Definition of workplace culture and its characteristics
Definition of workplace culture and its characteristics
Workplace culture defines the personality and character of an organization that makes it unique from others. Hofstede (1991) suggests that this encompasses values and behaviors that lead to a unique social and psychological environment that enables it to meet its needs. Employees are forced to develop a pattern of acceptable behavior that become the driving force of the business and the way of life of everybody. Parker (2000) offers seven characteristics of organizational culture that make it important to an organisation.
- Innovation
- Attention to detail
- Emphasis on outcome
- Emphasis on people
- Aggressiveness
- Rule orientation
- Teamwork
Workplace culture plays different functions in an organization. Schein (1992) suggests that it offer an opportunity for internal integration of individuals and groups within the system. Through use of language, group boundaries, distribution of power, development of friendship and system rewards employees are integrated into the system to meet the needs of the organization. For example, new employees esily fit if they are exposed to the culture.
A strong organizational culture leads to commitment to the mission and strategy of the organization. Since it is based on business needs workplace culture seeks to ensure that individuals understand the requirements of the company by defines how each indivdiula fits in the system. For example,when employees are aligned to the mission and strategy, there is increased output due to reduced turf wars and respect for established processes.
Organizational culture also represents predefined policies and standards that the business belives in. since culture is defined as a way of life, then it means that it defines the internal processes that regulate operations and relations of people (Adkins & Caldwell, 2004). Policies and standards are supposed to be followed y employees which is described as the business way of doing things. For example,Toyota company is descried y its culture called the Toyota way which defines the way operations are carried out.
Further, it builds brand image through defining how the organisation conducts itself, meets its customer needs and deals with employee issues. all these elements lead to a way of standing out among customers that is called branding (Taylor, 2010). Through an iron-clad partnership between leadership, marketing and human resource a workplace culture is developed which shapes the rand that is released. Organizations like FedEx have managed to achieve brand image because there is a thin line between customers and the organization.
Workplace culture builds emotional attachment to the organization thus reducing turnover and increasing production. Satisfied employees do not think of leaving the company since they are emotionally attached and motivated to work (Denison, Haaland, & Goelzer, 2004). Companies that welcome new employees well and allow them to integrate enjoy reduced turn over and increased performance. This is because employees feel accommodated and part of the system. Such individuals settle down quickly since the workplace culture defines the way relationships are established and a clearr cut connection between the individual and business process. The Japanese leadership culture focuses on long-term employee commitment that is more accommodative as compared to the US-based systems.
Despite the known benefits of workplace culture, it leads to development of behavior patterns which form the hard mentality attitude that may hinder innovativeness. Thus any changes in the culture may lead to negativity influences on the institutional culture thus affecting performance (Martin & Frost, 2012). Organizations established on rigid structures have challenges in developing new strategies since the institutionalized norms are hard to change. For example, in the case of organizational change, management faces resistance due to the need to maintain status quo.
Five functions of workplace culture-example
Further, Serpa (2016) argues that ssubcultures in the organization that arise from lack of interaction between different employees may hinder synergies. The plurality of such cultures leads to conflicting values that make it difficult to manage such employees and at the same time reduces organizational effectiveness. For example, companies that have different sub units may be characterized by different ways of doing work like what was witnessed in Toyota between the mother ranch and the US branch which were defined by different cultural environments.
Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner (1997), developed a model that established seven dimensions of organizational culture with five orientations covering ways to deal with each other, one which deals with time and one that deals with the environment.
Universalism is the belief that all ideas applied need to be applicable everywhere without modification while particularism is based on the belief that circumstances dictate how ideas and practices should be applied (Sergiu & Ovidia, 2013). This differentiates relationships from rules to define business processes. For example, Universalists see reality as subjective by placing more emphasis relationships while particularism is based on rationalism and professionalism.
