods of the positivistic view. By doing so, it is assumed that the reality itself much serve as the foundation for research when in fact searching for the reality. This has, however, been criticized as it then becomes more difficult to remain objective and to avoid influencing and being influenced by the observed.

Critical theory The critical theory is focused on ideology, values, and politics and emphasizes that the reality is value-based due to the fact that the perception of the world cannot be separated from the values (Nygaard: 2005). Thus, the epistemology becomes subjective as the personal values are relevant for the relationship between the researcher and the researched. In the critical theory, this relationship aims to develop a better world with a true understanding as the critical theory is based on true and false assumptions. The true assumptions are the reality which can be uncovered, whereas the false assumptions are misunderstandings of the reality, which does not reveal how the world is. Thus the critical theory aims to replace the false assumptions with the true assumptions in order to create a better world. This is obtained through the use of a dialogue based methodology and it is through dialogue that people become aware of their false assumptions which must be replaced by the true assumptions. The critical paradigm differs from other paradigms not as much in the research techniques but more in how they approach a research problem, the questions asked, and their purpose for conducting research (Neuman: 1997)

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Constructivism Where the positivists search for the truth about the reality, the constructivists do not believe that this can be uncovered because the reality is constructed by people (Nygaard: 2005). The reality does therefore not exist and cannot be completely uncovered because the reality consists of many different assumptions. Assumptions are subjective, and thus the epistemology becomes subjective where the researcher and the researched cannot be separated. The researcher cannot avoid being influenced by, interact with, and influence the researched. The close relationship between the researcher and the researched results in no separation between emotions, values and the science as science includes these.

Based on the evaluation of the four paradigms, it is determined that the post-positivistic view serves as the foundation for this research project. As this research project belongs to a post-positivistic paradigm it will influence the view of the research conducted and an objective epistemology is pursued. It is believed that it is possible to remain objective as a researcher if thorough analysis is conducted and thus no personal opinions and beliefs about organizational values are included. Though it could be argued that this stance belongs to the positivistic paradigm, it is not believed that one objective truth can be obtained through falsification. Post-positivism is an amendment to positivism that recognizes the critique of traditional positivism.

2.2 Methodology The term methodology is used to describe several aspects of a research project; the design, procedures for data, methods for data analysis, and details of the specific treatment (Neuman: 1997). The extent to which a researcher is clear about the theory at the beginning of the research raises an important question concerning the design of a research project. This is whether the research should use the deductive approach, where a theory is developed and a research strategy is designed to test the theory, or the inductive approach, where the researcher collects data and develops theory as a result of the data analysis. As the theory on organizational values in connection with employer branding will be developed through this analysis, an inductive approach is undertaken.

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It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that one research approach is ‘better’ than another. This would miss the point as they are better at doing different things. As always, which is better depends on the research question the researcher is seeking to answer and what form of knowledge one is interested in. Being both a researcher and a graduate, it will be difficult to completely separate the two and as a researcher this preconception must always be kept in mind as the view of a researcher must be as objective as possible. Furthermore, the fact that a personal association existed between the researcher and the CEO of Mercer prior to the research project, the aspect of being objective becomes even more important as no previous assumptions should be included in the research according to the post-positivistic view. In order to obtain an objective perspective, surveys are conducted as part of this research. The benefits of using surveys will be described in further detail in Section 5, but it can be established that quantitative methods are often identified with positivism and post-positivism and the qualitative identified with interpretative and critical research (Mikkelsen: 2005). Due to its objective nature, postpositivism often conducts quantitative research methods to reach objectivity. Quantitative research methods can distance the researcher from the data and thus allows for a neutral and objective description of the data, eliminating the researcher’s subjective opinion.

3. Theoretical framework In order to frame the research project, several aspects of organizational behavior must be explained. As the project is based on employer branding a review of the concept will begin the theoretical framework. In order to support the employer branding of the organization, human resource management and recruitment are included as they are viewed as two separate but highly interlinked parts of employer branding though they will not serve as the foundation for this research. The framework of employer branding will primarily be based on literature dating from year 2001 and forward as the field is relatively new. The thoughts of especially Minchington (2006) and Barrow & Mosley (2006) will serve as the foundation but will be supported by other scholars as well. The concept of human resource including recruitment will primarily be described through the thoughts presented in the SAGE Handbook of Human Resource Management by Wilkinson et al. (2009), however, other theories are brought in as well.

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Finally, the culture and the values of an organization are dealt with in order to provide the basis for an analysis of how Mercer’s values are categorized by the graduate segment. The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument as presented by Cameron & Quinn (1999) will provide the main frame for analysis of organizational culture. Their Competing Values Framework (2006) will provide the knowledge for analyzing the Mercer values. This will be supported through the use of other dominant scholars for example Cowling & Mailer’s (1998) framework for distinguishing values.

3.1 Employer Branding Employer branding is a relatively new field, both academically and professionally and is being embraced as an important strategic tool for leaders in organizations of all sizes. Until the late twentieth century most people associated the term branding with consumer goods and services (Barrow & Mosley: 2006). The more traditional classical marketing related branding takes its point of departure in a market oriented perspective and deals with how to market products or services to the customer (Michaels et al.: 2001). The term employer brand was first used in the 1990’s to denote an organization’s reputation as an employer (Minchington: 2006). Since then, it has become widely adopted by the global management community. The term employer brand was first publicly introduced to a management audience by Simon Barrow and Tim Ambler in the Journal of Brand Management in December 1996 (Mosley: 2007). Within this paper, Simon Barrow and Tim Ambler defined the employer brand as:

“the package of functional, economic and psychological benefits provided by employment, and identified with the employing company” (Barrow & Ambler: Cited in: Barrow & Mosley: 2006: xvi).

Recognizing the importance of Barrow and Ambler’s work on employer branding, their initial definition cannot be neglected, however, more recent definitions can successfully be applied in order to obtain a more current picture of the field of employer branding. Minchington, for example, defines employer branding as:

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“concerned with building an image in the minds of current employees and the potential labour market that the company, above all others, is a ‘great place to work” (Minchington: 2006: 21).

This definition includes the concept of image and hence identity that are to be considered highly important for organizations in today’s globalized environment. Wilkinson et al. argue in a more recent statement that employer branding involves:

“promoting, both within and outside the firm, a clear view of what makes a firm different and desirable as an employer” (Wilkinson et al.: 2009: 138).

This definition refers back to the more traditional perception of branding as a marketing related tool for organizations to differentiate themselves that is also experienced in a more classical branding environment. To conclude the circle of definitions of employer branding the main role of an employer brand is experienced by Barrow & Ambler as

“to provide a coherent framework for management to simplify and focus priorities, increase productivity and improve recruitment, retention and commitment” (Barrow & Ambler: Cited in: Barrow & Mosley: 2006: xvi).

Based on these definitions of the scope of employer branding, a new definition is developed in order describe the view upon employer branding in this research project. Employer branding is:

The sum of an organization’s strategic efforts to communicate to current and potential employees what makes it a desirable place to work

Thus, the activities related to employer branding within an organization can be experienced as:

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Concerned with the image of an employer amongst its current and potential employees created through the organization’s communication.

As it is evident from the different definitions of employer branding, the term is now used widely and employer branding cannot be seen as just a marketing or corporate communication function as support from employees at all levels in an organization is required to create and sustain a strong employer brand (Minchington: 2006). Employer branding is thus the way in which organizations position themselves externally as well as internally as argued by Wilkinson et al. (2009) and binds together the human resource, marketing, and internal and external communication functions of the organization. Thus, whilst an organization projects its image through its communication, the employer brand lies much deeper than this. In order to move beyond the classical branding tools, both product and corporate, organizations must not only focus on products and services but also on the competition for the right employees. Organizations have since the term ‘employer brand’ was introduced, been realizing that directly, or indirectly, people, not products, deliver most brand value to an organization, as people are the only resource that can put financial, physical, and technological resources to best use (Cowling & Mailer: 1998). Employees are therefore the driver for modern business by creating products and services which can satisfy the customers’ needs. In order to obtain the highest standards, there can be no substitute for carefully planned recruitment procedures, scientifically based selection methods, and positive employment policies which motivate and retain high performers (Cowling & Mailer: 1998).

Developing an employer brand strategy is fast becoming a popular approach for organizations striving to achieve sustainable competitive advantage by differentiating their employment from their competitors (Minchington: 2006). In a period of time where knowledge, commitment, and loyalty of employees are amongst the main competitive tools, no organization can afford to ignore the significance of attracting, engaging, and retaining committed personnel. The emotional engagement of employees is currently a hot topic in the business environment, and the benefits associated with employer brands are just as important for organizational employer branding as they are to branded products and services (Barrow & Mosley: 2006). In terms of brand management, an aspirational

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goal for every organization should be that the people brand matches their corporate and marketing brand.

It is clear that potential employees consider the image of an organization an important factor for evaluating potential employers (Wilkinson et al.: 2009, Minchington: 2006). In fact, according to Wilkinson and colleagues (2009), applicants are generally more attracted to organizations that have name or brand recognition. Employees’ emotional attachment to their employer tends to be driven by the value they gain from the total work experience. This includes the satisfaction they obtain from the tasks they perform, the extend to which they feel valued by their colleagues, and their belief in the quality, purpose, and values of the organization (Barrow & Mosley: 2006). Recruiting and retaining the right employees are in this connection important due to several factors. First, in global markets where many competitive advantages are easy to imitate, organizations can find it difficult to differentiate themselves from their competitors. The classical four marketing P’s (product, price, place, and promotion) are no longer sustainable sources for differentiation. What differentiates an organization today is its personality and employees’ behavior, attitudes, values (Minchington: 2006). This will have particular relevance on the way organizations promote themselves in the recruitment marketplace as a strong employer brand with the right target group can ultimately lower the costs of recruitment and enable organizations to recruit more efficiently (Minchington: 2006, Thorne & Pellant: 2007). This entails that the organization must be focused on understanding the perceptions and actions of the internal as well as external stakeholders in order to target the branding of the organization towards the appropriate audience.

The interest in employer branding has grown due to the fact that the competition for recruiting talented new employees became fiercer. The baby boom generation is to retire in the coming years, and fewer young talents are to fill the positions. It has therefore become more and more difficult for organizations to recruit the right talent and graduates are becoming more and more important. Because it is mainly people who can achieve success or failure, the success of an organization is essentially determined by the caliber of its recruits and by the effectiveness of its recruitment and selection policies. Individuals are increasingly thinking far more seriously about aligning their values to an organization’s

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values, and during recruitment they will also look at what an organization can offer them as well as what they can offer an organization (Thorne & Pellant: 2007). According to a recent study published in The HR Magazine, organizations with a weak employer brand lose 64% of the recruitment market7. The research involved 12,411 participants and asked if the respondent had applied for a job in a company he or she knew little about. 60% confirmed they had, but when asked “Did you really want the job?” 64% answered ‘no’. This means only 36% of the respondents sincerely applied for a job in a company they knew little about. According to Kristian Madsen, CEO of Bookboon “People prefer working for a company they know, and a company which is known by friends and family” (HR Magazine, July 11 2011). He argues that this is due to both personal pride and trust in the financial stability of the organization. Human resource management and recruitment are thus two highly interconnected items of employer branding and they are both dealt with separately in the two following sections.

If an organization is setting out to strengthening its employer brand it is important to understand not only the immediate climate of employee opinion, but also the longer term culture of the organization (Barrow & Mosley: 2006). The organization’s culture and values are noted as the main elements of the employer brand to be communicated and many employers also use their employer brand to promote their career and development opportunities (Holbeche: 2009). Culture, like personality, is often difficult to define precisely because it describes general patterns and tendencies rather than a reliable objective reality. Nevertheless, like brand personality, the notion of organizational culture can be very useful in analyzing how people generally perceive the organization. Thus, the organizational culture of an organization must be evaluated in order to determine the foundation for the employer brand. How to analyze the culture of an organization will be dealt with in Section 3.3 prior to elaborating on the organizational values. The values of an organization are deemed highly relevant as they can be experienced as an expression of the culture of a given organization. Organizational values are described in detail in Section 3.4.

7

For the entire article on the importance of employer branding, please refer to the online version: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1019759/weak-employer-brand-costs-recruiters-thirds-jobseeker-market

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3.2 Human Resource Management The field of strategic human resource management (HRM) has enjoyed a remarkable dominance over the last two decades, as both an academic literature and focus of management practice (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). The history and evolution of HRM emphasize its longstanding concern with a human focus. Historically, this focus placed a strong emphasis on employee rights and needs and employee wellbeing in general. This focus was especially evident in early developments within the areas of occupational health and safety and grievance management in particular. In the middle of the 20th century the personnel department started to gain a larger share in organizations and the administrative functions such as payroll and record keeping were largely a feature of the personnel department (Davis: 2007). The rapid spread of computing technology in the 1960’s generated a new dimension for the personnel department and the idea of a strategic HRM function replaced personnel management. This was partly due the perception that more competitive environments required management of employees to be more fully integrated into overall organizational strategies (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). The underlying motivation was to move from fixed to variable costs in which smaller core teams would buy externally supplied services when required, thereby reducing the size of fixed-cost elements in the organization (Davis: 2007). More recently this focus is reflected in broad debates about work design, work-life balance, and equality and diversity. According to Wilkinson et al. the human resource management of today:

“focuses on managing the employment relationship” (Wilkinson et al.; 2009: 4)

This definition includes all functions related to the employment relationship within an organization, not just the job specific content of employment. Holbeche argues further that

“HR has the potential to build organizational capabilities, such as the ability to innovate, improve customer relationships, move swiftly to market, which all lead to sustainable value” (Holbeche: 2009: 5)

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To involve external factors in the definition of human resource allows the HR function to develop even further than the traditional view and can include for example the possibilities of employer branding and talent recruitment.

Based on these definitions and the research for this project the role of human resource will in this research project be defined as:

To help make business successful through people management.

