Organizational Culture is Based on Symbolic - Essay Example

Organisational culture is fundamentally about symbolic meaning AFFILIATION: Introduction to organisational culture In the last few years, the researchers have realised that organisations have distinctive cultures that are shaped by various aspects that work together to help their members towards behaving in an appropriate manner. It has also been widely observed that each type of organisation possesses its own culture and they may at times be highly different from other organisational cultures. The most widely accepted approach in the field of organisational study is to look at the organisation from a perspective of culture. The key factors that have contributed to the importance of organisational culture are globalisation, extensive networks of society and dynamics of ever changing social aspects that have created a work environment that has a diverse culture worldwide (Lann, 2008). Organisational culture plays a pivotal role in allowing the organization to gain a competitive edge in its industry and also becoming successful in the business world with a huge market share. The employees are the key elements that make or break the firm as they are ones who execute the objectives and goals of the organisation. It is important for the organisations to adapt to the organisational culture as required because diversions may lead to conflict of opinion and interest in the organisation. Both the employers and employees need to work together with each other in complete harmony so that desired level of success and results can be achieved by the firm. Within the last two decades of the 20th century, the practitioners and scholars have been approaching the firms from soft perspectives of individuals as human beings who join the corporations with particular beliefs and values. These beliefs and values play an important role towards the behaviour and attitudes of the employees in the organisation. In the contemporary world of fifties and sixties, there was a trend of cybernetic approach to the organisational culture as less importance was given to the soft side of an organisation’s workers and employees (Mahal, 2009). The feeling of being valued and being given importance is one of the most important things for human beings as reflected in the Elton Mayo theory, hence organisations should ensure that they value their employees in all perspectives. Satisfied employees tend to be more productive at workplace and they also tend to respect their organisational culture. According to Gareth Morgan, cited by Ravasi and Schultz (2006), the cultural perspective is one of the interesting and possible metaphors that can be used to understand the functioning and operations of an organisation. The main areas that are focused by the researchers following this perspective are interpreting the ways people do their thinking so that their feeling and actions can be easily conceptualised by the set of values that have been encompassed in the broader perception of culture (Sun, 2008). The thought process of an individual impacts the way job roles are handled at work and also impacts the way employees perceive things at workplace. The perception of employees are also dependent upon their treatment in the organisation by the supervisors and peers. This cultural perspective has both limitations and strengths and has made valuable contributions in the field of organisational research. During the studies by many researchers, one of the primary virtues of cultural metaphor was identified that directed the attention towards the significance of symbolic interaction in the organisation. Before the development of symbolic-interpretive perspective, the major emphasis was on the functionalist perspective which stated that culture is an integral part of the organisation that is defined by the management (Bako, 2010). The symbolic-interpretive perspective was valued by the researchers because it allowed them to study how the organisations have strong roots in their shared systems of meaning. It has been found by researchers such as Schein (1985) and Hatch (1993) that symbols are the main influencers of organisational culture that are the main sources of creation and shaping of organised activities and tend to influence the corporation’s values, norms, ceremonies, language, beliefs and other social practices which definitely guide the social action (Pearse & Kanyangale, 2009). Different views on organisational culture According to the organisational symbolism viewpoint, every organisation is made up of a system of the shared symbols and meanings along with the pattern of symbolic communication which provides a foundation for the members of the organisation to organise their work and interpret their experiences. These particular symbolic communication patterns and meanings may differ from organisation to organisation and it is also possible that a symbol in one organisation may have a different meaning in another organisation. The representative example of this explanation is given in the paradigm work of Schein (1989) and Hatch (1993). Schein (1989) distinguished between the three levels at which culture is manifested i.e. observable artifacts, values and assumptions (underlying basics of an organisation). Hatch (1993) extended the work of Schein and introduced the concept that artifacts are the primary features that generate symbols via a process of symbolisation. This new view of organisational culture as a symbol puts forward two arguments for changes in Schein’s model: 1. A new element ‘symbols’ is introduced that incorporates the symbolic-interpretive perspective. 2. All the elements of culture are not the focal point as the relationship linking is the central area of focus in the organisation. The works of both researchers led to the development of Schein’s and Hatch’s models of organisational culture that significantly emphasise the need of providing frameworks for developing an understanding about the values and norms that are prevailing in the organisations such as an explanation of ethical behaviours or determining the gaps that exist between organisational values and individual values (Bako, 2010). Organisational culture is fundamentally about symbolic meaning Schein (1985) was the pioneer to introduce the concept of viewing organisational culture as a set of symbolic meaning that is evident from the observations and attitudes of employees working in the organisation. He developed an intuitive model for organisation representation; it was pictured as an iceberg that comprised of three layers named as ‘artifacts’, ‘promoted values’ and ‘underlying values and assumptions’ (Schein, 2004). The artifacts are those elements that are evident at the surface level such as technology, dress code, furniture and tools. While promoted values are the conscious goals, philosophies and strategies that can be unveiled easily by analysis of the organisational documents or observation of verbal interactions among people in the organisation and underlying values and assumptions are the crucial essence of an organisation’s