Organizational culture refers to “the dominant ways of doing things in an organization”
(Mills, 2007, p. 571). Culture is viewed through many different perspectives and is affected by
many things within an organization.
From an integration perspective, Tim Horton’s culture is assumed as imposed by the
managers. The managers believe that values and beliefs can change within people and that they
do change. How they change is through training, where everyone is taught to value the same
aspects. Tim Horton’s company website their values in the mission statement: “... to deliver
superior quality products and services for our customers and communities through leadership,
innovation and partnerships. Our vision is to be the quality leader in everything we do” (Tim
Horton's, 2011). The following quote from Trevor Witty, the manager at a Tim Horton’s in New
York, illustrates his correlation with Tim Horton’s mission statement: “I think that the
experience I've had here at Tim Horton’s starts by having a great boss. My Restaurant Owner has
instilled training and confidence within me. I've grown to understand the business with his
direction and encouragement every step of the way. With that said, I do the same to my own
supervisory and storefront staff” (Tim Horton's, 2011). Although Trevor Witty’s quote supported
the claim that the culture is imposed by the managers and that values do change to match the
companies, when observing Tim Horton’s, the opposite was found. It was viewed that the
employees worked weakly under their manager’s supervision. In multiple occasions the manager
had to break up conversation between the younger staff and the supervisor who were avoiding
the cash to serve customers. The observed actions of the Tim Horton’s employees correlates with
the differentiated perspective, which is that “mini cultures are formed because not all individuals
buy into the organization’s values and beliefs”, more than it does the integration perspective
(Mills, 2007, p. 431).
There are five main factors that affect the culture of a business: (1) Personalities; (2)
Structure; (3) Practices; and (4) Processes. The culture and personality of Tim Horton’s is
affected by “the interactions of the workers overtime” (Mills, 2007). Rita Bella comments on the
culture: “Tim Horton’s is great place to work because of the friendly environment. Everyone
helps everyone, and everything run smoother. The owners are wonderful too; they take the time
to get to know each team member” (Tim Horton's, 2011). Due to the helpful atmosphere
recognized in the quote, Tim Horton’s culture is perceived as fun, friendly and fast paced
environment due to the kindness of the employees. Through observations, the employees were
interacting as if they had developed friendships, however, were getting distracted from their
tasks, making the manager repeat herself in telling the employees to get back to work. The
cohesive environment makes for great friendships but not necessarily for a productive work
setting. Structure refers to “the way that people are arranged in an organization according to
control, coordination and communication” (Mills, 2007). Tim Horton’s has a role culture that
“the activities of the employees are coordinated and controlled by their position in the
organization” (Mills, 2007). Each person is designated a role within each store and starts as a
team member that prioritizes guest satisfaction and can work their way up to manager who
empowers and leads their team (Tim Horton's, 2011). In observing Tim Horton’s, their structure
was as listed on the website but the tasks for each role were not carried out properly. Practices
and processes are established rules and regulations that form a “way of doing things”, they are
imposed by high management (Mills, 2007, p. 446). Because Tim Horton’s is a role culture, rules
and regulation are designated according to the position of the workers. The position of the
workers affects the practices and processes because each role has a specific task associated with
it. For example, a team member’s top priority is guest satisfaction, and a manager’s priority is to
manage the team. Along with the task is the expectation that the employees will adopt the
mission statement that consists of developing quality products and excellent service (Tim
Horton's, 2011). From observations, the younger employees were slacking in their ability to
provide excellent service.
Symbolism through Tim Horton’s includes coin jargon such as “timbits”, “roll-up-therim” and Tim Horton’s’ personal logo. How outside buyers view Tim Horton’s is through these
symbols. Within cultural symbolism there are also tangible and intangible properties.
Firstly, tangible factors are those in which include leadership, dress, language, and
symbols (Mills, 2007, p. 427). Leadership is seen in employees that play an integral role in
managing the values of an organization (Mills, 2007, p. 427). Tim Horton’s has developed a
very tall structure in which a hierarchal system is used. Each employee has varying degrees of
authority, all in which must display a certain amount of leadership (Tim Horton's, 2011). The
company website states that even those at the bottom of the hierarchy, the Restaurant Team
Members, have to use leadership in every day work in order to help those that are learning or to
make small decisions (Tim Horton's, 2011). In reality, not every employee at Tim Horton’s is a
leader. Some employees allow themselves to be told what to do by a person higher up than
themselves instead of taking initiative and making decisions on their own, for instance when to
brew a new pot of coffee. Dress is “a way in which an organization can help distinguish and
characterize itself” (Mills, 2007, p. 428). Tim Horton’s employees have a very distinct uniform
that is very strict. Store front workers must wear black dress pants, black shoes, a specified shirt,
a belt and a visor/hat. The goal is that staff at Tim Horton’s looks unified, confident and
comfortable in order for the staff to give good customer satisfaction (Tim Horton's, 2001).
Symbols are “objects that represent an organization” (Mills, 2007, p. 427). Some of Tim
Horton’s symbols, as previously stated, include their logo and “Roll-up-the-Rim” (Tim Horton’s,
2011). These symbols are seen on the coffee cups, their bags, and their coffee travel mugs.
