Organizational culture and shared beliefs
Discuss about the Principles of Organizational Culture Strategy.
This is a set of shared behavior, beliefs, patterns, work practices and values among employees across an organization. The shared behavior is in response to situations within the organization for instance how employees react to various stakeholders visiting the organization (Thomas, Katzenbach & Oelschlegel, 2016).
Shared beliefs, on the other hand, are acquired over time and form the basis of how workers view their immediate and external work environment. For instance, workers may have a positive belief that hardworking is a sine qua non for success or a negative one that to get promotion in a workplace, one must bring their workmates down (Conrad & Newberry, 2011).
Work practices and patterns go hand-in-hand. They are mostly guided mostly by the managers or leaders. They include how meetings are held. When they are held and how reports are done in within the organization or how clients are recruited outside the organization (Deutsch, 2016).
Organizational values are set of rules and guidelines that are only unique to that organization. They are critical towards achieving organizational objectives. An organization may have core values such as respect, rapid response, teamwork among other values as a prerequisite to meeting a particular objective say healthcare provision to its clients (Thomas, Katzenbach & Oelschlegel, 2016).
Tuckman’s theory depicts that groups that have cohesiveness outperform those that have no cohesion. However, he observed that groups and teams do not develop right away in one fell swoop but take five developmental stages. These stages are; the forming stage, the storming stage, the norming stage, the performing stage, and eventually the adjourning stage (Bagley, 2013).
In the forming stage, members of a group aiming to achieve certain objective gather. It is earmarked by suspicion among the members. Consequently, the interaction between the members is low. Similarly, as members familiarize with each other there are few tensions within the group and few conflicts (Ezquerro, 2010).
In the storming stage, members have sized each other up and want to define their role within the group. For this reason, there are high tensions within the group and high level of conflicts. At this stage, some members may choose to remain or flee the group (Bagley, 2013)
In the norming stage, the members have become accustomed to one another. This is where the group members become more organized. The communication lines between the members also open and there is a conceivable level of trust. This is the stage where members begin to define the rules of the group, the role of each member and the objectives of the group (Levi, 2017).
Tuckman’s theory of group development
Performing stage is where the members begin to execute their goals and objectives. It is noteworthy to mention that that performing stage is not instantaneous rather a process that takes a long time to execute (Bagley, 2013).
The final stage is adjourning. In this stage, planning may be involved or not. However, the group has achieved its goals and objectives and has to, therefore, come to dissolution. It may be stressing to some group members seeing as what they have accomplished is finally coming to an end (Levi, 2017).
According to Bagley (2013), group cohesiveness is the ability of group members to stick close to another in order to achieve the group goals and objectives. It is necessary for members to be attracted to each other because failure to this leads to exclusion of some members who may be critical in achieving the mentioned objectives.
Group cohesiveness is affected by four factors namely environmental factors such as the benefits to be achieved by members or their eligibility in the group. Personal factors also affect group cohesion and include one’s preferences and gender roles. The leadership factors may also affect group cohesiveness and include aspects such as the ability to influence members and ability to communicate across the group. Finally, team factors include the ability of the members to have group work traits and work together (Ezquerro, 2010).
This is the exchange of ideas and messages between the people working within an organisation and outside the organization. There are three forms of organizational communication. These are internal organization communication, external organization communication and personal communication (Conrad & Newberry, 2011).
Internal organization communication involves passing of messages within the organization in the form of memos, reports, emails, and meetings to make business decisions for the firm. External organization communication, on the other hand, involves passing of messages and communication with stakeholders outside the organization, for instance, the shareholders, government authorities, and the regulators. Finally, personal communication is usually informal and may occur within or outside the firm. It is usually not linked to business agenda for the firm (Thomas, Katzenbach & Oelschlegel, 2016).
This is the process by which organizations identify, screen and give a job offer to candidates who meet the qualifications, skills, knowledge, and abilities that match the requirements of the organization. Recruitment involves seeking the job opportunity and the company to the candidate while interviewing allows the candidates to sell themselves to the company (Deutsch, 2016).
Forms of organizational communication
Technology is the application of scientific knowledge, procedures, and processes to solve problems. It must be noted, however, that technology and science are two different disciplines that work together achieve specific or defined duties or to solve daily problems (Emma, 2018).
There are various forms of technology that include business technology, information technology, medical technologies, agricultural technology, biotechnology, transport technology and construction technology among many other forms of technology in just about every field of human endeavor (Gleeson, 2018).
Technology has been utilized by many businesses to acquire a sustainable competitive advantage. This has been made possible by enabling the production of new products, customizing client requirements, reducing the cost of production hence creating affordable products, reaching customers quickly among other processes that enable a business to stand out (Satell, 2013).
It has also increased the production of goods and services. For this reason, businesses can be able to enjoy economies of scale. Moreover, mass production has enabled businesses to be reliable in meeting consumer demands (Ramey, 2013).
Technology has also facilitated innovation. The use of information technology has enabled the gathering of consumer intelligence that enabled small businesses to anticipate consumer needs thus propelling the creation of new products and services to meet those needs (Emma, 2018).
