Changing Workplace Culture through Team Leadership - Research Paper Example

? Changing Workplace Culture through Team leadership Changing Workplace Culture through team leadership Introduction The management of Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center (UMMHC) is at a crucial stage of effecting a change in the workplace culture through team leadership with an aim of improving employee motivation, engagement, and performance, while reducing employee turnover and attaining sustainability for the organization. Culture refers to the group norms operational within a particular setting, and the shared set of values that help the group to keep those norms in place; essentially, culture defines the desirable acceptable behaviors that the team should embrace while condemning the unacceptable behaviors. Workplace culture is a very essential factor in the success of organizations because it determines the levels of employee motivation, and performance thereby influencing organizational performance accordingly. It is in the least incentive of any organization to have employees that are unengaged and ill motivated because this inevitably leads to low organizational outputs. The organizational leadership culture, the system of unspoken norms and assumptions that govern how managers operate, is unescapably a powerful and distinct element in the organizational culture. The fast changing and complex business environment today requires organizations to operate at a strategic position that matches the complexities and uncertainties presented to them to ensure sustained growth and success. In this regard, every organization needs to thoroughly assess its strategic leadership culture as the first step in moving towards the establishment of a culture that powerfully steer the organizational goals and objectives against all odds in the business environments. However, organizational culture can only change if and when people in the organization change; in this respect, culture change at the workplace is not an easy thing due to the myriad challenges and counteractive forces that will always seek to preserve the status quo at the workplace. Problem Statement For a long time now, the Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center (UMMHC) has been experiencing low employee motivation, high turnover, and low performance that are thoroughly attributable to the leadership style at the organization. This has led to the move towards considering a change from the current bureaucratic style of leadership to team leadership to improve employee motivation, engagement, and productivity while reducing turnover and attaining sustainability for the organization. Literature Review A considerable amount of research has been completed in validation of the relationship between organizational culture, leadership culture, and employee levels of motivation, engagement, productivity, turnover, and organizational sustainability. Largely, most of the literature available is consistent insofar as the subject is concerned, that leadership culture influences organizational culture, and a complex interplay of these two factors is more likely to yield either positive or negative outcomes on employee motivation, performance and turnover. McGuire et al 2009 contends that organizations seeking to adapt to turbulent changes taking place in the fast paced complex business world need a new kind of leadership capability to reframe dilemmas, reinterpret options, and to reform operations for sustainability (McGuire et al, 2009). Jones argues that inter-relationships between leadership team members and their behaviors with one another as well as with their staff have an influence in shaping the culture of their organizations (Jones, 2012). Corrigan et al (2002) examine the relationship between levels of transformational, transactional, and laissez-fare leadership and measures of organizational culture and burnout (Corrigan et al, 2002); leaders who rate themselves high in transformational leadership also rate their organizational cultures as transformational. Similarly, subordinates who rate their leaders high in transformational qualities present with diminished burnout and exude a positive organizational culture. Schaubroeck, Lam and Cha 2007 examine team values and the impact of leader behavior on team performance at the workplace; transformational leadership influences team performance through the mediating effect of team potency, which is in turn moderated by team power distance and team collectivism (Schaubroeck, Lam and Cha 2007). According to Bilimoria (2012), effective leadership should seek to engage and energize people, and to inspire them to give their best, to stretch, to achieve, and to excel; leaders should be role models of positive organizational cultures by engaging and motivating their staff through appraisals to improve performance (Bilimoria, 2012). Schein 1990 highlights the significance of organizational culture in influencing the strategic direction of organizations in recent times particularly in terms of performance; organizational change programs succeed if they consider cultural forces (Schein, 1990). Weiling and Kwok (2007) posits that leadership affects Enterprise Resource Planning systems implementation by fostering the appropriate organizational culture at the workplace; this literature suggests that leadership determines the design of organizational culture, and the fit between information system and the organizational culture is essential for success of implementation. Erkatlu (2012) observes that organizational culture moderates the relationship between shared leadership and team proactive behavior (Hakan, 2012); teamwork has gained much attention in recent years due to increased complexity of the organization in response to globalization, diversity and fast-paced technological advancements. Tsai 2011 examines the relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job satisfaction; this literature supports previous body of knowledge that positive organizational culture is essential because it influences work behaviors and employee attitudes (Tsai, 2011). Finally, Zaccaro et al (2001) contend that as organizations move from traditional hierarchical structures to team leadership, team processes have an essential impact on leader and organizational effectiveness. Discussion From the literature review above, it is clear a substantial amount of work is consistent in the conclusion that there exists a positive correlation between positive measures of organizational culture and leadership with measures of employee motivation, engagement, turnover, and performance. Organizations have no choice but to change their workplace cultures in addition to establishing the right business structures that provide the efficiencies, innovation and agility that is needed to achieve sustained growth and success on a backdrop of increased competition, changing consumer needs, and other market forces (McGuire et al, 2009). Personal engagement amongst team leaders (managers) and their team members (organizational staff) is more likely to create positive emotional relationships that potentially lead to successful realization of organizational goals and objectives (Jones, 2012). Notably, transformational leaders normally inspire their