At its root, HRM focuses on managing the employment relationships and the implicit, as well as explicit, agreements that are established between individuals and organizations (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). As expressed in Figure 01, from a micro standpoint HRM includes managing the nature of employment. It also includes issues of employee involvement and participation that characterize the connection between the individuals and the organization. This emphasizes the importance of the employee’s experience at work as well as their work-life balance. From a broader perspective, the human focus of micro HRM concerns issues related to ethics, equal opportunity, health and safety, as well as fairness and workplace justice during downsizing and redundancy (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). From a macro perspective, the human element of HRM addresses collective agreements between employees and organizations that characterize industrial relations and collective bargaining as well as formal policies and procedures.

MACRO Collective agreements Formal policies

MICRO Managing employees Involvement & Participation Work-life balance

Figure 01: The relationship between macro and micro HRM

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Douglas McGregor was the pioneer of different approaches to human resource management styles. His popular connotation, Theory X and Theory Y, was that leaders and managers could be differentiated from each other according to their attitudes and beliefs about the human nature. Theory X leaders consider employees to be lazy, reluctant to assume responsibility, and lacking in ambition, thus, they must be controlled, directed and, if necessary, punished (Brooks: 2006). According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, they are motivated only by physiological and security needs. Theory X leaders represent a direct contrast to the theory Y leaders. Theory Y leaders consider employees to align themselves with organizational goals, and as a consequence, they require little control, seek rewards consistent with their performance, posses initiative and creativity, and are potentially motivated by higher-order needs for affiliation, esteem, and self-actualization according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Brooks: 2006). The link between McGregor’s theory of leaders and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is portrayed in Figure 02

McGregor’s Theory Y leaders

McGregor’s Theory X leaders

Figure 02: The link between McGregor’s Theory X and Y leaders and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Many theorists, however, apply a mixture of the hard and soft approach to human resource management and in this research project it is believed that hard and soft approaches are not exclusive to each other as the approaches can be placed on a linear, value-based axe as presented in Figure 03. When presented on a linear scale, the work of this research

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project must be seen to lean towards the softer side of HRM as it deals with the values of the organization and the relationship with current and potential employees through employer branding.

Hard

HRM

Soft SSa

Figure 03: Human resource management scale

The field of human resource management continues to evolve in today’s organizations, in part due to the economic, technological, and social environments that influence the nature of business. The evolution of HR strategy has taken organizations from the traditional static view focused on person-job fit, to one focused on organizational and cultural fit and managing a global workforce where organizational design differs across regions and cultures (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). Taking this into consideration allows the global organization to focus not just on the traditional HR activities, but to broaden the actions taken by the organization. Although HRM by its very nature has a decidedly human focus, it also focuses on employees as a resource in driving performance which is highly relevant in today’s turbulent environment where employees entail the competitive advantage for organizations. But while few will argue against the premise that HRM issues are critical in today’s organizations, the mantra of ‘people are our most valuable asset’ has largely been a rhetorical one in most organizations despite the fact that when a people-supporting culture truly exists within an organization, it will have a number of obvious manifestations including, for example, a structured recruitment process and a fully resourced HR function (Davis: 2007).

Since the mid-1990’s, the majority of the high-impact developments and research in the field of strategic HRM have come from North America (Wilkinson et al.: 2009) and as a result, some researchers have questioned whether theories of strategic HRM developed in the United States can be generalized to other regional and cultural contexts that are significantly different from that of the United States. Thus, one of the major issues facing the strategic HRM field remains to be the external validity and the generalizability of

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human resource models. However, it cannot be neglected that HRM is a more innovative view upon labor management and the strategic and comprehensive approach to managing people and organizational culture is highly relevant within every organization despite country of origin. As British recruitment specialist, Jeff Benveniste, argues in a recent article, organizational culture can differ greatly even within the same country of origin8. He argues that the cultural differences between organizations are often bigger than those between countries or regions which is evident when for example analyzing the cultural differences between the American organizations Microsoft and Yahoo. Here organizational cultural differences are evident even when looking at the floor plan of the organizations. Microsoft is an organization of offices, where workers work hard individually at their piece of a collective project. Yahoo, on the other hand, is a Silicon Valley archetype where workers are placed in cubicles and tend to work collaboratively. However, national cultural differences are still the most important when dealing with the organizational processes within a global organization. The organizational culture and values will be dealt with later, but in the following section, organizational recruitment will be described as it is partly through recruitment that the organization can develop its workforce (Michaels et al.: 2001)

3.2.1 Recruitment Human resource management is more than recruitment as shown in the above section. A 2008 survey from Webster Buchanan concludes that 85% of the respondents regarded recruitment as a sales and marketing exercise, as opposed to a purely HR role (HR Magazine: 2008). As the research in this analysis is focused on the attraction of new employees, the recruitment process of the organization is highly relevant despite where it is situated in the organization. Recruitment refers to the processes of attracting, screening, and selecting the right employees to an organization. It is argued that the recruitment process develops through two stages: the planning and the employment stage. The planning stage takes place prior to the actual selection and recruitment process, and for this research only the employment stage will be relevant as recruitment and selection constitute important organizational investments to ensure that the best and the brightest talent are brought into the organization (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). This stage is expressed in Figure 04. 8

For entire article please refer to: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/global-hr-blog/1019832/should-cultural-differencesmean-approaches-hr

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Job analysis

Recruitment strategy

Internal Channels

Informal Channels

Formal Channels

External Channels

Selection methods

Figure 04: Employment stage of recruitment. Inspired by Holbeche (2009).

When the first stage of the employment function, job analysis, has been completed, the task is to select the appropriate recruitment strategy in order for the information about the job opening to spread through the relevant talent pools. The various recruitment strategies can include: •

Internal channels; in-house ads, employee and management referrals.



Informal channels; referrals by friends or relatives, in-company ads.



Formal channels; newspapers, employment agencies, headhunters, etc.



External channels; ads in regional, national, and international newspapers, employment agencies, headhunters, etc.

As it is evident from Figure 05 an overlap between the different channels exists and typically the overlap between internal/informal and external/formal will be bigger.

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Figure 05: Overlap in recruitment channels

The choice of recruitment strategy will have a great effect on the cost/benefit relationship of the entire employment process and most organizations conduct a mixture of methods when searching for new employees.

With regards to technology, the recruitment process has developed greatly as organizations have had to adjust to the reality of online recruiting which has created both problems and opportunities for many organizations. According to the previously mentioned survey by Webster Buchanan, four in five respondents rated the internet as the best way to increase their reach for potential employees (HR Magazine: 2008). The benefits of recruiting online include lowering the costs to advertise positions and the inexpensive nature of online recruiting permits the transference of large amounts of information to applicants at a minimal cost (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). Despite the benefits and efficiencies of online recruiting, a downside is that many employers complain about the flood of unqualified applicants that can result from online advertising. Furthermore, many organizations are reluctant to use the internet though the use of social media can improve this in the future. Thus, the search for talents becomes even more difficult.

The labor market in especially North America has helped fuel interest in recruiting research and considerable progress has been made in the recruiting field over the past couple of years (Wilkinson et al.: 2009) though the recruitment industry has also experienced the troubled times of the global financial crisis. Two McKinsey Global Surveys

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(2006 and 2007) have revealed that business leaders are deeply worried about finding talented employees and expect the global competition for talent to have a major effect on their organizations in the future (Holbeche: 2009).

Recruitment and selection have

furthermore suffered from an image problem as they are often viewed as part of the more traditional fixed HRM activities. The person-job fit approach worked well in previous markets, but in a market where organizations must compete for the most talented employees, organizations must adopt a new strategy; organizations must hunt for talent continuously so as to capture people when they are ready to make a move (Michaels et al.: 2001). Thus, the recruiting game has changed dramatically compared to the traditional view of HR activities. The difficult market has caused that it is no longer about selecting the best person from a long list of candidates: it is about finding great candidates.

3.3 Culture In order to define organizational culture, culture itself must first be determined. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner suggest in their widely used publication, Riding the Waves of Culture that

“Culture is the way in which people solve problems.” (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner: 2004: 6)

This definition focuses on the actions taken by individuals within a culture to solve the problems they encounter. To define the concept further, Mead (1951) suggests that culture

“is a body of learned behavior, a collection of beliefs, habits, and traditions, shared by a group of people and successively learned by people who enter society” (Mead: Cited in: Brooks, 2006: 271).

These definitions suggest that every culture distinguishes itself from others, for example by the specific solutions it chooses to certain problems though this also applies in an organizational context. National or ethnic cultures are different form organizational culture and they differ in many ways. According to Cameron & Quinn “The sustained success of

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an organization has less to do with market forces than organizational values; less to do with competitive positioning than personal beliefs; less to do with competitive advantages than vision” (Cameron & Quinn: 1999: 4). It can be said to consist of the basic pattern of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs governing the way employees within an organization think about and act on problems and opportunities (McShane & Von Glinow: 2005). Brooks adds further to the understanding of organizational culture by stating that

“most organizations have a unique culture, even if this has numerous subcultures and/or professional cultures within it” (Brooks: 2006: 249).

This includes the different subgroups within organizations which cannot be neglected as they a part of what constitutes organizational culture. It can be helpful to think of organizational culture as having different levels, which differ in terms of visibility and resistance to change. At the deeper and less visible level, culture refers to values that are shared by the people in a group and that tend to persist over time even when group membership changes. At the broadest level, a global culture, such as a world religion’s culture or the culture of the Western world, is deemed to be at the highest level of culture. Researchers such as Hofstede (1980) and Trompenaars (1992) have reported differences amongst continents and countries based on certain key dimensions. Hofstede’s dimensions for Denmark and the United States can be found in Appendix 01. Each culture is generally reflected by unique language, symbols, and rules. More narrow is the culture of a single organization which is reflected by what is valued by the organization, the dominant leadership style, procedures and routines, and the definitions of success that make the organization unique (Cameron & Quinn: 1999). More narrowly, a level of subgroups exists such as gender-based cultures, occupational cultures, regional cultures, and industry cultures. Even more narrowly is the culture of specific subunits within the organization such as teams or product groups. It is often easy to see how cultural differences in these subgroups can fragment an organization and make high levels of effectiveness impossible to achieve. On the other hand, it is important to keep in mind that each subunit in an organization also contains common elements typical of the entire

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organization (Cameron & Quinn: 1999) wherefore the general culture of can be sought in the more specific subcultures. When referring to the organizational culture it usually includes values and practices that are shared across all groups in an organization, at least within senior management (Kotter & Heskett: 1992), however, as it just has been established, all subgroups affect corporate culture, thus establishing a common global culture can be difficult within every organization. So, whether by design or coincidence, an existing internal workforce dynamic reflects the culture that governs informal attitudes and behaviors of the organization (Katzenbach: 2000). According to Kotter & Heskett (1992), a culture is good only if it “fits” its context, whether context refers to the objective conditions of the business, that segment of the industry specified by an organization’s strategy, or the business strategy itself and thus the culture is always to a lesser or larger degree adapted to the local conditions despite for example being part of an international organization.

Organizational culture is frequently cited as being responsible for organizational ills and credited with creating positive qualities (Brooks: 2006). However, it is difficult to mention even a single highly successful organization that does not have a distinctive, readily identifiable, organizational culture. From successful organizations, such as the large international organizations Coca-Cola, Toyota, and Apple, to the small, entrepreneurial start-ups, virtually every leading organization has developed a distinctive culture that is clearly identifiable by its employees. This culture is sometimes created by the founder of the organization (e.g. Walt Disney), sometimes it emerges over time as the organization encounters and overcomes challenges and obstacles in the environment (e.g. Coca-Cola) and yet sometimes it is developed consciously by management teams (e.g. General Electric). Thus, successful organizations have developed something special that supersedes corporate strategy, market presence, and technology. Despite all of the three being highly relevant for every organization, successful organizations have capitalized on the power that resides in developing and managing a strong, unique organizational culture.

In order to determine the culture of an organization, the Competing Values Framework as presented by Cameron & Quinn (1999) can be applied. The framework was developed

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from research conducted on the major indicators of effective organizations by asking three questions (Cameron & Quinn: 1999);

What are the main criteria for determining if an organization is effective or not? What key factors define organizational effectiveness? When people judge an organization to be effective, what do they have in mind?

From the findings, a wide list of indicators for organizational effectiveness was developed and further analyzed by Quinn and colleagues in 1983 in order to determine clusters and patterns since the broad range of indicators were deemed to be too many to be useful in organizations. In order to determine the clusters, the indicators were submitted to statistical analysis, and two major dimensions emerged that separated the indicators into four main clusters (Cameron & Quinn: 1999). The first dimension differentiates the effectiveness criteria that emphasize flexibility, discretion, and dynamism from the criteria that emphasize stability, order, and control. The continuum ranges from organizational versatility and flexibility on one end to organizational steadiness and stability on the other end. The second dimension differentiates the effectiveness criteria that emphasize an internal orientation, integration, and unity from the criteria that emphasize an external orientation, differentiation, and rivalry. The continuum ranges from organizational cohesion and consonance on the one end to organizational separation and independence on the other. Together these two dimensions form four quadrants, as presented in Figure 06, each representing a distinct set of organizational effectiveness indicators and specifying what employees value about an organization’s culture. The four clusters of criteria define the core values on which judgments about organizational culture are made.

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Figure 06: Competing Values Framework. Developed by Cameron & Quinn (1999)

What is notable about these four core culture types is that they represent opposite or competing assumptions. Each quadrant highlights a core value which is opposite from the value on the other end of the continuum, for example flexibility versus stability. Hence the name of the model: the Competing Values Framework. The upper left quadrant identifies, for example, values that emphasize an internal, organic focus, whereas the lower right quadrant identifies values that emphasize an external, control focus. From an organizational point of view this can express at one side as a family like organization with a sense of nurturing as opposed to a results oriented achievement culture. Similarly, the upper right quadrant identifies values that emphasize an external, organic focus with

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emphasis on risk-taking and innovation, whereas the lower left quadrant emphasizes an internal, control focus that values control and stability. In order to distinguish the characteristics, each quadrant has been given a label in order to display the most dominant features; Clan, Adhocracy, Market, and Hierarchy. These labels are derived from scholarly literature (Cameron & Quinn: 1999) and explain how, over time, different organizational values have become associated with different forms of organizational culture. In order for managers to more easily apply the framework to the daily work within the organization, keywords can be as in Figure 07 in order to ease the understanding.

