How Does Organizational Change Manifest Organizational Behavior - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: MANAGEMENT How Does Organizational Change Manifest Organizational Behavior of the of the of theProfessor] [Course] Abstract Every organization has a unique culture and climate that affects the behaviour and attitudes of people working for it. The role of organizational culture in influencing and affecting the behavior and attitude of people has been immense often driven by wide arrays of internal and external factors. Organizations across the world thrive for success that can only be achieved through effective use of human resources adding desired value. The role of security agencies and government organizations is all the more important in developing an innovative and positive organizational culture and climate to enhance the skills sets of its employees along with adding value to the social environment. The discussion aims at highlighting the organizational change in context to Turkish National Police of Malatya Security Directorate manifesting organization behavior in the short as well as in the long run. The discussion also aims at assessing and analyzing the organizational culture, structure and behaviour leading to changes and transformation in the Turkish National Police. For this purpose, case study of Malatya Security Directorate has been analyzed based on surveys conducted on the employees of Malatya Security Directorate to identify the impact of changes in the organizational structure, behaviour and culture. The Turkish National Police Academy was founded in the year 1937 operating as a one year in service training institute offering higher education to educate and train junior and senior constables. Later, the organization introduced a number of educational programs offering wide arrays of training and education courses to develop a team of effective man power willing to put their best foot forward for the success and development of the economy. The diversity of personal resources and different training programs have boosted the organizational learning along with making it one of the most innovative public organization offering great platform to a number of employees. Literature Analysis Franklin and Pagan (2006, p- 52-73) stated that organizational culture is a set of values and beliefs that guides employees on how and when to perform a task. It also states what kind of behavior is expected from the employees and accordingly behaviour should be moulded to fit into the organization’s structure. However, there is a great difference between the perceived behavior and actual behaviour. There is no guarantee or assurance that employees would think and behave in an expected manner. Behaviours are driven by the impact of internal and external factors and thus would differ from what the organization dictates. Organizational culture is the supreme force that shapes the behavior, attitude and understanding of employees within the organization. Culture is a set of rules and values shared amongst the employees. The organizational culture shapes employees perceptions and ideologies along with striking the right cord with the ideologies and beliefs of the organization. Organizational culture can be considered as a psychological contract between the employees and the employer based on few formal and informal rules and regulations. There is no denying that behavior and attitude is shaped by the culture and the organization is responsible to offer a positive shape based on ethically accepted principles and norms to create long term mutual support and benefits. The organizational culture of the Turkish National Police is different from that of private companies based on informal communication and approach. The Turkish National Police Administration’s culture is centralized, paramilitary and semi bureaucratic that suggests that employees are supposed to think and behave as per the written and prescribed rules of the organization. This kind of approach may attract conflicts of ideas and understanding that might not shape employee’s mind in a desired manner. However, there is a need of modification in the organizational culture and structure to promote democratic elements empowering people rights and emotions. Organizational Structure of Turkish National Police The organizational structure of Turkish National Police is based on centralized administrative system where the top management has the power to make decisions. This may affect future innovative strategies and tactics and programs. This clearly states that the power and authority is limited with little power and authority at the other end. This kind of system often limits the ideas and proposals of others as the top management is responsible for taking decisions, making changes and implementing policies (Ozedemir, Erdem, 2011, p- 317-329). The organization has been seeking organizational changes from last 2 decades that was strengthened with a number of new recruits possessing great knowledge and skills.The organization expected new recruits to share their innovative ideas and thinking with the top level managers in order to create participatory approach of management often allowing people to participate through exchange of ideas and information. The discussion aims at highlighting the attributes of organizational culture and structure of the Turkish National Police by applying the results and findings based on the research conducted at Malatya Security Directorate. The case study highlighted the need and extent of changes required in the Turkish National Police to make it more democratic and innovative in terms of managing human resources along with creating value in the due process. It needs to be mentioned that what individual learn from a particular environment and culture is visible in their actions and behavior. It is important to shape behaviours and attitude as per the social norms embedded with innovation and adaptability. This requires a highly motivated learning environment offering freedom of speech and expression along with a feeling of being responsible and accepted in the organizational structure. It is important to assess the hierarchy structure and mode of operations of the Turkish National Police to analyze its culture’s influence over the employees. The hierarchical structure of the organization is pretty broad and masculine as in the case of most of the law enforcement organizations. There are 11 ranks from the line officer to the director general that constructs a tall hierarchy ladder. There