Name: Lee Soo Han Joey

Student ID: 32412847

Research Case Study (RCS)
Due Date: 30
th
May 2014
OB in action: Breadtalk
Lecturer: Andy Gan


Discussion

Background of Breadtalk
Breadtalk Group is a homegrown food & beverage organization from
Singapore. Founded in the year 2000, the company has a global staff strength
of 6.000 employees within 17 countries in Asia and the Middle East. Breadtalk
has businesses, which include bakeries, restaurants, and food courts. Some
of the brand portfolio includes Breadtalk. Toast box. Food republic. Ramen
play etc

Question 1
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
There are many facets of definition to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
In Asia, the CSR differs in many ways from the CSR in the West (Williams
2011). CSR is a management concept whereby organizations have a
responsibility towards the public, which keeps them going. Organisations are
obligated to behave in moral and ethical ways. CSR is generally understood
as being the way through which a company achieves a balance of economic,
environmental and social imperatives

Economic sustainability is the ability to support a defined level of economic
production indefinitely with systems such as corporate governance and
business ethics . Social sustainability is the ability of a social system, such as
a country, to function at a defined level of social well being indefinitely. It also
includes providing employment. corporate philanthropy and human rights etc.
Environmental sustainability is the ability to maintain rates of renewable
resource harvest, pollution creation, and non-renewable resource depletion
that can be continued indefinitely using ways such as preserving endangered
creatures and recycling(Singapore Compact for CSR 2007).

The influence of CSR on Organisational Behaviour
Organisational behaviour is essentially studies of groups and individuals
within an organisation. It involves understanding and forms prediction and
tried to establish some form of control of human behaviour. How a
organisation is perceived by the public usually affect the mindsets of its
employees as well. (Ray et al. 2011).


In Singapore, Companies practice CSR by giving back to the community
(Thomas 2010)through volunteerism and charity. Those companies that adopt
CSR practices earn the trust and support of its stakeholders.

CSR could influence the organisational behaviour of Breadtalk. Studies have
shown that CSR can have a great impact on team efficacy and team self-
esteem as part of team performance in organisational behaviour. (Chieh et al.
2011). The two key areas that indirectly influence team performance are
social and economic sustainability. One way of social responsibility is bringing
flexi work time to employees to give them work life balance. The team will be
happier and would appreciate this gesture; the resulting increase in motivation
will increase the teams performance in their respective work area.

Making sure that the organisation does not violate laws increase the
employees trust and confidence in the organisation. Brand image and
reputation of the organisation is gained in the process.

Conclusion
CSR affects the work rate of the entire organization and is becoming a key
motivational factor in their daily performance.

Question 2
Importance of Understanding Cultural Differences
Cultural differences are an important concept to the business managers as
breadtalk is an international company with operations around the world.
Culture is defined as the ways of living which are shared by people of the
same social group and their respective concepts and values which are passed
down from generations past. (Kawar, 2012).

With such a diverse workforce and markets in this global company, the
business managers of Breadtalk are to make sure that within the organisation,
differences are resolved and solved as soon as possible because employees
coming from different cultures will bring forth different behaviors, values and
expectations (Day 2007).Ability to understand cultural differences helps
managers in better communication with the team, trust is also developed
between team members, sharing of ideas with an open mind and being willing
to discuss and accept fresh ideas.


Many forms of cultures exist in the world. It can be divided into multiple levels
of culture including group culture, organizational culture, national culture and
global culture (Leung et al. 2005).A famous researcher, Geert Hofstede
developed the five dimensions of culture within a nation by studying workers
and managers from 60 different countries to explain the cultural differences of
the culture in each country. The five dimensions include power distance.
uncertainty avoidance. Individualism, masculinity and long term - short term
orientation (Wood et al. 2010).



Conclusion
Understanding cultural differences is crucial to the business managers as it
assists them in understanding the culture of the country to improve the culture
of the organisation. In Singapore, having a wide variety of cultures brings us
all types of food culture and exotic cuisine which brings an opportunity for
Breadtalk to expand its business.




References

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Financial Performance: A Study Based on the Top Global Corporations.
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2. As You Sow Foundation. 2011. Corporate Social Responsibility.
http://www.asyousow.org/csr/


3. Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility. 2012. Define CSR.
http://www.accsr.com.au/html/definecsr.html

4. BreadTalk Group Limited. 2012. Our Company.
http://www.breadtalk.com/business-overview.html

5. Chieh P.L.. Wei C.S.. and Baruch Y. 2011. Corporate Social Responsibility
and Team Performance: The Mediating Role of Team Efficacy and Team Self-
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6. Day R. 2007. Developing the multi-cultural organization: managing
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11. Singapore Compact for CSR. 2007. Implementing Corporate Social
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12. Thomas T. 2010. The World Guide to CSR- A Country by Country
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