Ineffective workplace culture at phu nhuan exchange propertyx joint stock company

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business --- Tran Thi My Linh INEFFECTIVE WORKPLACE CULTURE AT PHU NHUAN EXCHANGE PROPERTYX JOINT STOCK COMPANY MAST

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

-

Tran Thi My Linh

INEFFECTIVE WORKPLACE CULTURE

AT PHU NHUAN EXCHANGE

PROPERTYX JOINT STOCK COMPANY

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUPERVISOR: LE THI THANH XUAN

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2020

Contents

Executive Summary 3

1 INTRODUCTION 4

1.1 Hung Thinh Corporation overview 4

1.2 PropertyX Joint stock company overview 6

1.3 PropertyX’s structure 7

2 PROBLEM CONTEXT 8

2.1 Industry context 8

2.2 Company context 9

3 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 11

3.1 Symptoms 11

3.1.1 Lowest revenue among exchange systems 11

3.1.2 Highest turnover rate 11

3.2 Potential problems 12

3.2.1 The First Potential Problem: Ineffective Leadership 14

3.2.2 The Second Potential Problem: Ineffective Employment 15

3.2.3 The Third Potential Problem: Ineffective Workplace culture 16

3.3 Central problems 22

3.3.1 Definition 22

3.3.2 Problem consequences 23

3.3.2.1 Poor working conditions 23

3.3.2.2 Poor work-life balance 24

3.3.2.3 Low employee engagement 24

3.3.2.4 Lack of Training & Development focused 25

3.3.2.5 Lack of Transparent & Open communication 26

3.3.2.6 Weak Team spirit 26

4 CAUSE AND EFFECT MAP 28

4.1 Potential Causes 28

4.1.1 The first potential cause: Rigid Policies 28

4.1.2 The second potential cause: Weak of management practices and the formal socialization process 29

4.1.3 The third potential cause: Autocratic leadership 30

4.2 Cause validation 32

5 ALTERNATIVE SOLUTION 33

5.1 The first alternative solution: Changing leadership style 33

5.2 The second alternative solution: Replace position - Director of Phu Nhuan’s exchange

36

5.3 Solution validation 38

6 ACTION PLAN 39

6.1 Action Plan 39

6.2 Effectiveness measurement 41

Conclusion 42

7 SUPPORTING INFORMATION 43

7.1 Appendix: 43

7.2 References 54

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Top 10 Most Reputable Property Developers 2019 (Source: Vietnam Report, Top 10 Reputable Real Estate Companies 2019, March 2019) 6

Figure 2: Company structure (Source: Company website) 8

Figure 3: Exchange structure (Source: Company website) 8

Figure 4: Top 5 Most Reputable Real Estate Agencies 2019 9

Figure 5: Initial Symptom and Potential problems diagram 20

Figure 6: Updated Initial Symptom and Potential problems diagram 22

Figure 7: Initial Cause and effect tree 31

Figure 8: Final Cause and effect tree 32

Figure 9: Leadership Style 33

LIST OF TABLE Table 1 : Annual Revenue report of PropertyX 2017-2018 (Source: Company report 2016-2017-2018-2019) 11

Table 2: Turnover rate 2016-2019 (Source: Human resources report 2016-2019) 12

Table 3: Number of employee - Phu Nhuan 2019 (Source: Human resources report 2019) 12

Table 4: Board of Management’s expectation on replacing director position effectiveness 41

Further investigations reveal that good or positive workplace culture has many benefits such as: higher employee’s performance, increase employee satisfactory and engagement, lower turnover rate, higher team spirit Of course, Phu Nhuan will face many challenges if they want to successfully implement the leadership style changing These include challenges from replace senior position as well as changing workplace culture and the pressure to get the sale target

In addition, the thesis will base on the main cause of the effect of autocratic leadership style to propose two alternative appropriate solutions: The first is changing leadership style and the second is replacing director position by promoting person from other exchange Based on relevant factors as well as considering advantages and disadvantages, a detail action plan was conducted to implement the second alternative solution is Replacing director

position by promoting person from other exchange for better workplace culture This will

help to predict accurate measurement of figure performance to determine whether Phu Nhuan invest in this project

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Hung Thinh Corporation overview

Hung Thinh Corporation had more than 17 years of run in the field of real estate at

Vietnam Company have the efficient board of director, right strategy and the efforts of whole employees Hung Thinh brand is is one of the strongly named in the market and continually develops into a well-known real estate company not only in Ho Chi Minh city but also

expand to many other provinces

Hung Thinh Corporation has more than 50 member companies, 3 representative offices and system of 9 property exchanges Company has over 2,500 staffs working in the fields of investment, architectural design, construction, furniture, distribution and many kinds of fields

to meet the growing development target More than 50 member companies run in many kinds

of different sector to help Hung Thinh Corporation to form a closely associated process in real estate supply chain This provides the high quality products at reasonable prices for company’s partners and customers

Hung Thinh Corporation always focuses on real estate development as the foundation for all business activities is Invest in real estate field will help to create stable and sustainable growth and affirm are the comprehensive strengths of corporation Hung Thinh try to use the strength of exploitation and available core competencies to expand investment to other fields, company is always committed to bringing good values to partners and customers The Board

of Directors and every employees of Hung Thinh Corporation always try to bring to the market the quality projects and become a reliable name in the market

Member Companies

Hung Thinh Land Joint Stock Company ( Hung Thinh Land )

Hung Thinh Incons Joint Stock Company ( Hung Thinh Incons )

Property X Joint Stock Company ( PropertyX )

Hung Thinh Furniture Joint Stock Company (Hung Thinh Furniture)

