Creating the Right Corporate Culture - Case Study Example

The Running Head: Cultures    Your name:   Course name:             Professors’ name: Date: Organizational culture found in the field of organizational studies and management in any organization that is found in many companies in the country. Organizational culture in any organization, it entails; psychology, beliefs, personal values and cultural values of different people in an organization which they are employed or working for that organization. But sometimes, it can be described as different norms and values of people, and these values and norms are shared by employees in that organization, sometimes this norms and values usually determines how an employee will interact with his/her fellow workers or other stakeholders in other companies that are outside the organization. This meaning of organizational culture in an organization can be explained further as; what kinds of goals an employee should pursue, and the appropriate behavior which have been set by the organization in order for its employee to achieve those goals. “Employees can achieve the set up goals in the organization if guidelines have been laid down to control any situations and employee may found himself, while working in that organization” (Carmazzi 2007). According to Deal and Kennedy definition of organizational culture is; “the way work get done in an organization” (Deal and Kennedy 1982). Organizations in any company is measured in respect of many factors such as; the feedback the organization gets from it client, risks the organization go through while doing business, and lastly, the ‘macho’ culture for that organization, the work hard and play hard culture which an organization has employed as part of it policy. Feedback; can be explained as the instant response an organization gets from its clients or customers, and this could be in terms of monetary terms, “feedback can also be seen as the impact of a great save in a hockey match” (Deal and Kennedy 1982). Risks mean the degree of uncertainty that is found in the organization. This factor is divided into four classifications, and this are; ‘tough-guy macho’ which stand for getting quick reward and the company expect a higher reward. “Tough- guy macho culture is mostly found in fast moving financial activities such as dealing with shares in the stocks exchange, “but sometimes can be applied in the sports team of any kind” (Deal and Kennedy 1982). While the ‘work hard-play hard’ culture is usually characterized with companies wanting to take few risk in their operations. Most of large companies in the country usually use this type of culture because they want to provide quality services to their customers. Departmental meetings are characteristics of these big companies where big decisions are taken, “but implementations f those decisions may take years to be felts, or they may be involved in projects which many years to come it fruits may be seen” (Deal and Kennedy 1982). Lastly, process culture is where in a company there is little or no feedback at all. In this situation in an organization, employees are obsessed on how things are done in the company, but not what they can achieve while working in the company and this policy is mostly associated with bureaucracies. This policy usually does not produce the result, for example, working for the government. According to Charles Handy (1985) who brought the work of Roger Harrison (1972) into the limelight, in the past many educational scholars used to link organizational culture and organizational structure in a company as one. In the works of Charles he goes further to explain the Harrison theory which is, power culture, role culture, task culture and person culture” (Handy 1985). In power culture, decision making (power) in a company is concentrated among a few people, it behave like a web in which power and influence in an organization, radiates from a central figure such as management in a company to other places. In this case management in an organization will desire personal relationships with his/her staff under him/her, and in this case any formal title of a person would not matter much. “The advantage of this is that it has little bureaucracy and swift decisions can be ensured in a company” (Handy 1985). Employees in a role culture have a well defined authority and also the structures in the company are well defined, In a task culture in an organization, departmental teams are usually formed to solve specific problems that affect the organization. This way power is usually derived from the expertise of a person as long as the company requires the expertise of that person and is usually consists of small team approaches, which have skills and experience in their own job markets. Lastly, personal culture only exists in a situation when employees in an organization feel they are superior to the company. In such companies where person culture is rampant, it will be difficult for a company to survive because every person will have his/her own goal towards the organization and the company goal will be put in the back seat. There are some sections of the writers which are biased because some people believe culture cannot be changed and that to them it is unethical.. Culture change sometimes will be affected by the external environmental changes. For example, “the behavior of a clientele may change and this will make the company to change” (Carmazzi 2007). The most realistic representation of organizational culture is Deal and Kennedy culture change and every company should advocate for that to implement in their employees. In the office environment where consensus building is based on the people working in the company, this in return usually creates trust between the individuals working in that company. When trust is created between employees in a company, it will act as a driving force for employees to change. When a company want it employee to change, it must give the workers time to change, thus they must allow their workers to set direction and details for that change- employee empowerment. Instead of forcing their employee to embrace change by the use of force, the company should provide training to its employees so that they can develop new skills that will help the company. According to Deal and Kennedy (1982), managers in an organization should be both the bearers and promoter of culture change. “Changing culture in an organization in light of these factors stated in the Deal and Kennedy, the concept should involve a planning and schematically execution” (Parker 2000). When there is strong cultural values in an organization, employees will respond to stimulus because most workers will like to be associate themselves to these organizational values. Employees tend to do things because they believe it is the right doing them, but sometimes a problem may arise for this- ‘group thinking’; this is a situation whereby people will think alike and they may not be in a position to challenge the company thinking. The effect of group thinking is that; the will be reduced capacity for innovative skills among the employees in the company. For example, where there is a central figure in an organization, his/her word will be final because there will be no one to object his/her idea/thinking. “According to Charles Handy, he mostly concentrated on power in an organization, but in reality his approach to power cannot work in most companies” (Parker 2000). For a company to compete effectively with other companies, organizational structures should be flattered, this will mean decentralizing power and employee in an organization are given greater sense of independence. There is the need to tackle bureaucracy which is brought about by power, because most of the people are being discouraged when a lot of power has been given to only few individuals. In conclusion, companies should start to adopt human resource, as to compare to management practices. Management in a company must start treating its employees as their most valuable resource In conclusion, it is important for companies to know how to manage organizational culture in their organization because when they do that, they can use that to the company advantage when they are trying to compete with other organization. This will also ensure that organization objectives and visions will be understood by the company’s employers and this will be easier to be implemented by employees in the companies. Companies knowing their organizational culture will motivate its employees to be hard working because they can see and feel the level of returns the company is achieving. Lastly, it will be easier during the time of decision making process in the organization and this will not bring confusion in the company between the management and its workers. . Bibliography Carmazzi, A.F. (2007) The Psychology of Creating the Right Corporate Culture, Veritas Publishing. Deal T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. (1982) Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books. Handy, C.B. (1985) Understanding Organizations, 3rd Edn, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books Parker, M. (2000) Organizational Culture and Identity, London: Sage Publisher. Read More