Figure 07: The Competing Values Framework from a Business Perspective. Adopted from Cameron & Quinn (1999).

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More than 80% of the several thousand organizations Cameron & Quinn have studied have been characterized by one or more the culture types identified in the framework (Cameron & Quinn: 1999). Those that do not have a dominant culture type either tend to be unclear about their culture or they emphasize nearly equally the four different cultural types. In Appendix 02 the four major culture types are described in detail.

In order to determine the culture of an organization, the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI), as developed by Cameron & Quinn, can be used. The instrument is in the form of a questionnaire that requires individuals to respond to just six items. Although a variety of ways to assess organizational culture exists, this instrument has been found to be both useful and accurate in diagnosing important aspects of an organization’s underlying culture. The process of the OCAI is two sided: (1) to determine the organization’s current culture (the Now) and (2) to identify how the culture should develop to match future demands of the environment and the challenges to be faced by the organization (the Preferred). Six different questions with four different alternatives must be answered about the organization and no right or wrong answers exist for these questions as there is no right or wrong culture. See Appendix 03 for an overview of the six questions.

Despite the importance of the Cultural profile, the culture of an organization itself goes beyond plotting the culture into a graph. Organizational culture is also influenced by the mission, vision, beliefs, and values of the organization (Reece & Brandt: 1997). As Curtler (1997) argues, culture is the word used to describe common values. As values provide the foundation for the strategy, the mission, and the structure the values of Mercer will be dealt with in the following section

3.4 Values The root of the word value comes from valor which means strength (Scott et al.: 1993). As such, values can be seen as sources of strength because they provide people with the power to take action. Personal values are the deeply rooted norms that affect almost every

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aspect in a person’s every day life: moral questions, reactions towards others, and personal commitment. This is consistent with the understanding presented by Rokeach:

“A value … is an imperative to action, not only a belief about the preferable but also a preference for the preferable” (Rokeach: 1969: 160).

This suggests that all human actions are guided by deeply rooted values and is consistent with the more recent definition of value developed by McShane & Von Glinow who argue that values are:

“Stable, long-lasting beliefs about what is important in a variety of situations, that guide our decisions and actions” (McShane & Von Glinow: 2005: 16).

What is important to note in this definition is that values are considered to be stable and long-lasting meaning that they cannot easily be changed. This is important when dealing with people in general, but even more important if organizations are dealt with. However, organizational values can be defined further than personal values. Values can according to Michaels et al. (2001) be used to elevate the mission of the organization to something that inspires passion and, in general, people seem to be more attracted to organizations whose traits and characteristics are perceived to be similar to their own (Wilkinson et al.: 2009). In order to elevate the perception of values to a more organizational focus, the definition of Mirvis and colleagues can be applied:

“Values are the ‘How’: how we act to achieve our vision” (Mirvis et al.: 2010: 317).

As expressed in the definition of value presented by McShane & Von Glinow above, values can in an organizational context represent a potential powerful way to keep employees’ decisions and actions aligned with corporate goals. Based on these definitions, values are in this research project deemed to be:

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The essence of an organization’s beliefs for achieving success.

To investigate the perception of organizational values amongst stakeholders can be highly relevant for every organization as value congruence is important for successful recruitment and retraining of employees. Values congruence refers to situations where two or more entities share a value system. A recent study has shown that 76% of the managers in question believe that a conflict exists between their personal beliefs and their organization’s values (McShane & Von Glinow: 2005) and value incongruence can entail a wide range of consequences. As values are seen as a guideline for organizational behavior, employees whose values differ significantly from the organization’s values might make decisions incompatible with organizational goals. A lack of congruence can also lead to lower job satisfaction as well as a higher level of staff turnover (McShane & Von Glinow: 2005). Though a comfortable level of values congruency is thus deemed necessary for organizational success, organizations can benefit from some level of incongruence as diversity in the workforce provides different perspectives on issues, which might lead to better decision making.

An organization’s culture is an outgrowth of the beliefs, values, goals, and aspirations of those who join together to create it and based on a study of so-called ‘excellent’ American corporations, Peters and Waterman concluded that the key to excellence lays in achieving a state of shared values amongst all employees in an organization (Cowling & Mailer: 1998). In fact, according to Reece and Brandt (1997) one of the major causes of conflict in organizations is a clash between individual’s values. In the current marketplace with strong competition for talented employees, the values of an organization are highly important during recruitment as potential candidates are trying to identify where the values of the organization are aligned with their own (Thorne & Pellant: 2007, Minchington: 2006). Employees will pursue to develop what Campbell & Yeung (1990) label as ‘sense of mission’ when their personal values match the values of the organization. When this happens, employees find that their work becomes a means of fulfilling a deeply held personal motivation. The aim for organizations should thus be to encourage everyone within the organization to demonstrate the values through their behavior; this particularly

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applies at senior level when more junior employees are looking for a role model and can therefore be highly relevant when introducing new employees to the organization.

Applying values to an organization can be difficult though. If organizational values are accepted as being largely culturally determined, the question is whose values a global organization should apply. This point is important, for while business values can be analyzed without making judgments about whether the values are right or wrong, business values applied to real situations become ethics, which bear the implication of a prior judgment of what is right (Cowling & Mailer: 1998). Based on Cowling & Mailer’s framework several options are possible with regards to the values of global organizations:

1. Values penetrating the parent company headquarters. This ethnocentric ‘export’ approach to ethics is applicable where there is a close match between the parent and host country, but this approach is not viable where a significant difference is evident. 2. Values of the host country. This polycentric ‘when in Rome do as the Romans do’ approach to ethics creates several different ethical approaches to business within the organization. It is sensitive to local differences though and, thus, the opportunity for inconsistency and bad publicity exists as stakeholders might wonder why, for example, the global organization uses child labor overseas but decries it in the country of origin. 3. Values generated by the organization after careful consideration of the issues, consultation with subsidiaries, and managers operation internationally. This is a geocentric approach to values which transcend the culture in any particular country, yet have to be formulated taking into account a range of moral climates, the needs of employees, and stakeholder sensibilities. 4. Adherence to local law. Some see the aim of business as profit maximization and what matters is law, not ethics. While the rationale for this is different from the polycentric approach, potential outcomes are similar. 5. Ignore the issue; leave it up to the employees themselves abroad to decide on how they behave. Apart from the potential for inconsistency, this empowering approach to ethics is usually a removal of organizational responsibility in the face of difficult issues (Cowling & Mailer: 1998).

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Which type of values is most suitable for a global organization depends much on the context of the organization and its history as global organizations face the challenge of ensuring a common, consistent behavior around the world even though they might have diverse cultural values. According to Minchington (2006), the values of an organization should take into account the strategic intent and social, economic, and environmental goals of the organization. When designing the values of an organization, it is important that the values are not selected randomly; the values must be a natural extension of the organizational culture. According to van Hauen and colleagues (1997), no more than six values are appropriate for an organization, as too many values can be confusing for stakeholders to remember. This is supported by Scott et al. (1993) who argue that it is best to come up with a limited number of core values; five to seven seems to be most appropriate for focusing a group. It is important, however, for organizations to only choose a number they find relevant instead of developing ‘extra’ values to correspond to the theory.

In order to further determine the nature of the values of an organization, the Competing Values Framework as presented by Cameron and Quinn (1999, 2006) can also be applied. According to the researchers, the fact that the framework was formulated on the basis of very fundamental assumptions about how organizations work and how they are managed, the framework can accurately describe other aspects of the organization as well (Cameron & Quinn: 1999). One of the key functions of the Competing Values Framework is identifying the underlying dimensions that exist in almost every organizational activity and can thus be used to identify the values of an organization. Organizations must be aware that opposites should be kept in balance or at least be acknowledged as being part of the existence; no organization is all one thing without also having attributes of the opposite. The Competing Values Framework presents this as even though the diagonal quadrants are competing or conflicting, both values are desirable and both create positive value (Cameron & Quinn: 2006). In order to determine the values of an organization, the values can be plotted into the Competing Values Framework in Figure 08.

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Figure 08: The Competing Values Framework by Cameron & Quinn (1999)

In order to determine the values of an organization, the values can be analyzed through an internally and externally distributed survey.

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4. Vision, Mission & Values of Mercer Mercer is a global leader within human resource consulting, outsourcing and investment services, and helps organizations make their employees perform well. The organization was founded in the United States in 1937 as the employee benefits department of Marsh & McLennan, Inc., which is amongst the world’s leading organizations of advice and solutions in risk, strategy, and human capital. The values of the Marsh & McLennan group are Clients, Integrity, Colleagues, and Execution. Please refer to Appendix 04 for a review of the group’s values in their code of conduct; The Greater Good. Today, Mercer employs more than 20,000 employees worldwide and serves clients in 41 countries and has a yearly turnover of over 3,2 billion US$ (www.mmc.com). Mercer works with clients to solve benefit and human capital issues by designing, implementing and administering health, retirement and other benefit programs. The services of Mercer’s include investment consulting, implemented consulting, and multimanager investment management (www.mmc.com). Mercer is in Denmark, with its sister company Marsh, one of the largest insurance and pension brokers and the preferred organization within the field of compensation strategy and secondment. In Denmark, Mercer employs 50 employees divided between two departments in Virum and Aarhus9. All employees are full-time permanent employees. From the two departments, they provide services for more than 300 organizations including some of the largest Danish organizations. The clients come from a wide range of fields and include both international and Danish organizations from both the private and public sector. In fact, nine out of ten organizations listed in the Forbes® 100 and more than half of the organizations listed in the C20 index are clients of Mercer world wide (www.mercer.com).

Cultures can be very stable over time, but they are never static. Crises sometimes force an organization to reevaluate some values or set of practices. New challenges can lead to the creation of new ways of doing things and in 2009 the vision of Mercer was updated to the current version partly due to the very challenging economic times but also to better reflect the brand, market position, and aspirations for the future (Appendix 09). A vision is traditionally perceived as a challenging and imaginative picture of the future role and 9

40 employees are located in Virum and 10 employees are located in Aarhus.

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objectives of an organization, significantly going beyond its current environment and competitive position (Lynch: 2009). The current vision of Mercer is:

To be the undisputed leader in the businesses and markets in which we operate.

The vision of Mercer is supported by a two sided mission statement: •

Our mission is to ensure our clients achieve sustainable business success by optimizing the value of their people and financial resources.



As the leading global consulting, outsourcing and investments firm, we enhance the health, wealth and security of the global workforce.

The reasons for the global interest in mission statements are many: leaders are recognizing the importance of organizational culture and are searching for a tool to help them manage it; employees are asking for clarification of vision and values; and corporate identity has become important as organizations compete for the attention of a wide range of stakeholders. Despite the attention paid to mission statements, there is little understanding of what a mission statement should include or what its role is in the management of an organization’s culture. A mission is the character, identity, and reason for existence of an organization and outlines the broad directions that should and will follow (Lynch: 2009, Campbell & Yeung: 1990). A mission statement can be divided into four parts: purpose, strategy, values and behavior standards10. Through the Mercer mission it is expressed that the organization is a leading global organization which could be argued to be a competitive advantage for Mercer. To become the leading organization is at the same time part of the vision of Mercer. Behavior standards are the norms and rules of the organization and the values are the beliefs and moral principles that lie behind the behavior standards. These are expressed through the organizational values of the organization though some scholars comment that the mission statement should only be focused on the strategy and purpose. However, in this research project, the mission statement is experienced as the holistic bringing together of strategy, vision and values. 10

Purpose addresses the reason that an organization exists and for whose benefit is effort being put into the actions of the organization. In the Mercer mission statement this is expressed through the client focus. Strategy addresses the nature of the business in which the organization operates and the desired positioning versus other organizations and the source of competitive advantage (Campbell & Yeung: 1990).

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

A wide range of values support the mission of Mercer:

Integrity: We hold ourselves to the highest standards for ethical behavior, fairness, and compliance with the law. Without integrity, nothing else matters. Clients ‘first’: Passion. Commitment. Our dedication to our clients defines who we are, and why we do what we do. Diversity:

Harnessing the diverse backgrounds, experiences and approaches of our

people isn’t just a business necessity—it’s the right thing to do. Diversity also means respect for different points of view — and to earn it, you have to give it. Teamwork: Our collaborative spirit allows us to leverage the full power of our capabilities on behalf of our clients; the quality and character of our people ensure we enjoy our work. Professionalism: We inspire confidence from our clients through our expertise, commitment to excellence, responsiveness, respect for confidentiality and objectivity. Agility:

Being flexible, nimble, and open to new ideas is a pre-requisite in today’s

business environment. We anticipate and act to seize business opportunities and address our clients’ most complex issues. Innovation: Unique challenges require unique approaches. Our clients demand it, and we demand it of ourselves. Social responsibility: We are committed to making a meaningful contribution to society through the work that we do.

Comments and emphasis are developed by Mercer. Please refer to Appendix 05 for a detailed description of the Mercer values.

The raw materials used for this research project are provided by Mercer Denmark in the form of an internal PowerPoint presentation on the organizational vision, mission, and values and includes the organization’s notes. Furthermore, the internal employee Code of Conduct developed by March & McLennan will provide knowledge of the organization though it will not be investigated separately. The Code of Conduct can be found in Appendix 04.

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

5. Research method Social science research, whether qualitative or quantitative, involves the dual goals of describing and explaining (King et al.: 1994). Controversies have raged over appropriate research methods to use, for example, over the justification for using qualitative methods in social science research, and more recently, over the application of participatory methods. At the risk of over-generalization, qualitative methods are often identified with interpretative and critical research and quantitative methods with positivism and postpositivism. Although qualitative research has a long history, much of the argument for its expanded use emerged in the second half of the twentieth century and was linked to the perceived weaknesses in quantitative research (Davies: 2007). The differences of the quantitative and qualitative research can be summarized as expressed in Table 01.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Measure objective facts

Construct social reality, cultural meaning

Focus on variables

Focus on interactive processes, events

Reliability is key

Authenticity is key

Value free

Values are present and explicit

Independent of context

Situational constrained

Many cases, subjects

Few cases, subjects

Statistical analysis

Thematic analysis

Researcher is detached

Researcher is involved

Table 01: The differences between quantitative and qualitative research. Inspired by: Neumann (1997), Davies (2007)

However, allocating strategies to one tradition or the other is often unduly simplistic. What matters is not the label attached to a particular strategy, but whether it is appropriate for the research questions (Davies: 2007) and despite the differences, many scholars have identified synergies between quantitative and qualitative methods (Mikkelsen: 2005).

