Organization Culture and Change - Essay Example

What impact does organizational culture have on achievement of performance results? To answer this question we should have a clear and sound understanding of what actually organizational culture is. There are many definitions of organizational culture and all revolve around the same concept. An organizational culture can be defined as the set of values, norms , practices , attitude etc. that are practiced and adapted by the employees while working in the organization & while dealing and communicating with members within the organization or with stakeholders outside the organization. Now as we know what organizational culture comprises, from this we can derive that how these factors can be molded and be worked upon to achieve such an organization structure where all the employees are keen to work hard for the organization and to help it achieve its goals and objectives. Many studies and researches have been conducted through which it has been found out that there is a correlation between strong organizational culture and high performance in organizations. This clearly indicates that organizations that posses strong culture and have been successful in cultivating a strong sense of organization’s values and norms within its employees and ended up developing such a work force where each and individual employee’s productivity increased. The main reason for this is that following similar values and practices while performing tasks helps the organization as one component whether it is an onsite activity or activity at the office. Employees are given support and incase of some problem or trouble a team is there to support in the resolution of the problem. The members of the organizational work collectively for the organizational good and understand that if the organization prospers so will they hence increasing their personal interest in organization hence giving a boost to their productivity which positively impacts their performance hence producing better results. Following of similar norms and belief throughout the organizational hierarchy help promote in employees a sense of equality and fair treatment. This resolves the risk of labor union formations which greatly affect performance even if there is slight dispute between the organization policy and union demands. But at the same time there are some adverse effects which have been noticed within organizations and co operations possessing strong cultures. In organizations with strong culture a framework is provided for operations and for conducting tasks. This framework at times unwillingly and unintentionally crushes diversity and innovation in organization as digressing from it will be considered as a violation of culture. 2. Can the culture of an organization be changed to increase performance? Organizational culture is similar to what culture in reality is. Culture is mainly termed as the values and norms that are passed from generation to generation such that they become part of our daily life and become so used to these that we consider following them in our routine. Culture develops over a long period of time and its constituents independently have no single identity. Similarly in organizations culture is adapted from the best practices that have been there for long period time and have been followed by many organizations and companies which lead them to new heights and levels of success. Selection of these business practices and norms must be in according to type of your organization so that these practices and norms gel in with your business operation rather than contradicting with them in the end. As mentioned, culture is formed over a long period of time and the people following it become quite adaptive to it so much that bringing a change in it might provoke certain members of the organization and at the same time the members might become resistant to the change. There has to be a proper strategy working along which change has to be introduced within the organization culture else things can get out of control. A proper change management has to be formed which should comprise of all the figureheads and leaders of the departments which are being affected. These members have to communicate the message that the change in the organizational culture is for the betterment of the organization and will offer members opportunities to boost their performance in reality. Example of Such changes include introduction of new group activities previously which were not there which would involve individuals to work as teams so that even the weak members of the organization can learn from their peers and higher ranked officers and then provide them with opportunities where they can practice the knowledge they gained from such activities. Hence increasing individual productivity which if observed from a macro level can lead to many weak individuals becoming healthy contributors in organization’s performance and help it achieve its strategic goals and objectives. Also brainstorming processes which in previous culture only included figureheads and higher ranked officers might include lower level managers and supervisors who can provide with information and knowledge of onsite activities which can be useful in decision making. In this way changing an autocratic organizational culture to a more relaxed and welcoming culture where opinions and thoughts of each individual are valued to the extent of actual application in terms of decision making. This is one such example of organizational culture change but these changes are to be made considering the market, financial, economic and other factors that are prevailing in the industry at that time. 3. As a senior leader in an organization what can you do to change the culture and in turn increase performance of the business? Senior leaders are the most important people to be considered when it comes to organization’s culture change. These are the people who are in contact with the onsite operations as well as the top level management. Proposal made by them are given a lot of importance regarding introducing cultural change in the organization as they are familiar with problems of both side and can work toward a mutually beneficial solution. They play the role of a pivot and are vital to success of smooth transition of the change. The main reason for this is that the lower ranked employees look to their managers and senior managers for motivation and inspiration in situations where things and actions are taken against their will. In such a scenario Senior managers should: Promote the benefits of the change through their attitude and explicitly explain the advantages. Become ambassadors of change and lead the process so that the employees who look up to them will get motivated and develop an understanding that the change is mutually beneficial i.e. for them and for the business. Manage the process of change and measure the progress. Provide opportunities to employees who are being affected by the change and have knowledge regarding significance of the change as becoming advocates of change and role model of their peers and reward them. Reassure employees that the change won’t harm them and their position or post in the company is secure. Instead inform them of the benefits and how change will help them and make tasks easier for them. Employees after witnessing their figureheads and leaders showing such cooperative and adapting behavior towards the change become more reassured that the change is beneficial even for them hence they become more cooperative working and supporting the change. It is proved through researches that employee performance is directly link to job security and satisfaction. Hence having a better motivated and united work force which support the company’s initiatives. 