Importance of Managing Organisational Culture - Term Paper Example

Introduction Brown (1995) defines organisational culture as the principles, beliefs, norms and cultures that characterise a specific organisation. Organisational culture is not a static principle as it changes over time. There are certain aspects that shape organisational culture as explained by Schein (1985); the first one being the proprietors of that particular company. Another factor is the values held by the firm’s employees. In addition, competitors within the industry a company is operating in will also affect this. There is also a need to respond customer needs and requirements. All the factors stated above will change with time and consequently affect organisational culture. (Gordon, 1991) One can therefore say that organisational culture is mainly described by group factors such as ideology and concepts; there is a need to include normative behaviour when tackling this issue. Organisational culture is not something that can be seen very easily it is therefore quite hard to replace it. Normally when certain leaders form a company, their values are translated into the actions of the members of that organisation. (Bate 1994) When other leaders take over, it may not be as easy to change those perspectives immediately. Sometimes some of their actions; like rewards may change the ways employees go about their day to day activities but it may be difficult to change their culture. Importance of managing organisational culture Schein’s views Schein (1985) asserts that it is important to manage organisational culture because he believes the latter term is the key to attainment of excellence within any one organisation. He also believes that leaders are given the task of creating and also managing organisational culture. Managers who are able to identify organisational culture can then build up on the following important aspects; learning levels productivity strategic development There are certain impediments or strong points that may be created as a result of organisational culture. Structure and methods available for organisations need to be streamlined to suite certain common cultural insights in the organisation. Leaders must identify the elements of organisational culture that will come in the way of achieving organisational goals and eliminate them while at the same time, managers must ensure that they reinforce elements of their organisational culture that facilitate success. (Gordon, 1991) It should be noted that organisational culture makes a company what it is; it gives the organisation a sense of identity. Consequently, members within that organisation will feel connected to that organisation because of its culture. It should be noted that despite the fact that culture is synonymous to a certain organisations, one should realise that there may be certain differences within one firm. There may be existence of sub cultures in the organisation and when a new member joins the organisation, they may have not see the level of cohesion of those organisational values. Therefore, an organisation with a strong organisational culture is one in which most of the members of the organisation share similar values and those ones that have made their expectations from their employees clear. (Brown, 1995) Hofstede (1991) came up with a model that placed organisational culture in a continuum of five major factors i.e. Long term vs. Short term Dominant values Uncertainty avoidance Power-distance Individual vs. collectivist He asserted that organisational culture represents the bargaining ability of a particular group as compared to others. He adds that organisational culture represents the way people have been programmed in a certain environment. Consequently, the underpinning factor within any given culture is the social context where it stems from. In light of these facts, one can say that it is important to manage organisational culture because it allows leaders to balance all the five qualities in such a way as to maximise their potential. Deal and Kennedy’s views The two authors asserted that organisational culture is the way things get done within a certain organisation. They looked at organisational culture in terms of two main areas, these are; risk and feedback. Risk was seen as the level of uncertainty in the firm while feedback is the level of response. Using those two elements Deal and Kennedy (1989) were able to come up with four various elements of organisational culture that are each unique to a given example. These four classifications will act as a basis to determine why it is important to merge organisational culture with structure. The first classification is ‘the Tough guy culture’. Organisations that have adopted such a culture are usually characterised by quick feedbacks and fast rewards too. However, such organisations are also quite stressful. It would be helpful to adopt such a culture when the business environment the company is operating in is quite fast-paced. A company that can adopt such an organisational culture is a brokerage firm. Therefore, it is important to manage organisational culture because it allows employees to appreciate their efforts and this will motivate them to work harder. The second category is called ‘the wok hard culture’. In this type of culture, there is normally a lot of feedback occurring in that organisation. On the other hand, there are minimal risks that are taken in such companies. This culture should be created or spearheaded by leaders if they usually do most of their work in project teams or if there is necessity for consultation. This mostly applies to companies that are also highly specialised in nature. According to this classification, it is important to manage organisational culture so as to enhance the level of team work and to increase response levels in a company. This will go a long way in enhancing employee performance and will also improve the company image. (Bate 1994) The third category is the ‘bet your company culture’. In this type of culture, there are certain companies that may make decisions that take up a lot of stakes. They may not be sure of whether or not they will succeed in their endeavour but they chose to take the risk anyway. These types of companies are characterised by low returns (feedback) and high degree of uncertainty (risk). Companies that should adopt such a culture are those engaging in long term exploits such as the discovery of oil or embarking military projects. According to this category, managing organisational culture is important because it allows organisations to continue with The Process culture is the last category that was created by the two authors. They assert that it may be difficult to ascertain whether or not there will be returns or feedback in the process of doing business. In such organisational cultures, it is difficult to determine what the final outcome is. In such organisations, there are normally certain levels of bureaucracies and hierarchies that will have to be adhered to. The employees in such organisations are normally given numerous responsibilities without necessarily seeing the fruits of their labour. In this type of organisational culture, it is quite difficult to make fast decisions. It also hinders employees from achieving their