Organisational Culture in Government and Non-Government Organisations - Essay Example

WORKING WITH HUMAN SERVICE ORGANISATIONS Name: University: Date: How Organisational Culture Differs Between Government and Non- Government Organisations Introduction The organisational culture reflects what is valued within the organisation, the symbols and language, the leadership styles that are dominant, the routines and procedures, and the unique feature of the organisation. According to O'Riordan (2015), the organisational culture defines how things are done in the organisation. Organisational culture is very hard to understand and identify since it encompasses underlying assumptions, values, collective memories, expectations as well as definitions that exist in the organisation, which are normally disregarded. Although for the most part culture is imperceptible and only a few people know about it, O'Riordan (2015) posits that it offers a sense of identity to the staff members. According to Jones and May (1995), organisational culture is essential because it is the normative or social glue, which holds the organisation together. Organisational culture has three core functions: brings about motivation and commitment; guides behaviour; and provides the guidance for understanding the organisation. The relationship between the organisation and employees is guided by organisational culture through shared values and assumptions as evidenced by psychological contract. Culture does not just affect the overt behaviour of the employees in both government and non-government organisations, but also the source of behaviour, the norms and values. Therefore, culture typifies the biggest control system in the organisation and is considered ‘social glue’. Using relevant literature and theoretical frameworks, the essay seeks to discuss how organisational culture differs between government and non- governmental organisations. Discussion There are some conflicting views concerning whether the culture should be shaped so as to fit corporate strategy or to bring strategy that is in line with the existing culture. For this reason, Leidner (1999) as cited by Schueber (2009) developed a model to facilitate to enable organisation to examine and judge how a certain corporate culture can impact the effectiveness of corporate knowledge management strategies. Numerous scholars and researchers have proposed frameworks and models for assessing, classifying and describing organisational culture. Although such models and frameworks make it easier to understand organisational culture, their key objective is examining the gap that exists between organisational culture and the one sought out by the organisation’s leadership (Schueber, 2009). Resistance to change as observed by Jones and May (1992) is a complex issue that affects organisational culture. The change process is universal and resistance from employees normally results in the failure of many well-conceived and well-intend efforts of initiating organisational change. The economic systems globalisation, global recession and increased inequality across the globe, and different forms of conflicts and catastrophes has forced social workers and professionals to look for ways of responding to the new realities (Haynes & Mickelson, 2006). Managers and leaders in the organisation are currently more interested in understanding the organisational culture concept, mainly because organisational culture promotes effectiveness within the organisation (Davies & Philp, 1994). Without a doubt, there is a major difference between government and non-government organisations, and such differences are attributed mainly to external environment features uniqueness that shapes the expectations and boundaries of these organisations. As mentioned by Schraeder, Tears, and Jordan (2005) acknowledging the external environments differences is very important since the organisational norms are impacted by the differences in industrial characteristics. The creation of organisational culture is considered to be an internal response to external imperatives. Particularly, the government organisations are currently facing a lot of pressure to significantly adapt to the external environment changes. Leaders in government organisations have been forced to assist their workers to comprehend such environmental. Certainly, when government organisations fail to change their culture according to the environmental exigencies could result in increase or continuation or in management turnover. Schraeder, Tears, and Jordan (2005) argue that when government organistions fail to change, it can result in inertia, which may erode the confidence of the public in such organisations. Even though the environments that government and non-government operate have some similarities, there are major differences at their cultural and operational level. Jones and May (1995) opined that have knowledge about the organisation and acquisition of organisational skills are crucial for managers seeking to address social justice issues as well as respond to the consumers; needs. The existing literature has conceptualised the traditional model used mostly in the government organisations, whereby predictability and stability have been the main characteristics of the traditional model. The traditional model used in government organisations are bound by political instead of the market controls. Traditionally, government organisations are constrained by political activities as well as political authority. Furthermore, their processes, goals and structures are normally inhibited by legislation or delineated by the central bureaucratic agencies. Because of the political constraints, government organisations have distorted goals and objectives and the leaders’ determinations to achieve the set organisational goals are often constrained. Some government organisations have embraced the ‘In Search of Excellence’ model by Peters and Waterman that offers checklist characteristics of organisations that are successful, and which may be utilised as a reference point for organisational change. Peters and Waterman (1982) as cited by Parker and Bradley (2000) argued that organisation mobilisation with the goal of achieving the designated ‘ends’ is a crucial tool of management associated with improved organisational performance. Peters and Waterman’s framework is anchored on the principle that the effectiveness as well as efficiency, of government organisations can be enhanced by using management techniques, which had been reserved previously for non-government organisations. Parker and Bradley (2000) suggest that government organisations can be reinvented by separating the role of policy development from that of the service delivery as well as introducing market pressures with regard to the function of service delivery. Most government organisations have recently experienced fundamental changes in terms of how they are managed, financed, and held accountable. For this reason, resources and attention have been directed at developing