The significance of a cohesive culture to organisational performance - Essay Example

?Report ID numbers: Unit Unit submitted Table of Contents Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….iiTable of Contents ii Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….ii ii Introduction 1 Organizational Culture 2 Changes that need to be implemented by Management 3 Maintenance of Workplace Relations 4 Organizational Leadership 4 Teamwork 4 Employee Motivation 5 Career Mobility 5 Recommendations for the implementation of Changes 6 Adoption of a Leadership Strategy that Promotes a Cohesive Organizational Culture 6 Establishment of Workplace Relations 7 Promotion of Teamwork 7 Identifying Development Needs 7 Control of Employee Turnover 8 Enhancement of Employee Welfare 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to underscore the significance of a cohesive culture to organizational performance. Some of the positive aspects of a strong organizational culture such as enhancement of problem solving capacity and unity among employees have been discussed. Organizational leadership has also been identified as an element of organizational culture, with incompetent leadership hindering the presence of a cohesive culture. Authoritarian leadership has been highlighted as a possible cause of unethical behavior among employees. The report discusses several changes that are necessary in the workplace of BSG Ltd. to enhance commitment and productivity among the employees. Changes such as improvement of workplace relations, teamwork, employee motivation, career mobility, workplace learning and strong leadership strategies have been highlighted. All these changes point towards the establishment of a cohesive culture that can help the management of this company to address the emerging issues in the workplace. Some recommendations regarding the implementation of the highlighted changes in the workplace have been put forward in the report. They include; adoption of a leadership strategy that promotes a cohesive organizational culture, establishment of workplace relations, promotion of teamwork, identification of development needs, control of employee turnover and enhancement of employee welfare. The need to take the workers’ interests in to consideration in the course of change has been emphasized. The conclusion portrays the learning outcomes of the report regarding the need for a cohesive organizational culture. The changes and recommendations that need to be adopted by the company have been noted as a general picture of what a cohesive organizational culture entails. The group prefers employee focused leadership in the organization as indicated in the conclusion. Introduction This report addresses some issues that have emerged in BSG Ltd. leading to a fall in the profits of the organization below projections for the last two years in light of aggressive competition and a declining economy. The results of a culture/employee attitude survey in the organization indicated lack of cohesion amongst employees, low levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, low levels of trust between management and employees, poor team work, and a belief by many that there was little opportunity for advancement. An analysis of company data for the year ending 2010 revealed a 30% increase in pilfering, in both warehouse stocks, and stationery supplies. Staff turnover is an issue also, up by 15% in year ending 2010. The benefits of a strong cohesive culture have been emphasized, as well as the changes that need to be implemented by management to this workplace. Some recommendations have been put forward in regard to the implementation of the changes to make them acceptable by the workforce. Organizational Culture Hofstede defined culture as a tool that the mind applies to guide a person’s day to day activities and interactions with others. He portrayed culture as a collective aspect that occupies a particular social environment where individuals learn unique norms and also develop standards that guide their behavior. Creating a healthy organizational culture is important in promoting success in a business organization (Hofstede 1991). It is necessary for managers to balance their attention by not only concentrating on profit maximization but also on efforts to create a good organization culture that defines shared values, beliefs as well as the expectations of how members of an organization are supposed to behave (Schein 2000). It helps in creating a harmonious environment for doing business by defining how the organization conducts its activities thus maintaining cohesion between employees and the management at all levels. A strong organizational culture allows systematic problem solving. Khan et al. (2010, p 56) observed that “ability to measure organizational culture can help organizations and their managers to assess and examine organizational culture to improve performance” A strong cohesive culture promotes unity among employees thereby enhancing organizational performance. It promotes positive inter-personal relationships that are necessary in developing strong work teams (Nahapiet & Ghoshal 1998). Teams may or may not be effective depending on their formation and leadership. Successful teamwork is characterized by a high team spirit in which every member is contented and willing to take part in accomplishing the assigned tasks. Moreover, Bhatt (2002) argued