Organizational Culture and Behavior - Literature review Example

? “Influential Role of Culture on Leadership Effectiveness and Organizational Performance.” Information Management and Business Review 35, 532–547. Syed Kamran Ali Shah, Jam Javed Iqbal, Adeel Razaq, Muhammad Yameen, Suleman Sabir, Muhammad Asif Khan “Influence of Organizational Culture on Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Three-Sector Study.” Global Journal of Business Research, 6 (1), 65-76. Jagannath Mohanty and Bhabani P Rath “Organizational Culture-Performance Link in the Human Services Setting.” Information Management and Business Review, 3 (2), 127-132. Debrenna l. Agbenyiga Introduction Organizational culture refers to the values and behaviors that create a unique environment within an organization (Agbenyiga, 2011; Mohanty, 2012; Shah et al, 2011). Organizational culture is a common concept among organizations and this has attracted a lot of attention from both managers and scholars. The topic has been very crucial in determining the success of a number of institutions. This is a contrast paper on three articles that discuss an organizational behavior topic of organizational culture. The paper aims at identifying the similarities and differences among the three articles. It also includes a discussion of the main points that have been reconciled from the articles and how the concepts within the paper can be integrated. I am also going to give a personal opinion about the contents and presentations of the three articles. From a practical perspective, I will provide an explanation on how managers can use the ideas presented in the articles in his daily routine at work. Similarities a) Research Papers The most significant similarity among the three articles is that they are all research papers. The authors of the articles have conducted research studies on different areas of business and have provided a comprehensive discussion of their findings and results. The articles contain three most important parts of a research paper including literature review, methodology and results. The authors have done their research on different areas of studies and presented their findings along with a discussion on the results. b) Main Theme The main theme of the three articles is a discussion on the topic of organizational culture. Organizational culture occupies the central thoughts of the authors in their respective articles. Their research studies are centered on a comprehensive analysis of organizational culture relative to their topic of study. The three articles have a common definition of organization culture as they refer to it as values and behaviors that create a unique environment within an organization. The authors also appreciate the role of organizational culture in the success of any organization. They also relate the main theme of organizational behavior to the success of an organization. The theme is discussed in the context of an organization. c) Comprehensive Literature Review The three authors have managed to provide a comprehensive literature of the topic of organizational culture in their articles. The literature materials in the three articles cover key areas such as the definition and application of the concept of organization culture in various settings. The literature review part of their articles cover an average of two pages of the total content of their articles. This is a clear indication that the authors are committed to making their readers understand the concept of organizational culture as well as their discussions of their findings. Anyone reading through the literature contents of the articles will have a comprehensive view of the topic and have an understanding of how it relates with the topic of study. d) Implication of research studies The three articles present implications of the respective research studies in terms of future research studies and application of the concept of organizational culture. According to the three articles, readers will be able to improve their understanding of the topic of organizational culture and how the topic is applied in different settings. The authors have emphasized on the need for researchers to conduct additional research on the topics of study in order to enhance their understanding of the topics. Differences a) Research topics The main difference among the three articles is their research topics. Each of the three authors has explored a different research topic that discusses the topic of organizational culture. They present different perspectives with regards to the application of the topic. Shah et al (2011), explores a research topic on “Influential Role of Culture on Leadership Effectiveness and Organizational Performance.” The research topic for the authors of the article was derived from the fact that they recognized the influence of organizational culture on leadership and performance. The article provides a comprehensive discussion on how organizational culture relates to the two concepts of leadership effectiveness and organizational performance. Mohanty (2012) is the author of the article titled “Influence of Organizational Culture on Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Three-Sector Study.” The author discusses the relationship between different characteristics of organizational culture and their effect on organizational citizenship behavior. He analyzes conducts his research studies on three dominant sectors of an economy including manufacturing, banking and, information and technology. On the other hand, Agbenyiga (2011) analyzes the relationship between organizational culture and the delivery of effective human services. In his article “Organizational Culture-Performance Link in the Human Services Setting,” Agbenyiga (2011) outlines his research study on a nonprofit sectarian human service agency in the Midwest. The three examples provide a clear example of the differences in their research topics. b) Scope of their topics There is a major difference in the scope of the topics covered in the three topics. The authors have covered different areas which give rise to differences in the scope of their research topics. Shah et al (2011) covers leadership effectiveness and organizational performance. This is a very wide topic given the fact that the article covers three topics of organizational culture, leadership effectiveness and organizational performance. The three topics widen the scope of the research topic and the author provides a comprehensive analysis and discussion of the topics. The author brings out a wide perspective on how organizational culture relates to the two topics of leadership effectiveness and organizational performance. The article by Mohanty (2012) covers a relatively less wide topic compared to the article by Shah et al (2011). In “Influence of Organizational Culture on Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Three-Sector Study.” the author covers two topics of organizational culture and organizational citizenship. However, he broadens his discussion by including three sectors including banking, manufacturing and information and technology. In the case of the article by Agbenyiga (2011), the topic of discussion is a bit shallow. The article discusses the topics