Organizational Culture and Organizational Leadership - Coursework Example

In any organization, organizational culture and organizational leadership are aspects that work hand in hand toward achieving organizational success. These two elements influence the way in which the organization functions and what its members will accomplish. This paper explains what an organizational culture is and discusses ways in which organization’s leaders can influence it. Introduction There are various definitions of culture. According to Schein, the term culture refers to the profound level of basic assumptions and beliefs, an organization’s members share, which operate unconsciously, and which define the view of an organization of its environment as well as itself in a basic taken-for-granted fashion. It refers to a group-based characteristic, whereby in order to become a group member, one must accept specified basic assumptions. While Schein emphasizes beliefs and assumptions, others deem culture to be a product of values. Hofstede treats culture as the collective mind programming which brings a distinction between one human group members and another. In this sense, included in culture are systems of values; and values are some of the elements of culture. He adds that while personality is to an individual, culture is to a human collectively. An organization on the other hand refers to a goal directed social entity, which has a purposely-structured activity system along with a relatively perceptible boundary (Bertrand, 2). Schein defines organizational culture as a pattern of communal basic assumptions learnt by a group as it finds solutions to its problems. These solutions are successful enough to be deemed valid and, for that reason, new members of the organization should learn them as the right way of perceiving, thinking, and feeling with respect to those problems. Evidently, organizational culture provides the interpretation of core beliefs and serves as the basis by which truth is determined, decisions are made, rejection occur and acceptance is granted. The culture of every organization is distinctive. An organization’s leaders are a very significant variable and they are responsible for formulating and influencing/shaping the culture of the organization. Leaders, according to Schein, have the ability of creating, managing, transforming, reinforcing as well as destroying culture through their day-to-day conversations, which include talk, listening, observed actions and writing. Everything flows from the head. Mirrored in any organizational culture are its leader’s values (Bertrand, 2). According to Krutza, it is believed that organizational culture is a legacy that an organiizzations leaders leave behind. In addition, worthy to note is the fact that the culture of an organizational is socially constructed – it is through conversations that it is created and changed. Every conversation not only makes meaning of observable actions, but also challenges, builds upon, or reinforces the existing beliefs and cultural norms. For leaders of any organization, the notion of social construction of the organizational culture is crucial and provides them with an opportunity as well as poses two challenges. The opportunity is that if the leader changes the right conversations, he/she can transform the culture for the better. One of the challenges that the leader must think about is that the existence of conversations that do not support the desired changes only make progress twofold hard to achieve. The other challenge is that the culture can never change unless a leader transforms the conversations (Haneberg, 3). Haneberg further asserts that the culture of an organization can either hinder or enable success. Leaders are capable of affecting the culture’s alignment with the strategies and mission of the company. Culture is socially constructed and there is need for leaders to instigate great conversations, which bind cultural norms to the goals of the organization. In case the existing culture does not align to the new reality, leaders must be the bridges, or catalysts, who create a new understanding in addition to assisting individuals in new behaviors selection and, ultimately, beliefs. Leaders also have the role of defining, clarifying as well as reinforcing understanding of the beliefs and actions that build the culture needed (3). Every leader influences the culture of his/her organization knowingly or unknowingly in a number of ways. To start with, a leader influences the culture of his/her organization through his/her own personality or behavior. The organization will most probably be the way the leader wants it to be. For instance, if a leader leads the organization with a stiff hand, other leaders within the organization are likely to follow the same steps. If on the other hand the leader is accommodating, other leaders are likely to behave in the same way (Krutza, 2). According to Bizmanualz.com, leaders can influence/uphold a positive organizational culture through laying down priorities that all the organization’s members identify as significant to the success of the organization.  Leaders set priorities by means of the way in which they allocate resources and focus their attention.  For instance, properly staffing, properly training and well equipping the customer service team with clear goals and direction will assist an organization’s members to recognize the fact customer service is a real priority. If on the other hand their leaders teal them that customer service is vital, but become deficient in the authority and resources to provide good customer service owing to cost constraints, they will most likely appreciate and follow that priority, making cost their major concern.  In addition, the members will perceive the organization as possibly incompetent, hypocritical and insincere (4-5).  In his book ‘Organizational Culture and Leadership’, Schein particularly gives a detailed description of the significant roles that leaders play in an organizational culture’s formation and management throughout organizational growth – early life, midlife, maturity as well as decline. Leaders, during an organization’s formation, greatly influence how the organization’s early members define and resolve their ‘internal integration and external adaptation problems’. In view of the fact that they are generally entrepreneurs with a high level of determination and self-confidence, leaders more often than not impose to their invented organizations strong assumptions. If their assumptions survive and succeed in the business environment, the members of the organization perceive them as correct and they ultimately internalize them as part of the organizational culture. Additionally, leaders have a tendency of selecting other organizational members who possess similar assumptions thereby strengthening the organizational culture’s foundation. Organizational members with conflicting opinions on organizational culture are likely to leave and thereby creating a more harmonized climate for members who choose to remain. Schein further proposes two types of culture-embedding mechanisms/mechanisms that leaders use to incorporate their assumptions in the organizational culture. The first type has to do with primary embedding mechanisms, which include the observed standard through which leaders recruit, select, promote, ex-communicate and retire organizational members; the way in which they respond to organizational crises and critical incidents; and what they pay attention to, control and measure on regular basis. It also constitutes of the observed criteria by which they allocate status, scarce resources and rewards; and deliberate role modelling, coaching, and teaching. The second type of culture-embedding mechanisms has to do with of secondary articulation