Organizational Culture Is Fundamentally about Symbolic Meaning - Essay Example

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IS FUNDAMENTALLY ABOUT SYMBOLIC MEANING AND AS SUCH CANNOT BE MANAGED Introduction This assignment discusses the that organizational culture is fundamentally about symbolic meaning and as such cannot be managed. In this regard this essay paper first elaborates the idea of organizational culture. Afterwards the paper progressively debates over the rationale behind the establishment of organizational culture and unfolds the diverse perspectives of organizational culture and its realism. The paper as it proceeds argues over that organization culture is to what extent a symbolic meaning or an organization wide association that stands out of the boundaries of organizational premise to general public and customer imagery effecting their perception. The paper after establishing its argument around the extent of effectiveness of organizational cultural symbolism determines how this pattern of values and beliefs are managed across organizational levels by managers. The paper finishes with a concluding point of view which is established on the basis of the arguments placed during the debate over organizational culture is fundamentally about symbolic meaning and for that reason it cannot be managed. Discussion This paper concentrates around the subject that organizational culture is primarily a symbolic meaning as a result it cannot be managed; sooner than arguments are made on the aforesaid topic of interest, it is important to first discuss the organizational culture and its components in detail to determine the significance of culture in managing organizational activities, controlling the direction of those activities and evaluating the overall organizational performance in a holistic manner. Organizational culture Organizational culture by definition is a pattern of collective fundamental assumptions that the people at an organization erudite as they resolve the problems and tackle the challenges of external adjustment and internal assimilation, that have performed proficiently enough to be considered suitable and compelling. As a result, these collective assumptions are transferred and inculcated to new comers of the organization, so that they will also develop the similar compelling approach to recognize, believe, anticipate and interpret problems. Consequently, the organizational culture refers to a framework for organizational constituencies, of people, policies, processes, place, performance, products etc, which establishes the organizational discernible and indiscernible conduct for achieving collective organizational objectives and interests. The organizational culture’s framework establishes on four key elements; assumptions, values, symbols and artifacts. The symbols and artifacts are considered as discernible and explicit conduct of organizations whilst the assumptions and values lie at the core of that explicit conduct and are therefore considered as indiscernible and implicit demeanor. The values and assumptions lay grounds for influencing and being influenced by the symbolic elements and artifactual elements of organizational culture. The values and assumptions are those elements of organizational culture that are indirectly exhibited through organizational strategic intent, vision, direction of goals, rationale behind behaviors etc. On the other hand, the symbols and artifacts are directly communicated to the environment through actions, behaviors, dressing, language, processes, products, office premises, architecture etc. Therefore, organizational culture is more than a just fundamentally about symbolic meaning. Dialectic behind Establishment of Symbols in Organizational Culture Framework In order to develop understanding about the philosophy behind determination of symbols in organizational culture framework, it is crucial to first develop understanding about organizational symbols and its significance to organization. Organizational Symbol An organizational symbol is anything or objects that conveys the meaning, idea, sense or feeling about organization, structure, people, place, products etc. An organization symbol is not a mere sign of meaning rather it’s an entire reflection of organizational identity and individuality. For instance, consider the golden arch of Mc Donald, what imagery instantly comes to mind? The retail setup of the organization, the staff taking order, the fast food menu, the fries, the layout of the outlets, the dress code of the people, the taste of the food items, the smell, the location of retail outlets, the conduct of staff etc. Reflect on the “swoosh” of Nike, what comes to mind? The products, outlets, the slogan “just do it”, the quality, the experience, the brand, the brand ambassador athletes etc. A single symbol conveys an entire organization meaning, feelings, idea, and individuality by conveying the underlying beliefs, values and norms of the organization through people’s behavior, physical characteristics, experience and sensory inputs. Organizational symbols are vehicles or carriers for establishing organizational associations with people from internal employees, business partners and alliances to external customers. These associations are stronger than mere literal meanings of the different organizational symbols. These associations that are driven by organizational symbols are not imaginary foundations; rather these are real experiences of a person resulting from the physical interactions and experiences. Therefore, anything and everything in an organizational setup is a symbol that speaks out organizational values, beliefs, individuality and vision, this in a broad domain constitutes into and contributes to the organizational culture. For this reason, the establishment of organizational symbols is crucial for managers to convey the significance of the corresponding elements of organizational culture i.e. artifacts, values and assumptions. Roles of Organizational Symbols Organizational symbols takes on many roles in order to conform to and to fulfill the objectives of the organizational culture. These roles identify the diverse nature of symbolism, purposefulness, and its organization wide implications. These roles are elaborated below: Reinforcement of Core Assumptions and Values Organizational symbols purposefully reinforce the organization’s underlying implicit values and assumptions. These are hidden, embedded and intangible associations with an organization. Organizational symbols deliver and develop their associations by stimulating sensory inputs i.e. through receptiveness of visual, verbal, audio, physical and olfactory senses. The rationale behind a symbol’s reinforcement of values is to create and deliver a consistent message from various sense domains to enhance the memorability, relatedness, recall and distinctiveness of an organization. Or in other words, symbols in organizational culture are tangible