Organizational Subcultures - Research Paper Example

Organizational Subcultures Corporations show evidence of a massive amount of characteristics professed and interpreted by individuals, both internal and external to the organization, themselves. Because there are so a lot of organizations and so many connected characteristics, individuals frequently make simpler these perceptual and cognitive processes to shape images of institutions. Such images, whether based on concrete or intangible characteristics, have an effect on how people perform in regard to organizations. As such, they can have striking effects on the operation and success of corporations (Szumal, 2003). Organizational culture or specifically, the understanding of it has become increasingly important to many businesses and organizations in past 50 years. Many of these organizations have utilized it to benefit their businesses such as in the efficiency of the procedures, in training leaders, or in the radical sense, changing the direction of their company (Hitt, 2003, pp 133). Managers who adopt the traditional approaches to strategy are somewhat lacking in their understanding of the importance and extent of the power of culture as an integrating and unifying driver of action within organizations. In general, organizational culture is a culture on a smaller level which most often refers to a business, association, organization or simply a group. It is composed of the grass root values and beliefs of the people in the organization. Also, it extends to the symbols of the organization. The values stated in the definition may either be conscious or not and they may also be apparent or not to new members of the group. Such values range from loyalty to the company to the value of self-promotion. Moreover, they have the tendency to be strict compliance to rules and regulations or an encouragement of innovation (Smith 2002, pp 187). Why is it necessary for the culture to be studied? For one, it is important if one wishes to change the direction of the organization. It is important to remember that not all strong cultures in a group are good for the company. For example, if the company has a culture of very strict compliance to rules and regulations it may to a certain extent discourage innovation. Furthermore, this can also discourage interaction between members which looses the main purpose of the group (Kwantes 2007, pp. 217). There are always subdivisions even if it is an organization, an association, a company or even if it is a club. In the case of a charitable organization, there are administrators, fund raisers, field workers and office workers etc. There are separate subcultures in each of these divisions even if they all participate as a whole in the organizational culture and the goal of the charitable organization. For example, the administrators have a separate meeting to talk about management issues, while the field workers will have their separate meeting to report on how the distributed funds are being utilized (Szumal, 2003). In other words, although all the subdivisions share the organizational culture as a whole, they also share a separate commonality which is distinct to that particular sub group. All of these groups can have more or less arrangement. They may have leaders or proceed as a cooperative. Some may be pioneering and some may hold on strictly to the supposed values and rules of the mother organization (Smith 2002, pp 189). Organizational Subcultures Subgroups that have specific characteristics and a sense of identification compose organizations. Inside these organizations, members are able to categorize themselves and others as well into different social categories or groups founded on identification with their prime work group, occupational or professional skills, union membership, or age legion. Subcultures, which can be and are created by subgroups that encompass specific networks of meaning; yet, at the same time, they stay associated with the ideologies and values of the organization’s leadership (Szumal 2003). Taking for an example, the Department of Defense at a macro level, the culture that is attributed to them is comprised of the specific cultures of the different military services and the cops of civil servants given to each service agency. There is still greater cultural differentiation when one looks closer at each culture among occupational specialties, specific units inside the service, and also between the line and staff personnel. All of these subcultures, though specific in every subdivisions, they still adhere to the main ideology values and norms of the DOD. Interpersonal interaction within the subdivisions is needed in the formation and maintenance of culture as indicated by many studies focused on organizational culture. For instance, according to a study conducted by Louis (1983), newcomers benefit in learning the ropes of the job. The respondents to the survey shared that there are benefits of subgroup interaction to new members who are still copping up (Szumal, 2003). To summarize, the respondents said that there are three most important socialization aids that newcomers benefit from: (1)Interaction with peers, (2) Interaction with their supervisor, (3) Interaction with senior co-workers Newcomers see interaction with their peers as one of the most important factors which would help them in becoming effective employees. Having said that it can be said that interaction is valuable in the acculturation of these new members. Nevertheless, to get a grip on how cultures are shaped and transmitted we need to ask: "what is the content of interpersonal relations