Organizational Culture in Daimler-Chrysler - Case Study Example

Organizational Culture Introduction Organizational culture is one of the most important elements of effective organizational performance and positive staff relations. Leadership and management play a major and continuing role in relations between employees, their commitment and positive organizational climate. The decisions and actions of leadership and management have an increasing impact on individuals, other organizations and the community. The responsibility of leadership and management is to create and sustain healthy organizational culture based on ethical and moral principles, strong corporate policies and social responsibility issues. Company Description Daimler-Chrysler is one of the biggest automakers in the world. The aim of the company is to maintain the level of service and product quality, and develop strategies to improve their product/services. Today, Daimler-Chrysler is affected by different factors of environment which have a great influence upon it. Most companies find it no simple matter to formulate and implement socially responsible actions and programs. To operate without major disruptions, a company must at all times be in compliance with legal requirements international, state, and local. It must develop, establish, implement, and police a code of ethical and moral conduct for all members of its organization. Healthy organizational culture is one of the crucial elements which help Daimler-Chrysler to compete on the global scale and sustain its strong position in the automotive market. Maintenance of high standards is a key factor which influences company’s performance. The purpose of maintenance of high standards is to attempt to maximize the performance of service by ensuring that it performs regularly and efficiently. There are numerous quality circles within Daimler-Chrysler and their work is monitored and co-coordinated by the company management, who is responsible for estab­lishing overall objectives and monitoring the progress towards the achievement of these objectives (www.daimlerchrysler.com). Management and Leadership In Daimler-Chrysler the main functions of management is to plan, organize, coordinate and control all activities within the organization. Attention to HR helps Daimler-Chrysler improve the efficiency and productivity. Manage­ment skills are transferable, and managers successfully apply their knowl­edge and skill in a wide variety of organizations. In Daimler-Chrysler, managers have responsibility in the organization and also held accountable for the work of others as well as their own. Their role is to coordinate and control other members of staff accordingly with organizational objectives (Davidmann, 2006). High-level managers have an important role in formulating and implementing an heakthy culture for their company. First, they set direction and get people in the organization aligned. Drawing on their own insights and the ideas from others, they develop a sense of what is possible, articulate their vision, and work with people to align them with it. Furthermore, they select, train, and develop people capable of realizing that vision. Through these people, they create, shape, and influence how work is done in order to ensure that it gets done in the best way possible (Davidmann, 2006). The necessity for three characteristics in the leader, outsider's perspective, and insider's resources, helps explain why major cultural change does not happen more often in large organizations. Daimler-Chrysler has an effective leader on top. Dieter Zetsche, the chairman since January 1, 2006, has both an outsider's openness to new ideas and an insider's power base. This leader creates a perceived need for change even if most people believe all is well. He creates and communicates effectively a new vision and set of strategies and then behaves accordingly on a daily basis. He motivates increasingly large group of people to help with this leadership effort. Dieter Zetsche finds hundreds of opportunities to influence behavior of the staff. The resulting action on the part of a growing group of people must produce positive results; if they do not, the whole effort loses critical credibility (Strategic Leadership and Decision Making, n.d.). The Role of Managers and Leaders in Creating a Healthy Organizational Culture At the heart of the healthy organizational culture lies the vision of the leader (Davidmann, 2006). This vision includes the broader sense of who we are, why we are doing this work, why it's important, the promises we have made to customers, and the code of conduct governing how we operate with each other. Developing the vision, though, is not enough. The leader is able to inspire others with the vision so that others want to say yes to it. In articulating the broader sense of vision, the new leader must be able to touch the hearts of the employees (Baker n.d.). Daimler-Chrysler is an innovative company will be operating with a culture of greater employee autonomy and self-direction. Teams are less controlled by management and exercise more autonomy in completing tasks from start to finish. It is the leader's job to ensure that the team's efforts are bound together by a shared commitment to the mission and vision. A unique reciprocal relationship evolves between leadership and the front line. As the front line takes on greater tactical and operational authority, leaders become ever more responsible for being the source and interpreter of the vision (Baker n.d.). The single most visible factor that distinguishes major cultural changes that succeed from those that fail is competent leadership at the top. Usually, a major change began after an individual who already has a track record for leadership is appointed to head the organization (McNamara 2007). In Daimler Chrysler healthy organizational culture is connected and depended upon ethical principles and social norms. Daimler Chrysler operates in the global scale and faced with different cultural and social backgrounds. Since most countries and religions of the world have some form of belief that comes close to the part of the Golden Rule that relates to treating others as you want them to treat you, then in theory if properly adhered to it can personalize business relations as well as bring fairness into business. “The Code sets forth fundamental principles of business ethics applicable to all employees, and the Rules of Procedure applicable to members of the Board of Management” (www.daimlerchrysler.com). The importance of the leaders is to become role models for the staff following ethical principles and maintaining healthy organizational culture. The role of the managers is to direct and guard employees and their behavior. Each of managers have previously shown the capacity to do more than manage well. Each new manager succeeds in persuading important groups and individuals in the firm to commit themselves to that new direction and then energized the personnel sufficiently to make it happen, despite all obstacles. Also, Daimler-Chrysler applied equal opportunities policies in order to provide fair treatment for all employees. Legislation, voluntary codes of practice and equality initiatives have resulted in some progress towards equality of treatment for minority groups, but there remains inescapable evi­dence of continuing discrimination (Organizational Culture n.d.). More recent approaches of the business case for equal opportunities, the economics of equal opportunities, the valuing and managing of diversity in