approach to convey intangibles of that organization. For instance, a symbolic use of a lion develops organizational association of leadership, control, power, pride and command. It conveys the idea about the individuality and the values that determines what is acceptable and what is not in adherence to the organizational culture. The symbol of lion enables the employees to grasp and nurture similar values that are inculcated by the symbol and also discourage the ownership of values and beliefs that contradict the associations of a lion. Therefore, organizational symbols develop associations that identify the implied core assumptions and values behind the symbols. Manipulation of Individual Behavior Organizational culture symbols are effective means for manipulating individual behaviors within an organizational setup. Since, the symbols develop associations that consistently deliver the organizational basic values and beliefs, these values proactively influence the behavior and actions of the people inside and outside the organization. For instance, an organization symbolizes a character X and develops a story around the character’s exceptionable behavior, which conveys a contrast message to the employees about what is desirable in that organizational culture. Accordingly, the organizational symbols develop and deliver value and belief associations which expand those values deeper and broader, manipulate people actions, and in this manner maneuver organizational behavior. Communication of Organizational Activities and Life Organizational symbols represent and communicate organizational activities and organizational life. The interaction and experience of a bank is entirely different from the interface and apprehension of a café. What communicates the people about the operational setup, formality norms, language, and conduct of the two places is the environment, the physical orientation of the artifacts, and the sensory inputs of the diverse symbols in the two distinct organizational setups. Each and everything in an organizational setup is developed and determined to deliver consistent messages that communicates the scope of freedom, authority and power, social networks, compliance and formality within an organization. The organizational life and activities are definitely identified by the choice of furniture, social ambiance, dress code, letter head, logos, language, conduct, and complementary activities that establish a symbolic environment of an organization altogether. Could you perceive a bank with flamboyant furniture, funky peripherals, informal mingling, and with background music to keep clients engaged with bank’s activity? Certainly one may not perceive such an imagery of associations, because these symbols do not go with the values and assumptions of the bank, and consequently does not communicate the bank’s identity. The presence of a recreational facility is more coherent with an advertising company’s culture, which communicates the organization as creative, vigorous, and challenging. Hence, organizational symbols are significant for communicating the organizational activities and life. Consolidation of Organizational Systems and Processes Organizational cultural symbols effectively establish and deliver the associations which hold the core organizational values through various mediums of senses, hence consistently reinforcing them and contributing to influence the actions and behaviors of all organizational constituencies; of people, place, process, policy, premise, product etc. In such a manner, the organizational symbols effectively and symbolically strengthened the organizational wide systems and processes. Organizational symbol takes on the role of assimilation i.e. it joins together the individual associations established by different symbolic elements and creates an image that is adhesive to organizational vision, strategic direction and business intent. Significant Dimensions of Symbols in Organizational Culture The symbols in organizational culture possess various dimensions as explained in the roles section of this paper. These dimensions entail a specific function for a symbol. The symbols in organizational culture have four classic dimensions of; manifestation, influence, communication and consolidation. The symbols manifest the embedded values by developing organization wide thinking; therefore the manifestation dimension of a symbol has a descriptive function. A symbol influences the organizational actions by triggering behaviors; thus the influential dimension of a symbol has a controlling function. A symbol communicates the individual behaviors, which is a descriptive function. Finally a symbol consolidates all the individual behaviors to a consistent organizational image, thus it undergoes a system maintenance function that identifies the loopholes where inconsistency to organizational values exist and where change is required. Characteristics of Symbolic Structure The symbols in an organizational culture are organized in a meaningful framework. This organization of different symbols in organization culture depends upon the following characteristics of a symbol. These are nature of symbol, course of symbol, foundation of symbol and message delivered by s symbol. Nature of symbol determines the degree to which a symbol is passive or active i.e. whether a symbol is solely material, verbal or action oriented. The course of symbol determines the internal or external direction of symbolic communication. The foundation of symbol characteristic determines the grounds from which a symbol initiates and establishes whether the symbol will have proactive or reactive consequences. The message characteristic of the symbol determines what the context, the substance and the content of the message is all about, establishing the breadth and depth of the literal meanings conveyed by the message. Conclusion Thus, from above arguments and discussion on dialectic behind establishment of symbols in organizational culture, the analysis of symbolic roles rendered by symbolism in organization culture, by understanding the dimensions of organizational symbols, and identifying the characteristics of symbolic structure within organizational culture reveals that an organizational culture is not mere about symbolic meaning or representation of signs, rather it an integrated subjective method of establishing and expanding core organizational values across organizational internal and external contacts by which organizational life, systems, and activities are controlled and managed in adherence to collective organizational objectives, identity and performance. Therefore, the symbolism of organizational culture is effective in stimulating desired behaviors at both conscious and unconscious levels and simultaneously controlling the undesired exceptional behaviors within an organizational setting. This is the practicality of and power of symbolization of values in organizational culture. Read More