Organizational Culture, Management and Control - Essay Example

Organisational culture, management and control An organisation's culture plays a central role in shaping its uniqueness from that of the others'. According to a managerial belief cited by Alvesson (p.2), " companies may win or lose based on the culture they create." Culture is an all-pervasive phenome- non, it percolates deeply at all levels of the organisation, making its presence felt from the moment an employee joins as a trainee. It comes by almost as intuition, that the ini- tial experiences of an employee in any organisation are shadowed by the word "caution", as in "seeking clues to adapt to the cultures, norms and values" (Fineman p.13) of the workplace, a continuous, image-conscious, perceptual mapping that eventually, leads to assimilation, thus with the addition of each new member in its fold, an organisation's culture tends to align itself in the direction of stability and daily routine. To illustrate the different shades of culture, a sociologist uses the parameter of international viewpoints (Fineman p.18); in a survey conducted on car mechanics from different countries, the responses generated reflect peculiar cultural attributes. To the resp- ondent from the UK, when asked to define his job, he simply puts it as "fitting the hub caps". The respondent from the US had a broader picture in mind, although his opinion may be said to stem from a stereotypical cynicism that characterises material-conscious Americans, "I make profits for Henry Ford." Finally, when the question was asked to a Japanese, his response smacked of intense loyalty and devotion people in Japan have towards their organisation, "I am member of a team that makes the best cars in the world." Is there any doubt why Japanese car companies continue to dominate the world market Indeed, as Alvesson points out (p.2), an organisation's culture is principal means to achieve effectiveness, growth and success in business. If culture plays such a major initiative in defining success or failure, the stakes only get higher when an organisation has to manage transformations and great upheavals, that when come with mergers and acquisitions, employee induction or retrenchment, dive- rsification or consolidation. It is on occasions like these that the true mettle of a mana- ger is tested. Rather than sitting on the fence and lamenting that "cultures can't be cha- nged", an intelligent manager looks for solutions, ways and methods to help the organis- ation tide over circumstances, and retain its control. Harrison (p.2) unfailingly mentions that transformations are both "desirable and feasible, but accomplishing it would be risky and difficult." It is an inevitable challenge that competent managers have to always brace themselves for. And, there are established tools and strategies that apply to change mana- gement. To corroborate the diagnostic methodology he presented in his book, Harrison offers a simplistic assessment on going about cultural transformations (p.1). His three cri- tical facets of diagnosis start with a detailed process to prepare a diagnostic study follo- wed by usage of suitable methods to frame issues, and closing in by devising innovative methods for collecting, analysing and summarising of relevant data. In the case study mentioned therein, we witness a real-life example of the problem faced by the Head of training in a national health maintenance organisation (HMO). An ambitious programme was envisaged to undertake a major organisational transform for overall benefits. Now, this didn't sit easy with the nursing staff and administration employees who somehow, opposed the proposal tooth-and-nail. Finally, consultants were brought in place. They diagnosed the source of the problem, brainstormed for solutions, and closed in by asking the management to consider appropriate "training measures" for its disaffected staff, as a viable means to facilitate the transformation. Another area where managerial skills are put into test is in resolving conflicts that are endemic to any organisation's culture. According to Ackroyd, an organisation produces "not only organisational behaviour, but also organisational misbehaviour" (p.8). He satirises the present keep in modern offices that build and promote a culture that not only tolerates misbehaviour, but actually rely on it (p.11). The list of anti-social behaviours he typifies, include arson, blackmail, fraud, lawsuits, lying, sabotage and whis- tle-blowing. Enough material to mark the difference between heaven and hell, about the environment of the workplace. Organisational politics is also a source of problem. In a phenomenon described as "homosocial production" (p.18), Fineman critically examines the marked tendency of organisations to recruit people who resemble the people who already exist there. The att- ributes may vary from social values to basic attitudes. In a previously mentioned exam- ple, he talks about the case of a female writer who didn't get her job with a London-based publishing company despite having met all other criteria, simply because she didn't fit in the organisational