full potential because they may not be able to see where all their efforts are going. However, this form of organisational culture can still be appropriate to certain service providers. The main example here is the Public service sector. This is because that method allows for provision of results that are consistent. Most of the time, this is something very desirable in the Public service sector. We can therefore deduce from the above that managing organisational culture is crucial because it allows a company to yield consistent results. (Trice & Beyer, 1993) Handy’s views Handy (1993) came up with a theory of organisational culture that is associated with organisational structure. The author says that power culture is created when there are only few people who have the ability to make decisions. In this type of culture there is very little room for hierarchies and protocols. Instead, the decision making process is quite efficient as control emerges from the centre. Organisations that are normally faced with many decision making situations should adopt such a strategy. It is therefore important to manage organisational culture in this sense because it allows the decision making process to become more efficient or more effective. Sometimes there are cases when organisations may adopt a role culture. In this type of organisational culture, there is a lot of reference to higher powers. One person has to go through a lot of hierarchies before receiving approval for their projects. Consequently, very little room is left for individuals to make decisions on their own. According to this category, one can deduce that it is important to manage organisational culture so as to give more power to people holding certain positions. However it should be noted that companies who wish to institute fast decision making process may not always choose that alternative. Companies that wish to respect make clearly defined structures can take up that role. (Bate 1994) Another category is task culture. Organisations taking up this role are those ones in which teams are made up to solver problems facing the company. Decisions are made by those team members depending on who has the highest form of expertise. This is normally characterised by a matrix structure. We can therefore say that managing organisational culture is important because it allows certain companies to employ the skills and knowledge of their experts. This will go a long way in enhancing a company’s efficiency because decisions will be made on the basis of who had the widest amount of knowledge about a certain issue. This is quite helpful in the achievement of a company’s efficiency. Another category proposed by Handy (1993) was person culture. Organisations that take up such a form of culture are usually characterised by the belief that all members of the organisation have some form of authority. In these organisations, there is very little room for pursuance of the organisation’s goals since most of the time individuals are focusing on themselves. However, one should not simply dismiss this form of culture since there are instances when it is appropriate. For example a firm made up of two partners may adopt such a culture because the various partners are able to apply their expertise to their own clients. In light of these facts, one can say that it is important to manage organisational culture because it allows some partners to focus on their objectives in the company. If these different objectives are merged together, then a given company may be able to improve its performance since each partner is bringing in their own clients. How managers can use organisational culture to improve their organisation’s performance It is important to manage organisational culture because companies can use this to their advantage when trying to maintain competitive advantage. For example, organisational culture can be managed by ensuring that the recruitment and selection process enhance the organisation culture. This will go a long way in strengthening the prevailing organisational culture and if it was appropriate in the first place, then there will be better results in the end. (Brown, 1995) Organisational culture should also be managed in the training level provided within any particular company. For example career development strategies adopted by certain companies should be such that they reflect a specific company’s strategy. In line with this management of organisational culture will also be achieved through the use of proper communication especially when members of the company have to work on teams. This will be very instrumental in the determination of bringing together different members of the company regardless of their personal cultural backgrounds. Consequently, more work will get done by people who understand the organisation and there will be better efficiency. (Bate 1994) Companies can also institute certain reward systems that will encourage certain behavioural traits. This quite instrumental in the process of maintaining positive behavioural traits that are instrumental in the process of achievement of organisational objectives. In relation to this, leaders can assist in the process of reinforcing organisational culture through serving as examples. The company managers can be able to instate myths symbols and integration of visions and missions. This will help employees understand the purpose and objectives of the organisation and will encourage them to perform well. ( Hofstede, 1991) Companies that wish to manage cultures should encourage participation of other members of the organisation in the development activities, decision making and input to the organisation. This will make the employees feel as though they are valuable members of the organisation and they will be motivated to work harder. Lastly, the company should go out of its way to facilitate better communication between members of the organisation. This can be achieved through teamwork integration. It will go a long way in maintaining systems that help the company to stay ahead of its competitors. Conclusion Managing organisational culture is instrumental in ensuring that a company’s objectives are understood and implemented by employees. It also motivates employees to work harder if they can see their level of returns. Lastly, management of organisational culture is important in enhancing the decision making process. Reference: Bate, S. (1994): Strategies for Cultural Change; Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford Brown, A. (1995): Organisational Culture; Pitman Publishing, London Deal T. and Kennedy, A. (1982): Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, Harmondsworth; Penguin Books Gordon, G. (1991): Industry Determinants of Organizational Culture; Academy of Management Review, vol 16, no. 2. pp. 396-415 Handy, C. (1993): Understanding Organizations, Penguin, London Hofstede, G. et al (1990) Measuring Organizational Cultures: A Qualitative and Quantitative Study Across Twenty Cases; Administrative Science Quarterly, vol. 35, pp 286-316 Hofstede, G. (1991): Cultures and Organizations; McGraw-Hill, London. Schein, E.H. (1985): Organizational Culture and Leadership; 3rd Ed., Jossey-Bass Trice, H. & Beyer, J. (1993): The Cultures of Work Organizations; Prentice Hall, New Jersey Read More