in work surroundings?" In a study conducted in 1984 by VanMaanan and Barley (1984), they were able to show that the content of the interaction is behavioral and cognitive in nature, this answering the question stated above. During early interactions with new members, the old ones are able to transmit to them those shared occupational practices which includes norms and roles, values, vocabularies and even identities, all of which are examples apparent social products that indicates culture in organizations. In a medium sized conglomerate in the United States that Meglino (1989, pp 226) was able to research on, findings showed that subcultures were discovered to form on the basis of functional domains. It can be seen in their biased knowledge of events in the company, in their preconceived notion of cause and effect relationships, and in their patterns of behavior. The company’s subdivisions consist of three subcultures, namely; electronics production, shop floor production, and product inspection. As seen by Meglino (1989, pp 229) in his study, each subgroup was influenced by the nature of its particular work. All three groupings evidently distinguished between "we" and "them". This difference was supported by the author’s observations of them. They dressed in a different way, and they worked in definitely dissimilar work spaces that were furnished another way. They took separate breaks during the day, and the tone in which they talked differ in its degree of coarseness. The electronics group conversed about "job security," "a small company," and "health and dental insurance." The shop floor production group chatted about "more work," "upgrade of assembly," and "being in control of the job." The subculture of the people in the shop floor production group was more inclined towards people, growth in the company, and lastly, strategy. On the other hand, inspection group focues on quality control or partnership between employees in doing their tasks. This should be placed on chapter regarding the culture metaphor where it discussed that understanding the relationship of culture and industrialization is particularly valuable. The paper shows that for organizations to be successful, it should also look at factors such as organizational culture and not entirely focus on the technicalities of business processes(Szumal, 2003). For this part of the paper, it is established that subcultures and organizational cultures as a whole has a very substantial effect in the success of the company. The Symbiosis Between the Organization's Overall Culture and Its Subcultures The study conducted by Kwantes (2007) offers substantial insights for leaders who are attempting to influence organizational culture in light of the probable sway of organizational subcultures. Leaders should be aware of that their cultural messages should purposely address cultural vagueness linked with subculture practices within the organization, and bound their efforts to get rid of distinctions that are vital to subculture's identities. To put it differently, leaders have a better possibility of making or transforming an organizational culture if they recognize and promote productive organizational subcultures and constantly communicate how employees must carry out their tasks in order for the organization to attain its objectives. Thus, it is up to the leader’s communication techniques to change the organizational culture. These techniques should be able to carry messages about ideologies, values and norms than can be thought of by all employees and members of the organization, company or simply a group (Smith 2002, pp 190). Leaders, however, have a variety of sophisticated cultural communication techniques at their disposal to link subcultures to overarching cultural objectives of their organizations. Cultural Forms as Linking Mechanisms According to Trice (1988), cultural forms works as a linking means wherein networks of understanding build up among employees. The leaders, through cultural forms are empowered to transmit messages about desirable culture to influence ways of thinking and behavior. It is also a means to address the emotional aspects of organizations that are most often rendered as cohesion or camaraderie (Williams, 1993, pp. 76-77). To put it differently, cultural forms, through the meanings they convey helps in sense-making and also aid in the sense-making procedure through the use of emotional reassurance that these forms offer that aids in members as they go through their coping mechanisms. Cultural forms offer a stable anchoring point, even if at the worst case scenario that they meaning they convey are vague and transmitted imperfectly. Moreover, these forms involve the expression of emotion which helps members cope with stress. In a more and more multicultural marketing context, the question of the compatibility of ethical values across cultural borders has achieved much in significance over the past decades. Given that increasing countries with fast economic development are being incorporated into world markets, culture needs to be studied as a multidimensional phenomenon that includes more than just nationality (Schminke, 1997). Even further attention has lately been paid to ethical issues in the multicultural marketing environment. Essentially, the cross-cultural perspective of value-compatibility has become important over the past years (Bergemann and Sourrisseaux, 1996 pp 1). Frequently enough, decision makers inside their own cultural boundaries do not know which the mainly ethical alternative is. The difficulty of choosing an ethical option is even aggravated, when the decision