Foundation of Management - Essay Example

?Running Head: Management Management [Institute’s Management ‘In order to have a successful organisation, the most important thing for management is to get culture right’ Introduction In this rapidly growing environment, organizational leaders are facing many hurdles and challenges in order to gain competitive advantage and bring success to the business. As globalization is increasing, it has become more important to manage people than ever before. This means that in an attempt to create a dynamic and extraordinary workplace it is essential to build and maintain strong organizational culture. The term ‘culture’ comes under definition as the beliefs, ideas, norms, symbols, language, assumptions that characterize an organization (Brenton, 2011). Specifically, culture is the personality of an organization around which the whole organization revolves. Therefore, it is necessary to make a fundamental criterion and embed these core values with the individuals/employees of the organization. Without its existence, the energy of all the members will dissipate in terms of plans, decisions, and operations. Over the past decade, the concept of organizational culture has gained significant importance and acceptance. It is considered as a way to understand human systems. Each element of culture can be viewed as an environmental condition that has a great impact on the entire system and its subsystems. Increased competition, mergers, acquisitions, alliances, advancements and diversification in various workforce departments have created an urgent need for strong organizational culture (Daft, 2008). Thus, the role of culture in organizational development cannot be overlooked. An accurate understanding of organizational culture will not only help in directing activities towards the productive manner but it will also avoid the destructive influence of those employees who are not committed and loyal to the goals of the organization. It will inculcate a shared sense of purpose with the hiring procedure and will continue with the motivation and rewarding of employees for their efforts. One important factor that affects the company’s standing is the disconnection between its vision/mission statement and the type of culture it follows. For instance, if the organization’s mission is to provide excellent customer services but the employees are not empowered with the authority to carry out the required responses or results then this discrepancy will lead to a major decline in the overall performance of the company (Alvesson, 2002). In this regard, it is the premise of this paper that in order for a business organization to be successful, culture is the most important notion, and management can put efforts to foster ‘right culture’ in the organization. In order to be SUCCESSFUL, Culture is the MOST IMPORTANT thing The concept of culture is described as how employees or members of any organization understand their world and their position in it (Alvesson, 2002). There are varieties of definitions attached to the world ‘culture’, most of them are widely in acceptance and they share the same aspects. Schein's defines organizational culture as "A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems that has worked well enough to be considered valid and is passed on to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems" (Schein, pp. 30-39, 2010). In simpler terms, organizational culture includes a group of people who are trained to deal with a situation through guidelines or by those around them. It works like any other social learning process. One important aspect of organizational culture is that it is deeply rooted within its members. It creates the identity of the company and shapes the identity of its workers as well. This social identity is valuable in for company’s market position and an inherent conflict with the employees values can be a serious disadvantage. Due to this fact, companies transmit their values through many efforts such as rituals, story telling, the behaviour of the top management, social events etc. All these activities create positive energy and momentum and allow people to express themselves freely. A strong culture will affect each individual who is associated with the organization. From the lowest worker to the highest CEO, it makes everyone more efficient and fruitful for the business. There are different types of culture such as the macho culture, play hard culture, bet your company culture, process culture etc (Brenton, 2011). Companies must identify their type of organization and choose the appropriate culture for optimal operational efficiencies and corporate growth. This is important because culture has become an integral and powerful part of total organizational effectiveness (Martin, 2002). It has emerged as the best indicator of potential growth of the company as well as the long-term satisfaction of its employees. It is POSSIBLE for management to address by Fostering the ‘RIGHT CULTURE’ Every organization wants to have the right culture (Schein, 2010). Managing culture is the key responsibility of today’s leaders in this regard. In order to keep pace with the ever-changing markets, culture can be used as a managerial tool to meet the higher standards. With the addition of culture management skills, organizations can develop and control their future success factors (Parker, 2000). In this regard, managers need to think from the business perspective but act in a cultural manner. Business plans and tactics should be implemented with cultural competence to meet the customer needs and competition. In this section, the key traits of highly effective culture are identified to help managers in diagnosing and changing their organizational culture. The first step in managing culture is to analyze each element of the cultural web. Managers should identify the cultural problems that have caused malfunction in the organization. The elements of culture include ‘stories, rituals and routines, symbols, organizational structure, control, and power structures’ (Mabey & John, pp. 71-74, 1998). Managers need to identify the current position of the company. Specifically, some of the major concerns should be related to the kinds of stories that are related with the company’s image. In addition, it will be imperative for managers to look into the reputation of the company among the customers and other stakeholders, as well as the expectations of the customers when they walk in. Moreover, it will be efficient to inquire about routines and rituals that reflect core principles of the company, as well as any status symbols that are used by the members of the company. Furthermore, it is advisable to analyze the nature of structure as formal or informal, and factors that have the strongest or weakest controls. In addition, it will be efficient to analyze the tools of rewards and punishments for the employees and identification of person who has the real authority in the organization and whether he uses the power efficiently on the employees or not. All these answers will build up the true picture of what has influenced the existing corporate culture. After analysing the current cultural practices, managers should think about the culture they want it to be i.e. the desired or ideal culture. It includes a set of behaviors that