Everything that is seen by the public has a Tim Horton’s symbol on it in order to advertise the
company. Language is “the expressed communication that is unique to a company” (Mills, 2007,
p. 428). Tim Horton’s uses jargon such as “double-double”, “Iced Cap”, and “Timbits” to make
their items stand out and become memorable for the customers. For example, a “Timbit” is just
another word for a tiny doughnut but the special name allows the customer to have a connection
to the food and therefore, the company (Barry, 2010). This language is used in every day
conversation at Tim Horton’s between the workers and the customers.
Secondly, intangible factors are values, beliefs, and slogans (Mills, 2007, p. 427). In the
paragraphs below, each will be explained. Values are “the standards that managers desire at a
given point in time” (Mills, 2007, p. 427). Tim Horton’s values advancement and growth within
individual firms, satisfying guests, finding new opportunities, being fair and ethical to all
workers, and being a strong team in which communication is integral (Tim Horton’s, 2011).
These values are seen in the actual work setting of Tim Horton’s. Guests are generally satisfied
when they leave Tim Horton’s and workers are typically treated fairly and have strong
communication between team members. Beliefs are “things that the members in the organization
believe to be true” (Mills, 2007, p. 427). Tim Horton’s’ beliefs are that they have the best quality
products, customer satisfaction rates and teamwork (Tim Horton’s, 2011). In 2010, 97% of Tim
Horton’s employees were proud to work for the company (Tim Horton's, 2011). The employees
themselves truly believe that they have the best of all the above factors and that they use
teamwork to achieve their combined goals. Slogans are “phrases that are developed to give
customers and employees a particular view of the organization” (Cormack, 2008). The popular
slogan that Tim Horton’s uses is “Always Fresh. Always There” (Cormack, 2008). The “Always
Fresh” slogan implies that their products are always top quality. The “Always There” implies
that they are reliable and a part of our everyday lives. “Always Fresh” is posted everywhere in
Tim Horton’s which gives the customer the impression that anything that they purchase will be
guaranteed fresh.
According to Mills, organizational structure is the formal patterns of work relationships
that coordinate organizational activities according to strategy, technology and environment
(Mills, 2007, p. 455). Tim Horton’s has established itself as one of Canada’s largest food
services with over three thousand stores nationwide, Tim Horton’s operates structurally by
function. Their executive team at head office ranges from Executive Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer to Chief Operations Officer, Canada (Tim Horton's, 2010). Departments
such as Distribution, Finance and Taxation, Information Technology, Marketing are just some of
the subdivisions that compose Tim Horton’s (Tim Horton's, 2011). In their Antigonish franchise,
on James’s Street, we observed that Tim Horton’s employees are free to fulfill their task without
much pressure and supervision of their manager.
It appears the Tim Horton’s in Antigonish run a flat structure with a narrow span of
control, however, this narrow span of control is not implemented by all Tim Horton’s
restaurants. In London Ontario, Canada, an employee was mistreated by their manager for giving
away a donut; "It was an unfortunate incident where a manager acted a bit overzealously” (Globe
and Mail, 2008). This shows all Tim Horton’s restaurants are managed differently after
comparing it to our observations; centralization and decision making was resided on that one
manager to fire an innocent employee. Tim Horton’s 2010 Annual Report states “A minimum of
90% of corporate employees will feel proud that they work for our company”, this proves that
Tim Horton’s actual structure has a different complexion to the one they claim to have. They
believe in creating and fostering a positive employee relations environment by carrying out a
competitive total reward philosophy (Tim Horton's, 2010). Tim Horton’s formalization is carried
out by its franchise managers unless the case is more serious, then it would be reported to head
office. In the Globe and Mail article, “the store apparently had a policy against giving away
food”; this incident was a threat to become a “public relations nightmare” and was to be resolved
at head office where they claimed the employee was mistreated. There was no further legal
action on the case because the manager was only doing his job to follow the company rules. Tim
Horton’s demands “all employees to be trained in our Standards of Business Practices”; an
observation in their Antigonish branch shows that employees are not bothered by this training
process or the tasks underlying their jobs. The local Tim Horton’s restaurants are noticed as an
organic organization, while the Tim Horton’s corporation coins a mechanistic organizational
structure.
Organizational design is referred as “the process of creating a structure that best fits a
strategy, technology, and environment” (Mills, 2007, p. 459). In the classical perspective
approach of design established by Henri Fayol and Frederick Taylor, “company success was
brought forward through the belief, emphasis, and practice of management principles”
(Contingency Approach to Management, 2006). Contingency theorists have modified the
classical perspective to suggest that “there is no one best universal structure and emphasizes the
need for flexibility”, also that “organizational structure depends upon a mixture of variables or
contextual factors”: (1) Strategy, (2) Size, (3) Technology, and (4) The Environment (Mills,
2007, p. 472)..
The term strategy is described in a management context to describe “an activity that top
leaders perform in order to accomplish an organization’s goals” and can be further described to
be viewed as “a pattern of activity over time to achieve performance goals” (Mills, 2007, p. 472).