that employees working in a successful team tend to be enthusiastic about identifying with it. They demonstrate loyalty to its leadership and willingness to work together. Members are usually focused on the accomplishment of a shared vision and own the objectives of the team, which are derived from the overall organizational goals. For this reason, organizations that promote strong teamwork are able to maintain competitiveness through offering effective services to the customers (Tjosvold & Smith 2003). Authoritarian leadership leads to the emergence of fishy activities such as absenteeism from the workplace and low morale among other unethical practices. Employees may also tend to conceal their personal development activities such as other part time jobs that may affect their performance in the workplace while the managers assume that they are fully devoted to the accomplishment of organizational goals (Luthans & Stajkovic, 1999). In other words, even if the organizational culture denies employees the opportunity for personal and career development activities, they are still likely to engage in them without the knowledge of the managers resulting to low productivity. Lack of a cohesive culture influences employee turnover, which is detrimental to an organization’s productivity and reputation. It is usually costly to hire and train new employees to become competent in the workplace. The organization looses skilled employees to competitors, and more so, skills attained from the organization. It may be a great loss to the organization especially when an employee exposes company information to competitors (Derek 2007). The future projections may not be realized if the organization relied on training an employee to attain a particular goal in future. Customers may loose confidence in the organization due to disruption in service delivery especially when the departing employees were at strategic positions of service delivery. Other customers build their trust on particular employees especially for the services that require one-on-one relationships. They might not be willing to begin a new relationship with other employees in the organization (Hatch & Cunliffe 2006). Changes that need to be implemented by Management According to Szamosi and Duxbury (2002 p 184), for change to be accomplished, the interests of people in the entire organization are important regardless of whether the change affects them directly or indirectly. Kotter (2001) argues that managers make the mistake of forcing the changes to give the results that they expect, rather than allowing the change to yield even the unexpected. In other words, if the process does not result in what the managers would like to see, it is thought to be a failure. This prevents the management from exploring new opportunities presented by the changes. The following are a number of changes that need to be implemented by management to this workplace; Maintenance of Workplace Relations Harmonious relations in the workplace are important for the maintenance of employee competence. This involves team building to enhance productivity among employees by ensuring that they work as a group that is focused on the accomplishment of organizational goals. It helps in building confidence among them. Work place relations allow the unification of the various departments in the workplace so that each individual is able to own the organizational objectives (Luthans & Stajkovic, 1999). Strong relations help in ice breaking amongst the employees to foster free and effective sharing of information. This involves ensuring that the employees understand each other and therefore can not reserve essential information that can be useful in enhancing the accomplishment of organizational goals. Organizational Leadership Organizational leadership is also a significant factor that influences the relationship between top management and employees. Leadership in this company needs to be motivated by the need to gain support from the employees as well as generating excitement in the workplace. Its development should involve significant persuasion and regular interaction among the employees and the management to enhance understanding in the work processes. The organization’s leaders should sell their ideas and manifestos to the workforce for support rather than commanding them to adhere to laid down rules (Kotter 2001). Leadership in this workplace therefore should be focused on establishment of good relationships with employees so as to enhance commitment, which may be difficult to achieve through an authoritarian approach. Teamwork Poor team work may be associated with incompetent leadership in the organization. Enhancing satisfaction among team members through allowing flexible work practices is important so as to allow them to plan their own tasks and also come up with creative ideas that generate enthusiasm in the team. Workers communicate better when they work as a team in the workplace. More over, the work teams are capable of effectively communicating with the management. Strong teams are useful in knowledge sharing and innovativeness. Team building results in better quality work as people can solve problems through joint efforts (Schrader & Lawless, 2004). Employees are motivated by feeling as part of a larger group that is aimed at accomplishing a common goal. They are therefore motivated to be supportive to the team since its failure