Write an Essay on Organisational Culture

Write an Essay on Organisational Culture

Organizational Culture

Introduction

Organizational culture refers to the beliefs of a company, values and attitudes, and how these impact the behavior of the company’s various employees. Culture significantly affects how different people have experiences with a particular organization- what it feels like for a supplier to work with the organization or what a customer feels like buying from the given organization. A great organizational culture needs to have strong recognition for their different employees’ efforts and make them feel as part of something bigger and better. A healthy environment for work can transform employees (Hogan & Coote, 2014). The culture in an organization is very important in that it sets expectations for how people behave and work together and how well they function as a team. In this way, culture can break down the boundaries between guided decision-making, isolated teams, and workflow improvement.

Levels of Organizational Culture

Edgar Schein created three levels of organizational culture. At the top is;

1. Artifacts

These have been described as the visible part of an iceberg; this is due to the fact that they are hard to interpret. Organizational processes and structures that can be seen form part of the artifacts. They are easily visible, can be heard clearly, and also can be felt by individuals. Artifacts comprise the office furniture, dress code, behavior of employees, and facilities. Artifacts contribute very little insight into the culture of a company (Schein, 2010). Because of this, changing them would lead to a slight change in an organization’s culture.

• Values level

This immediately follows the level of the artifact. Values include the “why” behind how a company works the way it does. These are inclusive of the goals, philosophies, and strategies of a company that primarily assist in driving the mission of an organization. They give more insight into the organizational culture compared to artifacts and can be changed to greatly impact an organization’s cultural change (Schein, 2010). Values are the things that an organization says concerning its culture and the way that it operates. Espoused values tend to be more profound and barely visible indicators of the culture of a company compared to artifacts.

• Underlying assumptions level

This is the last level and creates the foundation for the artifacts and values levels. These include the beliefs, thoughts, and perceptions that establish culture (Schein, 2010). These are the deepest indicators of an organization’s culture in that they show how the company operates internally and perceives the world. Underlying beliefs are held mainly by the employees of the given organization, these include the assumptions regarding how they should relate with their workmates and the kind of behavior that leads to success or failure. These beliefs comprise highly integrated and subconscious characters that are not written down, talked about or even recorded (Schein, 2010). Because of this, they have a great effect on organizational culture but are always hard to relearn or even make changes.

Management and leadership as part of the Organization’s Culture

Tsai (2011) argues that organizational culture is how leadership cultivates or takes care of its business, stakeholders, and employees. Leadership refers to the power of an individual to motivate, influence, and enable others to contribute fully toward the organization’s success. On the other hand, “management involves controlling a group or set of entities to reach a given goal. Power and control do not separate leaders from managers. However, inspiration and influence do. Leadership can be transformational, autocratic, democratic or laissez-faire” (Tsai, 2011). The importance of culture in an organization is that the organization’s culture as a leadership idea has been identified as one of the several components most leaders can use to grow an organization. Leadership in an organization begins the culture formation process by imposing assumptions and expectations on the people that follow them.

Once culture is set in place and accepted, they act as a strong leadership tool that the leader uses to communicate their beliefs and values to the various members of the organization (Tsai, 2011). Organizational culture includes nearly everyone since it helps us understand how different things are created, acknowledged, and even the way they are being managed. Culture has played a vital role in defining an organization and understanding how it works and is managed. Organizational culture is often derived over time and guides the organisation’s members as they adapt to the external environment and manage relationships. These shared beliefs, therefore, ensure that the shared values and beliefs assist in guiding the thinking and behaviors of the organisation’s members. This shows that employees who accept the shared values of a particular organization and are fully committed are most likely to build a solid culture in an organization. Edgar Schein (2010) states that as various employees go through changes, they get experiences from the past as they adapt to the new environment.

“While management focuses mainly on staffing, planning, directing, organizing, and controlling, leadership especially involves running various functions. Leadership is a macro approach to situations that need broad ideas to shape an organization” this is according to Xu et al. (2016), “ethics play a significant role in leadership. Ethical leadership behavior influences employees’ evaluation of an organization as far as justice is concerned. Ethical leaders serve as moral agents of their particular organization and should not mistreat the employees or do things against their wishes. Trust in an organization is vital in linking the organization and the employees. Therefore, ethical leadership promotes trust in the organization, promoting justice perception” (Xu et al., 2016).

“As a general manager, one needs to put that into consideration. To illustrate a general manager’s role as a leader, the following acts need to be seen. Setting various strategies for the organization, shaping the work environment for the employees, and allocating multiple resources to specific departments” (Xu et al., 2016). “Building the organization as you also oversee the various operations of the organization, improvement of efficiency as you increase the numerous department’s profits as you manage the overall operations of the organization too. A general manager can show that they have what it takes to lead through; developing the art of communication. They create time to speak, ensuring the message impacts their employees; listening and talking alone won’t help. Instead, listening to their employees is crucial to becoming good leaders” (Goleman,2017).

