Organizational Culture and Its Relationship with the Employees - Essay Example

Article Review Introduction This paper focuses on reviewing four journal articles which are based on the topic of organizational culture. The Yeong and Ngee (2014), Turker and Altuntas (2015), Chen and Yang 2013 and Hila and Itzhak (2015) have portrayed different perspective of study of organizational culture. Although their views have certain degree of similarities but at several occasions they have exhibited different ideas and theories. The paper will undergo a thorough study of the contrasting characters of these articles along with the notable similarities among them. It will highlight the values contributed by each paper and will be concluded on the take-aways from these articles. Discussion The article by Yeong and Ngee (2014) has tried to find out a clear distinction between the definitions of culture, organizational culture and the organizational climate. The article has explained that the culture is a set of belief and norms that are learnt and shared among a group of individuals in close proximity. The organizational culture on the other hand is the practices or trends followed by the employees and staffs of a particular organization. Just like culture varies across different countries and regions, the organizational culture also varies across different organizations or industries. In the light of organizational culture, it has been mentioned that the organizational practices are dynamic in nature and often changes under the influence of new comers. It has been mentioned that a new comer coming from a particular organization brings certain cultural traits, which gets infused with the culture of the current organization thereby making certain changes in it. In this context Turker and Altuntas (2015) have mentioned in their article regarding the impact on the new comer of the organizational culture which he has been recently exposed to. Yeong and Ngee (2014) have highlighted on the influence of the new comer on the organizational practices, where he mentioned that the previous organizational culture of the individual is brought by him in the new organization. On the other hand, Turker and Altuntas (2015) have discussed about the impact of the new organizational culture on the perception of the new comers. Thus it can be stated that both the articles have discussed orgazanitions culture, but has portrayed different perspective of its relationship with the new comers. Moreover, in the article of Yeong and Ngee (2014) it has been clearly mentioned the difference between the definitions of culture and organizational culture and at the same time they have also mentioned that the organizational climate is the result of the interaction that an employee has with the organizational culture. However, in the studies made by Turker and Altuntas (2015), there are no such mentions of what an organizational culture really is. Their work is solely focused on the influence of organizational culture on new joiners. They have mentioned that every individual, prior to their exposure to any organizational culture, has their own perception of what an ideal organizational culture should be. This idea drastically changes when they are exposed to a real life scenario, where they can experience the impact of the organizational culture. It has been further mentioned that the individuals who bear an ideal perception of how an organizational culture can be easily modified by the employer to fit the exiting culture. However, it has been also been mentioned that the individuals who have been exposed to previous cultures become a challenge for the organization to make them fit in with other staffs in the current firm. Turker and Altuntas (2015) has also mentioned that theses new comers also acts as the drivers for changes; whenever the organization feels the need to change the existing cultures, it utilizes the new comers to set up a new culture in the firm. Chen and Yang (2013) have highlighted in their article that the organizational culture is largely dependent on the identification of the culture. They have mentioned that the organizational cultural identification can be described as the level of acceptance of the organizational culture by the employees. The higher level of acceptance leads to low attrition rate and increased productivity. The cultural identification is highly dependent on the way how individual members of the organization are internalizing the trend and norms existent in the organizational culture. In the studies performed by Yeong and Ngee (2014) and Turker and Altuntas (2015), they have focused mainly on the relationship between the new employees and the organizational culture and how each of them influences each other. However, they have not mentioned anything regarding how retention rate of an organization is related to the organizational culture. This areas of study has been covered in the article published by Chen and Yang (2013), who has mentioned that the members of the organization who has a close relationship with the organizational culture is most likely to exhibit higher retention. In contrast to the previously discussed articles it however, does not discuss anything regarding how the organizational culture plays its role in changing the perception of the employees. On the other hand, the article by Chen and Yang (2013) has formulated a theoretical model from their research work which will help to identify the level of organizational culture identification by the employees. This in turn will help the employer to isolate the determining reasons behind the low acceptance of the employees and make the