subordinates to rise above self-interests and perceptions of their own inabilities to become more effective in pursuing collective organizational goals thus leading to improved performance (Schaubroeck, Lam and Cha 2007). Transformational leaders are able to transform team functioning because viewing oneself or one’s leader as charismatic, inspiring, supportive and considerate has been associated with positive views of the organizational culture and low burnout (Corrigan et al, 2002). In the face of the pervasive workplace diversity today, inclusive leadership can still foster a sense of true inclusion and ownership by valuing and respecting individuals for their talents and contributions, and actively creating a high-engagement culture by encouraging the input and initiative of all employees (Bilimoria, 2012). Understanding the concept of organizational culture is very crucial to organizational psychology because it helps to understand change or resistance to change in organizations (Schein, 1990); all the strategic human resource management activities including recruitment, selection, training, and job design require knowledge of how organizational cultures influence present situations. In the implementation of ERP systems model, certain traits of organizational culture are desirable for the success of the implementation process; top management needs to influence employee’s values, knowledge, and motivation to embrace changes involved in implementation of ERP systems (Welling and Kwok, 2007). Given the increased pressures in the business world, organizations need to take advantage of teamwork to accomplish tasks, deal with turbulent changes, and improve performance; the importance of well-trained and developed teams, and cultivation of teamwork for organizational success cannot be ignored (Hakan, 2012). Organizational leaders need to embrace team leadership strategies to foster positive interactions between organizational leadership and employees that contributes to team communication and collaboration, and leads to enhanced job satisfaction and employees motivation to accomplish organizational tasks (Tsai, 2011). The fundamental components of team effectiveness can be summarized in terms of the cognitive, motivational, affective, and coordination processes; leaders contribute systematically to team effectiveness, and as teams become increasingly experienced and achieve a considerable level of functionality, their employees take over most of the leadership functions (Zaccaro et al, 2001). In view of all these, team leadership is indeed an effective management system and, unlike the traditional bureaucratic systems of management characterized by hierarchical structures, team leadership is more likely to establish positive organizational cultures that foster employee motivation, engagement, and performance while reducing turnover and yielding sustainability for the organization. Courses of Action Insofar as the leadership of Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center (UMMHC) is concerned, two possible courses of action can be taken concerning addressing the current challenges of low employee motivation, engagement, performance, in addition to high turnover. The first possible course of action for UMMHC is to continue with its highly bureaucratic system of leadership and probably strengthen its current hierarchical structures further to create highly differentiated job divisions and high power levels in the organization. With the myriad challenges and uncertainties facing organizations in the fast paced complex business environment, any proposal to implement changes in the organization inevitably leads to unnecessary fear and anxiety among the employees even if the proposed change could yield positive outcomes for the organization. In this regard, employees’ reaction to change is crucial to the strategic direction of organizations; for instance, change programs could lead to either organizational success or risk of organizational failure with negative influences on measures of employee motivation, engagement, and performance. In this regard, UMMHC might want to preserve the status quo by resisting change from its highly hierarchical and bureaucratic management system and leadership style because of the potential risk of failure. However, given the changing business environments in response to increased competition, fast paced technological advances, among other market pressures, highly structured bureaucratic management structures are inevitably been rendered ineffective. UMMHC is not likely to achieve any positive outcomes on employee motivation, engagement, performance, and turnover by preserving the status quo; therefore, a different approach in leadership of the UMMHC management is highly desirable. The ineffectiveness of the traditional bureaucratic structures of management and consequent inability to address the current challenges bedeviling UMMHC today leads us to explore an alternative course of action that can yield solutions for the organization. The alternative course of action at the organization’s disposal is to consider a shift from its current bureaucratic leadership with highly hierarchical structures to a more team oriented leadership style. Team leadership entails encouraging employee engagement and input towards the realization of organizational goals and objectives by establishing a positive workplace culture that encourages equal participation through recognition of individual employee talents and capabilities. Team leadership is more likely to yield positive organizational outcomes in form of improved employee motivation, engagement, performance, in addition to sustained growth and success for the organization because employees feel closer to the organization, hence are encouraged to accomplish organizational tasks. Team leadership is highly effective in fostering change in the organizational culture at the workplace because it inculcates positive team values that encourage collectiveness in the pursuit of organizational goals and objectives. In this regard, team leadership is likely to yield a positive change in the organizational culture at UMMHC thus fostering improved employee motivation, engagement and, performance. Recommendation The Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center needs to address the current challenges of low employee motivation, engagement, and performance, while reducing the high measure of employee turnover to attain a sustainable measure of growth and success. These challenges are real, not only for the Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center, but also for all the organizations operating in the current highly complex and fast changing business environment. The most effective recommendation both for UMMHC and all other organizations seeking to solve these challenges is a change of the workplace culture through team leadership. A considerable body of literature in this area suggests that a change in the organizational culture is inevitable in the face of the turbulent forces acting on organizations in the business environment; organizations have no choice but to change, to adapt to the many changes in their macro and microenvironments. Team leadership fosters the development of positive team values such as collectivism and