Organizational culture and employee engagement :a case study of National Bank of Kuwait -

Abstract

This case study methodology is an in-depth qualitative exploration of organizational culture at a bank in Kuwait; it seeks to investigate and understand the organizational culture of the National Bank of Kuwait (hereinafter ‘NBK’ or the bank). In examining the culture, I have documented the localized practices, unwritten rules, unarticulated assumptions, and implicit codes of conduct that define the bank’s organizational culture. The objective of this field project is to identify the values and pillars of NBK’s organizational culture, as perceived, by a group of Executive Managers at NBK, and to define the core values of the organizational culture that led to the bank’s success story. The second objective of the study is to define the role played by the employee engagement program launched at Consumer Banking Group in 2012 titled “I am NBK”, in shaping employee behaviors in line with NBK’s core values. I have also examined the extent of success that the “I am NBK” program has reached in achieving its intended results with regards to reinforcing NBK’s culture, and overviewing the HR practices that were instrumental in shaping employee behaviors in line with the culture. The current field project collected primarily and secondary qualitative data from two sources. First, I have conducted in-depth structured face to face interviews with a total of 15 Executives at the bank, and have used available data owned by the bank to support our analysis. Taken together this field project has been designed as a cultural exploration as well as a program evaluation project. The results confirmed the effectiveness of this engagement program and the possibility of replication of “I am NBK” across the bank has been recommended to Management, as the effectiveness of this program has enhanced the bank’s employer brand and employee engagement levels.