Strategic Management of Human Resources - Term Paper Example

 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES Creating A Performance Culture In Organizations For Success Introduction Organization culture depends basically on its history, technology, industry, custom and practice, leadership style organization structure etc. All organizations are unique and therefore have unique cultures. However, if one examines the attributes of the majority of industrial organizations, there are a number of traits that are seen as desirable for effective organization (Ahuja, 2005, p.825) The new key to business success is a culture, which establishes high levels of aspiration and supports the risk-taking and innovation needed to achieve them. Peters and Waterman (1982) claimed to have found eight common elements contributing to corporate excellence. In their view, corporate cultures combining these ingredients provide the motivation, incentives and sense of purpose, which account for success and also help to explain why some of the familiar mechanistic planning and control techniques work so well in some contexts and not in others (Ahuja, 2005, p.830). The list of eight successful business cultures can be summarized as follows: Managing ambiguity and paradox A basis for action Closeness to the customer Encouraging autonomy and entrepreneurship Productivity through people Hands-on commitment to product/service Simple form, lean staff Know your’ business. Importance Of Culture In Organization Performance The understanding of culture provides better alternatives for decision making by the managers. However, it puts restrictions on the alternatives to the managers, that is, the managers should conform to requirements of cultural patterns of people in the organization. This is so because of two reasons: First, no organization can be isolated from cultural environment, that is, organization as a social unit must operate within the framework of the larger cultural system. As such, a congruency has to be maintained with the values of total culture. Second, organization may be considered as a subculture within the framework of total broader culture. No doubt, every organization develops its own norms and cultural pattern of behavior; these elements are developed within the context of the larger cultural pattern. No part of the system should go against it if both have to succeed. From this point of view, the culture affects the functioning of an organization. Culture places imperative demands on organizations. Culture includes both abstract and material elements. Abstract elements include values, attitudes, ideas, personality types, and summary constructs such as religion, etc. Material elements include all the physical and observable things that man has created and which in turn have an effect on pattern of life and behavior. These elements may be such diverse items as products, buildings, machinery, etc. Though there maybe relationship between abstract and material cultures, both affecting each other, it is much more difficult to change attitudes and value systems than to institute technological innovations. The discrepancy between material inventions and the beliefs and patterning of human behavior resulting from the inventions is known as the cultural lag. An organization, which permits the lag to become too large, may very well jeopardize its own interest. A model for understanding organizational culture is: Which effect Determine Modifies The culture appears as a constraining variables job performance. Key Attributes For Organization Success The following are some key attributes that most organizations would ideally like to see for success to be achieved: A high degree of conformity to their rules and values. A high level of commitment and loyalty to the organization’s ends. The suppression of the individual in favor of the organization. A clear and formal organization structure, which works in practice. The ability to use and develop skills and experience to the full and to the organization’s ends. Constant search by everyone for better ways of improving Organizational performance. How Culture Affects The Organizational Functioning? The culture affects the organizational functioning in many ways 1. Objective setting -Culture moulds people and people are the basic building blocks of an organization. The goals of an organization must reflect, at least in part, the goals of its members, particularly of those who are the key decision-makers. 2. Motivational Pattern. Culture interacts to develop in each person certain motivational patterns. Culture determines the way individuals approach their jobs and even life in general. Generally, motivational pattern develops from a person's family and educational background and national culture. This shows differences in motivational patterns within the culture and between the cultures. There are three basic motives among people: needs for power, affiliation, and achievement 3. Work Ethic. Ethic relates to conformity to principles of human conduct. According to common usage, moral, good, right, honest are more or less used as synonymous to ethical act. Work ethic has its origin in both religious and secular values. The religious view of work ethic holds that work is a moral good in itself. Individuals become better persons by the act of working and they also, help build a better society. Religion affects attitudes towards work because people of different religious backgrounds do tend to vary in their work orientations. 4. Control Controlling is a dynamic process involving action, which is restraining, stimulating or adaptive. In control, some form of measurement is essential part of the process. Culture conditions the way people respond to various restraints. If such restraints do not conform to the characteristics of broader cultural pattern, perhaps the reactions may be dysfunctional. Thus, unless people are changed to adopt a particular restraint, it is unlikely that it becomes an effective tool of control. Variables of Organization Culture in Management Management of prevailing Organizational culture consists of five variables: 1. Communication. How receptive are those about you to your ideas and suggestions? 2. Motivation. How much do you look forward to coming to work each day? 3. Decision-making. To what extent are the persons who make decisions aware of problems at lower levels in the company? 4. Control. How much say or influence do the various levels of the hierarchy have on what goes on in your department? 5. Co-ordination. To what extent do persons in different departments plan together and co-ordinate their efforts? (Yvonne, 1999, p.107). These five climate variables can then be correlated with four leadership variables, as follows: 1. Managerial support. The degree to which the manager "increased his subordinates' feeling of being worthwhile and important people". 2. Goal emphasis. The degree to which the manager "stimulates enthusiasm for getting the work done". 3. Work facilitation. The degree to which the manager "helps his subordinates to get the work done by removing obstacles and road blocks". 