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

5.1 Content analysis As the values of Mercer serve as the setting for this research project, a content analysis of the written material must be conducted. Neuendorf defines content analysis as

“the systematic, objective, quantitative analysis of the content of messages.” (Neuendorf: 2007: 1)

Content analysis is most often conducted through one or more of the four ways categorized by Marshall and Rossman (2006): (a) participating in the setting, (b) observing directly, (c) interviewing in depth, and (d) analyzing documents and material culture. The choice of method depends largely on the aim of the research and the raw material for content analysis may be any form of communication; usually written materials such as a set of organizational values or a code of conduct and for this content analysis, both sets of information will be used though the emphasis will be on the organizational values. This type of analysis is part of analyzing documents and material culture as identified by Marshall and Rossman. Probably the greatest strength of content analysis is that it is unobtrusive and nonreactive: It can be conducted without disturbing the setting in any way. A potential weakness, however, is the extent of inferential reasoning. That is, the analysis of the written materials entails interpretation by the researcher (Marshall & Rossman: 2006) thus the interpretation can often be biased. However, following the post-positivistic paradigm, no personal observations are included in this research project and thus the content analysis can serve as the foundation on which the analysis is developed. Often, traditional content analysis measures information in the content as numbers and presents it as tables or graphs (Neuman: 1997). Thus, in order to support the content analysis, surveys are distributed to internal and external stakeholders of Mercer. The internal surveys will function as tools for analyzing the organizational culture and the values of Mercer as perceived by CEO Finn Rasmussen. The external survey will solely focus on the perception of values; both in general and the values of Mercer more specifically.

In addition to the primary data-gathering methods outlined above, the researcher can choose to incorporate several secondary and supplemental methods in the design of a

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

study. In the research of Mercer, other methods are undertaken as well and they will now be dealt with separately though with regards to methodology, they are part of the content analysis.

6. Research design In this research project, the emphasis is on structured investigation, exploration, and discovery and the majority of data collected is based on surveys which belong to the quantitative method (Saunders et al.: 2000, Neuman: 1997).

This research project will use three different surveys in order to analyze the organizational culture and values of Mercer. A questionnaire is one of the tools used to carry out a survey and within the survey form, questionnaires are selected due to the standardization of the data allowing easy comparison of results without including personal beliefs (Davies: 2007). Using a survey approach should give the researcher more control over the research process though much time will be spent in designing and piloting the questionnaire. When designing a survey, the researcher can chose from a range of options in order to receive answers to the research questions. According to Saunders et al. (2000) various definitions of the term questionnaire exist. Some authors define it exclusively as surveys where the persons answering the questions record their own answers. Others use it as a more general term including interviews that are conducted face to face or by telephone. In this research project questionnaire will be defined as the first: questions being asked without the researcher being present. The design of a questionnaire will differ according to how it is administered, particularly the amount of contact with the respondents. In this research project, self-administered questionnaires are used due to the possibilities of delivering and returning the questionnaires electronically using the internet. The internet is increasingly becoming an extremely important interview tool that has attracted considerable attention. It is a robust way of collecting data, providing the focus of the research is on individuals who are on the internet (Smith: 2004). Surveys distributed through the internet allow for quick interaction with respondents, it is an almost cost-free method, it is easy for the respondent to answer, and the quality of data is often better (Hansen et al.: 2008). Disadvantages of using the internet include for example that it cannot be determined who in fact answers the

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

questionnaire. In order to overcome this problem, each respondent can only answer the questionnaire once. This is secured trough the use of IP-addresses where each IPaddress can only answer the questionnaire once. Often, gifts or prizes are provided in online surveys in order to improve the response rate. However. no gift is provided for this survey, as it can result in the survey appearing less serious (Hansen et al.: 2008). Students are furthermore receiving offers of competitions and free gifts on a daily basis, and thus the chance of winning a small prize in a survey is not considered to be sufficient to attract respondents in this research project.

For this research project, three different questionnaires are conducted and the methods of these will be described separately in the following section.

6.1 Internal questionnaires In order to determine the culture and the values of Mercer, two questionnaires are developed: the Organizational Culture Assessment and the Competing Values Leadership both developed by Cameron & Quinn (1999, 2006). For the questionnaire regarding the organizational culture of Mercer, the Organizational Culture Assessment, numeric questions are used as it allows for a more statistical analysis of the answers. Six different questions with four different alternatives (A, B, C, and D) must be answered about the organization with a positive figure and the sum of each question must be 100. The questions and alternatives are developed by Cameron & Quinn and are applied directly to this survey without any adaptation as they must correspond to the findings of their Organizational Culture Assessment. However, Cameron & Quinn’s questionnaire is two-sided as all questions must be answered for the current situation and for the desired future. In this research project only the current situation, the Now, is relevant, wherefore the Preferred answers as not included in this research. The questions used for this survey are present in Appendix 03. First the scores for all A responses must be added together and divided by six in order to compute an average score for the A alternatives. The same is conducted for B, C, and D responses respectively. The scores of the organization produce an indication of the types of culture that are dominant within the organization.

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

Furthermore, Finn Rasmussen’s perception of the values according to the Competing Values Framework is investigated through a short questionnaire, the Competing Values Leadership. He is asked to rank the eight values of Mercer11 in a matrix developed by Cameron & Quinn. Each value can be categorized as either Collaborate (do things together), Create (do things first), Compete (do things fast), or Control (do things right). Each value can only posses one of the categories and thus the values can be placed in a matrix based on Finn Rasmussen’s answers. This questionnaire used to determine the Competing Values Framework is present in Appendix 06

These questionnaires are distributed by e-mail to the CEO of Mercer Denmark, Finn Rasmussen, who is the only respondent to these.

6.2 External questionnaire As people arrange values differently, a questionnaire is developed to provide data for the external analysis of the values of Mercer. Prior to the questions, a short introduction is provided to inform the respondents about the survey. A strong introduction is of high importance for surveys as it can ensure a higher response rate (Hansen et al.: 2008). The introduction to this survey is based primarily on the recommendations provided by Saunders et al. (2000). See Appendix 07b for the questionnaire distributed externally. To begin the questionnaire for the external analysis, the demographics of the respondents are determined through questions revealing age, gender and the current employment status of the respondent. It is argued that women, elderly people, and people with a longer education will be more likely to respond to surveys (Hansen et al.: 2008) thus it is important to be able to determine if this has affected the results of the survey. First, respondents must state their age. Five categories have been determined: under 18; 19 21; 22 - 25; 26 - 29; and above 29. It is expected that no respondents under the age of 18 will answer the questionnaire as most students at universities will have turned 18 before they are enrolled. Furthermore, as the research project is focused on graduates who are searching for a job or who soon will be, it is expected that the majority of respondents will be in the age from 22 to 29 and above. 11

Integrity, Clients 'first', Diversity, Teamwork, Professionalism, Agility, Innovation, and Social Responsibility

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

The current employment status is important as respondents with more than two years of professional working experience are not relevant for this research project. If respondents are revealed as having extensive work experience, the respondent is lead directly to the end of the questionnaire informing them that they are not the target of the survey, but that their participation is valued. It is expected that the majority of respondents will be students, however, unemployed graduates and graduates with less than two years of experience are still of interest in order to broaden the data. If respondents have less than two years of professional experience, they continue the survey with a question regarding their field of education in order to allow for comparison between different fields of science. Four main categories are determined based on categories developed by the Danish Ministry of Education as seen on the webpage for education in Denmark; www.ug.dk. The Ministry of Education has defined six categories: humanistic studies; scientific studies; social studies; health studies; technical studies; and theological studies. As health and theological studies are deemed irrelevant for this research project they are not included, but in order to allow all students to answer the questionnaire, the possibility of answering ‘other’ is allowed. If respondents should choose to select the ‘other’ box, they are requested to specify the answer in order to determine why their field of education does not fit the predetermined categories. In order to explain what the different fields of study entail, a few examples are provided for each category. Business economy, administration, and social science are for example part of the general field of study Social Science. This should limit the number of respondents who cannot find a suitable category. The questionnaire continues with the question: “When searching for a job, the values of the organization are important to me.” For the range of answers, the Likert scale is selected as it allows respondents to communicate how strongly they agree or disagree with a statement (Neuman: 1997). When undertaking this form of a survey, it is highly important that the respondent understands the instructions. According to Saunders et al. (2000) respondents find that ranking more than eight items takes too much effort and therefore the questions using the Likert scale are limited to two in this survey. The four point scale ranges from agree and tend to agree to tend to disagree and disagree. No neutral possibility is available as this would allow respondents not to consider the importance of values which is not desirable for this research project (Hansen et al.: 2008).

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

The same applies to the following question which seeks to identify how respondents prioritize organizational values by asking: “I would prioritize an organization higher due to its values during my job search”. As argued by Saunders at al. (2000) the same order of response categories should be kept in order to avoid confusing respondents when answering questions thus the same layout is used for both scale ranking questions. Following the scale questions, the questionnaire continues to reveal the attitudes of the respondents towards the values of Mercer. First respondents must answer the question: “What do you associate with an organization that has the value of Integrity?” The same question is asked for all eight values: Integrity as seen above; Clients ‘first’; Diversity; Teamwork; Professionalism; Agility; Innovation; and Social responsibility. For each value, the words that Mercer associates with them are provided as possible answers. The answers are drawn from the internal presentation of the values at Mercer. See Appendix 05 for how Mercer describes the values. The ranking of the words associated with the values are placed randomly and the computer program changes the range of the words each time a respondent participates in the survey. This is done in order to ensure that the researcher’s view upon and preferences of values are not evident in the ranking of the words and a high level of objectivity is maintained. Some values provide more possible answers than others, however, no answers are made up in order to provide the same amount of answers for all questions as they would allow for the researcher to impose her interpretation of the values on to the respondents. The respondents are requested to select all the answers they feel match their view. Should they feel that none of the answers describe their opinion fully, the possibility of answering ‘other’ is again present. Should the respondents choose to select ‘other’, they are required to specify their answer in order to gain a deeper insight into their thoughts. If it was not possible to use one’s own words for the answers, some respondents could feel obligated to select an answer they might not felt suitable. Respondents can be tempted to select the easiest answer by simply selecting the predetermined answers wherefore the benefit of completely open questions could be argued. However, many respondents will tend to skip questions where they have to write their own thoughts and thus it is determined that the providing both pre-determined answers and the possibility of an open answer is most suitable for this research project. Finally, open questions are used to gain in-depth knowledge of the experience of the Mercer values. According to Saunders et al. (2000), open questions are especially relevant

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

when requiring a detailed answer and to explore what the respondent believes as open questions require the respondent to think more actively about their attitudes. However, the risk of respondents skipping the open questions does exist as respondents are required to think about how they perceive the question (Hansen et al.: 2008). In order to reduce this risk from affecting the answers of the remaining questions, the open questions are located in the end of the questionnaire. In this part of the questionnaire, respondents must answer the question “Integrity, Clients 'first', Diversity, Teamwork, Professionalism, Agility, Innovation, and Social Responsibility are values of an international organization working in Denmark Which business do you think an organization with these values operates within?” Using the possibility of an open answer to this allows the respondents to answer freely how they experience the values without the researcher predetermining a range of categories. As the respondents consist of students from a high level degree, it is expected that some answers will be very business specific and perhaps even suggesting large corporations they know. It is not expected that they will mention Mercer specifically though, as it is not expected that they are familiar with the organization prior to the survey. Finally, respondents must answer the question: “Ideally, which values would you prefer a future employee to have?” Again, this is an open question which allows the respondents to answer freely what they would prefer. The values of Mercer are not presented for this question as it is not required that they find Mercer’s values most preferable, though, it must be expected that some respondents will tend to select some of the values that they have been presented with throughout the survey. To end the questionnaire, the respondents are thanked for their participation in the survey.

6.3 Sampling Sampling techniques provide a range of methods that enables the researcher to reduce the amount of data needed by considering only data from a sub-group rather than all possible cases (Saunders et al.: 2000). This is the population of a survey. The population of this survey consists of all graduates who are currently enrolled in a higher university degree or who have recently graduated. Within the population, the sampling frame must be determined. The sampling frame is a complete list of all the cases in the population from which the sample will be drawn (Saunders et al.: 2000). For this research project the

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

frame will be cluster sampling as according to Davies (2007) and includes students and graduates who are currently unemployed or have less than two years of professional experience. By doing so, the researcher starts a random sampling process not with the names of people of interest, but with the names of geographical locations. The survey is distributed to primarily at the two largest business schools in Denmark, Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and Aarhus Schools of Business (ASB) and to students of the Diploma in Business Administration at Aalborg University (AAU) through the use of e-mail. Despite AAU where the respondents only are part of the Diploma in Business Administration education, the respondents come from many fields of study. In total, 127 students or recently graduated students are invited to participate in the survey. Amongst these 89 students at ASB were invited to take part in the survey, 24 students from CBS and 14 students from AAU were also invited. This improves the sampling quality and expands the range of the population from which the sample is drawn. It furthermore allows for a statistical comparison of the regions, though hopefully, no difference should be found. As a researcher who is also a graduate, inviting students to answer the survey allows for a more natural point of access through the networks students gain through their studies (Hansen et al.: 2008). An initial reminder is sent out after three weeks in order to encourage respondents to participate in the survey and those who have already responded are thanked. As answers are kept anonymous, those who have already participated cannot be identified and the entire cluster is e-mailed. After an additional three weeks, a last reminder is sent.

Wherever possible, researchers should improve their research designs before conducting any field research through the use of pilot testing. It is extremely common to find that the best research designs fall apart when the first observations are collected and that the data is not suited to answering the questions originally posted (King et al.: 1994). Thus, prior to inviting the target group to answering the questionnaire, pilot testing must be conducted. This is done is order to ensure that the time frame matches the required time stated in the introduction of the survey and that the questions are easily understood.