According to Alvesson (2015), an organizational culture “tends to explain the right way to behave within the organization. It comprises shared values and beliefs put in place by leaders and later relayed to the employees and implemented through different modes, ultimately shaping the employees’ behaviors, understanding and perceptions. A good organizational culture is what the organization stands for and believes in. An organization needs to have strong recognition for their employees’ efforts, making them feel they contribute to the organization being better. A healthy environment for workers can change them from employees to good advocates.”

“The main characteristics of an organization include being financially stable and having harmonious relationships between the employees and their leaders. High performance of the organization. Building an internal community, continuous learning and renewal, and making a difference through strategic partnerships and alliances. For a culture to thrive in an organization, the general manager needs to listen to his employees and treat them well, correcting them and not scolding them, giving them good instructions and making sure they follow to the latter” (Chang, 2015). “After being criticized for following instructions, the employees feel they don’t contribute to the organization’s success. This in turn demoralizes them. This needs not happen in an organization with a good culture. An organization’s structure is a system outlining how various activities are directed to reach the organization’s goals. Examples of these activities include; roles, rules and responsibilities of multiple employees. An organizational structure can be hierarchical, functional, team-based, network, divisional and matrix organizational structure” (Lock, 2020).

Changing Organizational Culture while Maintaining the Current Structure of the Organization.

To change the organization’s culture, the desired values and behaviors need to be defined well enough “to ensure people understand them and relate them to their daily activities and behaviors” (Zeyada,2018). “Behavioral descriptors need to be in place for each defined value and articulation of how they would translate into behaviors that are actionable at all levels, from the secretaries to the employees and even the managers” (Zeyada, 2018).

“Align the culture with processes and strategy; ensure that the organization’s mission, vision, and values align with the HR processes” (Zeyada,2018). “This includes performance management, hiring, HR processes and promoting the various talents.

• Having visible Proponents; for the change in culture to remain intact, it must be prioritized by the board of directors and the CEO. The board should be shown a framework for understanding the culture of the organization and its effects on performance.
• Alignment of the Culture with the organization’s brand; Culture needs to resonate with employees and even the marketplace. To achieve this, human resource increasingly partners with the marketing department, especially with technological advancement. If there exists a terrible customer experience, it can affect tomorrow’s production.
• Measure the organization’s efforts; Show the effectiveness of the organization’s efforts by performing employee monitoring and analyzing gaps between the desired behavior and actual behavior.
• Take your time with the process; Changing an organization’s culture can take a long time, from months to several years. Begin by ensuring a clear justification exists for the company’s reasons to change.
• Be bold and take the lead; You can be in a more influential position to influence people” (Zeyada, 2018).

Leaders’ Role in Behavior Change in an Organization depending on the leadership style

According to Goleman (2017), “emotional intelligence is vital in leadership. The ability to manage one and their relationships to be the best includes four fundamental capabilities: self-management, self-awareness, social skill, and social awareness. There are various types of leadership; authoritative leadership, affiliative leadership, coercive leadership, and democratic leadership. Coaching leadership and pacesetting leadership. As a leader, using coercive leadership has a damaging impact on the rewards system. Most high-performing workers are often motivated by more than money- they look for the satisfaction of work well done. The coercive styles interfere with such pride. Authoritative leadership maximizes commitment to the organization’s strategy and goals. By framing tasks individually, within a more excellent vision, the authoritarian leader defines standards that revolve around the particular idea. Affiliative leaders are good at building a sense of belonging” (Goleman, 2017). They are, for example, “likely to take their direct reports out for a treat to see how they are faring. They will come in with a cake to celebrate the organization’s wins. The outcomes that best show the interactive process a leader has with the employees include; high productivity in the organization and managing to raise sales.

Micromanagement is a leadership strategy that can help in managing employees. This style seeks to excessively control and direct the employees to obtain immediate results by over-involving them, measuring their progress frequently, exaggerating the various details, and obsessing over gathering information. This type of management is very effective, especially in times of crisis” (Dasborough & Scandura,2022). “To achieve the organization’s goals, for instance, increasing production. If the manager is nagging the employees, they need to try to build trust with him, understand his decision-making, tell him to forget managing expectations a bit, and lead with curiosity. A leader using coercive leadership has a damaging impact on the rewards system. Most high-performing workers are often motivated by more than money- they look for the satisfaction of work well done” (Dasborough & Scandura, 2022).

The coercive styles interfere with such pride. “Authoritative leadership maximizes commitment to the organization’s strategy and goals. By framing tasks individually, the authoritative leader defines standards that revolve around the particular vision within a more excellent vision” (Goleman,2017). “To illustrate a general manager’s role as a leader, the following acts need to be seen. Set various strategies for the organization, shape the work environment for the employees, and allocate multiple resources to specific departments. And build the organization as you also oversee the various operations of the organization, improve efficiency as you increase the numerous department’s profits as you manage the overall operations of the organization. A general manager can show that they have what it takes to lead through; developing the art of communication. They create time to speak, ensuring the message impacts their employees; listening and talking alone won’t help. Instead, listening to their employees is crucial to becoming good leaders” (Goleman,2017).