skills in innovation, problem-solving and managing far-reaching complexity (Hughes & Wearing, 2013). In human service organisations according to Gardner (2006), employees find it easier to work with the clients, but it becomes more challenging to work successfully with their employers, especially during the translation of the client-centred approach and the professional values into practice. Despite the fact that culture has a huge impact on the organisational performance, it is given scant attention by most non-governmental organisations (Duke & Edet, 2012). Arguably, NGOs are increasingly more important within the society considering that their roles have changed from the offering peripheral relief and welfare services to support and campaign for stronger public institutions and good governance. Besides that, NGOs act as a means of distributing aid, especially at the time of national crisis. Recently, the profile of NGOs has grown thanks to their role as a cooperation agent for major development. Importantly, NGOs bridge the existing gap between the community as well as government and they also help in enabling inputs to be supplied into management and governance processes. In order to be successful in their overall goals, NGOs must have knowledge about the general dynamics of the system and area where they operate. According to Duke and Edet (2012), they should be able to measure, evaluate as well as redesign their organisational culture for effective performance and operational efficiency. As cited by Duke and Edet (2012), Hofstede (1997) argued that culture have an effect on behaviour since it manifests itself in symbols, rituals, values and heroes, which are establish within the organisation. Aside from such representations, there are the customs, roles and norms utilised in the system operation. Through these forms, the procedures, processes as well as knowledge that are utilised by the NGOs, are amassed, voiced and disseminated. Therefore, culture offers a force that is unifying and stabilising in a system within the shared identity and common norms that have been subscribed by the members of the organisation members. Such norms are important because they facilitate in the normalising actions, improving cohesion within the organisation and facilitating behaviour prediction. Essentially, non-governmental organisations are established with the goal of pursuing altruistic goals and have no motives for profit. The majority of NGOs normally operate outside the operation or control of the government structure. NGOs may include professional societies, trade associations, foundations, cooperative societies or religious organisations. Because of the growing awareness and the realisation of the fact that the non-governmental organisations are well placed to empathise, understand as well as articulate the desires and needs of people, especially those who are most vulnerable within the society, they have grown steadily in centrality as well as importance to national life, particularly in poor and developing economies. Basically, NGOs’ organisational culture has enabled them to become dominant in providing the fundamental social services intended for relief of people who are suffering within the society (Duke & Edet, 2012). Thanks to their unique organisational cultures, NGOs have been able to promote the interests of the community members, especially the vulnerable and poor and ha also brought about development. Unlike in government organisations where change is often resisted, the organisation culture in NGOs encourages changes in practices, beliefs and attitudes. The NGO is driven by numerous factors: of people’s intrinsic dynamisms at grassroots; external pressures from the governmental institutions; as well as pressures from government actions and policies. Conclusion In conclusion, using relevant literature and theoretical frameworks, the essay has discussed how organisational culture differs between government and non- government organisations. As mentioned in the essay, the activities as well as functions of government organisations and how they performed are evidently poles apart in some respects from non-governmental organisations. The activities of the government organisations cannot in any way be equated with those in the NGOs since they focus more on high levels of communication, inter-organisational coordination as well as conflict resolution. On the other hand, the NGOs are nowadays filling the gap left behind by government organisations, especially in service delivery. As argued in the essay, governments’ organisations’ cultures are politically driven and have failed to sufficiently address the needs of the community members. On the other hands, NGOs’ impact on the society as partners of development, socio-economic change facilitators and catalysts in countries across the globe is indisputable. Nowadays, both the government and local communities are exceedingly depending on the NGOs efforts; therefore, the anticipation for improved performance has increased sharply. In consequence, this has created the need for change so as to facilitate the organisational culture and effectiveness. Given that organisational culture has been identified firmly as an effective corporate tool or resource of strategic advantage, it has positively impacted the performance of NGOs more as compared to the government organisations. References Davies, B., & Philp, A. (1994). Monitoring company culture. Personnel Management, 26(5), 69. Duke, J., & Edet, G. H. (2012). Organizational Culture as a Determinant of Non-Governmental Organization Performance: Primer Evidence from Nigeria. International Business and Management, 4(1), 66-75. Gardner, F. (2006). Working Actively within the Organisation. In Working with Human Service Organisations: Creating Connections for Practice. South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press. Haynes, K. S., & Mickelson, J. S. (2006). Affecting Change: Social Workers in the Political Arena. Sydney, NSW: Pearson Education. Hughes, M., & Wearing, M. (2013). Theorising organisations. In Organisations and management in social work: everyday action for change (2nd ed., pp. 31-56). London: SAGE. Jones, A., & May, J. (1992). Working in human service organisations: a critical introduction. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire. Jones, A., & May, J. (1995). Working in human service organisations. Sydney, NSW: Pearson Education. O'Riordan, J. (2015). Organisational culture and the public service. Dublin, Ireland: Institute of Public Administration. Parker, R., & Bradley, L. (2000). Organisational culture in the public sector: evidence from six organisations. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 13(2), 125 - 141. Schraeder, M., Tears, R. S., & Jordan, M. H. (2005). Organizational culture in public sector organizations: Promoting change through training and leading by example. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26(6), 492-502. Schueber, M. (2009). 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