Culture and Growth Stages of Organizations - Research Paper Example

 Culture and Growth Stages of Organizations An organization can be defined as a socio-technical structure. It is formed through a defined structure of human resource and technology. An organization employs the human resource of the region in which it operates. Since an organization cannot perform in an isolated environment, the culture of an organization is highly influenced by the culture of the region in which it operates. The ethical and moral values of the people employed by the organization, their social background and their religious values define the culture of an organization. According to Schein (1992), organizational culture is determined by the shared assumptions and beliefs about the world, human nature and human relationships. Organizational culture includes the procedures, leadership styles, individuality, language and symbols used in the organization. The culture of an organization is shaped by values, beliefs and underlying assumption of the personnel of an organization. Values are the factors that represent the outlook of the culture of an organization. Values and beliefs of the people are prominent factors that are shaped by the underlying assumptions of the people. Underlying assumptions are the response of the environment in which the organization exists and these are unconsciously accepted by the people. The culture of an organization may be an obstacle in the way of achieving the mission of the organization. If the mission of an organization and the culture of the organization are conflicting in nature, it might be difficult for the organization to achieve its objectives successfully. An organization must have complete support of the personnel in the organization in order to ensure successful implementation of the strategies set out by the organization to achieve its objectives. The organization should either set out its objectives in accordance with its culture or it should bring change in the organizational culture. In order to influence the culture of an organization, leader can use a number of ways. The way of communication of leaders has a significant impact on the culture of an organization. Leaders may use the style of communication in order to emphasize the need for change in the culture of an organization. Emotional outbursts also have positive impacts in case of bringing a change in the culture of an organization. In order to send a message to the personnel of an organization regarding a thing that is not important, a leader may choose to give no attention to that particular thing. In this manner, the perception of the organizational personnel regarding that thing would change and it would gradually be eliminated from the organization. A change in the culture of an organization can also be brought by the way the leader responds to the crisis. In the stages of growth of the organization, there are a number of things that require significant changes within an organization. An organization needs to acclimatize with its external environment. If the external environment of an organization changes the organization would also have to change. If the organization remains persistent and does not bring any change, the organization would become vulnerable to a crisis. In this case, a leader plays an important role. In order to ensure that the change is supported throughout the organization, the leader might need to exaggerate the effect that the crisis might have on the organization. In such scenario, the leader may act as a savior and take some rigorous steps that have the potential to bring a change in the organization that would not have been possible otherwise. In order to tackle the change that must be brought in the culture of an organization at the time of growth in the organization, the leaders can bring the change by acting as a role model for others. Leaders can communicate their expectations through their own actions, by showing the other personnel in the organization their commitment to the change, the sacrifices that they make and their loyalty with the organization and its success. A leader who does not follow a procedure sends an implied message that the procedure is no longer important and should not be followed. This is how the leader brings change in the organization by communicating through actions (Yukl, 2005). According to Dr. David Chaudron, success of an organization depends upon strategic planning, and strategic planning is defined by factors like; assessment and measurement, framework and systems, training and learning, and teamwork and consensus. Framework and systems are the foundation for strategic planning, because any strategy is set up on the basis of understandings described in the framework. Organizational strategy is modified, to meet the requirements of an organizational change. The risk involved in organizational change is directly related to the extent of change. Implementation of change depends upon the capability of an organization to enforce it. An organization needs to direct its goals, strategy and mission to achieve a unified vision. The leadership of the organization plays a significantly important role in acclimatizing the strategies, policies and procedures and goals of an organization to its overall mission and this process may require a change in the organizational culture. In order to assess the need for a change, it is important for an organization to determine the manner of change and the opportunities it might provide for the organization. An organization might have various opportunities to gain advantage from, but in order to identify the most suitable opportunity; an organization may use SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis is used to find out the opportunity which may be the most profitable. SWOT analysis includes identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced by an organization as a result of availing those opportunities (David Chaudron). Core competence is what an organization has the ability to do better than other in the market. An organization should regularly conduct the analysis to keep track of its progress. The leadership of the organization must conduct periodical oversight over the progress of the change. It is important for the organization to know whether the change has been accepted or it is being resisted. An organization must design a specific strategy for the implementation of the change. An organization might have different sets of strategies, missions, goals and objectives based on its different vision for its different functions. An organization must set strategy based on its vision, and it must ensure that the strategy is aligned with other short term goals. After the implementation on the strategy, the organization must quantify the difference in the financial position of the organization. Thus, it can be inferred that an organization cannot survive without incorporating change in the organization’s culture. In order to implement the change, the leadership of the organization plays an important role. The leadership of an organization can influence the culture of an organization by emphasizing the need to change and by acting as a role model. Leadership of an organization should design a strategy for bringing a change in the organizational culture and it should also conduct periodic oversight to ensure that the change has been implemented in accordance with the strategy (Ayars, 2009). References Ayars, Pati J. 2009. The Art of Leading Transformational Change. AuthorHouse Chaudron, David. Begin at the beginning in organizational change. Retrieved on March 27, 2011 from http://www.organizedchange.com/decide.htm Chaudron, David. Balanced Scorecard, BSC and Performance Improvement. Retrieved on March 27, 2011 from http://www.organizedchange.com/balancedscorecard.htm Schein, E. H. (1992). Organizational Culture and Leadership (2nd Edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Yukl, G. (2005). Leadership in Organizations, 6th Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Chapter 10, Leading Change in Organizations, pp. 284-314. Style for Websites Organization/Website/Author name. (Year, Month Day). Title. 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