Organizational Culture - Report Example

Name: Instructor’s Name: Class: Date Organization culture Organization culture refers to organization workers’ and owners’ way of life. Their behavior, what they believe in and what they value defines the culture of that organization. It is passed from one generation of workers to the other and distinguishes an organization from the others. This is because, organizations could be doing the same business but have different values and ways of conducting their business. If tapped well, organization culture can be the reason behind success of an entity. However, if mishandled, it can cause collapse of a formerly stable organization (Alvesson, 2012). Organizations are made up of multiple personalities who develop a distinct character as a result of working in one place and towards achievement of common goals. Moreover, shared norms, social identity, values and mental models are instrumental in development of a unique organization culture. Culture in an organization influences all activities that take place without regard to their nature. Each organization has its own unique culture or value set and each organization has its own understanding of their culture (Louis, 1985). In my organization, manifestation of culture takes various forms that includes, organization layout and structure, policies, leadership style, communication, values, philosophy, division of labor, adoption to latest technology, social relations within it and many other ways. It is the context in which expression of culture occurs that determines whether it is helpful to the organization or not. Culture is not uniform in an organization. Subcultures exist in various departments and teams (Denison, 1990). Performance factors in an organization’s style or culture are so powerful that they can make all the difference to the successful delivery of organization strategy and execution of its plans. They represent what creates engaged, highly committed employees in workplaces. Organizational culture that is working well is capable of transforming companies to a large extent. The forms of manifestation of organizational culture are largely intangible, less visible, but the main manifestation form oscillate around symbols, behavioral rules, rituals and ceremonies, statutes and the role of the staff, organizational stories and myths (Atkinson, 1990). It is the prerogative and responsibility of organization leaders to cultivate the right organization culture for the success of the organization. Leaders influence culture of an organization. On the other hand, culture influences leadership style. To minimize cultural disagreements, leaders embed useful cultural beliefs into the organization mission, vision, philosophy, goals, objectives and procedures (Cameron & Quinn, 2011). Apart from leadership, many factors influence the kind of culture existing in an organization. For example, the external environment greatly influences the behavior of an organization. Challenges that face the organization also influence the behavior of the organization. In addition to that Competitor’s culture also influence our organization culture (Cameron & Quinn, 2011). Other factors include but not limited to the founders of the organization, the national culture within which the company operates, age and size of the organization, managers, the activity profile and the work nature, characteristics of the human factor and many others. All these elements offer each organization a certain system of values and a certain perception of reality (Marshall & McLean, 1985). Various levels of culture manifest. Artifacts is the first level of culture. This includes the type of buildings constructed based on the needs of that organization and their beliefs towards what impression they want to make and how they intend to carry out their businesses (Mullins, 2005). Another artifact that reveals culture is uniform. Rules of an organization define dress code. In our organization we dress differently but officially. There are no specific uniforms. This promotes freedom to the employees and confidence rate. You cannot differentiate seniors from juniors apart from by using name tags. The layout of an organization is its culture. Organizations locate departments where they feel are most secure and meet the organization needs (Brown & Harris, 1997). Most of our departments are located to the front chambers ground floor where our customers can easily locate them. Stores, tea rooms and meeting rooms are behind them or upstairs. Customers find it easy to seek for services and find it convenient because they do have not have to climb tiresome stairs or wait for elevators to look for services. Our organization is built with traditional roofs. The arrangement of the building looks like a usual traditional homestead of a community that surrounds us. Modified chairs and table give a feeling of comfort experienced in an individual’s house. This welcomes our staff and employees making them own and feel proud of this organization. Working stations are spacious accommodative and provides privacy if need be. Smooth music plays in the background but generally the place is quiet with birds’ whistles heard from a distance. Thus, it provides a peaceful, stress free working environment. Our meeting rooms have round or oval tables. That is where we sit to discuss issues and learn from each other. All the chairs are uniform in color and size. It is impossible to predetermine where our manager will sit. This setting encourages openness when contributing to the discussion irrespective of your position in the organization. All of us are important to the success of our organization. Those are the views and behavior that it expresses within the organization. They help us focus our thinking, behavior and actions towards crystallization of certain, typical, prevailing organizational behaviors (Edwards, Kumar, & Ranjan, 2002). There is no reserved parking for the executives. Top executives park in the same car park as other employees. There are no reserved elevators and dining rooms for the executives too. This promotes an open culture for people to interact and work together although they are in different levels of management. This is well supported in our philosophy that calls for unity, togetherness and respect to every person we interact with during our stay in the organization. The other level of organization culture is values. An organization that believes that