and reinforcement mechanisms, which include formal declarations of organizational creed, values and philosophy; organizational procedures and systems; Organizational structure and design; Organizational rituals and rites; myths, legends and Stories concerning events and people; and Design of physical space, buildings and facades (252). Abdullah explains that the secondary mechanisms, in organizations, are at times referred to as organizational climate and they reflect and manifest leader-derived cultural assumptions, especially during the early formation of the organizations. Leaders use the secondary mechanisms as a powerful tool to reinforce the primary mechanisms. The standards of making use of the secondary mechanisms are that they need to be consistent with the primary mechanisms and leaders must set an example. Furthermore, in terms of leader influence, the dynamics of midlife, maturity as well as declining organizations are somewhat unlike the organization’s early formation stage. In the midlife organizations for instance, since newer generations of CEOs have replaced founders, the culture determines the leadership. The new leaders have to understand the culture of the organizational and make decisions regarding which cultural assumptions needs transformation. In other words, they become the agents of cultural change. These leaders, according to Schein, can promote changes by promoting the desired subculture systematically, making use of planned organizational development projects, creating parallel learning structure or unfreezing and change by means of technological seduction. Once an organization enters into the maturity and decline stage, which may be an indication that the current organizational culture becomes obsolete, the leaders must begin the change process at a more enveloping level. Often, leaders with transformational leadership style are sought-after at this point (Abdullah, 8). Another way through which a leader influences his/her organizational culture is through the policies he/she implements in the organization. If he/she for instance implements a policy of permitting members to ask questions during meetings, an open organizational culture that is open to suggestions will result. Conversely, if the leader represses such questions, the organization members will be working in a closed environment. Leaders also influence organizational culture in that they mold and shape the beliefs, basic assumptions and core values as well as principles that the organization’s members share. A leaders core values are usually an extension of those values that govern his/her life. Therefore, a leader’s manner of thinking will definitely influence his/her organization. Members of the organization follow these values/beliefs (Krutza, 3-4). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, explains that leaders they play crucial roles in making sure that the culture of their programs upholds good relations that empower every person in the organization to carry out their duties. Effective leaders create various strategies to form culture and inspire positive relationships inside their organizations. Leaders who learn to influence culture via others do it by means of encouraging people to form good relationships. Some of the strategies that can assist leaders in building an effective positive organizational culture include promoting good communication – in any organizational culture, communication is a vital element and leaders must encourage the flow of regular, accurate, timely and comprehensive information amongst all members of the of the organization in order to facilitate quality outcomes. Haneberg asserts that workplace communication is the greatest tool that a leader can use to shape culture. At the individual level, communication should serve as an effective empowerment tool. Effective communication permits every member of the organization to articulate his or her views, obtain helpful response, and solve conflicts. Another strategy has to do with empowerment – this is an important key to finding out the gold mine of creativity and energy in other people. Empowerment is leadership’s collective effect. In organizations with effectual leadership, empowerment is most obvious when work is exciting; learning and competence matter; individuals feel significant and individuals are part of a community/a team of people working to achieve a common vision. When people are empowered, they feel that they can direct their survival – they take full accountability for their situations. They also recognize themselves and behave with a sense of personal control and power, flexibility, as well as trust from their leaders. Empowerment is apparent when leaders include individuals from all levels in the process of making decisions regarding important matters of the organization. This way, they recognize that they form an important part of the organization and they obligate themselves towards goal achievement. The third strategy has to do with conflict management, which is a crucial element of efficient communication. To manage their organizational culture so that it supports the organization’s core beliefs and values, a leader must recognize and comprehend the conflicts within his/her organization. This also assists him/her in understanding as well as diagnosing organizational culture issues. Leaders should never ignore conflicts – they must bring them into the open and direct them into helpful purposes with productive, creative solutions. Often, effective leaders look at conflict as a chance for change. They evaluate conflicts and establish what averts the maintenance of a positive culture in their programs. They also help the organization’s members in discovering the way in which conflicts affect the culture’s overall characteristics (climate, values, norms, rules and philosophies). Effective leaders also mold the common values and beliefs that define the culture to assist the way in which their organizations adapt to change, conflicts as well as how they attain goals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 10). Conclusion Apparently, organizational leaders play a great role in not only influencing ways in which members function but also the culture of the organization. They have greatly influence the course that the organization takes, both currently as well as in the future. It is however important to note that leaders should not attempt to influence the culture of their organization and consequently their subjects’ mindsets forcefully. This would be a grave mistake as members will definitely resent and oppose any such organizational change forced on them. Rather than forcing change, leaders should lead it – they should convincingly lead their members towards accepting and adopting the culture that they want. Additionally, as Bertrand points out, in order to be successful, leaders should first inflict change on themselves before attempting to cultivate change on others. Works Cited Abdullah, Nor H. The Influence of Leadership on Organizational Culture and its Effects on Knowledge Management Initiative. N.d. Web. Bertrand, Brenda. Transformation within Organizational Culture: The Gap between Paper and Reality. 2002. Web. Bizmanualz.com. What Do You Believe About Leadership and Organizational Culture? 2007. Web. Haneberg, Lisa. How Leaders Can Optimize Organizational Culture. 2009. Web. Hofstede, Geert. Culture’s Consequences. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. 1980. Print. Krutza, Mike. Your Organizational Culture: How Much Influence Do You As a Leader Have Over It? N.d.Web. Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. (2nd. ed). San Francisco: Jossey Bass. 1992. Print. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Influencing Organizational Culture. 2009. Web. Read More