or success is for all (Hitt et al. 2005). Teamwork promotes interactions in the workplace and also allows the management to understand the employees’ desires. Competence is usually accomplished when the employees feel that they are treated in a fair manner. When they realize that the management shares a common objective with them through team building and that the team’s views are appreciated, they feel as part of the organization and can work hard to achieve a shared vision. Such a work force is easy to lead (Hoe 2003). Employee Motivation Motivation acts as an external stimulus to accomplishment of tasks by employees in the workplace. It can be achieved through generating high expectations among the employees, encouragement through reasonable treatment, enhancing satisfaction of employee needs, participatory goal setting, as well as performance and reward management in the organization (Mullins 2007). Hitt et al. (2005) observes that rewards are not the only motivators in for employees; some may be motivated by job security; others are motivated by opportunities for career development while others are focused on self actualization among other motivators. For example, when employees are able to accomplish a work-life balance, they are able to plan on what to do during their free time, which gives them time to deal with their social matters away from the workplace. But an employee who suffers from stress due to social issues is likely to perform poorly regardless of the financial gains from the daily workplace tasks (Mullins 2007). Career Mobility Competence among employees is maintained through ensuring that they have hopes to advance in their careers. The morale of employees decreases when they work in the same position over a long period of time. Employees work harder to move up the ladder through promotions, hence the human resource managers need to ensure that promotions are awarded for good performance (Luthans & Stajkovic, 1999). Multinational companies use this strategy especially when identifying the employees who are competent to be given the privilege of heading departments in foreign subsidiaries. The strategy is useful in determining the workers who are self driven and who can represent the organization with minimum supervision. Additional responsibilities act as indicators of trust in employees, which is likely to improve their commitment (Hoe 2003). Workplace Learning Exposing the employees to opportunities outside the workplace is an important tool that encourages them to be competent. This acts as an indicator to the employees that they are not prisoners in the work place. When the management organizes trips outside the workplace, the employees are exposed to learning opportunities that are important in opening up their minds to think in a different way (Schrader & Lawless 2004). This is a significant strategic human resource practice. Recommendations for the implementation of Changes Adoption of a Leadership Strategy that Promotes a Cohesive Organizational Culture Likert established four leadership styles that are significant in influencing people to accomplish organizational goals. These include; exploitive and benevolent authoritative styles, consultative and participative styles (Kouzes & Posner 2007). Benevolent authoritative style is a significant approach to leadership that is focused on maintaining high commitment through generating enthusiasm and interest. Rewards are used as a means for encouraging effective performance. By putting the desires of colleagues in to consideration, there is a high possibility of generating satisfaction among them and hence they can easily be influenced to undertake tasks effectively. Consultative style involves the down-up decision making. The employees are involved in the decision making process whereby they raise issues regarding the manner in which they would like to undertake their tasks. This generates satisfaction and the willingness to accomplish goals. Participative style involves working with employees in accomplishing tasks. Leaders in the organization should demonstrate skillfulness through participating in some day to day activities. This style is encouraging and it is possible to influence workers to accomplish tasks especially due to the leaders’ participation (Mullins 2007). Establishment of Workplace Relations Strong relationships with team members as well as moral support facilitate problem identification and establishment of solutions in the workplace. Rewards encourage the team members to work harder to meet the performance target (Luthans & Stajkovic, 1999). The management should promote shared organizational goals thereby enabling workers to envisage what is expected of them. The organization’s mission needs to be straightforward and understandable among members of the organization. Promotion of Teamwork The structure of the organizational teams is also a major determinant of their success. Hoe (2003) observes that the capabilities of individuals in a team have to match their roles for objectives to be accomplished. The correct matching of individuals to the right job is achieved through personality profiling, which enhances the team’s development and fast maturity. Job matching is significant in talent management and also leads to job satisfaction and maintenance of the morale of the team members among other benefits. On the other hand, a successful team follows a set of rules