organizational culture and human service delivery. The article has a narrow scope compared to the previous articles. Reconciliation There are two main differences among the three articles but there are a number of ways that the multiple differences can be reconciled. As notes earlier on, the major differences among the articles include research topics and the scope of the research topics. The first approach to reconciling the three articles is by analyzing their results and conclusions regarding the topic of organizational behavior. The fact that the authors are addressing a similar topic makes it easier to reconciling the differences. The differences in the research topics and their scope do not have a huge difference on the conclusions of the articles. There may be a very close similarity in the conclusions of the articles. The other approach to reconciling the differences among the articles is by looking at a wider topic covered by the articles. The three articles have different research topics and scopes of the topics but they all cover one wide topic of organizational culture. It would be very easy to reconcile the difference when we take wider perspective of the main topics of the three articles. In their articles, the authors have concentrated on conducting research studies on a similar main topic and how the topic relates to different sub topics. Integration The article by Shah et al (2011) relates to a research study on organizational culture and its influence on leadership effectiveness and organizational performance. The second article by Mohanty (2012) discusses the relationship between organizational culture and organizational citizenship behavior. Lastly, the third article discusses the findings of a research on the relationship between organizational culture and human service delivery. The three articles can be integrated by drawing the general conclusion of the three articles. Despite the fact that the three articles cover different research topics, there is a close relationship between their conclusions. The three articles point out the idea that readers need to research more on the topic of organizational behavior especially on the topic of organizational culture. The difference can also be integrated in identifying the application of the main topic of organizational culture to different situations. The three articles address a similar topic but in different perspectives. The first article discusses the main topic in the perspective of how it influences leadership effectiveness and organizational performance. The second relates the main topic to organizational citizenship behavior and the third article relates the main topic to human service delivery. The differences in the scope of the main topic can be integrated to address a broader topic of organizational setting. An organization consists of different aspects such as leadership, performance and even human service delivery. Generally, the differences can be integrated into two broad topics of organizational culture and organizational setting. The two topics can then be made simple by dividing them into different research topics and analyzing them relative to different concepts or settings. Personal Opinion I have learnt a lot with regards to the topic of organizational culture and its applications to different aspect of management. The authors have presented comprehensive literature reviews in their individual articles which creates a strong foundation in the understanding of the contents of articles. It was easy getting the point of the authors because paper was structured properly and there was proper flow of ideas. The authors were also keen on providing accurate information such as definitions of terms and their explanations. They covered their topics comprehensive without going out of topic. I believe that the three articles are useful to researchers because they provide a guide on how to conduct research studies on the topic of organizational culture. Despite the fact that the articles cover different research topics, they provide a general structure of a research paper. This is useful in the preparation of a research paper. However, I would like to point out that the researchers should have included additional information. Organizational culture is a very wide topic that requires comprehensive analysis. The articles provide a brief discussion of their findings leaving the reader yearning for additional information. Application The three articles present a number of ideas that may be useful to a manager. A common idea from the three articles is that there is a positive relationship between organizational culture and performance. In a practical situation, managers can incorporate strong cultures such as commitment in order to realize the goals of the organization. This can be achieved by managers assigning tasks to employees and communicating expectations of results and the consequences related to failure to achieve set results. This can ensure that employees are committed to achieving the set objectives of the organization. Managers can also use the five dimensions of national culture in improving the performance of employees. The concept of five dimensions of national culture has five pillars that are defined by routines, norms and attitudes of people. Managers can group employees into five categories based on their attitudes, norms and routines. Employees are then promoted to different levels based on their improvement in terms of their attitude and norms. This has the effect of motivating employees to work towards a national culture within the organization. Eventually, an organization will be able to establish a uniform culture that is unique from other organizations hence creating the identity of the organization. Conclusion There are four similarities and two differences among the three articles. The articles are all research papers, have a similar main theme, contain a comprehensive literature review and have similar implications. However, there exists a difference in the research topics of the articles and their scope. The differences can be reconciled through the analysis of the conclusions of the articles and taking a look at a wider topic covered by the topic. For instance, the articles can be summed as addressing one main topic of organizational culture under an organizational setting. In my own opinion, the articles are educative and informative. Managers may take an idea or two and apply them in practical situations. A good example is the idea of five dimensions of national culture where employees are grouped in levels depending on their norms, attitudes and routines. They are motivated to conform to the expected culture hence creating a unique environment. References Agbenyiga, D. (2011). Organizational Culture-Performance Link in the Human Services Setting. Administration in Social Work, 35, 532–547. Mohanty, J. (2012). Influence of organizational culture on Organizational citizenship behavior: A Three-sector study. Global Journal of Business Research, 6 (1), 65-76. Shah, S., Iqbal, J., Razaq, A., Yameen, M., Sabir, S & Iqra, M. (2011). Influential Role of Culture on Leadership Effectiveness and Organizational Performance. Information Management and Business Review, 3 (2), 127-132. Read More