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6.4 The credibility of research findings Reliability and validity are central in all scientific measurements. It aims at reducing the possibility of interpreting the answer wrongly (Saunders et al.: 2000). If a research project involves a low degree of reliability or validity, the final results will be questionable though it is rare to have prefect reliability (Neuman: 1997).

Reliability Reliability is concerned with the dependability and consistency. If the research project is reliable, it provides the same result each time the same object is measured (Neuman: 1997). Several aspects can affect the outcome and the reliability of the survey. The great enemy of sample-gathering is bias (Davies: 2007). If, for example, a high proportion of the sampled respondents do not respond the researcher must become cautious about generalizing from the results. If the non-respondents differ from those who respond, low response rates can create bias and weaken the validity of the survey (Neuman: 1997). Furthermore, the answers of respondents can change over time which can yield different results. As the literature in social science has demonstrated, attitudes and opinions are not stable (Davies: 2007). Thus, the answers might differ if graduates with more than two years of experience are included in the survey. Subject bias can also affect the reliability of the survey, for example, if respondents answer what they believe the researcher is interested in discovering. To overcome this, respondents are ensured anonymity and no leading questions are asked though a researcher can never be sure that respondents answer honestly.

Measurement Validity Validity is concerned with whether the findings are really about what they appear to be about. A concern the researcher might have in the design of the research is the extend to which the results are generalizable, that is the findings may be equally applicable to other research settings, such as other organizations. (Saunders et al.: 2000). For this research project, the findings are not applicable to all organizations as the values investigated are specific for Mercer only, however, general assumptions can be made about the transferability of the findings to other settings. Some of the Mercer values are very generic

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

and can be applied to many different organizations, thus, general conclusions can be made on the findings. Generally, in social research at student level, because high-quality national sample is difficult to obtain, it is rarely possible to draw conclusions that apply unambiguously to the national population (Davies: 2007). Thus, this research aims to provide a better understanding of Mercer and not the general public. In order to gain a higher level of validity, the larger the size of the sample, the lower the likely error in generalization (Saunders et al.: 2000). For a research project as part of an academic paper, an unlimited sample is impossible due to mainly time and cost. According to Davies, a sample in the range of 60-120 is normal for a research project of this type (Davies: 2007). Instead of focusing on the sample size, the researcher should aim at obtaining as high a response rate as possible. More than a 70% response rate is desirable, but generally, one should expect a response rate of 35-40% when the questionnaire is distributed randomly (Hansen et al.: 2008).

Surveys in the form of questionnaires do not provide the only insight into the organization, also content analysis will be conducted as a mixture of the two often provide an even stronger amount of data (Mikkelsen: 2005). Primarily, the documents of Mercer are used to gain knowledge of the values of the organization which serve as the basis for this research project.

6.5 Secondary data collection It has previously been determined that content analysis typically relies on four methods for gathering information12 and it was established that the fourth, analyzing documents and material culture, was conducted in the analysis of the values of Mercer. In order to gain an even deeper insight into the organization of Mercer Denmark, secondary data is collected through a mixture of participating in the setting and observing directly. In order to avoid a prejudiced mind when analyzing Mercer, the in-depth interviews have been deselected and instead two observations will be conducted.

12

(a) participating in the setting, (b) observing directly, (c) interviewing in depth, and (d) analyzing documents and material culture. (Marshall & Rossman: 2006).

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

Gill and Johnson (cited in: Saunders et al.: 2000) developed a four-fold categorization of the role of the observer which is useful in the determination of how the observer should be involved in the organization:

Complete participation; Complete observer; Observer as participant; Participant as observer.

The first two involve the researcher in concealing his identity and has the significant advantage of not obscuring the behavior of the settings studied. The second two allows the researcher to reveal the purpose as an observer to those who are in the research setting. Ethically, the latter two roles are less problematic (Saunders et al.: 2000) and it has been decided that Observer as Participant serves this research project best as it allows the researcher to attend activities within the organization in order to observe without taking part in the activities. This provides the advantage of being able to focus on the researcher role and objectivity by for example writing field notes when interesting insights occur.

Participant observation has been developed primarily from cultural anthropology and is both a general approach to inquiry and a data-gathering method (Saunders et al.: 2000). As its name suggests, participant observation demands firsthand involvement in the setting chosen for research (Marshall & Rossman: 2006) thus observations will be conducted at Mercer’s Danish headquarters in Virum. Though other research methods are undertaken in this research project and the result does therefore not solely rely on the observations, the researcher’s role will still be to function as an unobtrusive observer. However, the main frame of materials will be gathered directly from observations of the CEO, Finn Rasmussen. In this case two full work weeks have selected as the appropriate amount of time to spend at the headquarters of Mercer; one in the beginning of the research and one after the internal questionnaire were answered by Finn Rasmussen and the external questionnaires had been developed.

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Many research projects combine several data collection methods over the course of the research. There is much overlap between the collections of data types and though each has its strengths and limitations, topics or issues, the styles also compliment each other (Mikkelsen: 2005).

7. Research findings 7.1 Organizational culture In order to analyze the organizational culture of Mercer, Cameron & Quinn’s (1999) Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) was applied. The questionnaire was answered by the CEO of Mercer Denmark, Finn Rasmussen. See Appendix 08 for Finn Rasmussen’s answers. The questionnaire was distributed prior to the second observation of Mercer was conducted in order to gain a deeper understanding of the organization. Prior to the analysis of the culture of Mercer, it was expected that the culture would be similar to the one of the service sector in Figure 09 as developed by Cameron & Quinn (1999) in their average culture profiles for different industry groups:

Figure 09: The average culture of the service sector. From Cameron & Quinn (1999).

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

The average as presented by Cameron & Quinn is based on surveys of more than 40.000 managers representing over 1000 different organizations13 (Cameron & Quinn: 1999). The averages are based on Standard Industrial Codes, which are codes that cluster similar organizational types together. The average does not represent an ideal, but merely an average and it must be kept in mind that performance varies widely amongst organizations. In order to calculate an average for alternative A, B, C, and D, the sum of the four alternatives were each divided by six: the number of questions. See Appendix 03 for the four alternatives. As the results must be plotted into the OCAI, the average score was rounded off to the nearest figure. Finn Rasmussen’s answers are as evident in Table 02.

Alternative 1

2

3

4

5

6

Sum

Average

A

30

40

40

40

40

20

210

35

B

10

10

10

20

10

10

70

12

C

40

30

30

30

30

40

200

33

D

20

20

20

10

20

30

120

20

Table 02: Finn Rasmussen’s scores for the culture of Mercer

In order to provide a profile of the current culture of Mercer, the averages are plotted into the OCAI framework. The average of alternative A represents the clan culture and is plotted on the diagonal line extending upward in the top left quadrant on the OCAI framework. The B alternative represents the adhocracy culture and is plotted on the diagonal line extending upward in the upper right quadrant. The average of the C alternative represents the market culture and is plotted on the diagonal line extending downward in the bottom right quadrant and, finally, the D alternative which represents the hierarchy culture is plotted on the diagonal line extending downward in the bottom left quadrant on the framework. The points in each quadrant are connected to form a foursided figure which represents a picture of the current culture of the organization as experienced by Finn Rasmussen. Based on Finn Rasmussen’s answers it can be determined that the culture of Mercer Denmark is primarily a mixture of the Clan Culture and the Market Culture as expressed in Figure 10.

13

A majority of the organizations surveyed by Cameron & Quinn are Northern American organizations, but organizations from all over the world are included, thus the average can be applied to Mercer Denmark as well.

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

Figure 10: The culture of Mercer by Finn Rasmussen

The culture profile is to some extend similar to the one presented by Cameron & Quinn and thus the answers from Finn Rasmussen are considered to match the average service organization as identified by Cameron & Quinn though it of course entails personal traits for the organization.

7.2 Organizational values As the values of Mercer are delivered directly to Mercer Denmark form the American human resource department, it is determined that the values are thus an ethnocentric export approach where the values penetrate the parent company headquarters as described by Cowling & Mailer’s framework (1998) (Appendix 09).

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

In order to analyze the values of Mercer further, the values are plotted into the Competing Values Framework according to CEO Finn Rasmussen’s perception. A short questionnaire was distributed to Finn Rasmussen through the use of e-mail. Again, his prompt response indicates that this is a matter of interest to him. The questionnaire was developed on the basis of the Competing Values Framework created by Cameron & Quinn (2006) where Finn Rasmussen had to place the values of Mercer according to the four categories: Collaborate, Create, Compete, and Control. Finn Rasmussen’s answers to the questionnaire are expressed in Figure 11. See also Appendix 10.

Figure 11: Finn Rasmussen’s ranking of the Mercer values according to the Competing Values Framework (Cameron & Quinn: 2006)

From the answers it is evident that none of the values are experienced as part of the Compete category. Instead, the three values of Integrity, Clients ‘first’, and Professionalism are considered by Finn Rasmussen to be related to Control. The three values of Diversity, Teamwork, and Social Responsibility are deemed to be related to Collaboration. Finally,

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THE VALUE OF VALUES

Finn Rasmussen considers the values of Agility and Innovation to be part of the Create values. In order to provide an easier overview of the values, they have been plotted onto the Competing Values Framework in Figure 12.

Figure 12: The Values of Mercer according to the Competing Values Framework as perceived by Finn Rasmussen

A questionnaire was also distributed externally to investigate the perception of the Mercer values. 127 students or recently graduated students from Aarhus School of Business, Copenhagen Business School and Aalborg University were invited to take part in the survey. 89 students from ASB, 24 students from CBS, and 14 students from AAU were invited. Of these, 71 responded to the survey providing a response rate of 56% which is deemed satisfactory according to Hansen et al. (2008). Amongst the 71 responses, nine

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indicated that they had more than two years of full-time professional experience wherefore they are not included in the survey results. Though it was not possible to skip questions in the survey some respondents have chosen not to complete the survey. This of course affects the response rate as only 50 respondents completed the survey. Compared to the complete sampling frame invited to participate in the survey this lowers the response rate to 39%. Though this is not a high response rate, it is still considered appropriate within this type of data collection as Hansen et al. (2008) argue that a response rate between 35-40% is common for this type of survey. Only the 50 respondents who completed the survey and who have less than two years of professional experience will be included in the analysis. For the results of the entire survey, please refer to Appendix 07b.

From the respondents it is evident that the majority is between the ages of 22-29. This is according to what was expected prior to the distribution of the questionnaire and in fact, 72% of the respondents are currently students; the majority within the field of humanistic studies (42%) and social studies (36%). Of all the respondents, a large majority are female participants as only 28% are men. Though it was expected that more women than men would participate in the survey, it is surprising that the difference is so great. However, when comparing the two groups in Table 03a and Table3b it is evident that they place the values within the same categories indicating that no great difference exists between the two gender’s perceptions of the Mercer values.

Collaborate Create (Do Compete (Do Control (Do (Do things things first) things fast) things right) together) 88,9% (32) 5,6% (2) 5,6% (2) 0 Integrity 30,6% (11) 25,0% (9) 22,2% (8) 22,2% 8 Clients 'first' 69,4% 25 5,6% (2) 0 25,0% (9) Diversity 91,7% (33) 0 5,6% (2) 2,8% (1) Teamwork 86,1% (31) 0 8,3% (3) 5,6% (2) Professionalism 44,4% (16) 11,1% (4) 36,1% (13) 8,3% (3) Agility 63,9% (23) 0 25,0% (9) 11,1% (4) Innovation 75% (27) 22,2% (8) 0 2,8% (1) Social responsibility Table 03a: Female categorization of the Mercer values according to the Competing Values Framework Answer Options

(Cameron & Quinn: 2006).

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Collaborate Create (Do Compete (Do Control (Do (Do things things first) things fast) things right) together) 92,9% (13) 0 0 7,1% (1) Integrity 42,9% (6) 28,6% (4) 0 28,6% (4) Clients 'first' 64,3% (9) 14,3% (2) 0 21,4% (3) Diversity 92,9% (13) 0 7,1% (1) 0 Teamwork 57,1% (8) 7,1% (1) 7,1% (1) 28,6% (4) Professionalism 64,3% (9) 14,3% (2) 21,4% (3) 0 Agility 85,7% (12) 0 14,3% (2) 0 Innovation 64, 3% (9) 28,6% (4) 7,1% (1) 0 Social responsibility Table 03b: Male categorization of the Mercer values according to the Competing Values Framework Answer Options

(Cameron & Quinn: 2006)

The influence of gender it not relevant for the questions related to the importance of values either. Both groups primarily agree and tend to agree with the statement ‘When searching for a job, the values of the organization are important to me’. In total 50% of the male respondents and 52,8% of the female respondents Agree with the statement and 42,9% and 41,7% respectively Tend to agree. The only striking difference is that 2,8% of the female respondents Disagree with the statement though this is not significant. The average of both male and female respondents is evident in Table 04.

Answer Options

Agree

Tend to agree

Tend to disagree

Disagree

When searching for a job, the 4,0% (2) 2,0% (1) values of the organization are 52,0% (26) 42,0% (21) important to me Table 04: Average responses to ‘When searching for a job, the values of the organization are important to me’.

As there is no significant difference between the male and female responses for the remaining survey, the gender differences will not be taken into consideration during the discussion of the findings. Please see Appendix 11a and 11b for the answers divided by gender. Though respondents comment that the values of an organization are important to them, the majority is more reluctant to prioritize an organization due to the values as expressed in Table 05. This move from Agree to Tend to agree could be affected by the target group of this research project: as it only includes students or recently graduated students the

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priority of values might not be as high as for people with more professional experience as many graduates are willing to overlook some values in order to simply be employed as soon as they graduate. Answer Options

Agree

Tend to agree

Tend to disagree

Disagree

64,0% (32) 14,0% (7) 0 I would prioritize an organization higher 22,0% (11) due to its values during my job search Table 05: Responses to the question ‘I would prioritize an organization higher due to its values during my job search’

Based on these two questions, the relevance of this research project can be deemed high as there is a connection between graduates and their view upon organizational values.

For the following questions, the respondents were asked to describe how they experience the eight values of Mercer according to the words associated with them as developed by Mercer.