necessary changes. The article written by Yeong and Ngee (2014) and Turker and Altuntas (2015) have no indication on how the firms will determine the impact of the organizational culture and how the employees are reacting to it. The recommendation made by them is solely subjective in nature and cannot be determined in terms of any standardized scale. However, these two authors have mentioned how one can distinguish the concept of culture and organizational culture and how the organization is responsible in framing the employees’ perception on organizational culture of the organization. It has also pointed out that it is easier for the employer to shape the perceptions of an employee who did not have prior exposure to any kind of organizational culture. From the point of view of organizational utility, it can be stated that the article published by Chen and Yang (2013) is more useful for an organization because it can utilized to study the current characteristics of the organizational structure and how it can help the employer to measure the level of cultural identification. By measuring the levels of acceptance of the employees, the employer can clearly identify what is wrong with the organizational culture and make the necessary changes in them. Changing organizational culture has been described by Turker and Altuntas (2015) where the authors have mentioned that the organizational culture can be changed more easily by employing new employees whose perception can be easily changed and can be framed in the desired manner. Moreover, Chen and Yang (2013) has also introduced a new definition which has not been mentioned in the previous two articles, which is the concept of ‘organizational cultural identification’. According to the authors, it is the level of preference and acceptance of the organizational culture by the employees. Although Turker and Altuntas (2015) have discussed the influence of organizational culture on the perception of the employees, but they have not mentioned anything regarding the acceptance of the culture by the employees and how it is connected to the employee retention level of the organization. Hila and Itzhak (2015) have discussed in their article regarding the organisational appraisal and how it is related to the organizational culture. The organizational culture of a firm shows a significant gap from what the employer actually wanted the culture to be. It has been mentioned in the article that in order to assess the existing organizational culture the employer needs to perform an appraisal of the culture. The authors have mentioned that the organizational culture is a merger of several ideas proposed by the managers, however it has been stated that the cultural ideas proposed by the managers often pose conflict among each others. It has been mentioned in the article that the primary reason behind the conflict is the collision between the managerial practice and the organizational practice. The previous three articles discussed have not mentioned anything regarding appraising the organizational culture and the difference between the existing and desired organizational culture. The article discussed by Hila and Itzhak (2015) discusses about organizational culture in a completely different context than the rest of authors mentioned previously. These authors have highlighted the fact that the culture which the higher authority wants to implement is not the one which actually seen in practice. Instead, the actual organisational culture that exists in a firm is the outcome of merging several ideas, norms and practices of individual members. In this context Yeong and Ngee (2014) have mentioned that the employees are largely responsible for forming the existing culture of an orgazanitions. The individual values, norms and practices merge with the existing ones to create a new cultural trend in the organization. As these authors have found the employees to be responsible for formation of the organizational culture, on the other hand, Hila and Itzhak (2015) have mentioned that the higher authority or the managers are primarily responsible for changing the organizational culture. The authors have also mentioned that the performance appraisal system acts as an important tool for the management to organize the change in the culture. The appraisal system has allowed the organization to assess the existing culture of the firm and make the desired changes in them to shape it accordingly so that the employees are motivated and their productivity and efficiency are increased. This as a result allows the employer to monitor the contribution of the employees and can determine whether or not the current organizational culture is responsible for the organizational success. In context of appraising the organizational culture, Chen and Yang (2013) have mentioned in their article that it is vital to measure the current perception of the staffs towards the organizational culture. The theoretical method of measuring the culture identification method allows the employer to measure the acceptance of the culture by the employees. In the same context, Hila and Itzhak (2015) have also agreed that monitoring the employees and the cultural practices in the organization is quite important to make the necessary changes. These two articles have pointed out the practical implications of organizational culture and how it can be measured and changed to improve the organizational productivity. Moreover, among all the four articles discussed above, only the one published by Hila and Itzhak (2015) has discussed about the importance of organizational culture and why it should matter to the organization. The