it is only hard work that pays has a different culture with an organization that believes only smart work pays. Organization values goes ahead to define concepts that are put into play to bring out the desired outcomes of a business entity. To begin with, team work is a value that yields results. An organization that value individualism finds its employees demotivated and always tired unlike an organization that encourages solidarity (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). Secondly, in my organization, rules are not more important than obligations and relationships. Workers go extra miles not to avoid breaking rules or fail to meet deadlines that are set but to satisfy their customer needs. Therefore, the quality of work done remains high to the advantage of the organization, customers and employees. Moreover, employees find it easy to report and share challenges without fearing being accused of trying to sabotage or go against the set guidelines (Pemberton, Carpenter, & Farquharson, 2011). Masculinity and femininity are essential in determining organization culture. Our organization is in a country that indirectly uphold masculinity. Some employees in my company do not respond earnestly to instruction from women leaders irrespective of the relevance of such instructions. However, they are quick to respond to their male counterparts just because they attribute certain positions and authority as reserved for men. This hinders implementation of organization directives hence become a challenge against realization of the organization objectives (Collinson, 1992). Sociability of an organization members defines their culture. For an organization to thrive, it requires open communication among stake holders. With enmity among them, flow of important information is hindered leading to a failed organization. Employee’s health is also vital for organization growth. Therefore, employees should find it in their heart to save their colleagues when danger looms. We are friends in our organization. We celebrate our friend’s victory, birthday parties and ceremonies (Hatch, 2012). Relationship between lower and upper levels of power and staff authority defines our culture in our organization. There is free interaction between employees in lower and upper levels of power. You can hardly tell the level of seniority from the look of how they interact. This close association encourages good sharing of information hence improves our organization output. On the other hand, too much friendliness makes juniors respond slowly to directives that they feel are putting pressure on them. This affects implementation of some policies and regulations (Stapley, 1993). Team work is one of the positive values in my organization. Solving challenges and performance of daily work takes place at department or section levels. A team of employees headed by the head of section or department is responsible for daily activities and work done. At no time, a single person is fully responsible for the work done. A management team comprising of all heads of department are responsible for decision making and formulation of policies. Therefore all departments own up decisions that are made (Stapley, 1993). Team work eliminates employees’ frustration by colleagues, working environment or by managers. They feel appreciated by belonging to a successful team that value their input and service. Socialization is evident in our structure of organization. a larger proportion of work is done by people working in groups. This culture promotes peaceful coexistence, healthy competition and a successful structure of our organization. However, individual accountability may not be possible. Merits form the basis of promotion. Proof of work done or achievements made is more recognized than mere possession of certificates of qualification. Hence, it is possible to have a junior staff qualify to a level higher than his/her immediate senior. This system promotes competitiveness within the organization. It also puts the most hardworking people to senior positions thereby acting as good role models to the junior staff (Alvesson, 2012). The organization structure of our company follows the chain of command. Higher ranks comes with greater responsibilities and powers to delegate, supervise or order that a certain job be done. This kind of culture promotes clarity of the organization structure. Thus providing a smooth system of referring cases depending on the level of difficulty. Individual employees are conversant with their scope of practice and objectives that they must achieve. This system reduces conflict within the organization and encourages problem solving up the hierarchy (Schein, 1999). A common national language is another aspect of our organization culture. There is a clear policy that prohibits use of indigenous language with colleagues, seniors or customers.it enhances unity among workers. It eliminates nepotism and feeling of loneliness to those who come from minority tribes. This contributes positively to make our organization endearing to all stakeholders. Everybody feels accommodated and tends to own the organization and wish it the very best (Perlow & Weeks, 2002). The Annual Price Giving Day promotes acquisition and adherence to the expected values and behavior in the organization. The most hardworking people get rewards that motivate them to keep doing better. It also creates competitiveness among employees thereby increasing company’s productivity. Departmental awards also increase team work and enable employees to work towards common goals of the organization. In addition to that, motivation among the employees increases leading to greater satisfaction of employees, feeling of identity and commitment (Perlow & Weeks, 2002). Stories relating to the founder reveals the history of our organization and influences our understanding of what we need to do to meet his intentions. Lots of sacrifices made during the inauguration reminds us to remain focused and serve our customers diligently. Once in every year we commemorate the birth of our organization. Such stories are the order of the day. Whenever we are faced with difficulties stories of similar circumstances in the organization provide a solution for us (Lee & Yu, 2004). The third level of culture is individual behavior and believes that are inherent. Culture actually expresses the way human resources of the company are seen and what behavior the employees must adopt both