Prowind Architecture Joint Stock Company (Prowind Architecture)

Nam Hung Thinh Housing Trading Joint Stock Company

Cong Ty Co Phan Dich Vu Giai Tri Hung Thinh Quy Nhon

Binh Trieu Engineering And Construction Joint Stock Company

Hung Loc Investment Business Joint Stock Company

Viet Tam Joint Stock Company

Hung Thinh Cam Ranh Limited Liability Company

Khai Huy Quan Corporation

Lam Vien Investment And Commercial Service Joint Stock Company

Doi Dua – Hoan My Trading And Service Joint Stock Company

Gia Dinh Star Investment Jont Stock Company

Cam Ranh Mystery Joint Stock Company

Thuan Thanh Phat Co., Ltd

Khai Thinh Real Estate Joint Stock Company

Hung Loc Tree Business Investment Joint Stock Company

Indec Infrastructure Development Joint Stock Company

On March 15, 2019, Top 10 Prestigious Real Estate Companies in 2019 was announced Vietnam Report JSC This is an independent research result of Vietnam Report published annually since 2016 The result based on:

- Media Coding method has been applied by Vietnam Report and its partners since

2012, and put together with in-depth research with high growth potential industry such as: Banking, Insurance, Securities, Food – Drinks, Retail… Media coding

method is used to evaluate media prestige by encoding related company articles on some influential media channels; survey of industry experts; survey of residents living and working in big cities on the level of satisfaction with products or services

- Financial capacity is used to evaluate the prestige of companies by using the recent company financial

- The survey on the operation situation, number of projects, progress of project

handover, etc… in 2018 – 2019 is also used as an additional factor to determine the position of enterprises in the industry

Based on the result of the research, Hung Thinh Corporation is at 7th position

Figure 1: Top 10 Most Reputable Property Developers 2019 (Source: Vietnam Report, Top 10 Reputable Real Estate Companies 2019, March 2019)

1.2 PropertyX Joint stock company overview

PropertyX is one of member of Hung Thinh Corporation PropertyX has 9 real estate exchanges systems and over 1,200 emloyees working at Ho Chi Minh and other provinces in the country such as: Ha Noi, Binh Dinh, Vung Tau Based on mission and strategic vision of Hung Thinh Corporation, PropertyX try to bring high quality products to customer and continue on the way to develop a sustainable community Company vision is

developing PropertyX to be the the biggest and prestige real estate business and distribution company not only at Ho Chi Minh City but also in Vietnam By providing quality and

affordable products with increasing value over time, PropertyX is always tries to build the civilized and prosperous community Besides that, preparing the high quality employees to develop the company’s competitiveness; try to get the development of the economy and creating many great values for the society

PropertyX’s target is "Professionalism - Efficiency - Sustainability" Company always focuses on building the professionalism with a pioneering strategy by training and changing

to adapt globalization every day PropertyX provides the diversity of products, trying to bring

to customer as much as possible high quality product with suitable price to maximize the value of each project in order to bring the highest efficiency to customers PropertyX believe

that a sustainable society is the most important factor to develop the company successful Therefore, company strongly focuses on improving the quality of community, nurturing and creating good living values in the society Company’s mission is developing the civilized and prosperous community PropertyX tries to build good conditions for employees to develop their abilities and encourage them to learn and develop their knowledge It will help them to have higher performance and make loyal with company All employees worked at PropertyX will be respected, listened and shared by board of director and leadership teams Besides that, PropertyX believe that focus on training is a good way to invest for the Company’s future success Therefore, PropertyX usually organizes many training course to develop soft and hard skills They will clearly shape employee’s career path forward to the best goals Training activities are organized to build and develop qualified employees in terms of quality and quantity to meet the requirements of work regularly Moreover, with team building each 6 months for all employees connect with training is an effective way to help develop staffs knowledge and team sprits With many kinds of activity, Board of Directors of company has always orientated PropertyX to become a good workplace for all staffs With ideal

workplace, employees can get the high performance than company’s expectation

Company Projects:

Condominium

8x Thai An, 12 View, Thien Nam Apartment, 91 Pham Van Hai, 8x Rainbow, 8x Dam Sen, 8x Plus, Sky Center, Melody Residences, Florita, Vung Tau Melody, Lavita Garden, 9view Apartment, Saigonmia,Citizen.Ts, Moonlight Residences, Moonlight Park View, Moonlight Boulevard, Richmond City, Lavita Charm, Q7 Saigon Riverside Complex, Q7 Saigon Riverside Complex,Quy Nhon Melody, Q7 Boulevard, Vung Tau Pearl, Grand Center Quy Nhon

Land Plot – Villa

Hung Thinh Villas, La Residence Hung Thinh, Sentosa Villa, Golden Bay - Cam Ranh, Khanh Hoa, Cam Ranh Mystery Villas, Saigon Mystery Villas, Golden Bay 602, Bien Hoa New City, Ba Ria City Gate, Para Draco, Vinh Long New Town

1.3 PropertyX’s structure

PropertyX has Board of Directors, including:

- General Director Head of Real Estate Exchange System

- Permanent Deputy General Director Head of Sales

- Deputy General Director Head of Finance – Legal Pratice

- Deputy General Director of PropertyX

PropertyX has 9 exchange, each exchange has Board of Exchange Directors (figure 2),

including:

- Director of Exchange

- 02 Deputy Director

Figure 2: Company structure (Source: Company website)

Each small sales group will have from 07-15 sales and each sale manager will manage 30-35 sales Administration includes 03 administrators Figure 3 show structure of each exchange

Figure 3: Exchange structure (Source: Company website)

