Organisational Culture of the Grameen Bank - Coursework Example

Organisational Culture of the Grameen Bank Introduction Grameen Bank, which is also known as bank for the poor people, has taken initiatives in reversing conventional banking practices by establishing a new banking practice. For instance, it removed the required collateral system and focussed on creating a banking practice based upon the foundation of mutual trust, participation, creativity and accountability. The name is derived from Bengali language meaning ‘rural’ or ‘village’. (Grameen Bank, 2011). Grameen Bank is one of such banks which stand apart from any other banks, not just for its banking service, but also for the service it provides to the nation. Muhammad Yunus is the person who is to be credited for coming up with such a unique concept of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh that started in the year of 1976. He believed that credit is a human right, and everyone should be allowed to receive the facility of loans and just for the reason, an individual is poor he or she should not be deprived of getting credit facility from the banks (PBS, 2011). He prepared a methodology and institution focused on the circumstances and needs of the people who are very poor. The government of Bangladesh took an initiative of changing this project into an independent bank through the help of government legislation in the year 1983 (Grameen Bank, 2011). Mohammad Yunus was rewarded with Noble Prize in the year 2006 for his effort of struggling against the poverty by enabling poor people with credit facility through the medium of Grameen Bank. This was a noble cause indeed, as no individual has ever thought of coming up with ideas for poor people. Grameen Bank has achieved quite a success in alleviating poverty from the country, Bangladesh, over the past decades. Unlike others he thought that, Charity is not a right initiative towards solving poverty, so the Grameen Bank was formed. The Grameen Bank has adopted certain initiatives for encouraging the poor to use their under or unutilised skills by providing them with small collateral free loans. The Grameen Bank has been successful in incorporating group-based lendings, obligatory savings and insurance systems, facility of repayment rescheduling in the time of disasters, and encouraging similar other schemes that have proved to be effective in minimising both material and behavioural risks of lending (Khandker, 1996). Grameen Bank has been well-organised in terms of designing its programmes, most of which were for the betterment of the poor people and female members. One of the reasons behind its success as a rural financial intermediary is its subsidy dependency. It is renowned for its reliability even outside Bangladesh and its impact on the poor and the women is incredible. Its mission stands as to help the poor families along with especial attention upon female members to overcome poverty, by themselves. It is entirely targeted to the poor, mainly towards poor women, empowering poor female members has become their one of the main motives (Grameen Bank, 2011). The culture of the organisation mostly emphasizes on empowering the poor women. It is believed that if the lady of the house is empowered, the house itself is empowered. They provide various supports and initiatives in encouraging the women to earn their livelihood through microfinance. This paper deals with the organisational culture of the Grameen Bank with regards to microfinance and impact of those initiatives on the women (Strong, 2007). Organisational Culture Organisational culture is a process of shared beliefs, values, assumptions, and customs of the members of an organisation. In general terms, it can be said that it is the reflection of the working environment and members’ perceptions towards the organisation. This becomes clearer through the visible and various levels of the culture being practiced by the employees in an organisation. The promoted values of culture are not observed but rather explained and justified. And, these values are followed through the core beliefs that are widely shared though the organisation. Organisational culture directs and helps a company through socialisation and employees’ self management and in addition it supports the strategies of the organisation through the effective implementation of them. These processes further help in establishing constancy and continuity among the members in the organisation (Schein, 2010, pp. 23 - 32). Culture can be termed as a concept; however the forces that are created in social and organisational situations deriving from culture are very powerful. These forces of culture are powerful in nature because they operate outside of our consciousness and have tremendous effect on an individual. According to the Schein (2010), there are three levels of cultural analysis of the organisation. These levels are artifacts and behaviours, espoused values and assumptions (Schein, 2010, pp. 23 - 32). To be precise, Artifacts involve with those elements of an organisation which are tangible, visible and feelable in nature. These are said to be concrete by nature which are directly visible to the employees as well as the outsiders. For example, furniture, dress code, history, structures can be referred as artifacts; these at times can also be referred as the concrete evidence of the existence of the organisation (Schein, 2010, pp. 23 - 32). Espoused values are the stated or desired cultural elements of the organisational higher managements. These values are mostly in a written form stated by the higher authority of the organisation, hoping to be upheld by the employees throughout the organisational working environment. These values are mostly observed by the employees of the organisation. For instance, professionalism of an employee can be one of the examples of the values of the organisation. However, assumptions are the actual values that the culture of the organisation represents which are not necessarily related to