4. Interaction facilitation. The degree to which the manager "builds the subordinate group into a work team". It will be seen that (1) and (4) deal with the employee as an organizational participant, whilst (2) and (3) deal with employee as a member of a production team. Bowers argued that those ways of behaving are handed down from group to group and so constitute the culture of the organization. He found to 30 to 50 per cent of the variance in managerial behavior related to the impact of the five climate indices, and that the best single predictor was usually as good as the combined correlation (Ahuja, 2005, p.869) 'Decisive' people destroy organizational cultures because they do not allow 'custom and practice' to weigh in a decision, and this is why we are strongly aware of culture as constraining activity in heavily traditional organizations such as British trade unions (Ahuja, 2005, p.874) Measurement of Culture The concept of 'Culture' is defined in terms of the shared belief, values, norms and traditions within the organizations. Methods of observation and informal open-ended interviews are used to identify elements and/or dimensions of organizational culture, which are subsequent, measured through structured interviews Beliefs Following are the widely shared beliefs among the workers regarding: (i) Supervisors' concern for production and discipline among the workers; (ii) The cost of loitering workers: (a) By way of punishment by the management, and (b) By way of loss in production and the resultant loss in wages. (iii) Quantum of workload. Values These were widely shared values among workers regarding the desirability of discipline among workers. Norms There were work-group norms regarding appropriate "On-The-Job" behavior Tradition There were different traditions of loitering in the department. In view of the above study included above elements and in interviews, workers responds to each of the statements in the schedule, on a binary "yes-no" scale, expressing their agreement or disagreement with the varying items. Analysis of Data The data gathered through the interviews were' analyzed to see whether the hotels with high and low rates of loitering different in terms of their cultures (Yvonne, 1999, p.111). STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION CULTURE The view of Strategic management consultants programmes for changing organizational cultures is the greatest thing since Management by Objectives. It is worth taking the culture dimension seriously. It highlights problems of communication; motivation and an organization can result in considerable wasted effort and energy if cultural dimensions are disregarded. Organizational culture is influenced by its national behavior and values system. SOME ASPETS OF THE CURRENT AND DESIRED CULTURE OF THE ORGANISTIONS Sl no Dominants beliefs about Existing culture Desired culture 1 Employees The organization treats the individual as if his/her time is at the disposal f the personas higher in the hierarchy. (Power) The Society should treat individuals as partners who are committed to working towards common objectives. (Task) 2 Motivation Work is performed because of contractual obligations, which are reinforced by sanctions. (Role) Personal commitment and satisfaction from excellent work should be cultivated as more important motivators. (Task) 3 Decisions Decisions are based on positions in the hierarchy and the content of job descriptions. (Role) Efforts should be made to ensure that decisions are made by people with more knowledge/expertise about a particular problem 4 Priorities Employees have to give first priority to the demand of the boss. (Power) There should be more emphasis on the objectives of the organization and the responsibilities of the job as opposed to the personal priorities of the boss. (Role) [Source: Taken from, Ahuja K. (2005) Personnel Management. Fig 6 p 621] CHANGING THE CULTURE: SOME IDEAS It consist first in recognizing the culture and analyzing its causes- the technology, the leadership and the markets- then in deciding how far the culture is appropriate to the current situation in which the organization finds itself. These are the steps to change the culture itself, without destroying it. There are three levels at which this can take place. 1. Changing of Behavior At this level we are not seeking to change people's attitudes or values but to modify their behavior. This can usually be affected by training followed by the installation of some type of performance monitoring device such as an information system or performance review. It will cause people to work faster (or slower); to communicate better (or worse); to economize on the use of resources (or squander them more) (Steven, 124). But whatever the change, it takes place without any basic alteration to attitudes to work or values about work. Changes such as this can often be wrought by indirect means such as rearrangement of offices, repainting, redesign of agendas for meetings to bring different subjects into prominence, re-timing of meetings, even redesign of note-paper and forms. 2. Changing Attitudes Employee’s attitudes are based upon the perceived behavior of the chief executive in determining culture. If the departmental head cares more for technical excellence of the product than sales turnover, then so will his cohorts. To change the attitudes of these people certainly requires some adjustment of their mental set and may require structural readjustment to give greater prominence to some departments at the expense of others. 3. Changing Values To change the value system you have to change the people at the top, whose value system permeates the culture? What culture do we want for our hotel, and what adjustments do we make to the existing cultural mix? For example: The chief executive of one of the organization was in retrospect dissatisfied with his ability to motivate others, and attributed this to failure to initiate, delegated and supervises. As a result the commercial success that he brought to the company was soon eroded. 'When executive retired company was losing ground because company had no management skill.' (Steven, 140) Conclusion Continuous attention to goals that are constantly changing could be extremely disruptive to an organization that does not possess the loose matrix structure commonly associated with the high technology area of industry. Angyal has stated that "It is not the goal that defines direction, but on the contrary the intrinsic pattern of direction which define what object can become a goal” (Yvonne, 1999, p.118). Organizational culture plays an important role in the success, efficiency and soundness of an organization. The ‘Team’, its people, their caliber and their attitude to succeed and out perform determine success of any organization. Employees are the only resource, which is capable of self-propulsion and value addition. Unlike any machinery that gets devalued or depreciated with time and age, the human resource i.e. people appreciates with age and experience. So they are very special but this fruitful only if people are developed and kept satisfied. It is unlikely that any improvement can be made in terms of production, productivity, quality or customer service until people are developed. More recent work by the Chandler school has not convincingly rebutted that statement. From this point of view culture might be seen as the glue that hold organizations together - a means by which participants communicate and co-ordinate their efforts, - and incidentally a ring fence separating insiders from outsiders (Yvonne, 1999, p.120). References Ahuja K. (2005), Human Resource Management, Kalyani Publishers. Calcutta. Pp 620-883 Steven Silbiger, A Ste By Step Guide to Mastering The Skills Taught in Top Business Schools. Piatkus Books. London. Pp 103-141 Yvonne Mc Laughhlin. (1999), Business Management: A Practical guide for Managers, Supervisors and Administrators. Business Information Books. Pp 107-120 Read More