maker is faced with conflicting cultural values and ethical expectations (Ahmed, Chung, and Eichenseher, 2003, pp 89). PART B As of now, marketers are more and more faced with trade partners from cultures dissimilar from their own background (not only with reverence to nationality but also concerning political and specifically economic aspects, such as industrialization. In examination of the ongoing incorporation into world markets of countries with fast economic development – mainly in Asia and Eastern Europe – the call for to consider cultural facet in marketing ethics as well as the demand for a formation of culture that grips more than just the “nationality” dimension have considerably increased (William, 1993). Because of this, I would like to suggest the addition of the reading by Kwantes which focused on perception of organizational culture and compared it to 6 different countries. Because of this, he was able to show in which country does organizational culture was perceived to be strongest. The results of this research therefore provide important indications regarding schemas related to efficiency, together with evidence for some cultural disparities in those schemas. The contribution of this research, on the other hand, is the use of various levels of effectiveness. Research using objective measures of effectiveness has classically been done only at the organizational level, yet, for an organization to be effective, individual employees and leaders must also be effective. Applying to the video, the comparison of six different countries helped the viewer to point out that Ahmed came from the Arab countries and that hierarchy in the workplace is very important to him. Putting racism aside, it can be seen that Ahmed’s culture still has an effect on the way he runs his company and the way he treated her suppose to be partner. A basic argument to study the role of culture as a determinant of marketers’ ethical decision making is a consideration of the process of ethical decision making itself and its varied determinants. Such an understanding may be reached through a review of theoretical models of ethical decision making in marketing. In marketing ethics literature, a extraordinary number of models can be found which aspires at clearing up the process of attaining and executing a solution in ethically challenging exchange situations. Some of these models have been advanced and established passionately, but none of them has been marked as perfect (Malhotra and Miller 1998, pp. 266). The variety of descriptive models can be classified into: (a) sum and partial models, (b) models referring to individual or organizational decision making, and (c) models clearing up on ethical decisions broadly on business situations or in specific marketing contexts. For the intention of this investigation, total models (i.e., models describing the whole process of ethical decision making) seem most suitable. Given the aim of this research (cultural influences on marketers’ ethical decision making) total models referring to individual decision making in the marketing context are well thought-out to be of capital significance. Given the rising significance of ethical features in marketing on the one hand, and the rising cross-cultural incorporation of economic processes on the other hand, marketers calls for to improved understanding on how ethical decision making in the marketing context takes place, and mainly, what the role of culture is in this process (Dubinsky et al. 1991, pp. 61). Positive models of ethical decision making offer a complete understanding of how ethical decisions are made and presents an important theoretical basis that may guide research on marketing ethics. Still, cross-cultural research on marketing ethics is in need of more solid theoretical grounding (Schminke 1997, pp. 64). Srnka (2003), in his article discussed marketing ethics theory to develop such a well founded theoretical foundation which aims to explain how cultural forces affect ethical decision making. His work proposed on the origin of theoretical as well as empirical works, explain the ethical decision process – a series of definite stages through which an individual passes when faced with an ethical problem – and recognizes the factors affects the different stages of this process. Thus, the focal point is on environmental factors, which includes forces on the four cultural levels. In a modern, more and more mutually dependent world, studying culture is necessary for managers. They have to think globally, apart the country they live in. No matter what their company manufactures or to what market it sells its products, it will come across global competition everywhere. Even in the tiny nation of Slovenia, which has many of companies that productively meet the needs of people for a variety of products and services, one can see an ever escalating incidence of foreign competition on the domestic market. As recently as 1999, for example, companies from overseas, such as OBI, Baumax and Interspar, built three modern shopping centres in Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia (Bergeman et al, 1996). It is significant for managers to study other cultures also because their competitors, suppliers, shareholders, or employees may come from other cultures. In developed countries – of which Slovenia would be one -- there are also an growing number of immigrants and guest workers transporting their own cultures into their new homes. Managers have to be able to put them together into the new work environment. Hence, it is essential for managers to be familiar with their culture as well