the stated values. These assumptions are unconsciously developed or followed by the employees and typically so well integrated in the organisation dynamic that they are hard to be singled out or distinguished by the individuals. These assumptions are those beliefs which are ‘taken for granted’ by the members of the organisation and followed unconsciously. Examples of assumptions are employees’ behaviour, thoughts and their feelings (Schein, 2010, pp. 23 - 32). Organisational culture can also be referred as a systematic guide of basic assumptions discovered or developed by the employees of the organisation in a given working environment of the organisation. According to the observation of Trompenaars, it is at times perceived by the employees of the organisation which can be termed as assumptions. And, the established code or the culture of the organisation can be termed as the values. These are all supported and followed by the employees within the organisational working environment consciously or sub-consciously. The cultures of the organisations are free and flexible in certain ways enabling the enterprise in establishing the sense of simplicity and comfortness among the employees in the working culture (Prentice-Hall Inc., 2005). Organisational culture plays a significant role in providing identity and introduction to the organisation in front of the outsiders. For instance, the history and the buildings of the organisation are the part of the artifacts which is again part of the organisational culture. The organisational culture helps in motivating the employees towards the organisations by creating a sense of commitment among them. Organisational culture helps in defining the organisation to the employees in a descriptive way. It is worth mentioning here that organisational culture is the first impression on the employees since their joining (Prentice-Hall Inc., 2005). In the process, they happen to develop their own assumptions in accordance to their experiences and beliefs. Organisational Culture of the Grameen Bank In this context, Schein’s framework is taken into consideration to understand the culture of the Grameen Bank. Organisational culture of the Grameen Bank is quite different from any conventional bank functioning in this sector. Individuals involved in economic development have propounded the virtues of enabling women empowerment through providing the facility of micro finance. Usually, poor women were subsided by the bank in context to loan because they were rarely considered to be the one who can repay back the loan taken from the bank. But, because of the organisational culture of the Grameen Bank, it enjoys the high repayment rates by the women which have made it one of the popular non-market institutional forms (Pickering & Mushinski, 2001). Grameen Bank’s history can always be taken into consideration to understand their role which has always been supportive towards poor female clients, which can also be considered as its artifacts. The organisational strategies have developed in such a way that it helps the female members to earn their livelihood being its value. And, the employees of the bank is very supportive to the strategy developed to empower the female race, thus this has gradually turned into their assumption (Schein, 2010, pp. 23 - 32). . . Management culture plays a significant role in the success of Grameen Bank and their value which is supporting poor female members. The bank has been successful in developing unique management culture keeping in mind the people’s abilities and their values. Their organisational culture includes learning and innovation and this is achieved through intense training. Transparency and openness is one of the examples of the organisational culture of the Grameen Bank. Honesty in the employees of the Grameen Bank makes them trustable for the poor uneducated people who do not understand the operations of the banks (Holcombe, 1995). These can also be considered as the framework which helps in regulating the different activities of the organisation. Every group and department of the Grameen Bank has their individual identities, making it simple for the poor uneducated women and the poor people. However, having the individual identities does not restrict them from working in accordance to the Grameen Bank bureaucracy in a very integrated way. Trust of the members working as the staffs and the clients of the Grameen Bank has provided the management of the organisation to develop such culture which allows the associates to take part in the decision making process. The culture of the Grameen Bank considers their employees as well as clients as very essential parts of the organisation. Grameen Bank’s organisational culture does not believe in boundaries. Their clients are usually brought into the organisation to direct and guide which make them to be accountable for loans and other functions enabling them to attend better lifestyle. Their belief in openness and transparency has added as one of the objectives of the organisation (Sarker, 2001). The success of the Grameen Bank depends much on the outstanding and supportive performance of its personnel and human resources plays a very important role in the organisation as identified by Schein (Schein, 2010, pp. 23 - 32). High level of motivation can be observed among the members of the organisation. And, this motivational factor is the results of intense recruitment and training processes and at times their work acts as the motivational factor for them. From the very first day of their joining in the organisation as one of the employees, they are made aware about the importance and necessity of hard work (Sarker, 2001). The value of the organisation is also made very clear to the employees which are honesty and sincerity towards their client and encouraging them to help female clients, in additional. Human resource of the organisation is actively involved in following their cultural values which is highly devoted towards upgrading female members. Thorough