Executive Summary
This essay explains what an organizational culture is and how it impacts an organization. It begins with an introduction of what an organizational culture is and provides an overview of an organizational culture. This is followed by the definition of organizational culture and an explanation of what is a weak and strong culture.
The essay also discusses a cohesive organizational culture and its benefits to an organization. This is followed by the practices which enhance cohesive organizational culture in an organization. The paper further elaborates on the values and practices that are required in BSG and gives an insight of organizational culture, that is, its origin and how it can be maintained.
Before the conclusion, the essay describes the changes that are required in BSG and how they can be implemented and it ends by recommendations on how the changes can be effected which include formation of a committee to review the companies culture.
Introduction
Purpose of the report
Organizational culture is a core principles that integrates an organization together, holds and motivates the employees to enhance their performance and to enable them develop some sense of commitment to the organization. Organizational culture plays several critical roles in bettering the performance and efficiency in an organization. Despite this however, there is no clear way of measuring organizational culture. This essay seeks to explore various types of culture and its utility in an organization.
Scope of the report
Studies of organizational culture in various organizations have been carried out. Organizational culture has the ability to influence performance and efficiency and it is analyzed in relation to the aspects like innovation and creativity, productivity and quality and information transfer.
The report will analyze all aspects of organizational culture, its origin and its definition. It will also discuss one type of organizational culture and that is strong and weak culture. The report will also discuss organizational culture with respect to a case study which is BSG Company.
Culture
Definition of Organization Culture
Culture has its foundation in anthropology and it is defined as a set of beliefs, morals, law and customs. There are various definitions of organizational culture; it can be understood in the form of organizational work practices, values, assumption and artifacts as well as in the form of norms, values and practices.
Values stand for what the employees believe in, norms represent shared beliefs on how people should behave in an organization and practices are the informal or the formal job routines used in finishing tasks in an organization. Organizational culture is anchored in the way that people act in an organization, what they expect form one another and how they make use of each other.
Organizational culture has a variety of perspectives: “process versus results, employee versus job oriented, parochial versus professional and open versus closed system” (Khan, Usoro & Majewski 2010, p. 63). Consequently, organizational culture is categorized into four orientations: goals, support, rules, innovation and inventions (Khan, Usoro & Majewski 2010, p. 63). Organizational culture is rooted in values and beliefs that are shared by the personnel in an organization.
Origin of organizational culture: How is it developed and maintained
Organizational culture is derived from the collective rules of the organization. The rules are the shared behaviors, values and norms and they define how individuals operate and relate in an organization. Organizational cultures are derived from the organization’s vision statement, mission statements and the statement of values which are only formalized to form the organization’s culture.
Organizational culture can be actualized through observable set of behaviors like how the employees conduct themselves when they carry out their daily duties (Khan, Usoro & Majewski 2010, p. 63). Accessibility of the management by the employees also forms part of organizational culture.
To develop and sustain organizational culture, employees should be comfortable with the behaviors and the norms of the organization and the behaviors of the employees should be consistent with the covert values of the organization. Organization managers always set the motion of core values that should be adopted by the organizational members.
The beginning of organizational culture starts from the hiring process; at this stage, the managers enhance the organizational culture by recruiting people who share similar values and vision that the organization believes in. This is achieved when the employers take time with prospective employees before they are hired.
And when they are hired they will take little time to be indoctrinated with the organization’s values and they will develop an objective view of the organization (Widde & Muijen, 2000, p. 49).
Organization’s culture can be developed and maintained when managers develop a firm understanding of the dynamics of organizational culture and the ways of transforming it. This can be achieved through managers telling story with corporate symbols and also using symbolic language when mentioning the organization’s mission. They can also sponsor events and mentorship programs.
Functions of organization culture
The main function of organizational culture is internal integration and coordination. Other functions of organizational culture are to provide direction to the organization and to glue the organization together.
Various organizations are changing any unfavorable culture in their efforts to boost their performance and competitiveness and their employee attitude and work (Khan, Usoro & Majewski, 2010, p. 62).