as to appreciate their way of life (Dubinksy et al, 1991). As seen in the readings, the idea of looking at industrialization with a focus on cultural organizations is seen as a complex web of interconnected culture not only of different people, but of different nations as well who are engaged in trade. Power relations as conceived by social constructionists are something that is achieved in different ways such as chain of commands. Social constructionists also see the ways organizational roles and people as individuals have been made to lead to some people being included and some excluded from the decision making process (Crowther, 2004 pp 155). In the case of Elizabeth Emanuel and Shami Ahmed , the main characters of the movie entitled Frocky Horror Show, one main reason Emanuael had the bad share of the bargain was that Ahmed is powerful in terms of decision-making inside the company. Ahmed always has the last say, as portrayed by the very fact that he even went to the extent of forbidding Emanuel of going to New York for the very first major photo shoot of her wedding gown. His power over Emanuel can also be seen when he said that they are going to mass produce the wedding gowns Emanuel conceptualized and the woman was not able to pressure him to do otherwise. This is a form of enforcing power relations between Emanuel and Ahmed through stifling conflict. It works by disabling a person’s attempt to promote her views, interests and creativities (Crowther 2004, pp 155). Following the discussion which focuses on the effect of culture to industrialization which in the long run is a summary of all the successes of different companies, this paper would again discuss culture and industrialization through the use of the video Frocky Horror Movie. The movie started off with showing who the main characters are and introducing them as the one who designed Pricess Diana’s wedding dress (Emanuel), and the one who have made the popular baggy jeans (Ahmed). Thus, when the story of Emanuel was shown, she went through rough times and here enters Ahmed who became the unlikely savior of Emanuel Design. At first, Emanuel had no idea what was laying ahead of her. All she knew was that she was saved from bankruptcy. After then, she and Ahmed were always arguing because aside from the fact that their business interests are not lying on the same fault, they also have been exposed to different organizational cultures. For Emanuel, she was accustomed to the culture of quality over quantity mantra. For Ahmed, he prefers mass production. It stems from here that on the mass production issue, Ahmed is not so much a fun of wasting too time thinking about new ideas for every new item. Their arguments escalated further when Ahmed made Emanuel transfer into a very old not conducive office to cut costs. Of course the latter would not have allowed this but since she is somewhat powerless in the decision-making process she eventually gave in. Why is moving into a dusty, old building a big issue for Emanuel instead of thinking about the costs that their company will save? Because she, in the ‘quality over quantity’ production sector, is accustomed to careful planning of the physical working environment because it helps their creative mind work. In summary, the video presented was played the role of visual example for the readings for this semester. It showed power relations as discussed in the social constructionism readings. It portrayed the images of the main characters separate companies before the Amhed bought the Emanuel’s company. Ahmed was known for the baggy jeans, it is known as ‘in’ and cool by the teenagers and Emanuel who designed Princess Diana’s dress was respected for that. Sources Bergemann, Niels and Andreas L. J. Sourrisseaux, 1996, Interkulturelles Management. 2nd ed. Heidelberg: Physica. Crowther, G, (2004), Social Constructionism Dubinsky, Alan J., Marvin A. Jolson, Masaaki Kotabe, and Chae Un Lim, 1991, “A Cross-National Investigation of Industrial Salespeople’s Ethical Perceptions,” Journal of International Business Studies 22 pp. 651-670. Hitt, M, 2003, ‘A study of organizational image resulting from international joint ventures in transitional economies’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 57, no. 3, pp, 132-140 Kwantes, J, 2007, ‘Perceptions of organizational culture, leadership effectiveness and personal effectiveness across six countries’, Journal of International Management, vol. 30, no.1, pp. 203-221 Malhotra, Naresh K. and Gina L. Miller, 1998, “An Integrated Model for Ethical Decision Making in Marketing Research,” Journal of Business Ethics 17, pp. 263-280. Meglino, M, 1989, ‘ A work values approach to corporate culture: a field test of the value congruence process and its relationship to individual outcomes’, Journal of Applied Psychology 74, 424–432. Schminke, Marshall, 1997, “Gender Differences in Ethical Frameworks and Evaluation of Other’s Choices in Ethical Dilemmas,” Journal of Business Ethics 16, pp. 55-65. Smith, P, 2002, ‘Cultural values, sources of guidance, and their relevance to managerial behavior: a 47-nation study’, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology vol. 33, 188–208. Srnka, K, 2003, ‘Culture’s Role in Marketers’ Ethical Decision Making: An Integrated Theoretical Framework’, Retrieved August 2009 from < http://www.bwl.univie.ac.at/bwl/mark/srnka.htm. > Szumal, J, 2003, ‘ The organizational culture inventory® interpretation and development guide’, Human Synergistics, Plymouth, MI. Williams, A, 1993, ‘Changing culture: New organizational approaches’, 2nd ed. Institute of Personnel Management, London. Read More