field based training is also provided to the employees with an intention to provide better services to their clients which further proves to be one of the pillars of success. During the training period, it has been observed that large number of people is found to not remain with the job allowing the organisation to retain those employees who are really committed towards the job and organisation as well further making the organisation more productive. Human resource managers use various formal and informal rewards systems such as opportunities for advancement, recognition of employees’ hard work and sense of belonging to the organisation. Personnel working in the Grameen Bank pride themselves in being one of the essential parts of such organisation that performs valued and internationally recognised services. The culture of the organisation is highly inclined towards supporting female. The honesty factor is one of the espoused values of the organisation and also being the assumption of the Grameen Bank which helps them to develop a healthy organisational culture and empowering female being their another core cultural value and gradually turned out to be an assumption. Now, it can be noticed that empowering female has gradually turned out to be the assumption of the employees (Schein, 2010, pp. 23 - 32). Borrowers or the clients must respect the set of codes or rules based on the culture of the Grameen Bank. The values followed in the organisation are honesty and discipline which tend to make the employees systematic in the process. Grameen Bank encourages the poor women by empowering them to fight against poverty which is their internal culture as supported by Schein’s framework (Schein, 2010, pp. 23 - 32). The females who are not considered by their own family members are also provided with loans by this bank, enhancing in them the sense of responsibilities. Grameen Bank’s organisational culture is motivating these poor people and females by providing them the chance to utilise their inner talent (Mainsah & Et. Al., 2004). Initiatives Taken by the Grameen Bank for Empowering the Women It has been observed in this context that the sector involved in financial operations in under developed. This sector in low income generating nations usually faces failure in the context of providing services to the poor and females. With respect to the formal sectors operating in the financial segment, such as, banks as well as other financial institutions of any nation generally require collaterals for the purpose of getting loans from them. The conventional practices of banking involve with those clients who have high incomes and high loan requirements. These banks have a banking procedure which are lengthy and bureaucratic application process making it very complicated. And, in context to the informal sector, the professionals or the money-lenders who are involved in this profession usually charge very high interest rates. Due to the above mentioned reasons, poor people are usually deprived of the facility of credit from formal and informal means (Sriram & Srinivasan, 2003). The Grameen Bank is the only and first institute with such cultural who has taken initiatives in providing loans and credit facilities to the poor people and female candidates. The initiative taken by the Grameen Bank is termed as microcredit programmes. Microcredit programmes are such programmes which are designed to provide the poor people and the female candidates with the small amount of loans in order to promote self employment and other financial activities including businesses making them empowered and enabling them with the ability to take care of own selves and their family members. Therefore, microfinance programmes are designed by the Grameen Bank with an intention to make female members self dependent, ultimately empowering them. Microcredit is also known as microfinance or micro lending which has proved to be very effective tool in the process of alleviating poverty. In this process these programmes have empowered the people struggling against poverty or who were not considered by the money lending institutions to borrow loans, to allow them an access to the credit facility and start their own small business (Sriram & Srinivasan, 2003). ‘Microfinance’ is defined as financial services provided to small-scale for the purposes of both taking loans or credits and deposits. These financial services are provided to those people who are involved with self occupation such as farming or fishery or herding cattle. These services are also provided to those poor people who are involved with the operation of small or micro-enterprises where goods are being produced, repaired, recycled or even traded. These poor people are encouraged by the Grameen Bank to use the loan which they have been provided, for the purpose of upgrading their life. For instance, the Grameen Bank encourages poor families with the loans with which they are mostly advised to buy a piece of land, vehicles, animals, or machineries and tools and gain income from renting out these bought items which enable them to attain better lifestyle (Sriram & Srinivasan, 2003). Microfinance or microcredit is very effective for the female candidates as the culture of the Grameen Bank helps these female candidates by advising and guiding them about the systematic investment of the loans received. It has been observed that the status of the women has generally improved due to the facility provided by the Grameen Bank named microcredit. Maximum numbers of female candidates are being attracted towards these programmes and due to these programmes the number of female workers has increased too, making them more self dependent (Hossain, 2002). It also has been noticed that participation in these microcredit programmes encourages the welfare of the poor people and their households, particularly those families which are being headed by female members. In this context, it is highly observed that the numbers of female candidates are the most who are