that govern its operations, which must be adhered to by the members. The standards of performance need to be set based on the organizational values and norms (Luthans & Stajkovic, 1999). The management needs to ensure that the organization’s teams participate in setting their own standards of performance rather than coercing them to adhere to predetermined standards. Workers tend to discover and expand their knowledge when they develop their own convenient ways of accomplishing tasks, which is important for the organization due to increased effectiveness. Identifying Development Needs The management needs to establish the level of self awareness among employees, which is an important strategy that can be applied to meet their development needs. It involves individual understanding of oneself as different from the perceptions of self at a particular time (Hitt et al. 2005). Self awareness and knowledge is significant in the determination of individual talents and competences. Once people discover their talents, they are able to participate in accomplishment of the shared goals. It is also important for people to discover their self identity, which needs to be established to enhance the confidence to perform. Hatch and Cunliffe (2006) observe that identifying talents among employees is significant for their utilization and development. For example in the contemporary workplace, teams accomplish tasks effectively through identifying and combining individual talents. Once the employee potentials are discovered, the management can develop strategies for improvement. Understanding the employees’ ambitions and dreams helps the management to establish ways of enhancing their accomplishment. The training and development needs of employees are accomplished when the human resource managers identify their competence as well as the areas that need improvement. Control of Employee Turnover Human resource managers need to ensure that the employee turn over is not contagious. When workers leave organizations, it is likely that their workmates realize that they too may fall in to the same problem. High employees turn over lowers the confidence and morale in the work place (Morris 2002). When an organization is capable of retaining skilled employee through worker satisfaction, skilled employees join the organization, thereby improving its productivity. Strategic human resources is therefore important in maintaining employee competency through setting up employee satisfaction objectives such as work life balance, flexible work practices, allowing personal and career development among other practices that can help in retaining skilled employees in the organization. Enhancement of Employee Welfare The welfare of employees should be enhanced through appointing a leader among them to whom they should report their needs. A counseling department should also be established to help employees to cope with difficulties that may arise from issues outside the workplace. This can assist the management to develop ethical behavior among the employees thereby solving the problem of pilferage in the workplace. The quality of life of the employees should be enhanced to ensure that a work-life balance is accomplished. This is significant in the improvement of employee satisfaction and hence improved performance (Hatch & Cunliffe 2006). Conclusion A healthy organizational culture can help the management to enhance the company’s performance. On the other hand, lack of a cohesive culture may influence employee turnover thereby lowering productivity. Several changes need to be implemented by management taking in to consideration the interests of employees while focusing on the organizational goals. The changes include; Maintenance of strong workplace relations and teamwork to enhance cohesion among employees, motivation of employees to be devoted to their work, enhancing career mobility and workplace learning to enhance trust and commitment among employees. These changes in the company’s workplace need to be implemented in a way that will enhance their acceptance by the workforce. The view of this group is that employee focused leadership is necessary to enhance commitment in the company. References Bhatt, G. D. 2002 “Management strategies for individual knowledge and organizational knowledge”, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 6(1) pp 31-39. Derek, T., Laura, H. & Stephen, T. 2008 Human Resource Management, 7th Ed. Hatch, M. J. & Cunliffe, A. L. 2006 Organization Theory: Modern, Symbolic, and Postmodern Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. & Colella, A. 2005 Organizational Behavior: A Strategic Approach, Indianapolis: Wiley Hoe, S. 2003 “Understanding Organizational Culture”, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 24(2), pp 100-110 Hofstede, G. 1991 Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1991. Khan I. U, Usoro A, Majewski G, Kuofie M, 2010, “An Organisational Culture Model for Comparative Studies: A Conceptual View”, International Journal of Global Business, 3(1), pp 53-82. Kotter, J., 2001 Force For Change: how Leadership Differs from Management, Free Press. Kouzes, J. M. & Posner B. Z. 2007 The leadership challenge, Wiley Luthans, F., Stajkovic, A. D. 1999 Reinforce for Performance: The Need to go beyond Pay and even rewards. Academy of Management Executive 13(2) pp 49-57. 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