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Integrity First the respondents were asked to evaluate the value of Integrity through the use of the statements: High standards, Ethical behavior, Fairness, and Compliance with the law. Should respondents feel that these statements do not cover their perception of the value, they are encouraged to describe their view using their own words. Only 4% chose to do so, indicating that the statements do describe the value clearly. Respondents were encouraged to select all the statements that they felt accurately described their view and thus, the sum of the selected statements exceed 100% as respondents are allowed to select more than one category. The value of Integrity is viewed by the respondents to be a mixture of all four statements as expressed in Figure 13. It is evident that the values of High standards and Ethical behavior are deemed most appropriate for the value, however, the response rate for the remaining two is still high.

Figure 13: the value of Integrity as experienced by the respondents

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Clients ‘first’ When respondents were asked to evaluate the value of Clients ‘first’ the responses were somewhat different from the answers to the previous question. Here, 12% did not find the categories to be sufficient to cover their perception of the value as evident in Figure 14. However, the score for the associations are still high, especially Commitment and Dedication. Passion is the lowest scoring attribute for this value with only 12% of the respondents thinking this describes the value of Clients ‘first’. Seeing that the response rate is so low for this attribute, Passion can be deemed not to describe the perception of the value amongst this group. Commitment and Dedication could be argued to be something every organization must strive for in their daily work, thus, they can be said to be descriptive for every business an organization operates in. However, being a consultancy organization, the client focus is essential for an organization such as Mercer.

Figure 14: The value of ‘Clients first’ as experienced by the respondents-

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Diversity The following value to be associated is the value of Diversity and the results are expressed in Figure 15. Only 2% found it necessary to use their own words to describe the value. The majority of the respondents found that Respect describes the value most appropriately. Based on the large amount of responses to Background, it can be argued that the respondents experience Diversity largely as a way of displaying respect for different backgrounds. Fewer respondents indicate the same understanding of Diversity related to Experiences and Approaches. Whether this is culturally determined is not evident through this research, however, it can be argued that in Denmark, organizations do not place as much emphasis on Diversity as their American counterparts and thus Diversity will for many simply refer to respect for different backgrounds.

Figure 15: The value of Diversity as experienced by the respondents.

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Teamwork A preference amongst the respondents is also evident in the analysis for the next value: Teamwork as seen in Figure 16. 82% of the respondents chose to describe Teamwork through the use of Collaboration though the rate for United is also significantly high. Teams are in most organizations replacing individuals as the basic building blocks wherefore the association of Collaboration and United are understandable. Some would argue that Teamwork would lead to more Fun, however, only 20% of the respondents believe that Teamwork as an organizational value can be described as Fun. Teams are said to require the right environment to flourish and if Competitive is experienced as something opposed to United, it could be the reason why only 16% have selected Competitive as an attribute of Teamwork.

Figure 16: The value of Teamwork as experienced by the respondents.

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Professionalism For the value of Professionalism, the majority of the respondents find that Expertise is the most appropriate attribute as presented in Figure 17. A large amount of the respondents, 58%, also believe that Professionalism entails Commitment. It can be argued that these two statements should ideally describe every organization and it is thus no surprise that respondents value these. It is surprising however, that only 22% believe that Professionalism entails Responsiveness. The ever changing environment in which Mercer operates requires responsiveness and it could be argued that stakeholders would associate this with being professional though this is not the case in this analysis.

Figure 17: The value of Professionalism as experienced by the respondents.

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Agility Seeing that nimbleness is a synonym for agility it would have been expected to find many respondents finding Nimble as the most appropriate statement to describe the value of Agility, though this is not the case in this survey as expressed in Figure 18. Instead, the value of Agility is primarily described as Flexibility by the respondents. This corresponds well with the turbulent environment in which Mercer operates where flexibility is necessary, however, the fact that Mercer has chosen Agility as a value and not Flexibility can indicate a deliberate choice to distinguish between the two. The attributes of Open and Action receive 20% and 30% respectively which are rather low scores. However, as the response rate is very high for Flexibility, it can be argued that respondents did not find it relevant to select other categories to describe the value. Should other stakeholder groups have taken part in this survey, the result might be different though.

Figure 18: The value of Agility as experienced by the respondents.

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Innovation For the value of Innovation, respondents place almost equally emphasis on the characteristics of Challenging and Redefining, 64% and 56% respectively as it is evident from Figure 19. As only two attributes were provided for this value, it was expected that they would both generate many responses. This has, however, also resulted in a rather high response rate of 16% for the ‘Other’ category, where respondents are asked to express their own beliefs. The majority of these respondents comment that they associate being innovative with ‘new’ and ‘creating’ (Appendix 12). If Lynch’s (2009) understanding is used, innovation can be understood as the generation and exploration of new ideas. Thus, describing the value as New and Creating is highly applicable. A problem with the value of Innovation is expressed by one of the comments for this value: “Who hasn't? Does not really say much about the organization (maybe that description fits their products better)” (Parentheses by respondent. Appendix 12). If values are argued to be able to distance the organization from its competitors, a value that is experienced as irrelevant does not facilitate the organization in gaining a competitive advantage when recruiting.

Figure 19: The value of Innovation as experienced by the respondents.

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Social Responsible After all the organizational scandals over the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the focus on corporate social responsibility. More than ever, organizations in the United States and elsewhere are under examination for their CSR activities and according to Wilkinson et al. (2009) future employees have been shown to take note of CSR information such as an organization’s environmental practices, community relations, sponsorship activities, and treatment of women and minorities. And from Figure 20 it does seem that the potential employees of Mercer understand CSR as part of community relations as the majority (86%) of the respondents experiences being socially responsible as a way of Contributing to society. Only few respondents have selected other categories to describe the value, however, 8% have found it necessary to use their own words to describe their view upon social responsibility. Furthermore, only few respondents have chosen to associate Social Responsibility with the other categories developed by Mercer, however, amongst these, the most dominant are Credibility and Health Care.

Figure 20: The value of Social Responsibility as experienced by the respondents.

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Interestingly, in general more women than men maintain that CSR is of personal importance to them (Holbeche: 2009). Thus for this value it is interesting to analyze the differences between male and female respondents though the importance of CSR is not measured through this analysis. When comparing the categories according to gender only few differences appear as expressed in Figure 21. Both genders argue that Contribution to society is what they primarily associate with the value, however, 50% of the male respondents find social responsibility to be related to Credibility as opposed to only 25% of the female respondents. This is the greatest significant difference between the two genders though they also value health care and retirement differently.

100,0% 90,0% 80,0% 70,0% 60,0% 50,0% 40,0% 30,0% 20,0% 10,0% 0,0%

Response Male

Co nt ri

sp ec if y )

en t

pl ea se

m O th er (

Re tir e

n

ca re He al th

In te ra ct io

y Cr ed ib il it

bu t io n

to

so cie

ty

Response Female

Figure 21: Male and female associations with the value of Social Responsibility

As it is evident in Table 06 no significant difference in how the respondents place the value on the Competing Values Framework is evident thus it can be argued that though scholars have commented that women tend to value social responsibility differently from men, this is not the case in this analysis.

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According to the four categories, how would you characterize the value? Male Answer Options Social responsibility Female Answer Options

Collaborate (Do Create things together) things first) 28,6%

(Do Compete things fast)

7,1%

Collaborate (Do Create things together) things first)

(Do Control (Do things right) 64,3%

0,0% (Do Compete things fast)

(Do Control (Do things right)

75,0% 0,0% 2,8% Social responsibility 22,2% Table 06: Social responsibility on the Competing Values Framework according to male and female respondents.

The results from the survey regarding the categorization of values are not as easily applicable as the answers from Finn Rasmussen, simply due to the fact that figures will not be evenly distributed when the answers of several respondents are included. As it was not expected that any of the values would receive a complete 100% score, the average score is drawn based on the figures. The average scores for the values as identified by the respondents are evident in Figure 22. See appendix 07b for percentages.

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Figure 22: The values of Mercer according to respondents.

In order to present the understanding of the values in the same manner as the evaluation of the values made by Finn Rasmussen, the highest score for each value is deemed to be the superior score and thus deemed to be the overall association of the respondents. Though this can be problematic if a value is split almost equally between two or more categories, it is an appropriate way to categorize the values when using it as a content analysis and it will therefore serve as the foundation for the further analysis. Thus, Integrity, Professionalism, and Social Responsibility are considered to be part of the Control category, Clients ‘first’ and Agility are part of the Compete category, Diversity and Teamwork are part of the Collaborate category, and finally Innovation is part of the Create category. When expressed in this manner, the values can be plotted into the Competing Values Framework as developed by Cameron & Quinn; see Figure 23

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Figure 23: The values of Mercer according to survey results in the Competing Values Framework.

When the values are plotted into this framework, it becomes evident that the potential future employees of Mercer experience the values as expressing a mixture of all four culture types. The greatest emphasis is placed on a Hierarchy culture with the values of Integrity, Professionalism, and Social Responsibility and very little focus is expressed through a Creative culture; the value of Innovation. The remaining two culture types are equally expressed through the values of Diversity and Teamwork and Clients ‘first’ and Agility respectively.

The final questions of the survey consist of open questions where the respondents were asked to reveal their perception of which industry they believe the eight values belong to and which values they would prefer a future employer to have. Answering these questions appears to be difficult for the respondents as this is where many chose to leave the

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survey. However, 70% of the 71 respondents completed the survey including the final open questions. Amongst these, only one respondent mentions Mercer when asked to identify the business of the organization. It was not expected that any respondents would be aware of this, however, as the survey is distributed online, respondents have the possibility of searching for the values online while participating in the survey. Furthermore, it cannot be neglected that the respondent was familiar with the values of Mercer prior to the survey. The majority of the respondents do, however, find that the values are very broad and could describe any business which corresponds well with their placing of the values in all four quadrants of the Competing Values Framework. Amongst the respondents who do describe a specific business, 24% do in fact mention consultancy, though one respondent comments “… international consulting (if I skip Innovation from the list)...” (Parentheses by respondent. Appendix 13). It appears that the value of Innovation is what determines which business the values belong to: many respondents comment that ‘except from innovation’ or ‘due to innovation’ for example one respondent comments: “Except from Innovation, I would have to say pension or banking.” (Appendix 13). Many respondents have chosen to mention specific organizations in order to describe who they in fact think apply the eight values. Many of the organizations mentioned are members of the Danish C20 index, thus it can be argued that the Danish context influences the answers. When suggesting a specific organization, the majority mentions Vestas, but other large Danish organizations including Novo Nordisk, Danfoss, Grundfos, and Arla are mentioned. According to Finn Rasmussen, he is flattered that respondents find that their values could belong to these esteemed organizations and in fact many of the organizations are customers of Mercer (Appendix 09).

Finally, respondents were asked to mention their desired values of a future employer. From the 50 respondents this resulted in 41 different values though if a thematic analysis was conducted, several of the values might be placed within the same categories. However, as no thematic analysis of the values is conducted they will be analyzed as they are presented by respondents. The top ten values are presented in Table 07. Please refer to Appendix 14a and 14b for a full overview of the values mentioned.

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VALUE

NUMBER

Teamwork Integrity Professionalism CSR Diversity Innovation Client focus Undecided Responsibility Work-life balance Agility Passion

14 11 10 9 8 7 6 6 4 3 3 3

Table 07: Top ten values as desired by respondents

Amongst these 12 values, the eight values of Mercer are all represented. Though it was not expected that respondents would select the values of Mercer, it appears to have been the case. Whether they are influenced of the many questions or if they truly prioritize these values is not evident from the research, however, some general comments can be made. The value that most respondents can agree upon is Teamwork which is mentioned 14 times. The second highest score is for Integrity which is also one of the Mercer values and is closely followed by Professionalism, CSR, Diversity, Innovation, and Client focus. Six of the respondents comment that they are undecided about which values they prefer a future employer to have and as one respondent argues: “To be honest, I think this will not be as relevant when applying for my first job; I just really need a job” (Appendix 14a). Whether the remaining five respondents experience values in the same manner is difficult to conclude, but the fact that they are undecided can suggest it. The remaining values include Responsibility which can be argued to be part of CSR, however, as respondents have chosen to label it Responsibility only it can be assumed that it entails a more broad sense of the word. Should Responsibility have been part of CSR, the value of CSR would have been the second highest preferred value. Seeing that both values are amongst the highest preferred does indicate that employees expect an organization to act responsibly. Work-life balance is mentioned by three respondents. In recent years work-life balance has become a buzzword used to describe the relationship between work and private life. In

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order to meet the request for balance, Mercer for example provides a paid day off should employees need it for moving, weddings, or funerals (Appendix 09) though work-life balance is not a value. Agility and Passion are the remaining two values of the ten most popular. Whether Agility is present due to it being one of the Mercer values is difficult to conclude, but as it has previously been discussed, Agility is by the majority of the respondents seen as being Flexible which is highly relevant in the current market. Passion, however, is not part of the Mercer values and must as such express a value which is not influenced by the previous questions in the survey.

8. Discussion of findings From the framework it is revealed that the most evident culture as evaluated by Finn Rasmussen is the Clan culture closely followed by the Market culture. Since only a difference of two points exists between the two cultures they are together deemed as the most dominant as the difference is not significant. Cameron & Quinn argue that it is common for organizations to possess values from the different cultures, though they might be considered to be opposing (Cameron & Quinn: 1999). However, this mixture of two dominant cultures also implies that the organizational culture is lacking strength as the higher the score for a specific culture, the stronger the culture is. Having divided the score almost equally between the clan culture and the market culture can thus indicate a lack of homogeneity and focus within Mercer Denmark. However, the need for a strong culture is often environmentally determined. Not all organizations are in need of a strong culture as opposed to a balanced or diverse culture and the nature of the challenges facing the organization are likely to be the determining factor. Which culture is most appropriate for Mercer has not been analyzed through the analysis and is difficult to determine. However, seeing that Finn Rasmussen is the CEO of Mercer could indicate that he pursues to influence the culture of Mercer Denmark in a way he deems appropriate. Indicating that Mercer is dominated by a Market and Clan Culture was expected as this is consistent with the average presented for the Service sector, but seeing that Mercer is a consultancy organization, a greater emphasis on the market could have been expected compared to a Clan culture. Being a consultancy organization, the focus of the organization is very resultoriented and achievement is valued and measured. This concept of contradictions, thus,

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applies to the effectiveness criteria of Mercer. In the Clan culture, cohesion, employee satisfaction, and teamwork define organizational effectiveness whereas the Market culture experiences effectiveness through achieving goals, outpacing competition, and securing financial return. This is another important insight highlighted by the Organizational Culture Assessment Index as all four types of culture are valuable and necessary and none is better or worse than the others. Thus, contradictions exist in cultural profiles and it is therefore not common to discover a cigar shaped profile, for example. According to Cameron & Quinn (1999), many high performing organizations simultaneously emphasize the Clan culture along with the Market culture. In Mercer this can be exemplified by the fact that the organization is supportive of and develops their employees (Clan culture) but also demands output and achievements from them (Market culture). Thus it can be concluded that effective organizations are able to act in flexible and sometimes contradictory ways and therefore the Culture Profile of Mercer is deemed to portray an appropriate and relevant image of the organization.