Individualism is a state where people regard themselves more than the group and cherish freedom and initiative where they can make their own decisions and carry responsibility for the outcome. On the other hand, communitarianism is a state where people regard themselves as part of the group thus reaping benefits like safety and help when needed (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfmann, & Gupta, 2004). In management contexts praise and reward is used in individual contexts by giving them autonomy to develop personal initiatives through creativity such is common in the US, Israel, Romania and Canada. Communitarianism focuses on group performance by allowing room for collective decision making. Such cultures are seen in countries like Egypt, Mexico and India.
Specific cultures allow large public space for sharing with others while small space is only shared with close people while diffuse environments have private space guarded by the individual. This approach looks at how individuals within a group protect and safeguard their personal and public lives (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 2004). An example, is seen in the way people change their status based on the circumstances that they find themselves in. Since people personal and professional lives overlap thus creating different cultures in people.
Neutral cultures hold people’s emotions in check by use of reason rather than personal sentiments and feelings of others. Thus people manage their emotions by watching and interpreting the reaction of others. On the other hand, emotional cultures allow spontaneous expression of feelings and allow them to influence and control their decisions (Black, 2003). In this scenario emotions determine the nature of communication and are the basis of decision making. For example, emotional individuals are animated and boisterous while emotional situations call for the use of feelings.
Achievement cultures focus on individual effort and performance thus gaining social and professional status from personal accomplishments. This status requires to be proven every time and then since the threshold keeps on changing. On the other hand, ascription status is derived from elements like age, gender, wealth or birth. Such situations call for use titles to view people and show respect to forms of authority. Achieved status can be characterized in academic achievements and personal efforts that have made people prosper while ascribed status is based on natural situations that make lead people to such status like the royal family and gender.
Instances where strong cultures are disadvantageous
A sequential time culture is based on events that happen in a chronological order. This process allows assigning of different importance to events based on the past, the present and the future. The order of events shapes decision making thus such cultures value punctuality, planning and scheduling of tasks (Luthans & Doh Jonathan, 2012). This culture is evident in countries like Germany, the UK and USA which forms the key to business relationships. On the other hand, synchronous cultures believe in relations between different time periods and characteristics that interwove them. The key to meeting objectives in such cultures is defined by punctuality and meeting of deadlines.
Internal direction focuses on controlling the internal environment where nature is regarded as a complex mechanism controlled by experience and expertise. Skills and knowledge are used to possess power that dominates nature. The way people approach issues in life and work within the organization should be defined by established standards and procedures (O’Donovan, 2006). Such systems exist in hierarchical organizations where there is an established chain of command and procedure for carrying out tasks. Outer-directed cultures are based on living in harmony between people and the environment through adapting to external environments with others to achieve goals.
Organizational culture can be influenced in several ways by Sam. One way through which Sam can achieve this is through proper leadership through leading by example, Valentino (2004) suggests that through leader followership, organizational culture can be developed since members see the leader as a role model and will emulate organizational characteristics that form a new culture. Since cultures are built and change over time,the role of management is to develop required cultural traits that define what the organization needs. For example,Samsung culture was established on leaderhip style that way adopted y the founder and still exists today.
Training and development is another organizational area that businesses can use to solve existing problems and develop a new organizational culture. This focuses on key areas that determine the challenges bing faced by the company (Trevino & Nelson, 1999). In the case of Sam these areas are customer focus, employee collaboration and business culture as areas that need training. This strategy empowers employees with required skills to develop organizational competitiveness.
Aligning employees with organizational goals as a strategic approach of meeting business objectives. In the modern business environment, there is a strong connection between the business strategy and employee performance thus the need to align employees with the business strategy. This enures collaboration between different areas in the business and focusing on the result which is benefiting the customer (Yang, 2007). Customer oriented organizations align their employees with the business strategy through strategic management approaches. For example,Sam needs to ensure that all departments are linked to the needs of the business.
Lastly, behavior modeling can be used to shape the culture of an organization through developing the required behavioral characteristics. This strategy ensures that employees develop uniform behavior in the business environment based on relationships between each other and also the outside (Perra, 2001). For example, communication strategies can be used to model employee behavior through establishing desired behavior outcomes.