spectrum, interestingly of all other things it was her "honesty" that gave her the way out. Cultural changes are many-a-times stereotyped on people, when they are seen more or less as metaphors. According to Morgan (p.4), human beings are biased and judgemental in their outlook, they tend to rely on "constructive falsehoods" when it comes to weighing decisions that affect people, such as hiring and promotions, or dism- issals. This leads to absurd generalisations, and ultimately, becomes a source for angst and dissatisfaction among employees, leading to degeneration of an organisation's clima- te for growth. So, naturally the first necessary prerequisite to managing effective cultural changes in any organisation is to stop being judgemental about people and things. It is incumbent upon top management to retain its capacity to remain "open and flexible", so that prob- lematic situations can be approached from "new angles" (Morgan p.4). The grievances of the employees must be properly addressed, and Management must pay greater heed to their employees' emotional concerns which sometimes, outweigh even financial or aspirational concerns. This has a lot to do with the individual manager's intuitive skill, learned through "experience and natural ability" (Morgan p.3). To elucidate the most brilliant transformation the world has ever seen, one case that stands apart from the rest is when Jack Welch took over as GE's chairman in 1981. Jeffrey A. Krames, self-confessed Jack Welch aficionado, beautifully describes the change-management philosophy of Jack, which saw GE change from a manufacturing major to a products-and-services giant, in less than 20 years. Such a sweeping change in culture couldn't have been affected without the man's fiery leadership style, and tough decision-making power. And "tough calls" he made, by defying GE's old traditions, by laying off more than 100,000 workers and by transforming GE's "insular, hidebound culture, and most of all, by selecting and developing leaders" (Krames p.2). Jack Welch's leadership style has left an indelible impact in the way business is done in America. After all, he took over the reins in a tumultuous period when globalis- ation, the PC revolution, and corporate restructuring were "turning the world's businesses upside down" (Krames p.6). Jack evolved a method that has since been, copied as a style by many more CEO's and business leaders worldwide. It is called the 4E discip- line. The 4 E's stand for Energy, Energizing, Edge, and Execution (Kramer p.3). The underlying philosophy behind Jack's 4-step method, is to inculcate a sense of passion among its employees. To quote a passage from the book, it summarises the attributes any leader must possess in order to see the organisation scale all horizons. "the workplace in which one finds oneself can be either supportive or destruct- ive of passion. The best organizations, Welch argues, spark and nurture a person's pass- ion. What kind of company nurtures passion A company that encourages frank dialo- gue and candid communications and - conversely - rejects autocratic behaviour, turf wars, and other behaviors that impede effective communications" (Kramer p.26). Many other successful organisations have similar role models. Bill Gates encoura- ges the employees of Microsoft to develop a "passion for technology". Apple Computer CEO, Steve Jobs, advocates a "think different" mindset in his organisation's culture. Passion and motivation go hand-in-hand. Sydnmaanlakka gives statistical evidence to suffice that motivation-level plays a very key role in boosting performance in the workplace. According to the motivational studies of William James, human performance is 20-30% below ideal at low motivation level, but it can achieve 80-90% at higher motivation levels (Sydnmaanlakka p.82). In a nutshell, from all the above arguments ensued, it'll be a fair assumption to believe that learning to cope with change, and the cultural upheavals it brings about, is the only surefire means to survive for any organization, in today's competitive scenario. An organization requires intelligent wisdom to show the path ahead, it also needs to foster an environment in which the employees' true potential is harnessed, politics and stereotypical measures are discouraged, employees are at the right levels of passion and motivation, and that there is a genuine climate of growth and development. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Ackroyd, S. & Thompson, P. 1999, Organisational Misbehaviour , Sage, London 2. Alvesson, M. 2002, Understanding organizational culture , Sage, London 3. Fineman, S. Sims, D. & Gabriel, Y. 2005, Organizing & organizations , 3rd edn, Sage, London 4. Harrison, M. 2005, Diagnosing organizations: methods, models, and processes , 3rd edn, Sage, Thousand Oaks CA 5. Krames, Jeffrey A. 2005, Jack Welch and the 4E's of Leadership , 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill, New York 6. Morgan, G. 1998, Images of Organization: The Executive Edition , Sage, Thousand Oaks CA 7. Sydnmaanlakka, Pentti. 2002, An Intelligent Organization , 2nd edn, Capstone, Oxford UK Read More