2 PROBLEM CONTEXT

2.1 Industry context

The result in Figure 4 below based on the research on the evaluation of industry

experts using financial factors point, business image from the mass media According to

Vietnam Report JSC, Vietnam real estate in 2018 has still grown but it can be accepted The

overview of the real estate market in 2018 changes slightly better than that in 2017 was evaluated by nearly 50% of enterprises In 2019, one of the major and continuing challenges

in the real estate market is that the authorities review land fund, the procedures and project legislation causing the supply and transaction to decline in large markets such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Da Nang, … are decreased in new supply while the provincial markets are vibrant with a series of projects, strongly attracting investors The number of newly launched projects is extremely small This challenge has forced developers to switch from traditional markets to find land fund in many localities to develop new projects Many areas where no one previously thought it would be a destination for real estate investors, but now the market is more active than before Therefore, real estate companies have to catch the market and improve to adapt with new environment

Figure 4: Top 5 Most Reputable Real Estate Agencies 2019

Source: Vietnam Report, Top 10 Reputable Real Estate Companies 2019, March 2019

2.2 Company context

PropertyX has six exchanges at Ho Chi Minh City and three exchanges at other

provinces This research focuses on difference on development between six exchanges at Ho Chi Minh City, they are:

- Phu Nhuan Exchange established in 2008 at 163 Hoa Lan Street, Ward 2, Phu Nhuan District

- Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange established in 2010 at 526 Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Ward

7, District 10

- Pham Viet Chanh Exchange established in 2011 at 1A Pham Viet Chanh Street, Nguyen

Cu Trinh Ward, District 1

- Hang Xanh Exchange established in 2013 at 527 Dien Bien Phu Street, Ward 25, Binh Thanh District

- Tan Son Nhat Exchange established in 2014 at 45 Hoang Viet Street, Ward 4, Tan Binh District

- Tan Hung Exchange established in 2015 at 133 Nguyen Thi Thap, Tan Hung Ward, District 7

Six exchanges have the same product sources to sale, the same price and promotion policy, same support tools from PropertyX but each exchange gets different result Different results is not a concern problem but if the gap between exchanges are so big, that will be the concern problem to company According to Revenue report up to the end 2019, six exchange have a huge different between the 1st and the 6th exchange Phu Nhuan is the first exchange of PropertyX but recently always get the lowest result than other exchanges Target revenue will

be set at beginning of each year base on the predict product Hung Thinh Corporation will launch in next year Revenue use to evaluate depends on each project, usually from 6-8% of product price The percentage will be showed in the contract between PropertyX and Hung Thinh Corporation at the date the project is launched and notify for every exchange systems The maximum number of sales in each exchange is 150 and total employee is 180 Each exchange has different strategy, activity, working environment or hiring employees and local workplace culture specialize for each exchange Exchanges have own funds from competition rewards, end-year reward, so each exchange can use that money for their own strategy Director of each exchange is the person who decides the way that exchange work and is responsible with Board of Director of PropertyX

3 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

3.1 Symptoms

3.1.1 Lowest revenue among exchange systems

As we can see in Table 1, in 2016 and 2017 Phu Nhuan Exchange was at 4th between six

exchange systems at Ho Chi Minh City In 2018, Phu Nhuan Exchange was downgrade at 6th

and the efficiency per sale per year was 986 billion This number was higher than in 2016 and

2017 but still lower than other exchanges The gap between Phu Nhuan and Nguyen Chi

Thanh was around 25-32 million Up to 2019, Phu Nhuan is still at 6th We can see that, from

January to December, Phu Nhuan was always at low position from 4-6th The gap between

Phu Nhuan and Nguyen Chi Thanh was over 58 million This gap is increasing over twice

times so it is important for finding out the reasons

Table 1 : Annual Revenue report of PropertyX 2016-2017-2018 (Source: Company report

2016-2017-2018-2019)

3.1.2 Highest turnover rate

As we can see in Table 2, Turnover rate of Phu Nhuan in 2019 was highest The number

of employee quit the jobs was significant higher than other exchange systems Other

exchanges kept the turnover rate below 50% but turnover rate of Phu Nhuan in 2018 was

52%, up to 2019 was 67% This rate is over 50% and highest in exchange systems

Table 2: Turnover rate 2016-2019 (Source: Human resources report 2016-2019)

Table 3 show the number of total employee of Phu Nhuan in detail Total employ is 156, in

2019 had 105 quit, include 94 sales and 11 managers New hiring is 84, include 69 sales anf

15 managers Salary of sale is from 4-4.5 million VND, salary of manager is from 7.7 million

VND (group leader), to 25 million VND (director of exchange)

Table 3: Number of employee - Phu Nhuan 2019 (Source: Human resources report 2019)

In summary, in six exchange systems of PropertyX, Phu Nhuan has the lowest revenue

and highest turnover rate compare with other exchanges in 2019 Each exchange was located

at different district Each district will have different advantage and disadvantage which can

effect to number of potential customer Company has many kind of project and they located not only at different district but also different province But location just has small effect to

exchange performance Location of exchange could not be changed but exchange can hire

employees live in different district Furthermore, salesman is not usually work at exchange

office, they can move to everywhere to find customers Location of project can get

advantaged for nearest exchange but it could be effect on short time because PropertyX use to sale one project just in 5-6 month and have new project each 2-3 month Moreover, salesman from other exchange will get into this area immediately to rival customers Board of director

of PropertyX always tries to make six exchanges in Ho Chi Minh City have the same basic

conditions to have a fair competition environment So the revenue of the exchange system

and turnover rate through 4 years could show the capacity of each exchange

3.2 Potential problems

In order to identify the problem of Phu Nhuan exchanges, PropertyX’s symptom will be justified first by using internal data such as Revenue report and Turnover rate report After

that, the central problem will be identified through reviewing some theory frameworks in combine with conducting in-depth interview with the General Director of company and leader of Phu Nhuan exchanges to have a holistic view of the problems