The prominent instrument for measuring organization culture was devised by Robert Cooke and it is referred as Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI); it measures various behavioral norms which include constructive, defensive and offensive cluster among others.
Strong and Weak Culture
All organizations have cultures; some have stronger and deeply rooted cultures than others. The culture of an organization can be considered as to whether it is strong or weak based on the commonality of the principal values among and within the organizational members and the degree with which the members are committed to these values and the higher the commonality and commitment, then the stronger the organizational culture since it enhances the consistency of members behavior.
A weak culture on the other hand is the one that exposes avenues for each of the members which demonstrates unique concerns and it is witnessed by limited degree of commitment by the organization’s members. Consequently, organizational culture is said to be strong when the employees are quick to respond to the job stimuli due to their association to it; it is said to be weak when there is little association and a limited control is exercised by the managers (Serrat, 2009, p. 1).
Inherently, an organization is said to have strong culture when its beliefs, norms, values and assumptions are coherent and can be embraced by all members of the organization which is determined by the degree of consistency of the beliefs, values and assumptions. It is argued that strong culture fosters commitment, identity and solidarity which are critical for the integration in the organization.
Cohesive Organizational Culture
Cohesive organizational culture is that kind of culture where the employees have strong sense of team work and also characterized by harmony of values. Achieving a cohesive culture is a difficult task due to diversity of individual values. In a cohesive organizational culture, a common culture exists and cuts across the organization wide and there is a high level of agreement among the members of the organization, as opposed to fragmented culture where there exists many cultural ideal in one organization.
Benefits of Strong Cohesive Culture
Cohesive organizational culture facilitates the creation of shared goals by all members of the organization. Consequently, it is instrumental for the effective adaptation to the ever-changing global environment (Pisapia, 2009, p.167). For a firm to function effectively it must have a cohesive organizational culture. Cohesiveness leads to strong organizational performance and fitness.
Practices needed to Support Cohesive Culture
Several practices are required to implement a cohesive culture, these are: the leadership of an organization like BSG should communicate the vision and the strategic plan of the company, there should be clarity and consistency in internal communication, team work should be nurtured and fostered (Lowendahl, 2005, p. 68).
Case Study
Current Values and Practices required in BSG.
It is argued that values typically influence and more so affect work practices. In an organization values can be derived from the already existing practices within the organization, this can include the free sharing of knowledge and information. BSG requires both terminal and instrumental values.
Among the values that need to be implemented by BSG are: participation by the management, team work, creativity, rewarding (Khan, 2005, p. 5). The practices that are required by the BSG are better condition of working environment, development of a promotion plan, promotion of team work, developing consistency of goals, values and norms and better pay for their workers.
Changes that should be implemented in BSG
BSG Company should develop a positive and an aligned culture that will develop the organization; they should also desist from hiring people who do not share similar values and norms of the organization. The organization should also create a culture that can encourage the employees to focus more attention on their work.
The employees should also be allowed to participate in all stages of decision making since every individual or employee has something to contribute (Khan, 2005, p. 5). The work environment should be favorable to allow the employees to enjoy and appreciate the value of their work. This can be achieved through effective communication channels where the employees should be informed of the expectations that the company has for them and this expectations should be backed by the words and deeds of the managers.
BSG should promote internal integration. This is due to the fact that in the BSG there is lack of team work (Khan, 2005, p. 5). Team work is an important component of an organization and is credited with the other bad practices of BSG like low job satisfaction, lack of cohesion, internal communications and limited commitment and decrease in turnover.
BSG should ensure that there is consistency of culture with clear goal, strategies, vision and mission. The company must have strategic planning and identification that is important for cultural requisites.
Leadership and Motivation in relation to Organizational Culture in BSG
Organizational leadership is fundamental in the implementation of the organizational culture. This is because the management or the leadership is entrusted with the responsibility of originating, creating and promoting organizational culture. The strength and influence of organizational culture is credited to the management. The leadership has the role of ensuring that organizational culture is implemented for the current and the future success (Schein, 2010, p. 68).
