Factors That Impact an Organizations Ability to Change Its Culture - Essay Example

Running head: Factors that impact an organization’s ability to change its culture Factors that impact an organization’s ability to change its culture Date: Organizational culture refers to a predominant pattern of ethics, values, beliefs, attitudes, expectations, assumptions, activities, norms, interactions and interactions maintained within the organization for long period of time. Each organization has its own culture which forms its tradition and policies that govern its day to day operations. Organizational culture is not permanent and can change to suite general organizational objectives and to maintain its competitive advantage. . Some of the factors that impact an organization’s ability to change its culture include change in technology, social culture, demographic and economic change (Ogbonna & Wilkinson, 2003). Organizational culture is inclusive of all the factors from within and without a business organization that affects how organization operates and they include factors such as technology, demographic aspects and the economic welfare of a region. It is a known fact that most of the time a business organization has limited impact on the external business environment (Ogbonna & Harris, 1998). This research will try to shed some light on the factors such as the change in technology, social culture, demographic and economic change in an organization among others which influence the organization to change its culture. Technology is inevitable and due to globalization technology is changing rapidly. Change in technology has led to change in organization’s stability and hence change in organizational culture. The introduction of new and advanced technology in a business organization may have the effect of people needing training and education in order to embrace the new methods of production. This is often the case in most industrial business organization and also organizations that are laden with technological equipment (Tesluk et al, 1997). This factor has impacted the organization to change its culture both negatively and positively. For example, new technology may lead to unemployment of a workforce due to the fact that machines offer a consistent and accurate input and output to work compared to human labour. There are numerous cases whereby the application of new technology has resulted in human labour being scrapped off the payroll for example, in the highlands of Kenya where tea is grown there have been unrest among employees who are dependent on tea plucking in order to raise their family income following the employment of tea plucking machines in tea fields, this was an experience I got when I was working in Ketepa tea factory in Kericho- Kenya. Also, the application of new and advanced technology often leads to an organization having a large output of production in that the old methods of production are often known to be costly and less efficient. Resistance to change is an issue that has also impacted change of organizational culture. New technology in a business organization may often times face some level of resistance among employees and the business organization. The requirement that employee acquire training and education in order to embrace new technology often times causes mixed reactions among the employees especially in third world countries. An instance of this phenomenon was in Kenya following the introduction of cotton picking machines in Bura irrigation farm where I worked and most employees could hardly afford training on how to use the new advanced machines. The caused the employees to demonstrate hence organizational culture instability (Tesluk et al, 1997). An organization builds its culture around demographic factors which refer to the characteristics of a workforce in a business organization or the population in a country that include age, gender, social class and the level of education of the population. To maintain and adapt change in organization culture, all business organizations take into account the demographic factors while looking at factors such as the workforce and the prospective customers. While paying attention to the prospective customers it is important that a business organization designs its products and services according to the demographic factors, this is often for the sake of promotional activities, advertisements and creation of awareness. The business organization must consider the target market for a specific product or service before launching it into the market. These considerations help put the business organization in a position whereby they satisfy the needs of the customers and thus make profit (Tesluk et al, 1997) Since an organization operates a dynamic environment, economic factors change to suite current market rates and so does its culture to fit in the flexibility nature. Most third world countries have market based economies and just a few state owned business organizations and hence there is little production that can sustain the economy entirely without import and export. The economic welfare is affected by factors such as technology and infrastructure such as roads, telecommunication and computer literacy (Ogbonna & Wilkinson, 2003). Following the recent financial crisis that has hit all business organization it has become a phenomenon that most business organizations are being actively involved in creating ways of cutting down costs, increasing their output and improving their profits (Ogbonna & Wilkinson, 2003). Socio-cultural factors refer to issues pertaining to social and cultural aspects of a business organization, the workforce and the population (Shim, 2010). The business organization is charged with the responsibility to create a business culture that is conducive to the employees and often times some business cultures are not favoured by the employees, for instance as I worked in Kenya, the introduction of female employees to take managerial positions caused some level of resistance among employees in that women employees are considered weak and should be charged with the responsibilities to take care of the family and the home (Silvester et al, 1999). Other socio-economic factors that are considered here also include the level of education and the religious beliefs of the employees, the prospective customers or the people holding managerial positions in a business organization. National culture is another factor that has to a great extent caused an organization to change its culture. Every country has its own culture and so an organization has to carry out its operations according to its country’s culture. For example, human resource management policies are different in each country and thus and organization’s culture of a certain country is bound to change to suite changes in its country’s culture. Also, globalization has led to change in organizational culture to ensure multinational organizations understand various national cultures involved in the world market (Ogbonna & Harris, 1998). Conclusion Regardless of the benefits change may bring to a business organization, a business organization has to establish and consider the level of resistance it faces in implementing some business ideas. The above discussed factors have in one way or the other impacted an organizations ability to change its culture in order to maintain its competitive advantage and for accomplishment of its overall objectives. 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