In recent years, Tim Horton’s has set goals to achieve higher revenues and net income. They
accomplished this through a combination of structural variables discussed above. Strategically,
Tim Horton’s implanted four primary growth themes under the strategic plan: (1) attacking daypart, category and marketing opportunities to drive same-store sales; (2) investing to build our
scale and brand in new and existing markets; (3) growing differently in ways we haven’t grown
before; and (4) leveraging our core business strengths and franchise system such as coffee
reputation (Tim Horton's, 2010). In our observations we have confirmed that the employees of
local Tim Horton’s restaurants follow the guidelines of the themes imposed by higher
management and play a large role in helping to bring the company to its goals.
Most studies define organizational size as “the total number of employees” (Mills, 2007,
p. 474). Researchers suggest that larger organizations have different structures than do smaller
organizations and as organizations increase in size, they tend to develop more written rules and
procedures resulting in the division of labour becoming more “specialized” (Mills, 2007, p. 474).
Through observing several Tim Horton’s locations, we noticed a trend that as the number of
employees on duty increases, the degree of complexity of labour decreases. When there is low
customer flow all employees focus on combination of cleaning, drive thru service and till service
is practiced through each worker while during busy periods, workers engage in the specialization
of tasks where employees focus specifically on cleaning, baking, drive thru or the till.
“Technological change is quintessentially a defining feature of the ‘knowledge economy’
and constitutes another important contingency variable explaining organizational structure”
(Mills, 2007, p. 474), as technology advances in the world, Tim Horton’s has been keeping up
their internal environment operations. Recently, Tim Horton’s introduced the acceptance of
Master Card. Today, a majority of people do not always carry currency with them. The
acceptance of Master Card, according to the Chairman and CEO of Tim Horton’s Paul House
gives customers “more choice and flexibility" (Tim Horton's, 2011)The addition of the Master
Card payment also enhances customer experience with the knowledge that the Master Card is
easier than having to physically take out cash out of a machine in order to make a purchase.
House, agrees with this by stating, “It's a great way to enhance our customer experience” (Tim
Horton's, 2011). Another source of technological payment at Tim Horton’s is the Tim Cards.
One of the benefits using the Tim’s Card is that you can reload your card online before going to
any Tim Horton’s location. These technologies make payment easier for both customers and
employees by just the swipe of a card.
Throughout the Tim Horton’s restaurants there are many internal and external factors that affect
the industry and are used to make company decisions. According to Tim Horton’s Safe Harbor
webpage, these factors include: the companies growth, strategic initiatives, their segment
performance, brand, competition, food safety, health concerns, the importance of restaurant
owners, and many more risk factors (Safe Harbor, 2011).
In an organizational environment, Mintzberg introduces four dimensions that influence the
structure of Tim Horton’s, “Developing the notion of volatility and uncertainty, Mintzberg
identifies four distinct dimensions of organizational environments that influence the type of
structure most appropriate to a particular situation: 1) stability, 2) complexity, 3) market
diversity, and 4) hostility” (Mills, 2007, p. 475).
Tim Horton’s has a stable environment structure. In the past they have made minor changes as
oppose to constant changes throughout their restaurant; these changes include the payment
system and the slight expansion of menu and locations. Tim Horton’s corporation is a very
complex restaurant. There are many environmental factors as mentioned above that Tim
Horton’s has to adhere to in order to satisfy their environmental and customer needs. According
to the Tim Horton website, “Tim Horton’s has 3,871 system wide restaurants, including 3,225 in
Canada and 645 in the United States” (Tim Horton's, 2011). The wide range of locations is a
large contribution to the markets diversity of customers that consume their products; these
products mainly consisting of coffee, doughnuts, sandwiches, and soup. Tim Horton’s has a
hostile environment of competition especially because it is placed in the quick service restaurant
industry category. These restaurant owners compete with many factors according to the Tim
Horton’s website, some being competition with “international, regional, and local organizations,
primarily through the quality, variety, and value perception of food products offered” (Safe
Harbor, 2011).
References:
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Cormack, P. (2008). 'True Stories' of Canada: Tim Horton's and the Branding of a National Identity. In
Cultural Sociology.
Globe and Mail. (2008, May 8). Tim Horton's Rehires Fired Woman. London, Ontario, Canada.
Mills, H. M. (2007). Organizational Behaviour in a Global Context. Broadview Press.
Safe Harbor. (2011). Retrieved from Tim Hortons:
http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/about/safeharbor.html
Tim Horton's. (2010). Annual Report 2000-2010.
Tim Horton's. (2011). Coperate Profile. Retrieved November 14, 2011, from Tim Hortons:
http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/about/profile.html
Tim Horton's. (2011). Home Page. Retrieved from timhortons.com.
Tim Horton's. (2011). Sustainability & Responsibility Report.
Tim Horton's. (2001). Tim Horton's Rolls Out New Look. Retrieved from timhortons.com.
Tim Horton's. (2011). Tim Hortons to Introduce MasterCard Payment in Canada. Retrieved November 14,
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