Leadership is considered the creation, management and both destruction and reconstruction of organization’s culture. Leaders create and manage culture. Leadership should also be able to assess whether the culture is performing and when there is need to change. The leadership should initiate a reward scheme to enhance productivity and the performance of the employees (Khan, Rehman, Ijaz-Ur-Rehman, Safwan and Ahmad 2010, p. 952). A reward scheme will motivate the employees of BSG.
Relationship between Organizational Culture and Organization Innovation, Performance, Efficiency, Job satisfaction, Organizational commitment and Human Resource Management in BSG
Organization culture encompasses the sharing of information and knowledge among all members of the organization and it should be free: “Innovation is the introduction and the implementation of new ideas that will be of positive benefit to the organization and the organization’s members” (Khan, Usoro & Majewski, 2010, p. 65).
Innovation is a critical organization culture that is useful in diverse ways like orientation improvement and improvement of performance since employees have to perform well by introducing ideas that can better performance. Innovation is significant in the sense that it enhances openness to criticisms and the sharing of knowledge and information. This support can be in terms of counseling, financial assistance and training.
With regards to job satisfaction, coordination which is an important element of organization culture is significant as it can enable its achievement. Job satisfaction can be achieved through team work and when employees are motivated by the management and when they are made to feel part and parcel of organization’s decision making process.
Organization culture enhances performance through their support strategy. A good and strong organizational culture enhances employees’ performance through human resources orientation which demonstrates concern for the employees’ trust and the need to attend to employee’s needs and objectives and to support them (Khan, Usoro & Majewski, 2010, p. 65). This support has the capacity to increase employees’ turnover from the organizational climate.
Organizational Change and Organizational Culture
Traditionally, organizational culture was considered a means to enhance internal integration, coordination and facilitating any adaptation to the immediate environment. This original perspective is contrary to the capability of the organization to adapt to change. Since organizational culture is fundamental in organizational rejuvenation, there is need for fresh and new ideas that are required for organizational change.
Organizational change also requires a unique and more pronounced perspective of organizational culture. It has been observed that in modern organizations, inevitable changes, diversity in internal workforce are key features that require dynamic organizational culture that is friendly (Khan, Usoro & Majewski, 2010, p. 65). Change is required in order for the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization to be achieved. A good organizational culture is one that promotes stability and that which provides change and adaptability.
Organizational culture is maintained when an organization has strong leadership that is able to promote the organizational culture and who may e in position to change it when if fails to contribute to the success of the organization (Martin, 2002, p. 127). For BSG Company to experience change, the management trainees should be taken through all the values and the practices of the company. The management should re-orient the existing staff and they should restructure the organization’s culture.
Other changes that should be implemented are: the unfreezing of the old culture and creating motivation to change (Cameron & Quinn, 2011, p. 84), the company should also capitalize on the propitious moments being experienced by the company to rejuvenate themselves by making the target to change first priority.
Recommendation on how the Changes should be implemented or managed
The changes in BSG should be implemented through formation of a committee that will interview the workers, conduct a survey, and get to hear their grievance and to forward their recommendations to the board. This will enable the board to have an insight of what is affecting the employees.
Consequently, the organizational culture needs to be restructured and the employees should be inculcated and reoriented into understanding and associating with the culture (Khan et al., 2010, p. 954). The restructuring of the management system also requires being undertaken since the management appears to be weak to execute and to implement organizational culture.
The core values of the organization should also be laid bare since they are instrumental in stimulating development and productivity. Furthermore the company should take the opportunity presented by the hard times to identify, modify and develop relevant form of norms, behaviors and practices.
Conclusion
Organizational culture, from the discussion is a fundamental feature in every company. It is a critical aspect that can propel an organization into achieving its objectives.
Since every organization or a business firm needs to be ahead of its competitors, organizational culture which enhances employees’ satisfaction, motivation and boosts their morale, since organizational culture facilitates the realization of better performance and enhances efficiency, then it is imperative for every company to have a culture that can define its direction and which can hold the organization together.
References
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