Importance of Organizational Culture

• Healthy team environment

Organizational culture helps in improving the workflows as well as guiding the process of making decisions. In addition to that, it assists the various teams in overcoming multiple barriers brought by ambiguity. Members of the team who are knowledgeable and informed about numerous processes are in most cases more motivated to finish the various projects (Hogan & Coote, 2014). Having an incredible culture that unites the employees and enhances organized work helps people work together with a purpose.

• Increased engagement of employees

A working environment with an organizational culture is driven mainly by clear expectations and purpose. This, in turn, gives the employees motivation and inspiration to engage in their duties at work fully and how they interact with their workmates and even their interactions with others like the company customers (Hogan & Coote, 2014). It also results in high engagement levels at work that enhance productivity. An atmosphere of positivity that is difficult to ignore is often created by having a solid connection to an organization and its employees.

• Elevated Productivity

Organizational culture significantly impacts the workplace structure in ways that unite people having similar skills and enable them to come together and work for the common good of the organization. Employees with similar backgrounds and skills work more quickly when handling company projects. When the employees are provided with the necessary resources and tools to succeed, it increases the company’s overall performance and productivity (Hogan & Coote, 2014).

• Transformational power

Hogan and Coote (2014) state that “not all companies can transform their ordinary employees into great brand advocates. Still, those companies with an excellent organizational culture have the power to do this. Those companies that recognize the efforts of their employees and even celebrate team successes are more likely to note a change in how their employees work as they feel they have some accomplishments.”

• Decreased turnover

When they feel valued and respected at their organization, most employees are less likely to quit. For this reason, the brands must enhance a winning organizational culture that greatly supports their mission statement and core values (Hogan & Coote, 2014). If employees are happy, it means there will be less turnover. This, in turn, saves the company money and time in the hiring process. Companies that achieve great organizational culture must maintain and improve it.

• Top Performers

“Organizational culture creates a high-performance attitude that helps strengthen the work of the employees within that company, resulting in a positive employee experience overall. Most companies that promote community in their places of work are highly to retain their best employees who are best performers. On the other hand, people who are good at their job and know the value their skills hold most of the time quit hostile work environments where they feel unappreciated and undermined” (Hogan & Coote, 2014).

• Strong brand identity

According to Hogan and Coote (2014), “a company’s organizational culture is a representation of its public image and reputation. People often make assumptions about various businesses based on their interactions both outside and within the organization. If a company lacks organizational culture or has a weak image, customers hesitate to do business with anyone associated with that brand. Businesses with a strong brand identity tend to attract more business and candidates with the same values in support of their mission.”

• Effective onboarding

“Several businesses with an organizational culture rely on effective onboarding practices to train new employees. Some onboarding practices include training, orientation, and performance management programs that assist the new employees in getting the right resources and better transitioning into their various duties” (Hogan & Coote, 2014). This in turn promotes the loyalty and longevity of the employees as it reduces their frustrations when they lack specific information needed to do their work. Therefore, onboarding is an excellent means that companies to make sure new hires understand the central values of their business.

Conclusion

Knowing how to communicate is vital in improving organizational culture. Miscommunication is the primary reason people quit their jobs because of dissatisfaction and start looking for other opportunities. As a leader in an organization, one needs to ensure this does not happen. “Trust in an organization is vital in linking the organization and the employees. Therefore, ethical leadership promotes trust in the organization, promoting justice perception.” If in a leadership position, provide the employees with a platform that makes it simple for them to express their feelings. This way, the organization can improve or even change its culture.

References

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge.

Chang, C. L. H., & Lin, T. C. (2015). The role of organizational culture in the knowledge management process. Journal of Knowledge management.

Dasborough, M. T., & Scandura, T. (2022). Leading Through the Crisis: “Hands Off” or “Hands-On”? Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 29(2), 219-223.

Goleman, D. (2017). Leadership that gets results. In Leadership Perspectives (pp. 85-96). Routledge.

Hogan, S. J., & Coote, L. V. (2014). Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A test of Schein’s model. Journal of business research, 67(8), 1609-1621.

Lock, D. (2020). Organization structures. In The Practitioner Handbook of Project Controls (pp. 49-53). Routledge.

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.

Tsai, Y. (2011). Relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job satisfaction. BMC health services research, 11(1), 1-9.

Xu, A. J., Loi, R., & Ngo, H. Y. (2016). Ethical leadership behavior and employee justice perceptions: The mediating role of trust in organization. Journal of Business Ethics, 134(3), 493-504.

Zeyada, M. (2018). Organizational culture and its impact on organizational citizenship behavior. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(3), 418-429.