4. As an HR leader in an organization what can you do to change the culture and in turn increase performance of the business? There can be many ways a HR leader in an organization can lead a cultural change. The role of HR leader is very much similar to Senior leader in the organization but this role has a few added responsibilities. Being an important member of the change management the HR leader has to make sure that the HR in face of change start lobbying against the change and form unions causing the company to take extreme measures for resolution. Also from previous experiences while recruiting new personnel and employees they can make sure that they are more adaptive to change and are informed of the culture prevailing within the organization. For example a Pakistani company by the name of Packages was introducing a new automated system within the organization to boost the organization performance by promoting real time communication between various offices and sites of the company which was different from the previous method which employed manual processes. Hence introducing an automated system affected the organizational culture though but was more beneficial for the organization but employees tended to resist hence the HR manager along with change management had to step in for resolution and certain points were made clear regarding resisting attitudes to change. 5. What impact on performance can a coaching culture have on an organization? The impact varies from organization to organization. To measure the impact a complete understanding of coaching culture should be developed within a person. In a coaching culture the members and employees of the organization can easily participate and initiate a serious and respectful conversation with their senior managers who act as coaches regarding any trouble, career advice, tips or techniques for achieving or completing any task without having the fear of any repercussion or being reported. Also they can ask for feedback regarding their performance and use this technique as a learning tool for future dealings. Creating an environment in which traditional hierarchy of leadership is modified and the Boss becomes the Coach for employees. Now the major role in such a culture is played by your Boss-Coach. Creating such a culture require efforts and hard work by managers at all levels. Sincere devotion by them can only result in such a culture as they have to perform their jobs and act as coach’s as well. This is considered as the key attribute of coach-managers that they manage their time and skill and produce balance in their work routine so that they can work for themselves individually and for the mutual benefit of their subordinates by acting as their coach. The major impact of such a culture is that you have established such an organization structure where individual members of the organization don’t feel left out. A sense of security and belonging prevails in them where they can approach their senior managers and bosses as their coaches and can have conversation and discussion regarding any issue , seeking their guidance and help, any trouble or problem they are having and keep a check on personal performance and inquire what more they can do to enhance their productivity. Also as communication is more open , discussions are more welcomed so solutions to problems can be easily found by quick brainstorming sessions. 6. Let’s assume you are a senior line management leader within an organization. Your university studies and other reading and learning have convinced you that a coaching culture can have a dramatic impact on the performance of an organization. Your organization is traditionally very autocratic and resistant to change. Pressure from the Board of Directors and Senior officers to significantly increase performance at all levels is increasing. · What will you do to drive a significant culture shift and in turn increase performance? As a senior line manager I’ll call in a meeting and discuss the issues being faced which are restricting us to increase our output hence leading us to performance lower than what we are capable of achieving. All of the members shall be engaged in a brainstorming session through which each individual will feel as important as any other member in the team and then will try to work as a dedicated member of the team. Employees shall be notified that the best performing employees shall be awarded with bonus and even a contract with the company. So a comfortable working environment along with job security will lead to a formation of team which will work exclusively for increase of productivity hence increasing performance. · What evidence do you have that such a shift in culture will have any impact on performance? Through researches it has been found out that a comfortable working environment along with job security for employees has lead to formation of teams which work exclusively for increase of productivity hence increasing performance and profits for the organization. Organization including the fortune 500 companies have employed coaching culture within their organization and have seen positive results if the technique was employed correctly. · How will you gain alignment across the organization to make such a change? As the employee morale and spirit will be high in the department of line management , it will tend to attract attention of managers and leaders of other departments as they are also under immense pressure from the BOD and senior officers for increase of productivity and performance. A high-spirited and supporting work force is necessary for increasing productivity as it will require hard work and even overtime shifts. This all cant be achieved through traditional autocratic culture as employees have a phobia of senior officers and no sense of job security’ both the factors missing which are required for high productivity in individuals. · How will you measure the performance results of your change? A comparison between the performance measure and productivity before the shift of coaching culture and the performance measure and productivity after shifting to coaching culture will easily lead us to the result. Also opinions form employees can be taken about how they feel about the change and has it helped them increase their work performance. References: Consulting, Plus Delta. Creating a High Performance Coaching Culture. october 2006. Craine, Tom. "Creating a COACHING CULTURE - today's most potent organizational change process for creating a "high-performance" culture ." 2005. Worldwide association of business coaches. . Inc, Libby Sartain is senior vice president of human resources and chief of people at Yahoo! HR’s role in driving a high-performance culture. May 2011. . James M. Hunt, Joseph R. Weintraub. The Coaching Manager: Developing Top Talent in Business . Sage Publications, n.d. The role of leaders in cultural change. june 2009. . today, Editorial. Effect of organizational Culture. . Read More