need to be understood. Decisions should be made regarding the degree of formality with which the employees shape their attitude, the company’s dress code, and the type of technology that will be used for business operations (Mabey & John, 1998). At this stage, a detailed review of the fundamental values should be done in order to remould these values. At a deeper level, the beliefs and assumptions of the organization should be observed as they exist beneath the surface and shape the out of conscious awareness of the organizational members. After getting aware of the organizational culture at all levels managers should establish a culture baseline and set specific cultural tactics. A comparison should be made between the two cultural webs and differences should be identified to determine the amount of efforts required for the desired outcome. Each culture goal should be aligned with the business change process to make it accessible. In order to achieve these objectives, managers should get the top management commitment, which is essential for the success of the cultural change. The individual and interdependent roles should be clearly defined at all levels and in all areas of the organization to attain the corporate vision (Martin, 2002). The appropriate and inappropriate behaviour should be defined in a more explicit manner. For instance, in some companies status quo is valued. In others, creativity and teamwork are more stressed. Some cultures are more task-oriented whereas some are more socially oriented (Khan, 2011). Employees should consider these factors as positive opportunities rather than unpleasant or forced necessities. High involvement of all the members is essential for the change process, as it requires constant interaction between the thinking processes and actions. This will create new links for all the participants since the inception of the cultural change. Culture is also determined by the way, in which employees face treatment and enjoy rewards (Keyton, 2005). The real worth of the existing members should be reinforced at all times. This implies that the management should focus on the sources of motivation such as pay, status and other incentives such as bonuses for higher production for personal growth and achievement (Hellriegel, 2007). All these rational benefits reflect the organization’s culture and generate positive emotional and intellectual reactions from the employees. The communication networks should be more open and facilitate employees with problem-solving matters. The access to supervisors should be increased and entrepreneurship should be encouraged among the teams and groups. All these efforts contain the seeds of cultural change. Managers must use a collective approach to define the ‘shared meaning or purpose’ in order to achieve the common goals. An organization will be more productive as a whole than in parts. The top management should establish highly trained change teams to utilize their full potential and power to be a hard-hitting model of organizational culture. After the integration of all these factors with central plan of action, implementation should begin with a series of orientation meetings with all the participants who are a part of this change. The flow of information should be free from top-down and bottom-up. Accountability and feedback should support and intensify the organizational culture (Brenton, 2011). The top management should be aware of the ground capabilities and the ground should understand the vision and standards of performance set by the top. The heads of the department and other executive bodies should exert and internalize the core values by setting a perfect example. New activities and processes will be very difficult to implement if these characteristics do not mesh with the culture. Managers should employ those people who believe in the same values and can be a representative of organization’s culture (Alvesson, 2002). This can be possible by interacting with prospect employees before entering the organization as a new employee. Once the new hires fit the organization, their shared norms and attitudes will solidify the organization’s personality. Conclusion One can conclude from the above discussion that culture has become a pre-requisite for high performance. It is vital and it has become a critical issue in enduring organizational success. It administers the advance corporate aims of any organization. Companies with ‘right type’ (Quinn, 2006) of culture can deliver their promise to customers, shareholders and entire community with profitable growth. A clear understanding of strategic objectives and sense of direction can transmit messages of desirable culture throughout the organization. A positive environment can be a starting point for the creation of a winning culture. The workplace should be comfortable that people must enjoy and value their work as well as the organization. To do this, managers should minimize the boundaries between parts both within the organization and with other companies. Managers should support their words by means of their actions to let people know how much they are important to the organization. This will allow coordinated actions and a continuous learning process with a climate of trust and care for one another (Keyton, 2005). A strong aligned culture is marked with high level of productivity, creativity, and loyalty of the employees, which are essential for company’s strategic and financial success. To keep the employees motivated and aligned with the core values, managers should encourage a culture that allows a higher purpose for their work. It should be based on the idea that people are rational, honest, and interested in achievement. Everyone has to contribute in some way or the other and employees should be involved largely in decision-making activities. Thus, corporate culture can be viewed as a road map of success and it serves as a competitive weapon to support the organization’s purpose for a better place to work. It is a bottom-line business advantage and the most important intangible asset to discover new dynamics of success. References Alvesson, Mats. Understanding organizational culture. Great Britain: Sage Publications Ltd, 2002. Brenton, Driskill. Organizational Culture in Action: A Cultural Analysis Workbook. United States of America: Sage Publications Ltd, 2011. Daft, Richard L. Organization Theory, and Design. South Western: Cengage Learning, 2008. Hellriegel, Slocum. Organizational Behaviour. South Western: Thomson Corporation, 2007. Keyton, Joann. Communication & Organizational Culture. Sage Publications, 2005. Khan, Asim. “Matching People with Organizational Culture”. Themanager.org. Business Management Group, Inc. Retrieved on April 12, 2011: www.themanager.org/hr/Matching_People_with_Organizational_Culture.pdf Mabey, Graeme, and John Storey. Human resource management: a strategic introduction. Great Britain: Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 1998. Martin, Joanne. Organizational Culture. Sage Publications, 2002. Parker, Martin. Organizational Culture and Identity. Sage, 2000. Quinn, Robert E. Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture. John Wiley & Sons, 2006. Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership, Fourth Edition. United States of America: John Wiley& Sons, 2010. Read More