Organizational culture is fundamentally about symbolic meaning and as such cannot be managed. Discuss - Essay Example

92). Although it is an important concept, yet organizational culture is too subjective to be defined concretely. In spite of that, an integrated, explicit, consisted, and accepted organizational culture is deemed important to achieve success in the organizational performance. Keeping this into consideration, it is quite likely that the dynamism and richness of the organizational processes may be seen, shaped, and improved with the help of the cultural lens. An organization’s culture has an eminent influence on the actions and decisions taken within the organization.

The ideas, attitudes, beliefs, and values that prevail in an organization often unconsciously serve as a guide for the thinking, actions, and feelings of the employees. Developing the understanding of culture is important to describe and analyze the organizational phenomena. Culture for some is a glue that compiles and bonds all aspects and units of an organization together whereas for others, culture serves as a compass that provides the organizational personnel with the direction (Tharp, n.d., p. 2). .

The “culture has” view holds that corporate leaders can create and modify the culture. There are three fundamental debates; one is about concerning the way managers can make the weak culture of their company strong, the role culture plays in the innovation of a company and its rapid adjustment to the environmental changes, and the role of leaders’ management styles and vision in the management of their cultures. The “culture has” view suggests that the senior company executives should execute cultural leadership that has both an innovation and a maintenance dimension.

Symbolic leadership is essentially a way by which leaders can make the employees feel that their efforts are directed at achieving something that is worthwhile. This inculcates the motivation in them to be more productive and work harder. Leaders can influence the culture this way rather than the managers. Managers serve as heroes who serve as role models for the employees of the organization internally, and internally for the outside stakeholders including the customers, government, and the public at large.

The managerialist view suggests that it is possible to help the employees to internalize the values of the organization. On the other hand, the “culture is” view suggests that the organizational culture is composed of a subjective reality of meanings, rites, and rituals. This is essentially a shared cognitions, social constructionist, or symbolic perspective that refutes the notion that culture constitutes any independent and objective existence that is given to the employees. The “culture is” view holds that the culture of an organization cannot be measured or quantified easily. It