What is Organizational Culture?
Discuss about the Organizational Culture for Journal of Management in Engineering.
Organizational culture can be described as the beliefs, assumptions and values that exist in an organization which contributes to the psychological environment of an organization. It includes the experiences, philosophy and expectations of the top management that is passed down to the junior management. These passed down components tends to guide the behavior of the different members who are present in the given organization. The given behaviour is often reflected by the image of the self, inner workings, interactions with the outside world and the future expectations of the firm. These rules have developed over time and are considered valid among the different team members.
The norms of the organization which comprises of its vision, mission and objectives are also considered to be a part of the organizational culture. It represents the assumptions and habits of the key founders.
The given definitions state down the different definitions of organizational culture and basically stresses upon the way things are carried out in the workplace, other definitions may also constitute of the employee behavioral components and the influence of culture.
The organizational culture is communicated to the different employees by the leaders of the organization. Leadership guidance is necessary to inculcate culture in an organization. Very often culture and organizational behavior were considered to be essential components of one another, which stressed upon the fact that organizational culture is an essential factor for the success of an organization.
Organizational culture was taken to be an essential component of the success of an organization and a deep relationship was found to exist between the culture of an organization and the behaviour of the firm. It is belied that the kind of culture that exists in an organization tends to have a huge impact on the behavior of the different members. This is because it is stated that the behavior of the members of an organization is greatly influenced by the behaviour of the senior management and the concepts that they pass down. The higher authorities are bestowed with the responsibility of encouraging the behavior of the employees. Given are certain ways in which organizational culture and organizational behavior tend to have an effect on one another.
The social focus or the task focus conflict often exists whereby a company has to decide whether they are required to improve relationships or finished the tasks assigned. Another conflicts exists whereby the organization follows the task view of the team view. The third conflict relates to whether the company needs to cost control or to satisfy the customers. It is also a determinant of the power distance relationship between the organization. It is reflected by how a CEO carries himself out or not.
Impact of Organizational Culture on Organizational Behavior
Given above are some of the ways in which organizational culture and organizational behavior tend to have an impact on one another. The two tend to have a huge impact on one another and form a cycle in between.
There are various benefits of a strong corporate culture which range from logical impacts to social science impacts. The organizational culture is considered to be a relevant aspect of an organization as it accounts for performance among the various departments. In order to understand culture in a better manner, it is suggested that the organization recognizes the six important artifacts of an organizational culture in order to realize how to manifest a culture which supports the goals and objectives of the given organization.
The six major artifacts or components of an organization culture have been stated as follows:
The vision is often known as the base of an organizational culture and it is often believed that a good culture in an organization often begins from the vision or mission statement of the firm. This is because the vision provides the organization with its purpose and defines the future path. This purpose and goal forms the binding base for the firm which becomes an essential determinant of every decision that an organization makes or takes. When the vision of the organization is an honest one then, the employees take their work seriously and work accordingly. It defines their relationship with various parties like suppliers and other stakeholders as well.
The value of a firm is a major determinant of the organizational culture and tends to form the core of it.
Values tend to serve as a guideline which goes a long way in helping the organization to achieve the vision which has been stated earlier. For example, the McKinsey Company has formed a predefined set of values which is communicated regularly to all the employees. It tends to set a guideline for the ways a client will be served and how the colleagues will be treated.
Values take little importance if they are not involved in the actual practices of the company. The company should not just speak good things about the organization but also put this vision to real actions. If the organization speaks of giving power of the employees then it needs to have a flat organizational structure than a flexible one where the employees have the power to make decisions by themselves.
If the people of the organization do not have a proper culture infested then all the talks regarding the culture of the organization will go for a waste. Proper employees need to be recruited who will utilize their talent for the well being of the firm. The culture of the organization and the people who work for the firm often go hand in hand with one another.
Key Components of Organizational Culture
The history of the given organization also goes a long way in deciding upon the values and cultures of the organization. The organization should have the capability to convert this history into narrative and celebrate the success of the organization. When the organization is throwing light on the past and learns for it then it can create a better future for itself.
The place of the activities tends to place the culture in a huge way. An open architecture like that of office behaviors and collaboration is more open to ideas. The local atmosphere f the particular place affects the organization as well.
Although it is stated that Organizational culture is often embedded in an organization, it cannot be denied that organizational culture can be manifested as well and improved within the realm of the organization. Given below are certain ways in which organizational cultures can be improved in the given organization
Transparency is considered to be the key to success. The impact of an organizational culture which is transparent tends to have an impact on the whole organization. Transparency can be referred to as ensuring that the goals and objectives along with the internal functioning of the company is clearly reported to and discussed with the various stakeholders of the organization. This shall ensure that the employees are able to build trust within the working of the system. When the trust factor is strong in an organization, the members contribute highly to the culture of the organization.
When the communication tools of an organization are outdated then it tends to form a barrier in front of the spread of organizational culture in an organization. It also tends to act as a barrier in front of the transparency factor. If the given teams are well connected with one another, it ensures that the organization stays connect and can easily share the culture and similar aspects with one another. Various options like Skype, Hangouts, mails and chats are certain components which help the organization to maintain communication in an effective manner.
If the employees ten to perform well in an organization then it become easy for the organization to ensure that it is being able to perform successfully. In this manner, the various members of an organization feel motivated and they tend to believe that they are one with the given organization. The rich culture aspects which is developed because of this also goes a long way in reducing the turnover rates which in fact is good for the overall performance of the organization as well. The first step in the given view relates to the activity of observing the behavior of the different members in an organization and rewarding those behaviors which promote the culture of the firm.
Improving Organizational Culture
The peer recognition helps in reducing the managerial overhead which is required in order to ensure that the people are recognized for the different activities that they tend to conduct.
The last step which is suggested states that it becomes important for an organization to see to it that relationships between different members in an organization are strong enough. Strong workplace relationships are known to reflect powerful motivational factors which in turn tend to have a positive impact on improving the productivity in an organization. There are various tolls available which can go a long way in helping the firm to develop strong workplace relationships which in turn helps in boosting the culture of the firm.
The environment in a new organization is very varied and it goes a long way in determining the manner in which the new employees tend to feel when they first join the organization. However, it is known by all that interaction, socialization and building long term relationships plays a key role in an organization as it ensures that the company is easily able to contribute to the long term welfare of the organization. Organizational socialization can be described as a process in which the organization`s new members get converted to a part of the given organization from there mere position as an outsider to the firm. Given below are four stages through which every organizational employee goes through in order to socialize.
In the pre-arrival stage, the organizational members tend to do a kind of research on the organization and find out about the employees who actually work thee in order to figure out the ways in which the people have in the organization also observe the norms of the firm. I this stage the employees get a hint of what they will experience in future.
The stage two is the anticipatory stage whereby the employees start learning about the organization. This is generally known as an introductory phase and takes place before the employee joins the organization. Practicality in this stage extends to the degree to which the new employee holds certain expectations of the role as well as the organization. There needs to take place congruence between the new member’s ability and the demands that are placed by the organization.
The third stage determines the encounter stage where the employee starts learning about their job role and starts to formulate wok place relationships. In the stage the different job role of the different people are clarified and the organization is able to start interacting clearly with the employees. Very often it happens that the assumptions formed by the organization tend to get clashed with the encounter which actually takes place in the given step.
The last stage is the change and acquisition stage where the newcomers start feeling like home in the given organization and start to meet the demands placed by their job. The timeframe allotted to the given stage varies from different employees and to different workplace cultures. The stage only gets complete when the organizational newcomer actually gets converted to an organizational insider. Motivation, reward and recognition and leadership play a major role in this component.
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