organizations, and the mainstreaming of equal opportu­nities are a response to the insufficient progress made so. Four Functions of Management The planning function involves setting clear objectives and strategies to sustain healthy organizational culture and policies. This process primarily looks at the organization's strategy, its mission, strategic objectives, and strategic plans, to determine what type of organizational culture is required to support the organization's strategy. The strategy is presumed to be matched with the external environment. Daimler-Chrysler anticipates that a separate external environmental conducted for cultural planning. The planning is based on the current culture with the culture that best supports the corporate strategy and determines how the major outputs of the organization (organizational structure, human resources, processes, and systems, particularly information and reward systems) must change. It also assesses the organization's capability to make the required change. Managers determine the areas where the current culture is most divergent from the desired culture these will be the focus of our implementation plans (Davidmann, 2006). The organizing function helps to account for variations among different departments. The organizing function helps reduce complexity and uncertainly. It pro­vides a consistency in outlook and values, and makes possible the processes of decision making, co-ordination and control. For Daimler-Chrysler, organizing means unique strategies which help to maintain and sustain health organizational culture and motivate employees. The leading function of management means coordination of existing norms and patterns of behavior which influence organizational performance and organizational climate. The leading function influences the level of morale and attitudes which members of the organization bring to bear on their work performance and personal relationships. Morale, however, is another general concept which is difficult to measure objectively. A carefully designed and conducted attitude survey may help to establish the feelings of staff on factors contributing to organizational climate. When morale is low, and feelings of frustration or alienation are found to exist, it is important that positive action is taken to remedy the causes (Davidmann, 2006). Morale has long been recognized as being of importance to the military. Critical incidents technique has been applied as a means of gauging morale levels. Leading helps managers to create a sense job importance in their - staff should have a feeling of meaning of the job, challenging and reasonably demanding assignments, and a sense of job accomplishment based on competent performance. Teamwork among the staff is a sense of group pride and self-esteem, a high level of human interactions and good relations with co-workers, team effort and the support of other staff including supervisors and top management. Organizing and leading involves care about staff welfare: rewards for employee’s contribution and fair treatment for their efforts. There is a clear statement of management goals and efforts to resolve genuine goal incongruence. Management shows concern for staff welfare, and attempt to create a feeling of mutual trust and respect with staff. The controlling function is extremely important because it allows managers to evaluate effectiveness of the planning and organizing, and identifies possible areas of improvements. Controlling allows managers to check compliance of employees’ behavior with corporate code of responsibilities and duties. It has also been acknowl­edged that the managers of Daimler-Chrysler have important obligations to a variety of stakeholders and not just the shareholders, and this should be reflected in the organization’s statements of purpose, such as mission statements. Strategies for Healthy Organizational Culture Effective conflict management techniques will help to solve possible problems and disagreements. It might be expected that a healthy organizational climate would be reflected by complete harmony in working relationships, and loyalty and common commitment to the goals and objectives of the organization. Problems of role incompatibility and role ambiguity arise from inadequate or inappropriate role definition and can be a significant source of conflict. In general, the ‘win-win’ approach is a generic term embracing a wide range of intervention strategies into the conflict resolution. The overriding driver is a ‘win-win’ solution, a win for both parties and for the conflict (Davidmann, 2006). Infusion and implementation strategies determine overall cusses of new corporate culture. All team members should bee involved in developing implementation plans but the nature of policies and plans set out by superiors will vary with each manager's authority. While senior executives plan the direction of the organization, managers at various levels ­prepare implementation strategies for their own section which are part of the overall aims of conflict-resolution. The team needs to be willing to put in the appropriate effort to ensure that solution is correct and thereby reduce the amount of rework after implementation (Davidmann, 2006; Organizational Culture n.d.). Diversity management will help to reduce personal differences and possible conflicts. A manager should be well aware of cultural diversity issues and have substantial knowledge in diversity management and its practical application. In the globalize world, managers require human-centered approach in order to meet demands of global staff, “a global mindset, global leadership skills, an ability to lead cross-cultural teams, energy and talent to participate in global networking, and skills as a global change agent. The main skills are good cross cultural communication and fast adaptation to changing conditions (Baker, n.d.). Conclusion Healthy organizational culture depends upon number of factors including effective leadership and management, careful planning and organization processes and leading of employees. Staff morale and commitment help managers to sustain healthy organizational culture and maintain friendly and open relations between employees. Healthy culture is based on employee empowerment and promotion strategies. Daimler-Chrysler management underlines the objective of healthy culture is to tap the creative and intellectual energy of everybody in the company, not just those in the executive suite, and to provide everyone with the responsibility and the resources to display real leadership within their own individual spheres of competence. References 1. Baker, K. (n.d.). Organizational Culture. Chapter 11. Retrieved 20 May 2007, from http://www.wren-network.net/resources/benchmark/11-OrganizationalCulture.pdf. 2. Daimler Chrysler: Employees and Society (2006). Retrieved 20 May 2007, from http://www.daimlerchrysler.com/dccom/0-5-7145-1-516252-1-0-0-559577-0-0-135-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html 3. Davidmann, M. (2006). Style of Management and Leadership. Retrieved 20 May 2007, from http://www.solbaram.org/articles/clm2.html 4. McNamara, C. (2007). Organizational Culture Retrieved 20 May 2007, from http://www.managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm 5. Organizational Culture (n.d.). Retrieved 20 May 2007, from http://www.oup.co.uk/pdf/bt/fincham/Chapter15.pdf. 6. Strategic Leadership and Decision Making. (n.d.). National defense University. Retrieved 20 May 2007, from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch16.html Read More