Technology has simplified decision making in organizations by enabling faster communication. Decision makers can hold video conferences and agree on the way forward from different locations or make phone calls, email each other or just chat (Ramey, 2013).
Technology has enabled firms to pursue globalization strategy. Many multinational companies are using online platforms to sell products to clients across the world. An example is eBay which uses e-commerce to sell products to millions of customers across the world (Satell, 2013).
Internationally, technology has enabled firms to save money and space. Savings on money have been realized through communication technology instead of traveling. This is because Information technology has enabled storage of data in soft-copy thus saving storage space used before to store hardcopy files and archived papers (Ramey, 2013).
Not all technology has been beneficial to businesses. Technology has also led to some adverse effects. To being with, growth in ICT technology has enabled fraudsters to swindle businesses of their money. Cases of hacking and data manipulation have become all so common (Gleeson, 2018).
Technology has led to the loss of businesses. The advent of mobile phones, for instance, led to the demise of many wire telecommunication companies especially ones that did not adopt the new technology (Ramey, 2013).
The impact of technology on businesses
Moreover, technology has led to increased espionage activities. This means that companies are finding it difficult to keep secrets from competitors. Moreover use of assembly line technology has met with many cases of employee unrest due to fear of losing jobs (Satell, 2013).
Finally, use of ICT has led to increased cases of ergonomic disorders such as hearing loss, loss of sight, and pollution-related diseases which have led to numerous legal suits preferred against many businesses (Emma, 2018).
According to Carlson (2008), stress is a psychological body response towards adverse conditions in the external environment. It results in the constant production of adrenaline hormone also called the fight or flight hormone. This can be helpful when faced with an adversity as it prepares the body for a reaction. However, chronic exposure to stress leads to numerous body disorders.
Stress at the workplace can result from an increase in the amount of work assigned to an individual. In retrospect, it may also be as a result of a reduction in the work given to someone leading to unutilized skills. This may be construed as a sign of impending layoffs (Segal, Smith & Robinson, 2018).
It can also result from bullying at the workplace. In addition to that stress may be as a result of poor working conditions, for example working in high-temperature or high-pressure areas (Carlson, 2008)
Moreover, Segal, Smith, and Robinson (2018), agree that stress can be as a result of lack of support from work colleagues and management. Likewise, it may result from weak management leading the employee to lose directional focus when working. In addition, stress may be as a result of an environment where blame culture permeates and where no-one takes responsibility in case of any wrongdoing. Other causes of stress include difficulty in fitting to a new role in case of promotion or demotion, constant fear of imminent layoff, the pressure to execute a job that an employee is unskilled in among other causes.
Stress can lead to musculoskeletal damage as a result of muscle wasting. It may also lead to cardiac disorders such as irregular heartbeat and hypertension. It may also lead to respiratory disorders such as shallow breaths and endocrinal diseases (Carlson, 2008).
Carlson (2008) observes that stress can be managed by consulting work colleagues who can help in some duties. It is also prudent to organize one’s activities so as to schedule work appropriately. Furthermore, stress can be managed by engaging family members, regular exercising and building relationships at work.
References
Bagley, D. (2013). Group Cohesion and Leadership Theories. Daniel Bagley. Retrieved 21 April 2018, from https://danielbagley.blogspot.co.ke
Carlson, J. (2008). The Management of Stress Management: A decade of the journal. International Journal of Stress Management, 14(4), 329-332.
Conrad, D., & Newberry, R. (2011). 24 Business Communication Skills: Attitudes of Human Resource Managers versus Business Educators. American Communication Journal, 13(1), 1-20.
Deutsch, M. (2016). 10 Critical Recruitment Process Steps |Top Echelon. Top Echelon. Retrieved 21 April 2018, from https://www.topechelon.com/blog/placement-process/10-critical-recruitment-process-steps/
Emma, L. (2018). What Is Business Technology?. Small Business Chron. Retrieved 21 April 2018, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/business-technology-2183.html
Ezquerro, A. (2010). Cohesion and Coherency in Group Analysis. Group Analysis, 43(4), 496-504.
Gleeson, P. (2018). How Does Technology Improve a Business?. Small Business Chron. Retrieved 21 April 2018, from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/technology-improve-business-2188.html
Levi, D. (2017). Group dynamics for teams (pp. 37-45). Los Angeles: Sage Publishers.
Ramey, K. (2013). What Is Technology – Meaning of Technology and Its Use. Use of Technology. Retrieved 21 April 2018, from https://www.useoftechnology.com/what-is-technology/
Satell, G. (2013). 4 Ways In Which Technology Is Transforming Business. Forbes Welcome. Retrieved 21 April 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2013/04/02/4-ways-in-which-technology-is-transforming-business/
Segal, J., Smith, M., & Robinson, L. (2018). Stress in the Workplace: Managing Job and Workplace Stress. Helpguide.org. Retrieved 21 April 2018, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/stress-in-the-workplace.htm
Thomas, J., Katzenbach, J., & Oelschlegel, C. (2016). 10 Principles of Organizational Culture.Strategy and Business. Retrieved 21 April 2018, from https://www.strategy-business.com/article/10-Principles-of-Organizational-Culture?gko=71d2f