authors have mentioned that in the contemporary global business market, where the level of competition is increasing constantly, the firms seek out for new ways to attain competitive advantage. Leaning to manage the organization efficiently starts with managing the organizational culture. If the organizational culture is in line with the mission statement of the company then it is most likely that it will have higher productivity and efficiency. Thus maintaining a good organizational culture is quite important for the point of view of productivity. In the same context, Chen and Yang (2013) have also mentioned that the organizational culture largely determines the level of employee retention in an organization. Thus, maintaining a culture that is accepted my most of the employees will help the organization to reduce the employee acquisition cost and create a good brand image. The organizational culture is also reflected in the corporate image and in the perception among the employees. If an organizational culture is aligned to the previously set perception of the employees then it creates a strong acceptance by them, which as a result increases the likelihood of employee retention. These four articles are similar in certain aspects despite of the difference in opinions and perspective. All of these articles discusses about the organizational culture and how the employees as one of the primary stakeholders of an organization is related to it. The articles by Yeong and Ngee (2014) and Turker and Altuntas (2015) have highlighted the theoretical perspective of organizational culture. These authors have stated how the organizational culture has impacted the employees and the same time how the employees have influenced in framing the organizational culture of the firms. The authors have also agreed upon the fact that the employees are the primary determinant of the organizational culture. Thus it can be stated from reviewing their articles that employee management is essential in maintaining the desired organizational culture. In contrast to this theory, Chen and Yang (2013) have found that the managers and the combination of several managerial decisions are responsible for shaping the organizational decision. Moreover, all the four articles have agreed upon the same definition of organizational culture which is the portrayal of norms and activities followed by the members of the organizations. They have also agreed upon the fact that the organizational culture is highly important in ensuring that the organization is progressing in the desired direction. Chen and Yang (2013) and Hila and Itzhak (2015) shares the same idea that monitoring or appraising the organizational culture is important to ensure that the employees are satisfied with the existing culture. This also helps the employer to isolate the current issues that are hindering with the operational activities of the firm. These authors have also agreed upon the fact that the performance of the organization and the financial implication is related to the existing organizational culture of the firms. The firms are most likely to perform at its highest level of efficiency if the organizational culture complements the mission of the firm. Moreover, the high level of organizational cultural identification suggests that the employees exhibit higher level of acceptance towards the existing culture, which in turn increases the employees’ motivational level thereby improving their individual performance. They have also mentioned that appraising the employees and their activities in the current organizational culture can prove to be an important tool to measure individual performances and how they are affected by the organizational culture. Conclusion After reviewing the four journal articles in a comparative perspective it can be stated that these articles bear similarity on the grounds of topic of discussion, which is organizational culture and its relationship with the employees. It has been evidenced that there is a contrast in views regarding the determinant of the organizational culture. One article stated that the employees are the primary determinant of forming the existing culture in the organization, whereas, another article has stated that the managers or the higher authority are responsible for it. It has also been found that the organizational culture largely determines the retention level of a firm. A firm with highly acceptable culture will have high retention of employees and they will also exhibit higher level of productivity. The study has also revealed that there is a significant gap between the desired organizational culture and the actual organizational culture. This gap is mostly because of the difference in managerial activities. However, it can be outlined that the organizational culture acts as the informal identity of the firms and a good organizational culture is responsible for the success of the organization. Reference List Chen, C.C. and Yang, B., 2013. Structure and Mechanism of Organizational Cultural Identification in a Chinese Business Context. Social Behavior and Personality. 41(8), pp. 1347-1358. Hila, H. and Itzhak, H., 2015. Declared versus actual organizational culture as indicated by an Organization’s performance appraisal. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. Turker, D. and Altuntas, C., 2015. A longitudinal study on newcomers perception of Organisational culture. Education + Training, 57 (2), pp. 130 – 147. Yeong, J.C. and Ngee, K. Y., 2014. Culture, Organizational culture and Organizational climate: An Integrative Approach. Indian journal of Commerce &Management Studies. 5(2). Read More