are about 194,000 police officers and 11,000 police mangers along with 20,000 civilian people handling and managing clerical tasks. There are also 81 provincial directorates under the Turkish National Police. This makes the whole hierarchy ladder quite tall and stuffed. On top of that with a semi centralized approach; oftentimes, it is hard to introduce smooth flow of information and ideas from all ends. This can be considered as a worrisome situation for the organization willing to embrace changes in order to be more innovative and positive in handling and managing a number of human resources possessing great skills and knowledge. The organization needs to use the existing knowledge and skills of these individuals in bringing changes along with making them an integral part of the organizational culture, beliefs and values. Over the years, the confidence of people in the Turkish people has also increased and credit should go the policies and programs of the organization guiding individuals to become trained officers and using their skills and knowledge honed over a period of time spent learning. This clearly shows that changes have been of great utility and significance while moulding the behaviour and attitude of people. In this case, it can be said that the organization also changed its behaviour and attitude by modifying its culture and structure; a step that was long due to inject new life to the existing organizational structure (Steen, 2010, p- 617-648). As per the study on the Turkish National Police Administration in 2010, 64% of Turkish citizens perceived Turkish Police to be trustworthy and faithful while 13% assumed them as frightening. Overall, the positive perception has been prevailing amongst the Turkish citizens and there must be some contribution of the culture and structure of the organization in shaping employees behavior, attitude, habits, perceptions and ideologies in the social environment. An Overview of the Malatya Security Directorate Malatya Security Directorate offers policing services to more than 400,000 people located in the Malatya Province located in the eastern Turkey. It has more than 2000 sworn officers put of which more than 170 are managers. It receives sworn officers from the first region of the country. It is one of the most popular organizations in the second region of the country compared to other organizations. The primary reason behind this status is its better social, economic, educational and environmental conditions attracting a number of police officers equipped with great skills and knowledge qualifying for the job compared to other second region security directorates. The number of sworn officers and managers in Malatya Security Directorate is quite less compared to the Turkish National Police Administration. This also makes the whole hierarchy ladder much compact and easy to manage and use in an effective and efficient manner. As the primary of the discussion is to assess the organizational culture and structure of the Turkish National Police Administration based on the case study of Malatya Security Directorate, it is important to assess the research process and methods used in collecting and analyzing the opinions of respondents. Primary data were collected from the police officers during in service training course through survey questionnaire forms. The research followed descriptive method of the research embedded with qualitative and quantitative analysis. The use of SPSS software further helped in analyzing the data statistically. Overall, the centralization in Malatya Security Directorate along with other elements and factors were assessed in a critical and analytical manner to identify the role of the organizational culture and structure in shaping behavior and attitude of people in the form of employees/officers. The researcher combined two sets of questionnaires; one on “Hage and Aiken Formalization Theory” and the other on “Hage and Aiken Scale of Hierarchy of Authority” to measure centralization in the organization. The research analyzed four dimensions; job codification, rule observation, formalization and hierarchy of authority often concerned with the degree of centralization or decentralization. These dimensions were used to measure the behavior control, degree of centralization and formalization and authority in the organization that often affects and influence the behavior and attitude of people within the organization. The questionnaire was based on the Likert Scale allowing respondents to highlight the degree of their agreement and non-agreement in an effective manner. Result higher than 3 concluded that there is more centralization and formalization in the organization while results less than 3 concluded that there is less centralization and formalization in the organization. It can be assumed that increased level of behavioral control through centralization and formalization attracts little participation from the respondents along with causing less motivation amongst the employees. Sample Data The sample size constitutes 219 respondents. Out of which 13 are females and 213 are males. The 94% of the sample is police officer and remaining 6% is police mangers and most respondents have an experience of between 6 to 10 years in Turkish National Police Administration. Survey Results for, job codification, rule observation, routine work and centralization Factors Mean Std Deviation Cronbach’s Alpha Job codification 2.79 .65 .68 Rule Observation 3.55 .72 .55 Routine Work 3.45 .54 .76 Centralization 3.4 .71 882 The job codification involves rules and regulations where the mean is less than 3 (Neutral) suggesting there is no rigid job rules and procedures in the organization. The rule observation has a mean of 3.55 that is higher than the neutral mean suggesting the management observes the work and contribution level of the employees in an effective manner. The routine work along with the level of centralization is also assessed by the management as per the mean score suggesting the organization is moderately centralized along with a slight formalization. Job codification included five items where the mean was not more than 3 suggesting the organization does not force people toward a specific direction through rigid rules and guidance. These items included. In order to analyze wide arrays of factors offering deep insight over the job codification, centralization, rule observation and the routine work, this particular discussion does not analyze other items and elements associated with these elements as this would