In order to find out the central problem that lead to the symptom of PropertyX, specialize

in Phu Nhuan exchange, the depth interviews were conducted with person who in charge of the PropertyX‘s symptom from inside and outside The summary of informant’s profiles can

 Ms Thu Hien – Human Resources Manager of PropertyX, has worked at Hung Thinh for

4 years, 6 year experiences in human resources field

 Mr Chi – Sale Manager of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange, has worked at Hung Thinh for 6 years, 6 year experiences in human resources field

 Mr Hiep – Sale Manager of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange, has worked at Hung Thinh for

3 years, before he worked at Nguyen Chi Thanh, he has worked at Phu Nhuan for more than 2 year

 Mr Tuan – Sale Manager of Phu Nhuan Exchange, has worked at Hung Thinh for 4 years and quit 5 month ago

 Ms Hong – Salesman of Phu Nhuan Exchange, has worked at Hung Thinh for 1 year

 Mr Binh – Salesman of Phu Nhuan Exchange, has worked at Hung Thinh for 2 months

General Director Head of Real Estate Exchange Systems Mr Nam Hien said that (in

Appendix 1):

“When Phu Nhuan’s revenue decreased, employee of Phu Nhuan quit their jobs or request for change exchange more than before When Phu Nhuan hired new employees, they need time to be trained and familiar with company culture, so they could not get the target and Phu Nhuan’s revenue decreased”

He pointed out it had connection between tow symptoms: change in revenue and number of quit A series of assessments are given to find out the potential problem of the symptoms from the interviewees

3.2.1 The First Potential Problem: Ineffective Leadership

Bennis, W.(1) pointed out effective leaders provide inspiring mission and vision to their employees and give them an identity through modeling integrity, magnanimity, dedication, openness, humility, and creativity Kouzes MP, B (2) further admitted successful leaders challenge the process, inspire a shared vision, enable others try to act, model the way, and encourage those led Poor leadership in good times can be hidden, but it will showed out in bad time according to Zenger and Folkman (3) Effective leadership styles will be the

important role in motivating employees, raising their morale, and making a positive impact

on employee and organizational performance Many studies have confirmed this influence Ogbonna and Harris, Jing and Avery (4) Bass (5) pointed out subordinates of such a leader feel trust, loyalty, admiration, and respect for the leader and because of the leader’s qualities are willing to work harder and better than company expected Ineffective leadership is in many companies at many levels and styles Ineffective leadership impacts to performance at both individual and the company level Ineffective leadership does not inspire or support innovation and support simply such as only like thinking, avoiding others that challenge or find other solutions and not usually changing to adapt new circumstance Furthermore,

respondents indicated ineffective leadership has bad influence on the success of employees Employees will lose their confident and motivation in leaders if there is no trust in the

leader’s leadership abilities Mutual trust between management and employees is the first step to develop performance and creating a positive working environment, staffs that feel valued and important are willing to try their best to get company goals as a business

Transparent leadership creates an environment where staff members - no matter how long they had work in company - are encouraged to share their ideas, progress and challenges Deputy Director of Phu Nhuan Exchange - Mr Quoc said that (in Appendix 2):

“Third, ineffective leadership made poor creates an inspiring, motivation and weak planning & organization Our staffs lost their faith to leadership gradually and quit.”

He mention about the last reason made Phu Nhuan had the lowest revenue and highest turnover rate is about ineffective leadership Ineffective leadership made poor creates an inspiring, motivation and weak planning & organization This reason made Phu Nhuan’s staffs lost their faith to manager team and quit Now, they are studying CEO course to

improve their skills and made an effective manager team General Director Head of Real Estate Exchange Systems Mr Nam Hien said that (in Appendix 1):

“Most of manager of Phu Nhuan have experience in real estate and work at Phu Nhuan at a long time After long time working with them, they show me that they have

ability but not active so much They are usually quiet and rarely give opinion or new ideal to improve their exchange.”

He admitted that most of manager of Phu Nhuan have experience in real estate and work at Phu Nhuan at a long time After long time working with them, they show me that they have ability but not active so much So Phu Nhuan leader team has to show their abilities and have positive change to adapt with new business environment It can be said that ineffective

leadership can affect the turnover rate and low revenue However, it is not really a significant problem that can have strongly effect the employment performance at Phu Nhuan

3.2.2 The Second Potential Problem: Ineffective Employment

Basically, any change in the workforce such as hiring a new staff, a termination

(voluntary or involuntary), or even a role change could create some instability in an

organization Many organizations have to face with finding the balance between stability and change, which affects individual contributors in turn But on the way of innovation and digital transformation, the idea of stability has been lost in the mix

A high annual employee turnover rate can be worst because it is cost and take time to solve When replacing an employee, companies have to face with both direct and indirect costs A direct cost can be easily calculated Direct costs incurred when company replace an employee include the cost have to pay for existing worker and the cost to pay for a temporary worker fill in at the same time The potential cost of pay for unemployment insurance

premium, the cost to advertise to finding suitable candidate to fill in, the cost of hiring an agency or recruiter to help fining new employee, the cost of training a new employee and many other related cost About indirect cost, it cannot be easily quantified It includes the cost

of processing the changing position such as employee's benefit paperwork, the cost in filing unemployment documentation, the cost occur when manager take time for meetings to find out the reason of high employee turnover and sole it, lost production result from a slower new staffs who have to take time for familiar with new job, and the lost production of the manager because he has to take time to find a new hiring