team spirit that encourages employees to achieve great measures of motivation, engagement, and performance at the workplace. The organization on the other hand gains from team leadership through increased output, low employee turnover, and increased competitiveness in view of the increased competition among other market pressures that constrain organizational functionality. The current workplace culture at UMMHC is ill adjusted to effect the successful implementation of organizational goals and objectives because the organization’s highly structured management system is counteracting its strategic management. According to the current situation analysis, employees derive little satisfaction from working for the organization, which consequently leads to low motivation, engagement, and performance, in addition to high turnover. It is clear that team leadership holds the solution to UMMHC’s current problems because it will lead to a positive change that is long overdue in the organization’s workplace culture. Implementation Strategy Change in the workplace culture is a process rather than an overnight achievement, and the successful implementation of change programs requires adequate planning in the form of an implementation strategy that outlines the crucial steps of action. Firstly, UMMHC needs to create an effective leadership strategy that stipulates the organizations implicit and explicit leadership choices concerning its believes and practices, its people and systems; this leadership strategy functions as the organization’s blueprint for meeting operational objectives. Secondly, UMMHC will have to transform its leadership culture first to be able to transform the workplace culture; the organization’s executive team will have to take the lead in motivating a cultural change by modeling the desirable behaviors they want the employees to emulate. Thirdly, the UMMHC management needs to learn and consult widely to get profound perspectives on issues; seeking the input of others by establishing and encouraging dialogue will more likely yield root causes and alternatives for addressing them permanently. At this point, the management of UMMHC needs to establish action development teams that will implement the organization’s strategy while developing the organization’s leadership culture and talent; action development teams of senior leaders with high potential will tackle critical and complex challenges identified by the business strategy of the organization. Finally, the UMMHC management needs to align talent processes by hiring employees that match the desired future state of the organization rather than those that fit in the current status quo; such employees will be those that are willing to transcend their perceived inner limitations to achieving greater outcomes with strong collaborative mindsets. By following the implementation strategy outlined above, the management of Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center will be able to attain a positive culture change at the workplace, thereby promoting employee motivation, engagement, and performance, while reducing turnover and attaining sustainability for the organization. Conclusion The complex and fast changing business environment in response to globalization, increased competition, and technological advances, among other market pressures have necessitated a change in organizational management approaches to address the challenges and to foster sustainability. There is no doubt that there exists a positive correlation between the organizational leadership culture, workplace culture, and the measures of employee motivation, engagement, and performance; by fostering a change in the workplace culture through team leadership, organizations are able to foster positive workplace relationships, enhanced team communication and consequently, increased employee motivation, engagement and performance. This conclusion is consistent with a considerable body of knowledge that is found in the breadth and width of the literature reviewed in this paper concerning this subject today, and it is supported by the pervasive interest by both academicians and practitioners in the concept of culture change and its complex interrelationships with leadership culture. The Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center and all other organizations in the highly competitive and fast-paced business world have no choice but to consider a change in their workplace culture to attain sustainability. Culture change holds the solution to most of the challenges faced by organizations today such as low employment motivation, engagement, and performance, in addition to high turnover; however, effective culture change at the workplace requires a shift from the highly structured bureaucratic leadership to a more team-based leadership strategy. Team leadership is highly recommended for addressing the myriad challenges bedeviling the Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center and fostering the organization’s sustainability in the turbulent business environment. Overall, culture change at the workplace is a continuous process that needs adequate planning for effective implementation of the change program; for effective implementation of change, the Upper Mississippi Mental Health Center may want to consider following the implementation strategy outlined in this paper. UMMHC should first create a leadership strategy with implicit and explicit business choices, and begin the transformation process by first transforming the executive team; UMMHC should then consult through dialogue, establish action development teams, and align talent processes by hiring employees who match the organization’s desired future state requirements. References McGuire J.B, et al (2009), Transforming Your Organization. Global Organizational Development White Paper Series. Center for Creative Leadership. Retrieved from http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/solutions/TYO.pdf Jones, D. (2012). The way we do things around here: The role of leadership teams in shaping progressive organizational cultures. Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Psychodrama Association Journal, No. 21: 53-63. Schaubroeck J, Lam, S K, & Cha, S E (2007). Embracing transformational leadership: Team values and the impact of leader behavior on team performance. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 92(4), 1020-1030. Bilimoria, D. (2012). Inclusive Leadership. Leadership Excellence, 29(3), 13. Schein, E H (1990). Organizational culture. American Psychologist, 45(2), 109-119. Hakan, E. (2012) "The impact of organizational culture on the relationship between shared leadership and team proactivity", Team Performance Management, Vol. 18: 1/2, pp.102 - 119 Tsai, Y. (2011), Relationship between Organizational Culture, Leadership Behavior and Job Satisfaction. BMC Health Services Research, 11:98. Weiling, K. and Kwok, K.W. (2008), Organizational culture and leadership in ERP implementation. Decision Support Systems, Volume 45, Issue 2, Pages 208–218. Corrigan P W et al, (2002), Transformational Leadership and the mental health team. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, Vol. 30, No. 2. Zaccaro et al (2001), Team Leadership. The Leadership Quarterly 12; 451–483. Read More