have restricted the study over Malatya Security Directorate rather than relating it with the Turkish National Police Administration. The second part of the analysis is based on the evaluation and analysis of the centralization. The mean score of 3.4 suggests that there is not much rigidness in the hierarchy level of the organization and the degree of hierarchy of authority is not restricted. It can be assumed that the organization is not managed and governed by individuals as power is not restricted to a single individual. At the same time, it cannot be assumed that the power is exercised by everyone in the organization. The study and analysis only suggests that the level of centralization is quite moderate compared to other government organizations often thwarting the mental progress of employees by snatching freedom of speech and expression up to an extent in terms of sharing ideas and views. There is no denying that low level of centralization motivates employees requiring a change in the organizational culture and structure to shape the attitude and behavior of employees in a positive manner adding more value to the existing system. Comparison and Understanding The Turkish National Police organization is quite big and large in terms of human resources compared to the Malatya Security Directorate organization. However, Malatya Security Directorate organization is desired and admired by a number of human resources because of its culture and diversity. There is little job codification but higher rule observation along with a moderate centralization policy as proven by the conducted research. On the other hand, the Turkish National Police Administration has high job codification embedded with high level of centralization. The Malatya Security Directorate has high probability of finding more skilled human resources compared to other provincial police organizations. The employees of the Malatya Security Directorate aim for the second region assignment in the Turkish National Police. After analyzing the case study, it can be assumed that the quality of human resources in the Malatya Security Directorate would be of high quality compared to the Turkish National Police Administration based on job codification, rule observation and centralization policies. The Malatya Security Directorate Organization is not a rigidly and formalized organization but can be assumed as semi centralized that shows employees have freedom of speech and expression to share their ideas and views. There are no strict behavioral control measures and policies that allow employees to be participative and compassionate in nature. However, there is a need of introducing more participative approach in the organization culture and structure to make it a bit more flexible in nature along with offering more opportunities for maturation of its employees. There is a need of minimizing centralized behavioral control rooted in the culture and structure of the organization at the higher level. This is one of the most common problems prevailing in a number of governmental organizations offering little value to employees in terms of being matured and independent enough to contribute in the administrative decisions of the organization. Initiating Changes to Influence Behavior and Attitude It is important to bring practical changes within the organization rather than waiting developing and pondering over the theoretical framework. For this purpose, there is a need to assess the culture and structure of the organization along with associating employees in developing an acceptable change process or program. A change program or process should include the following: (Ven, Sunm, 2011, p- 58-74). Phase-1 Defining the change management strategies Preparing the change management team Phase-2 Developing change management plans Implementing change management plans Phase-3 Collecting and analyzing feedback Analyzing constraints, conflicts and resistance Implementing corrective actions The Turkish National Police Administration needs to understand the purpose of changes along with involving employees through participatory approach of leadership style. This would help in eliminating resistance along with empowering employees with freedom of speech and expression. After implementing this, centralized behavioral control should be reduced along with communicating its purpose with employees. This would help in offering desired shape to the change process that is very much important and needed to move ahead with the time. A slight modification and change in the organizational structure and culture would help in changing the behavior and attitude of employees in the short as well as in the long run. Conclusion After assessing and analyzing the case study, it can be assumed that the Turkish National Police has been changing since the 1980’s reforms. The organization has a traditional, hierarchy controlled structure that do not gel well with the modern management systems and procedures that allow employees to be an active part of the decision making process. A participatory approach is required to develop high skilled human resources helping in the growth and development of the organization. At the same time, one changes have been introduced and implemented, wide arrays of analysis tools should be used to assess its impact and relevance on the growth, development, acceptance, culture, structure, behaviour and attitude of employees (Johnson, 2010). It should also assess its short and long terms benefits and advantages in the social and business environment. This would help in moving ahead with times along with combating constraints and resistance driven by a number of internal and external factors. References Franklin, A.L; Pagan, J.F. (2006). Organization culture as an explanation for employee discipline practices. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 26 (1), 52-73 Ozedemir, H, Erdem,O. (2011) Organizational structure and organizational behaviour in the Turkish National Police: A case Study of Malatya Security Directorate, Electronic Journal of Social Sciences, 10 (37), 317-329 Van Den Steen, E. (2010). On the origin of shared beliefs and corporate culture. RAND Journal of Economics (Blackwell Publishing Limited), 41 (4), 617-648 Nicola Clark (2005). Van De Ven, A.H; Sunm K. (2011). Breakdowns in implementing models of organization change. Academy of Management Perspectives, 25 (3), 58-74 Johnson, G. (2010). Research methods for public administrators (2nd Week). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, Inc Read More