Determining the cultural profile of Mercer as appropriate does not necessarily entail that organizations with strong cultures have higher performance. Studies have found only a modestly positive relationship between culture strength and success (McShane & Von Glinow: 2005). One reason for this weak relationship is that a strong culture increases organizational performance only if the culture is appropriate for the organization’s environment. Knowing that the values of Mercer are penetrating the parent company headquarters, the relevance of all eight values can be argued for the Danish context. Value congruence relates to the compatibility of the organization’s values with the values of the society in which it operates and this is particularly important as globalization increases the frequency of cross-cultural interaction. According to McShane & Von Glinow (2005), an organization from a society that tries to impose its value system on employees located in another culture may experience higher employee turnover and have more difficult relations with the communities in which the organization operates. For Mercer Denmark, Finn Rasmussen argues for example that the value of Diversity can be very difficult to incorporate in the daily life (Appendix 09). Though Mercer as an organization respects diversity, the Danish part of the organization does not actively undertake actions towards diversity, primarily due to the fact that the demographic of the Danish society is far

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from that of the American society. Most organizations in the United States have a multicultural workforce because of the country’s increasing demographic diversity. Minorities represent over one quarter of the American workforce, and this is considered to increase substantially over the next few decades (McShane & Von Glinow: 2005). The diversity agenda of most organization today extends well beyond equal opportunities though. It has begun to encompass a more far-reaching respect for individual differences in all their forms. In many organizations, the drive for equality has turned into an organization-led diversity movement where diversity is embraced as a potential source of competitive advantage. This allows employees to better serve a diverse customer base instead of a route to social justice. This extend of the focus has, however, not spread to the Danish environment yet and thus the relevance of using Diversity as a value can be discussed. Age cohorts represent another primary dimension of workforce diversity. Baby Boomers, people born between 1946 and 1964, have different expectations in the workplace than Generation X employees, those born between 1965 and 1979. A typical Baby Boomer tends to expect and desire job security and in contrast, a generation X employee is typically less loyal to one organization and, in return, expects less job security. Generation Y employees, people born after 1980, expect plenty of responsibility and involvement in their employment (Brooks: 2006). The majority of respondents belong to the category of Generation Y and this must be expected to influence their responses. Managing diversity is therefore an important component of contemporary human resource management as it does not only apply to minorities but also to differences in approaches and beliefs. This is in fact what Mercer pursues to express through the statements associated with the value of Diversity and as such the value can be deemed relevant for Mercer even in a Danish context. It can be argued, however, that diversity and organizational culture are incompatible ideas as it is not possible to have diversity in an organizational culture as culture focuses on the similarities between employees. It is indeed a challenge, probably best solved by accepting that all cultures contain diverse elements and most are tolerant of a degree of internal difference whether in as diverse a country as the United States or in Denmark

Though corporate social responsibility, perhaps opposed to Diversity, has gained a strong position in the minds of many Danes, a value of Social Responsibility is difficult for

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organizations to use actively in order to distance themselves from their competitors. In Denmark, a CSR report is required by law in the annual reports of large publicly traded organizations and thus a value of being social responsible does not differentiate the organization much from its competitors. Through the answers in the externally distributed questionnaire it becomes evident that being social responsible is in fact difficult to use as a value. As some of the respondents comment, being responsible does not matter if it is not expressed through the actions of the organization and that being social responsible has in some way lost its meaning (Appendix 15). As the CSR activities of Mercer are not communicated consistently to the Danish stakeholders, the CSR activities of Mercer do not gain attention and thus it can be difficult for the organization to use it as a value in Denmark. However, as it is evident from the respondents’ answers in the questionnaire, being socially responsible is something that many graduates value and desire in a future employer. In fact, from the open answers to the question regarding which values they prefer, it becomes evident that approximately 30% of the respondents mention CSR or responsibility in general as a value they would prefer (Appendix 14). This emphasis on social responsibility is very interesting as it indicates that graduates value it though differences in how social responsibility is perceived. This is for example evident in the way Finn Rasmussen and the respondents place the value of Social Responsibility in the Competing Values Framework. Whereas Finn Rasmussen categorizes the value as part of the collaborate quadrant, the respondents deem it to belong to the control quadrant. This means that according to Finn Rasmussen, social responsibility expresses a Clan like culture with emphasis on doing things together through mentoring and participation as opposed to the graduates who believe that it communicates a more Hierarchal type of culture with focus on doing things right through structure and efficiency. Though this difference exists between the placing of the value, both the respondents and Finn Rasmussen thus experience the value of Social Responsibility as being a tool for internal use and in connection with law requirements it can be argued that the value therefore cannot be used to gain a competitive advantage in fight for talent in a Danish context. However, seeing that it is perceived as an internal tool, a value of being socially responsible might provide a competitive advantage when trying to retain employees.

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Placing the value of being socially responsible on the Competing Values Framework is not the only difference between the answers of Finn Rasmussen and the respondents. When placing the value of Clients ‘first’ Finn Rasmussen deemed the value to be linked to the category of Control whereas the respondents deem the value to belong to the Compete category. Both categories are dominated by stability and control, however, the focus of the two categories differs: The Control category entails an internal focus as opposed to the external focus of the Compete category. This difference is striking, however, if the distribution of the answers from the respondents is investigated further it becomes evident that only a minor difference in the percentages exists as expressed in Table 08.

According to the four categories, how would you characterize the different values? Answer Options Clients 'first'

Collaborate (Do things together)

Create (Do things first)

Compete (Do things fast)

Control (Do things right)

34, 0% (17) 26,0% (13) 16,0% (8) 24% (12) Table 08: Response rates to the categorization of the value Clients ‘first’

Seeing that respondents find it difficult to agree on one category might indicate that the value does not communicate clearly what Mercer believes when emphasizing a client focus. Though it might not be a negative if different groups should evaluate the client focus differently, the great lack of consistency in the perception does indicate that the value cannot communicate the desired perception clearly. In addition, 12% felt it necessary to use their own words to describe this value, which is the second highest amount in the survey. Therein graduates comment that it describes a closed organization with more focus on clients than on employees which is considered as a negative amongst the respondents (Appendix 16). Seeing that this research project set out to investigate how Mercer can attract talented employees, applying a value creates negative feelings is not desirable.

Organizations world wide have introduced teams because, under the right conditions, they can make better decisions, develop better products and services, and create a more energized workforce than when people work alone (McShane & Von Glinow: 2005). Similarly, team members can quickly share information and coordinate tasks, whereas processes are slower and prone to more errors in traditional departments lead by

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managers and supervisors. Teams typically provide superior customer service because they provide more breadth of knowledge and expertise to customers than individuals which must be deemed to be highly relevant for an organization such as Mercer where the client is in focus. As a form of employee involvement, teams are generally experienced as being more successful than individuals at identifying problems, developing alternatives, and choosing from these alternatives. In fact, 82% of the respondents associate Teamwork with Collaboration which is not surprising as teamwork entails collaboration. The fact that 52% associates Teamwork with United indicates a further level of corporation than simply collaborating. A high level of teamwork and collaboration does not necessarily imply a high level of unity, however, if an organization manages to unite its employees they can experience a competitive advantage. According to McShane & Von Glinow (2005) teams often have a competitive advantage over individuals and thus it is surprising that only 16% of the respondents associate Competitive with the value of Teamwork. However, despite this competitive advantage, teamwork can become a problem due to the fact that teams are not always needed. Sometimes, quick and decisive action by one person is more appropriate. Many organizations forget this by creating teams without changing the strategy. This might be the reason why respondents do not experience Teamwork as providing a competitive advantage. Furthermore, the true nature of teamwork within an organization cannot be discovered before the applicants join the organization and thus it is difficult to conclude whether a value of Teamwork can help Mercer attract the most talented employees. Despite this, teamwork is still the most desired value as argued by the respondents and thus it cannot be neglected. If Mercer thus manages to create a sense of unity within the organization while collaborating, Teamwork can serve as a strong value though employees will not experience this prior to joining the organization.

According to Minchington (2006) organizations that encourage and nurture innovation will be more attractive to potential employees than their competitors and will also assist in retaining existing staff and thus it could be argued that applying the value of innovation to an organization could generate positive responses from its stakeholders. Lynch (2009) further argues that innovation can deliver three assets to the strategic management of an organization: Substantial future growth, competitive advantage, and the ability to outpace major competition. As it is argued that values ideally should create a competitive

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advantage for the organization, using Innovation as a value that in it self expresses this can be deemed to be an excellent choice as evidence suggests that being more innovative results in improved performance. The value of Innovation generates the largest amount of responses to the possibility of open questions; 16% which indicates that it is something that respondents can relate to and that they feel encouraged to comment on though it can also indicate that they do not find the associations suitable. The majority of the respondents comment that they associate the value of innovation with being creative (Appendix 12). Another aspect of innovation is, in fact, the need to foster an environment of creativity to allow new ideas to be commercialized. Though Mercer in this connection does not entail creativity as such, being innovative must be argued to potentially attract many graduates as working in a challenging and redefining work environment is desirable, however, the problem occurs if graduates do not perceive the work of Mercer as being innovative. Though some of the services Mercer provides do not appear innovative at first glance the organization is for example responsible for the widely cited Cost of Living Survey which is an annual comparison of cost of living in cities world wide. The information is used by governments and major organizations to protect the purchasing power of their employees when transferred abroad. This service is highly innovative and the cities change every year making the report correspond to market trends. Adapting to the market trends requires being innovative and the need for this is expressed through the words associated with the value: primarily redefining and challenging. Thus, though the nature of Mercer Denmark might not appear innovative, the organization does provide redefining and challenging services which can make the organization a highly interesting place for all types of employees to join.

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines Agility as being “able to think quickly and in an intelligent way” (Oxford Dictionary: 2003: 24) whereas flexibility is defined as being “able to change to new conditions or situations” (Oxford Dictionary: 2003: 488). Though both are relevant for any business, Mercer wishes to describe its business through the use of the first. Selecting a value of being agile thus indicates that Mercer adheres to the requirements of the environment whether it is stable or challenging though the two definitions are closely related. Furthermore, only one respondent mentions flexibility as a desired value as opposed to three who mention agility and it could be argued that

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respondents have been influenced by the Mercer values when selecting their desired values. However, since respondents appear to be unaware of the difference between the two definitions, the difference can be deemed to be irrelevant for this target group. It must be kept in mind though that two respondents comment that they do not understand the word (Appendix 17). Applying values that stakeholders do not understand will not apply competitive advantage to any organization and thus it can be argued whether Mercer should continue with the value of Agility or if flexibility would be a more appropriate value. In fact, when Finn Rasmussen is asked to comment on the values of Mercer, he finds that Agility could easily be removed as he does not find it expressing the values of Mercer Denmark (Appendix 09).

According to McShane & Von Glinow (2005) surveys indicate that the employer’s integrity is as important to most employees as their income, thus, Integrity can be viewed as a highly important value for every organization. This might also be the reason why respondents tend to suggest all four statements as an association of the value. Seeing that the current business environment is a highly turbulent one, it could have been expected that more respondents would select Compliance with the law as an attribute of the value of Integrity as there is a greater call for transparency and open communication from all organizations. However, only 44% comment that this is what they associate with Integrity which could be caused by the Danish business environment where only a few corporate scandals have affected the environment compare to the United States. Nevertheless, integrity is something which should be sought after by all organizations and thus it could be argued that integrity must be evident through all the statements expressed by Mercer. In fact, Integrity is the second most desired value amongst respondents only exceeded by the value of Teamwork which could indicate that graduates would tend to prioritize an organization with the value of Integrity higher than other values.

When describing the value of Professionalism, respondents comment that the words Expertise and Commitment are most suitable. These are both buzzwords of the current environment across business environments, however despite this, they are highly relevant for describing the work of an organization if it is truly professional. It further appears to be something graduates highly value, as ten respondents have mentioned this as one of their

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desired values. Using Mercer’s words, this indicates that they ideally prefer to be employed by a professional organization with great Expertise and Commitment. On the contrary, only 22% find that Professionalism is displayed through Responsiveness. If this is a result of the respondents selecting Expertise and Commitment first and then only a few mentioning Responsiveness is difficult to say, however, the questionnaire was developed so that the possible choices moved for every respondent. This should ensure that respondents did not just select the first one or two categories without taking the entire range of words into consideration, however, the low amount of responses is striking. It is hard to conclude if a connection to the value of Clients ‘first’ exists here, but one could argue that a connection between Responsiveness and Action, not reaction exists. For the value of Clients ‘first’ 32% agreed that it describes Action, not reaction whereas only 22% find that Professionalism entails Responsiveness. It would be interesting to see, if the score was higher if the two attributes where exchanged for the values. Though, as the value is experienced currently by the respondents, primarily it does not include Responsiveness.

