Importance of Organization culture to organizations - Essay Example

Importance of Organization culture to organizations Organizations comprise of human beings who are highly complex and unpredictable in nature. The management of organizations is therefore a challenging task. Increasing diversity, knowledge and information explosion, strategic partnership, global competition and emphasis on total quality management are the other challenges confronting managers in the modern times ((ICMR)). Organizational Culture refers to a pattern of learned behaviors that is shared and passed on among the members of an organization. It comprises of the various assumptions, values, beliefs, norms, rituals, language, etc. that people in an organization share. Organizational culture can be thought of as an evolutionary process that has been established, accepted and internalized over a period of time, by a majority of members of the organization. Fred Luthans defined culture as “the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior.” Culture helps people to interact and communicate with other members of the society. Cultural traits are acquired gradually over a period of time. The differences in values and beliefs held by people all over the world make adjustments and interaction with people belonging to other cultures very difficult for some. To be successful in the global economy, it is important for all managers to be sensitive to the differences between them. People orientation is one of the characteristics of Organization culture. This is one thing that is lacking at Camford University. People orientation refers to the degree, to which the management takes into consideration, the effect of decisions made and the outcomes of these decisions on the people in the organization. People orientation is often reflected in the degree of people participation in decision making in the organization (Galbraith). The need for people orientation is being increasingly felt in most modern organizations. For example, after it realized that pressure of work was making it difficult for its employees to balance work and their personal life (Keerti). Another major issue is Team orientation. This refers to the level of importance laid on effective team work as compared to individual efforts and contributions to the organization. The presence of a strong and appropriate culture has become essential for an organization to function effectively and efficiently in the modern era. Organization culture is the consciously or subconsciously accepted and flowed way of life or manner of performing day-to-day activities in an organization. It plays an important role in determining and controlling employee behavior at workplace. The core values, assumptions, norms, procedures etc. that are followed in an organization constitute its culture. In order to survive and grow in a rapidly changing business environment, organizations often expand their operations beyond boundaries. A blend of different cultures together is necessary in order to manage the workforce which is diverse. Adaptation to a new culture requires workforce to overcome several obstacles in the form of differences at the level of the individual, parochialism, ethnocentrism, cultural distance and culture shock. An organizational culture influences and is influenced by the occupational or industry peculiarities tied to the organization as well as the national culture of the country in which the organization operates. It is not an end result but rather a fascinating process that blends values and links individuals (Bégin). An organizational culture establishes standards of acceptable behavior and an understanding of organizational operating styles. Changing, guiding and sustaining a high performance organizational culture requires engaging fortitude and rigor on the part of leaders and an ability to measure variations so as to course correct whenever needed (Bégin). There is a variety of best practices and benchmarks available to facilitate culture management that keeps an organizational competitive and employees happier and healthier. This means linking policies and strategies to everyday expectations and activities. The culture of a nation is the set of age-old traditions and beliefs shared by the people of the country. Beliefs are people’s perceptions of how things are done in their countries. Values are people’s aspirations about the way things should be done. This explains the difference in requirements and expectations of employees who belong to different countries and cultures. To improve performance and build capacity, an organization’s culture must align with the vision held by the leadership and be accompanied by a clear way forward and a driving force. Hence if an organization is embarking on a cultural change – it must be done with fervor. A culture is as important to an organization as is a set of wings on an aircraft. They are both essential prerequisites to creating the dynamics required to reach new heights. Managing expatriates and their operations in a foreign country is also an important responsibility of the HR manager. The expatriate must learn the skills required to work in a cross-cultural team and lead a cross-cultural team (The ICFAI Center for Management Research (ICMR)). It is the responsibility of the HR manager to nurture and develop an organizational culture, which encourages diversity at the work place. It is very important that employees in global firms have good cultural awareness and cultural tolerance, to inculcate the same among the employees of the organization. This factor determines the success of an organization in terms of people management. Management of teams which consist of employees from different countries and cultures is another major responsibility of managers. They have to ensure that all employees in a team possess cross-cultural understanding and tolerance to work as a team. This enables smooth and effective functioning of the cross-cultural team. It is the responsibility of managers to train and educated the employees of different cultures who are working with the organization to understand each other’s cultures and be tolerant towards them. Creating the right corporate culture in the organization to accommodate people from different cultures is the responsibility of the HR Manager. For example, Americans are individualistic, while Koreans are collectives. A typical American would say that individual initiative should be rewarded while a Korean is likely to say that people should be rewarded for working as a team. Bibliography 1. (ICMR), ICFAI Center for Management Research. Introduction to Orgnizational Behavior. Hyderabad: ICFAI Center for Management Research, 2003. 2. Bégin, Diane Sarah. "Organizational Culture Counts." Practoce Knowledge Center 10 January 2006: 1-4. 3. Galbraith, Jay R. Designing the Global Corporation. San Fransisco: Jossye-Boc Inc., 2000. 4. HR Magazine. "Another Hat for HR: Negotiatior- in-Chief." HR Magazine (2003): Vol: 48, Issue:6, p.118. 5. Keerti, Dr. B. Head- EMployee Engagement Rajyalakshmi. 3 November 2007. 6. The ICFAI Center for Management Research (ICMR). Intorduction to Human Resource Management. Hyderabad: The ICFAI Center for Management Research (ICMR), 2004. Read More