Recruitment and selection process will effect on the company’s performance Bad

decisions in these process can create serious problem to company and manager has to take time and money to solve that (6) Neeraj pointed out that selection as the process of picking candidates who have related qualifications to fill position in company It is important to select the right person because of three main reasons: performance, costs and legal obligations (7) Ekwoaba, Ikeije, and Ufoma defined the impact of recruitment and selection criteria on company performance Recruitment and selection criteria have a significant effect on

company’s performance The more objective the recruitment and selection criteria are meet,

the better the organization’s performance will be (8) Human Resources Manager of

PropertyX -Ms Hien said that (In appendix 4):

“So I think that ineffective employment is one of the reason make Phu Nhuan can get the target Ineffective job-seekers and monitoring candidates make Phu Nhan do not have competent employees Other exchanges have lower turnover rate than Phu Nhuan Phu Nhuan took much time for hiring and cost more time and money to

training new comer It is a weakness If we do not have solution for this problem, Board of Director may replace or dissolve Phu Nhuan exchange soon.”

She mentioned in her interview that ineffective employment showed low employee morale and company had to cost a lot of money and time to hiring, training for new comer General Director Head of Real Estate Exchange Systems Mr Nam Hien said that (in Appendix 1)”

“ When Phu Nhuan hired new employees, they need time to be trained and familiar with company culture, so they could not get the target and Phu Nhuan’s revenue decreased”

He had the same thought with Ms Hien about cost time and money when hiring new employee and more over it affected on sale’s result And Director of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange - Ms Nhan shared that (in appendix 3):

“As you can see, the number of quit at Nguyen Chi Thanh is not high, I believe that keep employment engaged is one of the important thing make Nguyen Chi Thanh strong.”

She admitted that effective employment is very important to get good result Moreover, employees prefer working together with competent colleague who they use to with In this case, employees tend to easier to focus on their target and be productive to complete their job The cost use to hiring new employee will be better use for investing training and develop current staffs To improve morale, company can offer some activities such as working time flexibility, offline team-building events, bonus In general, it is important problem but it is not central problem to the symptoms of Phu Nhuan

3.2.3 The Third Potential Problem: Ineffective Workplace culture

Workplace culture is one of the important point of practice development (9) (10) Many different elements effect to workplace culture, according to the work of many practice

development researchers, the basic point of culture are primarily formed and effected by the values, beliefs and abilities of each employees (11) (9) With an ineffective workplace

culture, all staffs could not get better performance They would develop slowly and could not upgrade company’s competition If employees are not empowered by company workplace culture, they could not show a high performance and have low satisfaction with their jobs Employee will often fail to learn new skills and have new ideas With lack of training and

challenging, employees could not develop themselves effectively General Director Head of Real Estate Exchange Systems Mr Nam Hien said that (in Appendix 1):

“When Phu Nhuan’s revenue decreased, employee of Phu Nhuan quit their jobs or request for change exchange more than before When Phu Nhuan hired new

employees, they need time to be trained and familiar with company culture, so they could not get the target and Phu Nhuan’s revenue decreased.”

“In my opinion, problems may from ineffective Workplace culture Leader of each exchange has own decide to build their exchange the way they want and have to be in charge with board of Director of PropertyX about sales revenue result As you can see, Nguyen Chi Thanh and Tan Son Nhat have a wonderful workplace where

employee can share their opinions and develop their skills easily But in Phu Nhuan exchange, it rarely has activities for employee can talk together or helping each other

to work effectively So it led to weak team spirits.”

He admitted that Phu Nhuan had trouble in turnover rate and got low result This situation needs to be solved to increase company’s revenue He pointed out low revenue led to high turnover rate and opposite Low revenue in long time made employee have low income, sales could not afford for cost of living and marketing cost Phu Nhuan had to cost time and money for hiring new employees It is not easy to hiring an experience sale nowadays, so Phu Nhuan had to take time to training new comer and they need time to familiar with new working place This situation made Phu Nhuan could not have strong sales team to get revenue target Phu Nhuan is the first exchange of PropertyX but for a long time, Phu Nhuan can get the high result According to Mr Hien, poor working culture of Phu Nhuan is the main problem Poor working culture made Phu Nhuan had poor working condition, lack of training and

development-focused and weak team spirit Phu Nhuan focused on investing in marketing than building a better working place or activities for their employee Mr Quoc have the same opinion with Mr Hien about high turnover rate is one of the reason make Phu Nhuan could not reach the sales target, but in other aspect, sales target is one of the reason make employee feel pressure and quit job He said that Phu Nhuan had a long time focus on chasing revenue target, investing in marketing and ignored building workplace culture Phu Nhuan rarely has teambuilding trip or training course for employee, so staffs lack of information and lack of communication together According to Mr Quoc, ineffective workplace culture is the most important problem Phu Nhuan has to solve to create a positive place for their staff improving their skills and get the sales target In the interview with Director of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange - Ms Nhan shared that (in appendix 3):

“Exchange systems of PropertyX have the same product sources to sale, the same price and promotion policy, same support tools But each exchange will have a

different way to deploy and get different results Director of each exchange have more than 10 years experiment in real estate but each person has different aspect and run their exchange different strategy With me, Hung Thinh give very good sources from products, affordable prices, finance, marketing tools… so all we need is to have team spirit so I always focus on develop build a good workplace culture where all staff can share anything from work to life together We need to help each other to get

exchange’s target together Our staffs work eight or can be more eight hours a day so

I hope that I can create a place my staffs feel happy and do whatever they want, fair competition”

She pointed out the reason made Nguyen Chi Thanh always be the 1st exchange She pointed out every exchange has the same sources but different way to deploy Therefore, each

exchange will get different result Leader of each exchange all have over ten years

experiences in real estate but different aspect and choose different way to manage the

exchange Because the initial sources for all exchange were the same, she focused on making

a strong spirit team by create a positive workplace culture As described by Human

Resources Manager of PropertyX -Ms Hien said that (In appendix 4):

“In 2019, Leavers of Phu Nhuan increased both employee and manager positions I interviewed some person, most of them said that they want to change working

environment They want to get new challenge at other company Some said that sale target make them feel so stressful, they could not get balance between life and work Not only employee who work at Phu Nhuan short-time but also for a long time.”

