Corporate Culture: Health and Social Care - Term Paper Example

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE Culture is the 'collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another' (Hofstede). It may be identified as ways of behaving, and ways of understanding that are shared by a group of people. According to Edgar Schein (1985), an organizational or corporate culture is the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about and reacts to its environment'. The boundary of the culture of an organization rests on its beliefs, values and assumptions which get embedded in the organization over time, which Schein (1985) also refereed to as a residue of success. Organizational culture influences matters of business as it helps in determining strategy, goals and modes of operating and the effectiveness with which they are achieved. The concept of corporate culture that became widespread in the 1980s was mentioned in the book of Tom Peters and Robert Waterman (1982), In Search of Excellence, in which it was also, mentioned the potential impacts the values and the mindsets of a company could have on its success. There are many factors which influence the shaping or developing of an organizational culture. Buchanan and Huczyenski (1991) came up with four main factors. They argued that for a corporate culture to develop, an organization is required to have a strong and sound set of values, which is usually set up by the organization's founder. Those values are expected to carry forward through the top managerial levels that strengthen the firm's standards and a social learning process is evolved as an outcome. Secondly, the environment of an organization, such as the mention of company's heroes, symbols and notices present will affect the style of how the organization is run and functions. The stories of past efficient employees of the business who contributed greatly to the performance and development of the organization that circulate around in an organization greatly affect the way the rest of the employees work and behave in the organization. Symbols and slogans used can inspire employees to behave in a certain way which will definitely affect the corporate culture. The most important factor that shapes up the corporate culture in a business is the on-going methods of communication in an organization. The methods can be formal and informal, one-way or two-way and can be both. However, communication is a strong factor as it depicts the present culture of the organization and affects others. The training sessions and induction and orientation practices used for communication also develop the way things are handled in a business and thus the corporate culture gets affected. Moreover, what are interrelated with the communication factor are the cultural networks. This implies the set of common beliefs a group of people share within themselves. If a set of values and assumptions are shared by a large group of people that is bound to be the dominant corporate culture in the organization. However, if cultural networks are scattered in an organization, then the organizational culture tends to be weak as no one is following a fixed set of values. The leadership and management style also shapes up the culture around in a business as the managers are usually known as the culture carriers and convey it to the rest of people working in an organization. John Kotter and James Heskett (1992) came up with two types of organizational culture, adaptive culture and inert culture. Adaptive culture as the name implies, is a flexible way of doing things where external factors are taken into account and changers are made in the organization accordingly. Decision making is usually centralized as it facilities greater flexibility in decision making and risk taking. The inert culture is unresponsive to the external environment and has a set of rigid beliefs which it does not change. Decision making is often centralized and there is a resistance to change in the environment. Edgar Schein (1985) stated that there are three determinants or components of culture. The component consists of observable behaviour, and it revolves around the norms of the workers, the customs followed, the attitudes of a group of people and the interior design of the organization. The second component is made up of the values and beliefs underlying the corporate culture which makes the attitude and the behavoural component meaningful. They are usually stressed in mission statements. The determinant is the assumption which is behind the beliefs and values in the corporate culture. Assumptions which are taken for granted and are not questioned, so they have become a way of thinking and performing in the organization. Communication plays a strong role in shaping up a culture of an organization. It is about sending and receiving information between people. If there is no communication, the set of values a person has cannot be conveyed and shared with the other person, and thus a common set of values can never develop which obviously will not give rise to a strong corporate culture. Good communication is necessary for the success of any business and so is a strong organizational culture. Any culture is based on the communication of a group of people and it is no different in a business setting. Formal and informal communications in a business run side by side in an organization. Formal methods of communication are approved by the management in a business whereas; there is some skepticism about informal communication, because they also hinder the working of an organization. Information means of communication usually involve the grapevine, informal or unofficial talk of employees in a business. However, sometimes managers use the grapevine to ask opinions about, say, a new product launch, or remuneration scheme. So a corporate culture is built up according to what combination of formal and informal communication is used. The communication networks can be in the type of a circle, where the communication is limited to a few number of people, the chain network, where one person passes information to another in the form of a chain, the wheel network where a group or department is at the heart of the communication or the connected network, where almost everyone is inter connected as it is an open communication system. The kind of medium of communication also determines a culture, such as written communication, oral or person-to-person communication. Likewise, the corporate culture also affects the type of communication that takes place in an organization just as much as communication shapes up a corporate culture and helps its employees share a common set of values and beliefs. The power culture, where decision making power is centralized is likely to prefer more of formal communication in an organization, where everything is communicated through notices, emails and letters and usually one-way communication takes place. In contrast, the person culture where decision is decentralized and a lot of flexibility is given, informal communication will dominate. Moreover, the communication networks in an organization also define the organizational culture. Teams and groups also play a vital part in the communication of an organization. "It is the planned, systematic process designed to improve the efforts of people who work together to achieve goals." (Dave Hall, Rob Jones, Carlo Raffo, 2004). Team working is useful when it comes to motivating employees. Edwards and Wright (1998) and Wilkinson (1997) are of the opinion that employees who work as a team are more motivated and their performance is favourably affected. As the corporate culture also concerns the way employees behave in an organization so team working and groups certainly play a strong role in building up of a culture. Team working enhances communication and affects corporate culture from that end too. The social interaction between employees facilitates the communication of ideas and a bond develops which is necessary for a corporate culture to form. The effect of building a team is unifying, as it combines the efforts of employees to one common objective and thus a culture develops. R.D Hinshelwood also focused on group dynamics of a business. The development of a group through forming, storming, norming and performing defines the culture in an organization. Forming is the formation of the group, storming refers to the brainstorming a group does and ideas are discussed, norming is when a set of values develop in a group and performing is when the group works to achieve the desired results. The combined group's interpersonal and managerial skills shape up communication and a way of performance and behaviour is developed. These stages were identified by Tuckman (1965). Thus, corporate culture plays a strong role in the success of a business as they define ways of working in the organization. A strong corporate culture can motivate employees and can lead them to efficiency by giving them a sense of identity and belonging. Corporate culture defines ways of communication in an organization and vice versa. It does away with uncertainty in an organization and gives a sense of direction. Team working and groups usually facilitate this type of working. Therefore, it is extremely beneficial for an organization to have a strong corporate culture which reflects its common values and beliefs. References: Hall, Dave. Business Studies. CPL, (2004). Handy, C.B. Understanding Organizations, 3rd Edn, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books (1985) Hofstede, G. Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values, Schein, E.H. Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Ed., Jossey-Bass ISBN 0-7879-7597-4 (1985-2005) Read More