Based on these analyses it can be concluded that some of the Mercer values are more appropriate than others when targeting graduates. It can be argued that a value such as being Social responsible cannot be used for differentiating the organization from its competitors in the search for talent. Furthermore, respondents disagree on the value of Clients ‘first’ and based on this it could be concluded that the value is not appropriate. In addition, it appears that respondents do not experience the value of Agility in the same manner as Mercer does, though Mercer does include Flexibility in their description of the value. However, despite these criticisms, all values are part of the desired values of a future employee mentioned by the respondents and whether the values should be deleted from the Mercer values is thus difficult to conclude. Just outside the top three of desired values, Diversity and Innovation are ranked fifth and sixth indicating that these are not the most desired values, but still highly relevant when attracting new employees to the organization. The values of Teamwork, Integrity, and Professionalism are the three most desired values as argued by the respondents and they are all part of the Mercer values. In fact, all eight Mercer values are mentioned amongst the top ten and thus it can be difficult to deem whether one or more values are inappropriate. It is further suggested by scholars

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(van Hauen et al.: 1997, Scott et al.: 1993) that organizations apply between five to seven values. As Mercer uses eight different values, it can be difficult to conclude which value(s) should be deselected, though Finn Rasmussen suggests Agility (Appendix 09)

Despite these differences in the perception of values, one of the most striking discoveries of this research project is portrayed in Figure 24. Here the difference between Finn Rasmussen’s perception of the current culture of Mercer and the values is evident.

Figure 24: Comparison of Finn Rasmussen’s perception of the current culture of Mercer and the values.

Though the Competing Values Framework as developed by Cameron & Quinn (1999, 2006) is not intended for a direct comparison of culture and values, it is deemed highly

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appropriate and relevant in this analysis and it should be experienced as a development of the theory presented. The average scores of the cultural profile are plotted into the framework in accordance with Finn Rasmussen’s answers and an average number is developed for the values. For example, thee values belonging to the Hierarchical culture equals a score of three on the diagonal extending downwards in the lower left corner. Similarly, as Finn Rasmussen has not placed any values in the Market culture, no connection is made here. Especially the Market quadrant is interesting to analyze in this context, as Finn places no values here but argues that the culture is highly market oriented. Thus, it is fair to argue that in a Danish context the values of Mercer do not completely describe the organizational culture. Though this not necessarily is a negative, the difference is striking and it could be interesting to investigate this gap in detail.

In order to further compare the external perception of the values according to the culture of Mercer, the respondents’ answers can be plotted into the framework as presented by the green figure in Figure 25.

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Figure 25: Comparison of culture and internal and external perception of values at Mercer.

Though many of the characteristics do overlap in the Framework, the differences are evident when presented in this manner. The fact that both the internal and external perception of the Mercer values do not correspond with the culture of Mercer Denmark can be seen as a negative trait of the organization. However, seeing that the values are very broad the true impact is difficult to establish. When applying eight values to an organization they are likely to be very broad and this can result in very different interpretations. As it has been established that the stakeholders are also very broad for organizations such as Mercer, applying many broad values must be deemed appropriate when pursuing to reach all. According to Lynch (2009) strategic values are likely to reflect the social system of the country in which the strategy is developed. Thus, the values of

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organizations must be seen in the context of their country of origin which is also the case for Mercer where the values are delivered directly from the American HR department. Thus, if respondents do not experience the values in the same manner as intended by Mercer, it can be argued that it is due to cultural differences. However, it should be recognized that even within countries there will be large variations in ambitions, ideas, and values.

The

importance

of

socio-cultural

elements

should,

therefore,

not

be

overemphasized (Lynch: 2009). As the majority of respondents have studied either humanistic studies or social studies, their fields of studies can have influenced their answers. Following an education where organizational values are part of the curriculum will ensure that the respondents gain knowledge within this field which can entail a somewhat different approach to organizational values compared to students of a technical or scientific field. Furthermore, as the majority of respondents belong to Danish business schools, the results can be biased as they have extensive knowledge about the Danish working environment. Thus, differences can exist even within the Danish context of this analysis though the primary focus has been on the cultural differences between the Danish and American society.

9. Conclusion It is argued that having a good reputation as employer brand can deliver significant competitive advantage (Minchington: 2006) and according to Thorne & Pellant (2007), the organizations that achieve most success with this are those where the vision and values of an organization are aligned with the individual. Through the use of a questionnaire answered by 50 graduated or soon to graduate students, it was established that 94% of the respondents find organizational values relevant when searching for a job. Based on this result it was concluded that a business case for organizational values exists in an employer branding context. As no respondents comment that they disagree with the statement “I would prioritize an organization higher due to its values during my job search”, values are deemed to be relevant for graduates when searching for a future employer.

It has further been established that scholars (McShane & Von Glinow: 2005, Cowling & Mailer: 1998) find that shareholders, job applicants, and current employees are

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increasingly deciding whether to associate with an organization based on how well it applies moral values. Based on the CEO of Mercer Denmark Finn Rasmussen’s answers it was concluded that the culture of Mercer Denmark is somewhat similar to the general average presented by Cameron & Quinn for the service sector. Finn Rasmussen’s answers as presented in Figure 26 indicate that the culture is primarily a mixture of a Market and Clan culture.

Figure 26: Finn Rasmussen’s perception of the organizational culture of Mercer Denmark according to the Organizational Cultural Assessment developed by Cameron & Quinn.

Though these two types of culture can appear to be contradicting, it is common that organizations express opposing cultures and it can express a more balanced culture.

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To compare the culture of Mercer with Finn Rasmussen’s understanding of the values, a comparison can be made of the two when plotted into the Competing Values Framework as in Figure 27.

Figure 27: Comparison of Finn Rasmussen’s perception of the Mercer values and the Danish culture of Mercer

From this it is evident that a gap exists in Finn Rasmussen’s perception of the internal culture of Mercer and his perception of the Mercer values. Whether this is due to cultural differences between Mercer Denmark and Mercer America is difficult to conclude. To further investigate the perception of the values, potential employees of Mercer were asked to rank their understanding of the Mercer values. When plotted onto the Framework as in Figure 28 it becomes evident that they do experience some values differently than Finn

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Rasmussen does. Whereas the culture of Mercer is primarily a mixture of the Market and the Clan culture, the values are internally perceived to be an almost equal mixture of the Clan, Adhocracy, and Hierarchy Cultures. As argued, whether this is due to the differences between the Danish and American business environments it difficult to conclude, as differences also exist within a Danish context only. This is evident when the values are evaluated by the graduate segment. They perceive the values to primarily express a Hierarchy Culture with emphasis on the Clan and the Market culture.

Figure 28: Comparison of culture and internal and external perception of values at Mercer.

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In order to highlight the potential significance of the values it was investigated how the graduate segment experiences the Mercer values by associating the values with statements developed by Mercer. For each value a range of words or statements were evident and respondents were encouraged to select what they find relevant. Some values generated more extreme answers than others. Based on the analysis of the value Integrity it can be concluded that Integrity is easily understood by the graduates and that they agree with Mercer in that high standards, ethical behavior, fairness, and compliance with the law describe Integrity well. When respondents were asked to mention their desired values of a future employee, integrity was mentioned as one of the most popular values only exceeded by the value of Teamwork. It can thus be concluded that the value of Integrity is highly relevant for any organization that wishes to recruit graduates. Whether this is the case for the value of Clients ‘first’ is somewhat more difficult to conclude. Commitment, Dedication, and Action not reaction are all describing a client focus according to the respondents and 12% of the respondents have furthermore chosen to describe the value with their own words. In these, it appears that respondents experience the value as opposed to an employee focus. As such, this is not a negative view, however, as some respondents comment it communicates a closed organization where the bottom line is more important than employees. This is also the value that most respondents disagree on where to place it on the Competing Values Framework and thus it can be determined that this potential group of employees do not agree on the implications of the value. The value of Diversity is primarily associated with Respect and Backgrounds according to the respondents. However, no organizations should focus all its attention on developing only part of its human capital. What is important, however, is recognizing the needs for different individuals within its community and here Mercer Denmark can be argued to benefit from Diversity as a value especially taking into consideration the different expectations from Baby boomers and Generation X and Y14. The value of being Social responsible displays one of the differences between Baby boomers, which Finn Rasmussen belongs to, and Generation Y where most of the respondents belong. Finn Rasmussen perceives being socially responsible to belong to the category of Collaborate and hence a Clan culture whereas the respondents primarily experience it as part of the Control category and a 14

Baby boomers are born from 1946-64, Generation X from 1965-1979, and Generation Y from 1980.

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Hierarchal culture thus. As Finn Rasmussen is the only Baby Boomer in this research project, a general conclusion is difficult to make, but the difference indicates that the perception depends on the age. From the comments made by the respondents it further became evident that a value of being Socially responsible only matters if it is expressed through the organization’s actions. In fact, 86% of the respondents find that a being socially responsible can be associated with Contributing to society. Holbeche (2009) argues that women tend to place greater personal emphasis on CSR activities, however, it was concluded that this is not the case for this research as respondents associate and place values almost equally despite gender. McShane & Von Glinow (2005) argue that organizations world wide can benefit from Teamwork as they make better decisions, develop better products and services, and create a more energized workforce. Unsurprisingly, these benefits of Teamwork were for 82% of the respondents associated Collaboration and for 52% with United. McShane & Von Glinow (2005) further argue that teams often present a competitive advantage over individuals and it was thus surprising that only 16% of the respondents found Teamwork to be associated with Competitive. However, despite this, the value of Teamwork was still the most desired by respondents and it was based on this concluded that the value is highly relevant. Scholars (Minchington, 2006, Lynch, 2009) further ague that Innovation can provide a competitive advantage when attracting new employees. From the results it appears that respondents found it more difficult to describe the value of Innovation accurately. As Mercer only provided two words, Challenging and Redefining, 16% felt is necessary to use their own words. Amongst these the majority described Innovation as being creative. It was argued, however, that the services and products of Mercer might not appear creative to the potential employees, thus the use of Challenging and Redefining are perhaps more appropriate. Integrity is something which should be sought after by all organizations and thus it could be argued that integrity must be evident through all the statements expressed by Mercer. In fact, Integrity is the second most desired value amongst respondents which could indicate that graduates would tend to prioritize an organization with the value of Integrity. Respondents commented that the words Expertise and Commitment are most describing for the value of Professionalism. It further appears to be something graduates highly value, as ten respondents have mentioned this as one of their desired values. This

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indicates that they ideally prefer to be employed by a professional organization with great expertise and commitment.

As all eight Mercer values are mentioned amongst the top ten preferred values it can be difficult to deem whether one or more values should be removed. It is further suggested by scholars (van Hauen et al.: 1997, Scott et al.: 1993) that organizations should apply between five to seven values. As Mercer uses eight different values, it can be difficult to conclude whether Mercer could benefit from a more narrow range of values or if eight values are appropriate to reach all stakeholders. However, from an employer branding perspective, the values are deemed highly relevant. As all eight values are part of the desired values as ranked by the respondents, the values of Mercer can be said to be aligned with the personal values of the graduate segment. Thus, it can be concluded that the Mercer values can be used to position the organization strongly in the war for talented employees.

10. Future research Research has shown that the most effective leaders, as rated by their peers and subordinates, have developed capabilities and skills that allow them to succeed in each of the four quadrants identified by Cameron & Quinn (1999, 2006). Leaders within a Clan culture tend to be warm and supportive, whereas leaders within the Market culture tend to be tough and demanding. Hence it could be argued that the answers of Finn Rasmussen are contradictory, however, as he had no knowledge of the different culture type, this can serve as a fine example of his answers being honest. It also relates well to Cameron & Quinn’s idea of effective leaders being able to simultaneously shift between a hard and soft leadership style. It is also argued that top managers tend to have higher Clan scores than managers in lower levels of the hierarchy. Thus the score of the organization could have appeared different if the entire organization was asked to complete the survey. Furthermore, research suggests that it takes both leadership and management15 as represented by the two upper quadrants and the two lower quadrants respectively, to 15

Managers perform functions in organizations and hold a particular formal title and/or fulfill a role. Leaders, on the other hand, aim to influence and guide others into pursuing particular objectives or visions of the future and to stimulate them into wanting to follow (Brooks: 2006)

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strengthen and maintain a culture in any of the four quadrants: leaders who are not managers are bound to fail, just as managers who are not leaders are bound to fail (Brooks: 2006). Thus, it would be interesting to investigate the management of Mercer Denmark in order to completely understand the culture and values of the organization. In connection with leadership, the daily use and understanding of the Mercer values within the organization could serve as the outset for further research. Organizational values can make a difference to the quality of employees’ working lives, but only if they can be effectively implemented. Wide gaps remain between the practice of organizational values and what is advocated: what employees want from top management and what they receive remain very different (Holbeche: 2009). Should CEO Finn Rasmussen not believe in the use of values in order to attract new employees, the values can be deemed irrelevant from an employer branding perspective. In connection with this, more insight into the Danish HR department would be advised, as it is the HR department which undertakes the employment process at Mercer. However, future research could benefit from taking a different approach to employer branding. Instead of considering the use of values as part of the HR department, focus could be more branding related. This would allow for a deeper investigation of the use of values when conducting employer branding. Should the research method be applied to larger organizations this could be beneficial in strengthening their corporate communication as the biggest challenge in adopting a process of employer branding is, in fact, organizational ownership, because it is often unclear who should sponsor it and the responsibility can fall down in the middle between marketing, corporate communications and human resources. To succeed, it needs to be an integrated process linking all departments with endorsement from the highest level within the organization in order to ensure a consistent employer brand perception (Thorne & Pellant: 2007).

Recruiting staff is, however, only one side of the coin. Retaining them is the other. Losing good staff represents a major loss of the investment that has gone into recruiting and training them, as well as having a serious impact on the work of their teams and departments (Cowling & Mailer: 1998). A positive policy on retention is therefore vital and according to a 2006 survey from the British Office of National Statistics over 25% of 20-40year-olds were working for a different employer a year before and turn-over is highest

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amongst young workers (Holbeche: 2009). Thus, it is no longer satisfactory for employers to focus solely on attracting employees; they must fight to maintain them as well. Therefore, in order to further develop this research, a future project could investigate the staff turn-over amongst new, young employees of Mercer as this is deemed to be higher than staff turn-over of more experienced employees. If this is the case, perhaps the values of Mercer can be applied to greater use in order to retain the employees and at a time when more and more companies are finding it difficult to retain the most talented and promising employees, those companies that provide their people nourishing development experiences are more successful in creating loyal employees (Thorne & Pellant: 2007: 50).

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