She pointed out leavers of Phu Nhuan increased both employee and manager positions Low revenue made them so stressful and they can find the way to get through it They want to change their working environment where they can get motivation and work-life balance The market change gradually but Phu Nhuan did not change to adapt with new situation She thought that is serious problem because the gap between Phu Nhuan and other exchange is bigger each year If we do nothing to change it, maybe Phu Nhuan will be dissolved

About Sale Manager of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange - Mr Chi who has been working for Nguyen Chi Thanh more than 6 years, he said that (in appendix 5):

“Nguyen Chi Thanh builds a standard culture working which I could not find in other exchange at PropertyX It always has connection between salesman and leadership

We encourage each other every time Board of Direction has clearly oriented to subordinates Nguyen Chi Thanh has friendly environment, we celebrate all the

holiday, staff birthday… donate for difficult situation… I am happy because my subordinates can get their target each month They are confident and try to break their limit.”

He admitted that Nguyen Chi Thanh has positive workplace culture Leaders of exchange has clearly oriented to subordinates He feels motivated and inspirited when he is working here That is the reason why he has been dedicated this place for a long time To get the target, team leader have to work hard to find out a suitable strategy for each project After that, they focused on training for their staffs They hold competition to encourage sales teams Every time sales need to share ideal or any problems, manager always sit down and listen to them Strong leadership and solidarity spirit make Nguyen Chi Thanh success According to Sale Manager of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange - Mr Hiep who has worked at Phu Nhuan for more than 2 year before moving to Nguyen Chi Thanh (in appendix 6):

“It has a big different between two exchange that is employee in Nguyen Chi Thanh are more honestly and helping each other than Phu Nhuan In Phu Nhuan, they active

in group and do not contact with other group”

He thought that it has a big different between two exchange that is employee in Nguyen Chi Thanh are more honestly and helping each other than Phu Nhuan Lack of transparent,

communication and training, development focused in Phu Nhuan made their staffs feel run out of motivation This situation led to they can get sales target Interview with Mr Tuan, he pointed out working environment is really important Phu Nhuan has ineffective workplace culture He felt run out of motivation and can get his sale target for a long time before his leaving So workplace culture had significant impact to the symptom of Phu Nhuan

exchange

From the above analysis, the initial Symptoms and Potential problem diagram can be showed

as below:

Figure 5: Initial Symptom and Potential problems diagram

The initial symptom and potential problems diagram outlined a comprehensive picture of

some tentative problems that can lead to variables and symptom of Phu Nhuan exchange

After analyze the existing of many variables such as: ineffective leadership, ineffective

workplace culture, employment instability, it can be concluded that ineffective workplace

culture is the central problem of Phu Nhuan have to face with Almost interviewees reminded

it many times and emphasized that this is an important problem Phu Nhuan need to solve to improve sales revenue and decrease turnover rate, for examples:

From General Director Head of Real Estate Exchange Systems Mr Nam Hien said that (in Appendix 1):

“In my opinion, problems may from ineffective Workplace culture Leader of each exchange has own decide to build their exchange the way they want and have to be in charge with board of Director of PropertyX about sales revenue result As you can see, Nguyen Chi Thanh and Tan Son Nhat have a wonderful workplace where

employee can share their opinions and develop their skills easily But in Phu Nhuan exchange, it rarely has activities for employee can talk together or helping each other

to work effectively So it led to weak team spirits.”

From Director of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange - Ms Nhan shared that (in appendix 3):

“With me, Hung Thinh give very good sources from products, affordable prices, finance, marketing tools… so all we need is to have team spirit so I always focus on develop build a good workplace culture where all staff can share anything from work

to life together We need to help each other to get exchange’s target together Our staffs work eight or can be more eight hours a day so I hope that I can create a place

my staffs feel happy and do whatever they want, fair competition.”

From Deputy Director of Phu Nhuan Exchange - Mr Quoc said that (in Appendix 2):

“In my opinion, that is workplace culture We need to change our mind to create a better place for our staffs Phu Nhuan has not any significant changes for a long time

to adapt with new circumstance.”

In addition, there are many factors should be considered, include:

- If this problem can be solved, employment performance can improve and Phu Nhuan exchange can catch the target One major reason why a strong culture can lead to a higher performance of a company is if when the organizational culture content is suitable with the company environment When company’s culture does not align with the environment, then it will be difficult for the company to serve its customers and satisfy them, which will lead to the high performance Kandula (12) pointed out that one of the key element of organizational success is strong organizational culture Kandula (12) again repeated that

it could not use the same strategies for two different cultures

- If leader team can work together and prove the useful of better workplace culture, they can persuade the Board to implement the plan The leader has to have awareness about the importance and necessary of this problem and really want to solve it The research of

Schein (13) on leadership and workplace culture is necessary to understand of company culture perspective

