Organizational Culture - Essay Example

Introduction Organizational culture is defined as the specific collection of values, beliefs, personalities, norms, assumptions, behaviors, ideas and tangible and intangible signs of the organization in its internal and external environments of business conduct. Organizational culture is the most important aspect of an organization because it directly influence with the management of the organization and for the motivation of employees. Thus it forms the organizational goals such as mission and vision. Culture is a tool for the manager to inculcate a set of values, beliefs and ideas in the employee whose vision is then transformed into that that of the organization’s vision( Kincheloe, 2002). According to Edgar Schein organizational culture is “A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way you perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems" (Schein, 2004). Analysis Organizational culture control the way that all the members who are in an organization interact with each other and with stake holders outside the organization. Thus it is widely different from the corporate culture. Corporate culture is widely deeper concept than the organizational culture. It represents the character of an organization. It is the aggregate of traditions customs and values. (Schein, 2004) Next Geert Hofstede identified five dimensions as the basis for organizational culture (2005). Though Hofstede actually preceded Schein the latter theory’s importance is much greater. Therefore it has been given the preference in this paper. A number of other scholars such as (Deal and Kennedy 2000) and Handy produced their theories on organizational culture and have had considerable influence on the subsequent writings and developments on the subject. There are four distinct organizational culture types adopted by analysts and scholars to examine the various aspects of organizational culture in different organizational settings. Academy culture Club culture Baseball team culture Fortress culture Academy culture is based on the internal core of values and belifs of the organization. For example universities, training hospitals, research laboratories and research organizations adopt this style to exercise thir culture of the organization, there can be an academically oriented set of values and norms (Facella, & Adina, 2008). Club culture promotes cliquish behavior among the organization’s members because such behavior would be based on some regulated normative patterns that would not deviate or diverge from the established rules within the organization. While many professional organizations like partnerships – e.g. engineering, accounting and law firms – come under this category, there are even big business organizations which seek to promote club culture within them (Michael & Noreen, 1995). Organizations where baseball team culture exists tend to hire highly skilled employees who command respect and demand for the sole reason that they cannot be easily replaced. Mutual fund managers come under this category of professionals. Fortress culture is all about how the The most important and crucial part of an organization is to Match individuals to the organization for its smooth running. It is the success for any company. The match between people and the companies for which they work is determined by the kind of organizational culture that exists. The degree to which an organization’s values match the values of an individual who works for the company determines whether a person is a good match for a particular organization To have a sound organizational culture it is of crucial importance to managers and the senior executives. usually they set the tone and goals by forming core values that form the overall dominant culture shared by the majority of an organization’s members. So, management should give a priority to understand the culture which motivates an organization and people . New procedures and activities will be very difficult to implement if they do not match with the organization’s culture (Narasimhan, 2005). Sound organizational culture effects on various levels of people in the organization, when we consider on manager role they should have a correct understanding of the culture for drive the activities in a way that it gives the maximum output and achieve the efficiency of all the activities by avoiding destructive influence of having employees who are not committed to the company’s goals (Ritzer, 1993) .This can be achieved by careful attention to all the employees and by motivating them and appreciating their work done and giving rewards for their efforts. And as well as consistent positive feedback to the employees will encourage them and will give them a sense of importance in the organization. And the Managers need to continually transmit the values of the culture through efforts such as firm sponsored social events, employees welfare programs. Further managers can create and develop a positive culture by employing people who share the same values and vision that the organization represents and required. To do this, employers can identify the employees by spending some time with them before they enter the organization as new employees. Once new employees are recruited with the organization’s values, they will be adjusted to the existing culture of the organization and the will bring a good perception to the environment that will solidify the organization’s personality or culture. By establishing a sound organizational culture at Google, managers can achieve following advantages Google indeed have been adopted some far reaching HRM practices to achieve organizational goals Management style and influencing is equally important when it comes to employee motivation. Human Resource Management (HRM) practices adopted within the organization must be in conformance with the organization’s strategic HRM goals. This is in fact the case with big organizations because they need to have a well motivated staff to perform on the lines of international norms in creating brand related values to the customer. The customer’s positive perception of brand equity is perhaps the best barometer of organizational success in a highly competitive industry. By establishing better HRM an organization can expect increase in overall productivity and efficiency of the organization .Having a sound culture the overall productivity of the employees will be increased because of the motivation they receave from the top executives. (Hofstede, 2005) REFERENCES 02. Burns, JM 1978, Leadership, Harper & Row, New York. 03. Buller, PF 2003, Managing Organizations and People: Cases in Management, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, 7th edn, South-Western College, Winfield. 04. Deal, T & Kennedy, A 2000, Corporate Culture, Basic Books, New York. 05.Facella, P & Adina, G 2008, Everything I Know About Business I Learned at McDonalds: The 7 Leadership Principles that Drive Break Out Success, McGraw-Hill, New York. 06. Hofstede, GJ 2005, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, McGraw-Hill Professional, Ohio. 07 Kincheloe, JL 2002, The sign of the burger: McDonalds and the culture of power, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 2002. 08. Michael, M & Noreen, H 1995, ‘The high-performance organization developing teamwork where it counts, ’Management Decision, vol.33, no.2, pp.56-63. 09. Narasimhan, K 2005, ‘International Handbook of Organizational Teamwork and Cooperative Working’, The TQM Magazine, vol.17, no.4, pp.375-376. 10. Ritzer, G 1993, The McDonaldization of Society, Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks. 11. Schein, EH 2004, Organizational Culture and Leadership (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership), Jossey-Bass, California Read More