Key dimensions of organizational culture
Commitment is one cultural value that is required in every organization. It is defined as state of dedication to a cause or activity. In a business environment, employees have to learn and master different aspects of culture that are required (Perra, 2001). This process calls for individual efforts to fit in the team and organizational processes. Socialization requires individuals to master the required norms and ensure that they develop the required competencies.
In addition to that professionalism is a value of organizational culture that requires every employee to observe. Despite the fact that employees need to align themselves to the cultural aspect of the organization, they need to observe the professional requirements that define how they approach situations (Black, 2003). Therefore, they have to balance between the dictates of their profession and the cultural traits that they seek to develop.
New employees need to be guided and assisted to settle down in the organization to improve their adjusting rate. One way of aligning such employees is through proper orientation and induction (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfmann, & Gupta, 2004). This process ensures that employees understand the requirements of the business and how individual expectations can be met. The process allows employees to understand business processes and perform their roles.
Training and development is also used to empower employees with the required skills that lead to development of key competencies. This process focuses in areas like job responsibilities, allocation and how to improve individual performance (Yang, 2007). Employees become empowered to understand their role and how their work relates to the overall organization.
Job shadowing and modeling is also used to ensure that new employees are aligned to the overall goal of the organization. Since older and informed employee understand business processes, they can coach, mentor and act as role models thus assisting the new employees to align with the organization.
References
Adkins, B., & Caldwell, D. (2004). Firm or subgroup culture: Where does fitting in matter most? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(3), 969-978.
Black, R. J. (2003). Organizational Culture: Creating the Influence Needed for Strategic Success. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Denison, D., Haaland, S., & Goelzer, P. (2004). Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness: Is Asia Different from the Rest of the World? Organizational Dynamics, 4(5), 98-109.
Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. McGraw-Hill Professional.
House, R. J., Hanges, P., Javidan, M., Dorfmann, P., & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, Leadership and Organiations: The Globe Study of 62 Nations. Oaks: Sage.
Luthans, F., & Doh Jonathan, P. (2012). International Management, Culture, Strategy and Behavior. Pennsylvania: McGraw Hill.
Martin, J., & Frost, P. (2012). The Organiationa Culture War Games: A Struggle of Intellectual Dominacce. Thousand Okas: Sage.
O’Donovan, G. (2006). The Corporate Culture Handbook: How to Plan, Implement and Measure a Successful Culture Change Programme. The Liffey Press.
Parker, M. (2000). Organizational Culture and Identity. London: Sage.
Perra, B. M. (2001). Leadership: The key to quality outcomes. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 15(1), 68-73.
Schein, E. H. (1992). Organizational Culture & Leadership (3rd ed.). San Francisco,: Jossey-Bass.
Schneider W., E. (1995). Productivity improvement through cultural focus. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 47(1), 3-27.
Sergiu, B., & Ovidia, L. (2013). The TRompenaars’ Seven-Dimension Cultural Model and Cultural Orientations of Romanian Students in Management. Proceedings of thE 7th International Management Conferenc, (pp. 95-107). Ucharest, Romania .
Serpa, S. (2016). An Overview of the Concept of Organiational Culture. International Business Management, 10(1), 51-61.
Taylor, B. (2010, September 27). Brand Is Culture, Culture Is Brand. Havard Business Review.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (1999). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Trompenaars, F., & Hampden-Turner, C. (1997). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing Limited.
Trompenaars, F., & Hampden-Turner, C. (2004). Managing People Across Cultures. Oxford: Capstone Publishing ltd.
Valentino, C. L. (2004). The role of middle managers in the transmission and integration of organizational culture. Journal of Healthcare Management, 49(6), 393-412.
Yang, J.-T. (2007). Knowledge sharing: Investigating appropriate leadership roles and collaborative culture. Tourism Management, 28, 530-543.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