- Building a positive workplace culture is one of the most important things which every

company have to do to Company culture influences many things and every employees, a well-developed company culture creates positive changes for the organization And it has many ways, many companies around the word use to change workplace culture and make

it better So it is feasibility to solve the problem

In conclusion, based on the above literature frameworks in combine with interview data, two tentative problems are eliminated include: Ineffective leadership and employment

instability The updated initial Symptom and Potential problems diagram can be come up

with the update as below:

Figure 6: Updated Initial Symptom and Potential problems diagram

3.3 Central problems

3.3.1 Definition

Culture shows the character and personality of each company Culture is the element

which help to distinguish company with others by showing company values, traditions,

beliefs, interactions, behaviors, and attitudes (14) Positive workplace culture will helps to

attract excellent candidates than other companies, changing employee engagement, effect on employee’s happiness and satisfaction, and make employee get high performance Culture is very important because it not only have positive but also negative effects on company

targets Workplace culture has been mentioned to be one of the most important elements of company success (15)

In Morse’s (16) framework, positive workplace culture could be identified as an

immature concept It is could not define positive workplace culture clearly and fully (17) Rodger’s (18) (19) identified by analyze the attributes, the possible factors effect workplace culture; and, the consequences

Positive culture is significant, especially because:

 Positive culture could attract talented candidates Job candidates assess company through strong, positive, clearly and well-communicated culture

 Positive culture could change employee engagement and turnover rate

 Positive culture effect on employee happiness and satisfaction When company have high employee happiness and satisfaction, they show the company strong workplace culture

 Positive culture effect on employee performance

3.3.2 Problem consequences

3.3.2.1 Poor working conditions

Poor working conditions can show things like not enough space for all staffs Every employee needs to have not only common space but on also private space to work

comfortably and remain productive Some spaces needs to be quiet and could work well and confortable with colleague The employee will prefer physical comfort and convenience place Lack of working conditions could have negative impact on the employee’s mental and physical well-being (20) Robbins (21) showed the influence of working conditions to job satisfaction because employees are concerned with a comfortable physical work environment Arnold and Feldman (22) pointed working conditions includes factors such as temperature, lighting, ventilation, hygiene, noise, working hours John Coleman (23) mentioned working conditions impacts the values and behaviors of employee who working at In Phu Nhuan, it had been a long time not to be upgrade and décor Deputy Director of Phu Nhuan Exchange -

Mr Quoc said that (in Appendix 2):

“As you can see, about workplace, other exchanges usually repair or décor The fund of exchange use so much for marketing but it was not effective.”

Working conditions in Phu Nhuan is not so bad but it needs to be repair and upgrade to improve employee satisfaction Phu Nhuan did not focus on working condition but on

marketing but it not effective 150 employees have to work in small office The building went down time by time Employees prefer working outside than in their office So we can see that

ineffective workplace culture lead to poor conditioning at Phu Nhuan

3.3.2.2 Poor work-life balance

As Ronda, Lopez, and Goni-Legaz (24) quoted Greenhaus, Collins, and Shaw (25), Work–life balance contain elements such as: time balance; involvement balance; and

satisfaction balance With work-life balance, employee could have enough time to finish their job with high performance and have time enjoy many other things of their lives It is really necessary that employees need to have a good work-life balance and have enough energy to finish all things Employees with a good work-life balance show that they are more effective, productive and motivated to finish their job and get high result According to ACAS report (26), flexible working and work-life balance showed how a poor balance can lead to fail of both side of work and life and it lead to low productivity and stress But when get the work-life balance, benefits can include such as:

As described by Human Resources Manager of PropertyX -Ms Hien said that (In

appendix 4):

“Some said that sale target make them feel so stressful, they could not get balance between life and work Not only employee who work at Phu Nhuan short-time but also for a long time.”

Ms Hien pointed out the reason of leaving of most Phu Nhuan’s employees was that they want to change working environment They want to get new challenge at other company So poor working culture tend to poor work-life balance and it effected on employee’s

satisfaction

3.3.2.3 Low employee engagement

According to Rock and Tang (27) staff engagement is the way employee put effort and care into their job Greco et al (28) showed that energy, involvement and an individual’s ability is factor made employee engagement Rock and Tang (27) defined that engagement could not be asking for but it come from employee’s willing Ideally, employees will be engaged in their work and willing to achieve company aims However, in some workplaces,

if employees seem less eager while on the job or on activities of company, it may have an issue with engagement By increasing the degree to which employees are engaged during their on-the-clock time, company can increase their enjoyment of this at-work time and ramp

up productivity levels Before company can find out the cause of low engagement, however,

company must understand the issue at the root General Director Head of Real Estate

Exchange Systems Mr Nam Hien said that (in Appendix 1):

“As I mentioned already, Phu Nhuan have not much activity so we have to find out it

is because employee engagement or not I usually receive email or message from other sales from other exchange to give opinion about company strategy or comment about their managers… But I rarely receive it from Phu Nhuan Maybe they are quite

or they are satisfied with company The reality show that high turnover rate and lowest revenue, so I think they have problem but they do not share with us.”

He pointed out Phu Nhuan employee are quite and lack of interact positively with company activity Mr Tuan – Sale Manager of Phu Nhuan Exchange shared about reason why he left Phu Nhuan exchange after 4 years (in Appendix 7):

“I feel that I need to change my working environment I need something news to encourage myself At Phu Nhuan, I did not have motivation anymore Many times, the tasks given had not even been given enough information That made me lost confident and faith in company.”