involved in this microcredit programmes (Pit & Khandker, 1998). It can be said in accordance to these observations that women participation in these programmes was marked to be incredible and increasing per year. Microfinance programmes established by Grameen Bank have emerged as an important financial instrument to reduce poverty. Most of the borrowers of these kind of loans are self employed or are engaged in various other income earning activities. The espoused culture of the Grameen Bank has huge impact on the success of these programmes as the employees are working tremendously since its introduction and have been highly successful in fighting against the poverty and the misery of the women. The assumption value which is being practiced in Grameen Bank has been successful enough to establish a sense of commitment and pride among the employees. The job they are performing can not only be considered as a usual banking job, but is also a service to the nation, enhancing the sense of pride among the employees which is motivational by itself. The culture of Grameen Bank is flexible in nature i.e. they do not follow any hard and fast rule of corporate, as they personally advice and guide female clients in the process of attaining better means of life. The vision as well as objectives of the Grameen Bank is to provide credit to poor people of the nation, Bangladesh that do not have much or any knowledge about the banking system or have no presence of any collateral to back them up (Pit & Khandker, 1998). Suggestions and Recommendations Microfinance programmes are entitled with the potential of transforming power relations among the involved parties and empower the poor in context of both male and female. In well prepared microfinance programmes, it is always found that there are always a relation of respect between the provider and the client that is intrinsically empowering. Though their initiatives have been very effective in establishing empowerment among the female population of Bangladesh providing with good results, even further steps can be taken by the Grameen Bank in the process. For instance, they can start certain programs as a part of microfinance to encourage education among the female members, educating a female signifies educating her family. The interest rate on this kind of loans facility should be as low as possible with the flexibility in repay period. Bangladesh, being a nation, where poverty is one of the major drawbacks and in addition to this, their culture ignores female members of their family, this initiative can prove to be very effective in encouraging the female walk out of the darkness of illiteracy and step in the new light of education and knowledge. This very step can prove to be very effective in spreading the power of literacy making women wise and knowledgeable. Along with the loans for education, employees of Grameen Bank can take initiatives, such as, teaching these poor females as well as children by their own on their off days. The cross culture, which is practiced in the Grameen Bank, is quite flexible and is very helpful for employees and the clients as well for establishing faith. Though the microfinance programmes have proved to be very effective, the potential of it is yet to be achieved. There are many women in the country, Bangladesh who are not aware of such programmes or they do not know the meaning of being empowered. These women are naive and innocent by nature. If the employees of Grameen Bank take a step of visiting them in person making them aware of the power of empowerment, then the effect of these programmes could multiply. In addition to this, the Grameen Bank along with the help of the government of the nation can hold a campaign on making poor and female candidates aware about the microfinance facilities which are being provided. Conclusion The Grameen Bank has been recognised for providing unconventional banking services. It has been able to be different because of its attempts, allowing it to break through the conventional practices of banking. It is usually seen that the bank provides loans to those who have capable financial background and sustainable earning. To be precise, conventional practices of banking identifies the process in which an individual who is willing to take a loan must provide with the collaterals and the earnings proving him being capable of paying back the loan taken. However, Muhammad Yunus believed it differently. According to him, loan (credit) is the right of everyone, mostly the needy individuals. So, with this concept he established a bank which provided loans to the poor people, the neediest ones. The bank is so determined in promoting female that it has been incorporated in their organisational culture. By going through their Artifacts, it can be clear to an individual that they have always been supporting female members. Poverty is a drawback in every low income generating country and Bangladesh being one of the members of such countries, Grameen Bank has worked effectively towards reducing poverty and encouraging female members. Their banking practices do not require any collateral to back them up, and the application procedure is very simple and understandable by the poor as well as illiterate people. Culture of the Grameen Bank has contributed a lot in this process. The Grameen Bank has flexible culture which is very effective in establishing the faith towards the bank of these poor people. The Grameen Bank has taken effective initiatives in empowering the female members belonging to the poor families. In this approach, the Grameen Bank has introduced a programme named microfinance which allows a loan of small amount to the poor people for the purpose of upgrading their life. The female members of the poor families are observed to be very active participants of these programmes. 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Gendering Poverty: A Review of Six World Bank African Poverty Assessments. Development and Change, Vol. 30, Iss.3, pp. 525-555. Read More