in the working process and in different situations they face during their activity within the organization. People tend to behave the way they see others behave. Therefore, individual’s character depends on the behavior promoted by the organization through reward systems and punishments for wrong doing (Hatch, 2012). A spirit of competitiveness is apparent in our organization. Through seminars we are able to understand who our competitors in the market are and what they are doing. This spirit gives us the energy to do extra work to beat them. Thinking that the employee works for the boss, changed into a different attitude, namely that the employee works for the customer to meet his/her needs and requirements through many seminars we are taken through. Competition creates creativity and spirit of cooperation among us. Adoption to latest technology is very fast in our organization. It is more of a norm to learn and adopt new technologies introduced in the organization. This culture maintains the competitiveness of our organization. This is because willingness to learn and change comes from the employees themselves. The administration has very little to do to encourage change. As the employees we understand the importance of appreciating new technologies to make our work easier and productive. Our organization is constantly changing (McDowell, 1994). There are numerous benefits that we enjoy during our daily work. Presence of a gym and swimming pool in our work place encourages us to meet all our psychological and bodily needs. Therefore absenteeism rarely occurs. We enjoy the working environment due to laxity, autonomy and little control we enjoy. However, our seniors exact control when need be to direct or correct us. This makes working easy and enjoyable. A weekend off is more boring than a usual working day. Our employees come from differing ethnic backgrounds. Ethnocentrism is outwardly visible from our organization. However, it exists. The community surrounding the location of our organization forms the larger proportion of our employees. This creates a small feeling of insecurity amongst employees from different ethnicity. To take care of that, democracy is not the best method to break a tie, nominate or award employees. A governing council representing all ethnic groups determine such processes. Employees are free to explain their innovative ideas directly to the top executives. They do not have to go through their immediate managers to maneuver their way to reach top executives. There are absolutely no hindrances or interference from middle level managers. Innovations are rewarding since a portion of money is set aside to award employees who come up with good ideas to increase organization effectiveness. This culture promotes good communication between employees are various levels in the organization and encourages innovation. Decentralized decision making is the reason behind us being a dynamic organization. Every department is given autonomy to handle all activities in their jurisdiction in the best way possible that focuses on the broad organization goals and vision. Forwarding difficult technical challenges to a specialized department or senior manager is highly encouraged. This culture promotes an environment for a supportive supervision of departments and promotes faster decision making process that speed up response to our customer needs. In conclusion, culture in our organization influences our success to because of its wide application in our daily chores. Culture supports structures of an organization if it is upheld in the right manner but in some instances, it conflicts with the organization structure. This poses a challenge to leaders. They should use culture as a tool for growth and effectiveness of an organization without causing conflicts and inefficiencies that can cause collapse of an organization (Alvesson, 2012). References. Alvesson, M. (2012). Understanding organizational culture. Sage. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BDsV8eHp0_MC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=organisation+culture+effects+and+change&ots=738m9rsLzJ&sig=Vwg3HzRSdMsA9q1KTNc0ViNq5eI Atkinson, P. E. (1990). Creating culture change. IFS. Retrieved from http://www.philipatkinson.com/Philip-Atkinson-CreatingCultureChange.pdf Brown, J., & Harris, P. (1997). Organisation culture and control in a strategic planning context: implications for the international hospitality industry. Global Directions for Hospitality and Tourism Development, Cassell, London. Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2011). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=blRwWniTsUAC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=organisation+culture+effects+and+change&ots=5li8WyCVpF&sig=3u90gkuSyAyHEUEdUdGz-ZFuoSE Collinson, D. L. (1992). Managing the shopfloor: Subjectivity, masculinity and workplace culture (Vol. 36). Walter de Gruyter. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UbwmgKmLLkwC&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=culture+of+workplace&ots=Nq108mRc9i&sig=1w6UkExP7ItGCiulckas7AY57oU Denison, D. R. (1990). Corporate culture and organizational effectiveness. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from http://doi.apa.org/psycinfo/1990-97246-000 Edwards, R. W., Kumar, P., & Ranjan, R. (2002). Understanding organisation culture and innovation: a case study approach. In Sixth International Research Conference on Quality, Innovation and Knowledge Management (pp. 1–10). Retrieved from http://innovation.gov.in/innovation/inntoolkit/Library/Understanding_Organisation.pdf Hatch, M. J. (2012). Organization theory: modern, symbolic and postmodern perspectives. Oxford university press. 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Who’s helping whom? Layers of culture and workplace behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(4), 345–361. Schein, E. H. (1999). The corporate culture survival guide. Retrieved from http://www.citeulike.org/group/12272/article/2575220 Stapley, L. F. (1993). The personality of the organisation: A psycho-dynamic explanation of culture and change. Sheffield Hallam University. Retrieved from http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.334724 Trompenaars, F., & Hampden-Turner, C. (1998). Riding the waves of culture. McGraw-Hill New York. Retrieved from http://cms.eventassist.nl/websites/AllenOvery_ExpandingCircles/docs/Presentatie%20Fons%20Trompenaars.pdf Read More