After working at Phu Nhuan 4 years, he ran out of motivation Without energy, he was less eager to involve to company situations It’s important to have a happy, productive and loyal workforce Ineffective workplace culture has significant impact on employee

engagement With low engagement, employee could not get company target

3.3.2.4 Lack of Training & Development focused

Farooq (29) pointed out training and development have an significant impact on employee’s performance Training is giving to employees the specific knowledge and method

to complete their task It will help them improve job performance Training could be set up

in short time or frequently in long time It is necessary to improve the skills and knowledge of the employee for adapting company requirement In Phu Nhuan, it offered training only once

or two times a year and lack of professional person who could have enough knowledge and skill to training others Such as Nguyen Chi Thanh, they offer training all of the time They have formal training, informal training, performance support According to Mr Hiep – Sale Manager of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange (In appendix 6):

“Each project, all employee was trained carefully Ms Nhan’s presentation is very

attractive Here, we can ask for help every time I need We have training at project place Work environment make I feel more competitive, I have motivate to work hard.”

Training is very important to level up their knowledge Training in right way will help experience employee expand their skill and improve their motivation The focus here is on the learning day by day, month by month to adapt new circumstance Ineffective workplace

culture will led to lack of training and development focused, then it will effect to employee performance In real estate field, training & development are very important to help employee get the target and create a competitive environment With ineffective workplace culture, Phu Nhuan did not focus on training & development regularly and it make employees lack of skill and knowledge to get the sale target

3.3.2.5 Lack of Transparent & Open communication

Encourage transparency between management and employees, between employees are very important in organization It is necessary that the lines between transparency and

professionalism are not blurred, sharing insight into the next steps for the business and each employee’s role within that will be appreciated by staff Without sharing information in company is usually a mistake management teams use to face with This shows a lack of confidence and can lead to decrease trust The good way to prevent this problem is to practice open, transparent communication Employee needs to communicate openly, sharing their information, their feeling and their opinion Lack of Transparent & Open communication will make employee can show up their abilities and get poor performance Mr Quoc admitted that sale of Phu Nhuan lack of transparent and open communication They rarely hang out

together and share knowledge or even small stuff in live Mr Chi-Sale Manager of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange pointed out (in appendix 5):

“It always has connection between salesman and leadership We encourage each other every time Board of Direction has clearly oriented to subordinates Nguyen Chi Thanh has friendly environment, we celebrate all the holiday, staff birthday…”

Therefore, ineffective workplace culture make Phu Nhuan’s employees lack of Transparent & Open communication And it result in lack of information and confident to get the sales target

3.3.2.6 Weak Team spirit

Teamwork is very important these days Effectiveness teamwork helps to company

increase productivity and profitability As defined by Dyer (30), “Team building is an

intervention conducted in a work unit as an action to deal with a condition (or conditions) seen as needing improvement” Working in group will help to fulfill other weakness and develop strength With good team spirit, it will increase productivity and help develop

relationship between employees; Moreover, when occur office argument, it will be easier to solve because they understand each other and they have to face with many problem before Both Mr Hiep and Mr Tuan want to have a strong team building where they can work and share everything together to get a positive spirit Mr Chi-Sale Manager of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange pointed out the important of strong leader teams and strong sales teams to get high results (in appendix 5):

“First, our leader ship team work together to find a suitable strategy for each project Second, we start training project for our team Third, we will have competition to

encourage sales team Whenever our sales have any problems or have any new ideals, we sit down and share together I believe that a strong leadership team and solidarity spirit make our success.”

Director of Nguyen Chi Thanh Exchange - Ms Nhan emphasized that (in appendix 3):

“With me, Hung Thinh give very good sources from products, affordable prices, finance, marketing tools… so all we need is to have team spirit so I always focus on develop build a good workplace culture where all staff can share anything from work

So we can see that ineffective workplace culture in Phu Nhuan had significant effect on team spirit of employees

4 CAUSE AND EFFECT MAP

4.1 Potential Causes

4.1.1 The first potential cause: Rigid Policies

Employment policies including such as attendance, dress code, code of conduct, and scheduling, in addition to organizational philosophies such as hiring, compensation, pay for performance, and internal transfer and promotion Every company has to have policies Almost all policies, procedures and regulation's specific policies are important because they solve some basic problems in company, such as what is acceptable behavior or not acceptable by employees What obligation did the person or company that works to honor, and acquisition reputation will know (31) In general, policies should be fair and suitable with situation and can be obeyed by every employee (32) Mr Binh – Salesman of Phu Nhuan Exchange (in Appendix 9) pointed out:

“In the first day, I have trained about company culture and policies Company has clear vision and mission And in the second day, I have trained about Phu Nhuan policies And it has many things I have to do and do not to do” and

“I feel that it has some are unsuitable For example, strictly attendance policies, we have to check in on time every day About compensation and benefits policies, beside the company policies, Phu Nhuan does not have attractive benefits to encourage competition between groups.”

He felt that Phu Nhuan’s policies are so strict to salesman Employee need rules and guidelines, otherwise, anarchy would happen Every employee will not want to work for a

company with no rules but it is hard for them to accepted strict policies too If company policies are so strictly, it could be have negative affect to employee morale and pushing talent employee away, as Ms Hong – Salesman of Phu Nhuan Exchange (in Appendix 8) shared that:

“Moreover, some policies of my exchange are strict so it makes me feel always

stressful As you know, salary of salesman is not high, our income come from sale commission So if we have not any successful deals, we have no money to run

advertisement or anything else But in Phu Nhuan, the fun of advertisement deliver base on sale result of last month So if this month I do not sale any things, I could not receive this fund This policy is fair but it makes feel stressful and have no solution to solve this situation And we have many policies, when our exchange could not get the target, our director manager will have new policies to push and control us more strictly.”

Employees will feel engaged and connected with their job when they feel free to show up their opinions and ideas Rigid policies will make employees feel stifled will derail their

engagement Good employees will ask questions and speak up when they see a potential