Organizational Culture and Decision Making - Article Example

 Organizational Culture and Decision Making An organisation is often recognised by the culture that is prevalent in the organisation and the mode of working followed. This is not solely a management concept relevant to companies, but also to healthcare units. By organisational culture, we mean, the attitudes, values and ethical perception of the organisation and how it works in different situations. “Organization culture is the emergent result of the continuing negotiations about values, meanings and proprieties between the members of that organisation and with its environment”.

(Organizational Culture: An Introduction, edited by Nasreen Taher, Hyderabad: ICFAI University Press, 2005, pp 82-92.) Organisational culture often characterises the way an organisation functions and how major job requisites are carried out. Let us take the example of a healthcare unit whose culture is characterised by an open door policy, where the doctors and paramedics are approachable. The decision-making strategy in such an organisation would be one that would be open to all and sundry, or would at least involve individuals from all the hierarchal branches, rather than being limited to the top crux.

This illustration clearly elucidates the view that an organisation’s culture often impacts decision-making in the organisation. (Website: http://www.culturecreation.com.au/) When an organisation makes changes in its strategy, it must take care not to keep the information limited to its top hierarchy and must make sure it penetrates to reach all levels of employees. This is because of the fact that every employee and his work functioning plays a great role in carrying forward a strategy made by the organisation.

Change in strategy needs to be a combined effort from all quarters. It also impacts the culture at the organisation, since work processes begin to differ. For instance, if an organisation makes the decision that it shall adopt a more aggressive marketing strategy, it comes up with special treatments and varied infrastructural facilities and involves every paramedics assistance. This is because, only then will the strategy work effectively with each and every employee contributing a more aggressive stance and output, furthering the overall strategy of the organisation.

In addition to this, the workplace culture must be global and cosmopolitan in a healthcare unit, since it caters to no specific crowd. The patients could come from varied backdrops of life and it is essential to embrace a cosmopolitan stance, in order to avoid any sort of intimidating scenarios. This would also help bind the staff and paramedics together, and help them counter problems or act in a united manner. Thus, adopting a globally applicable culture is a great way to boost the healthcare unit in terms of its ambience and atmosphere.

Thus, it is evident by what has been outlines, that organisational culture is an important parameter in almost every activity of a healthcare unit. A healthcare unit must most certainly work towards developing a more interactive and employee-friendly culture to facilitate better cooperation and coordination amongst employees. REFERENCES Website: http://www.culturecreation.com.au/ Organizational Culture: An Introduction, edited by Nasreen Taher, Hyderabad: ICFAI University Press, 2005, pp 82-92.

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