culture that are difficult to be unveiled as they are present at an inherent level (Morill, 2008). According to Sun (2008), the social constructionist perspective emphasises that an organisation culture is itself an organisation that has a huge amount of subjective reality of rituals and meanings (Smircich, 1983); culture is always a living and ever evolving reality (Parker, 2000) and exists only as a pattern of symbolic meanings and relationships (Morgan, 1997) that are maintained with the continuous processes of interactions among human beings. The meanings of the symbols cannot be either manipulated or controlled as the culture exists in the organisation independently and objectively that is being imposed on the employees. According to the grounded theory, the culture is produced and reproduced via interactions among organisation’s members on a daily basis. One of the key influencers in the symbolic meanings is the actions and behaviours of the leaders as demonstrated by them within the organisation (Pearse & Kanyangale, 2009). On the other hand, managerial perspectives regard the culture to be in monotony that is consistent organisation-wide and there is clarity about the ways in which the organisation members have to behave. This perspective does not take into account of bringing the changes in the organisation culture as the supporters of this viewpoint favour the approach taken by the managers. Similarly, the advocates of the integration perspective believe that the culture should be integrated properly that will improve an organisation’s efficiency and enhance the level of employee’s commitment (Morill, 2008). The ambiguities in any form have to be avoided to create a stable and dominant set of values. This is another very important aspect that needs to be considered by organisations that there should not be any ambiguity in the minds of the employees regarding the goals and objectives of the firm. Since symbols come in three forms i.e. verbal interaction, physical objects and behavioural events, it is important to ensure that the right meaning is understood so that the desired message is easily communicated. It has been specially mentioned by the contributors of symbolic-interpretive perspective that every symbol should communicate the same meaning to everyone so that there is a same level of understanding and few chances of conflicts among the members of an organisation. The symbols that are part of the organisational culture can be stated in the orientation sessions for the new employees so that they accordingly become aware of the norms being practiced in the firm. Although the theorists have developed various theories to provide guidance on interpreting the symbols in appropriate manners but they lack guidance on developing cultures that can promote uniformity within the organisation. One of the main issues that are faced within the organisation is existence of subcultures as they tend to impact at a great level the way in which business activities are conducted. For instance, there might be a different working culture in a department which can be entirely opposite to an organisation’s main culture (Schein, 2004). It has been found that the managers create their own subcultures so that they can provide suitable working environment to their subordinates which can ensure alignment with the organisation’s overall effectiveness. Managers are well aware of their subordinates, hence they can be given the leverage to have their own culture while dealing with the subordinates. For instance, IBM has given liberty to its employees to develop their own subcultures within their divisions so that they can successfully develop innovative and unique products and solutions for their customers (Sun, 2008). When IBM realised that the members of production department favoured the open business environment, it embedded it in its overall organisational culture so that its performance enhanced in the industry. In order to manage the symbols interpretation within the organisation, it has to continuously reinforce the importance of culture that is the basic pre-requisite for smooth functioning of the business operations. Some successful companies such as Microsoft, Starbucks, Toyota, McDonald’s and Harley-Davidson have made significant changes in their organisational culture that comprise of creating a corporate religion, setting goals for the managers and increasing societal consciousness (Mahal, 2009). Conclusion For decades, the managers have emphasised the need of imposing their cultures on the employees but now there is a tremendous shift on understanding the organisational culture by observing the ways in which people behave and work within the organisation. To understand the culture is important as can be observed from the discussion above as an effective organisational culture leads the organisation to become successful in the business market. Every employee becomes a member of the organisation with certain set of values, beliefs and virtues; the management should give some space to the new individual to understand the basic values of the organisation and minimise any gap that exists between an organisation and the individuals set of values. Proper orientation sessions should be given to the new employees so that all types of ambiguities can be removed from the employees thought process regarding the culture of the organisation. Hence, the organisational culture is mainly defined in symbols as it is evident from the behaviours of the employees i.e. how they behave, act and respond in situations. Although the latest trend is to focus on the human side of employees but it emphasises the need of keeping an alignment between the mandatory features of the culture and flexible aspects of individuals. Interaction with peers and subordinates and the supervisors are based upon the type of organisational culture being followed in the organisation. Therefore, the organisations have to ensure that they effectively manage the attitudes and behaviours of their members so that appropriate meanings of symbols are communicated to everyone. References Bako, R.K., 2010. Organization discourses as status symbols. [Online] Available at: [Accessed 17 February 2013] Lann, M., 2008. Organizational culture: an important factor to consider. The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finance, 21(3), pp. 88-93. Mahal, P., 2009. Organizational culture and organizational climate as a determinant of motivation. Journal of Management Research, 8(10), pp. 38-51. Morill, C., 2008. Culture and organization theory. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, 619, pp. 15-40. Pearse, N. and Kanyangale, M., 2009. Researching organizational culture using the grounded theory method. Journal of Business Research Methods. 7(1), pp. 67-74. Ravasi, D. and Schultz, M., 2006. Responding to organizational identity threats: Exploring the role of organizational culture. Academy of Management Journal, 49(3), pp. 433-458. Schein, E., 2004. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Sun, S., 2008. Organizational culture and its themes. International Journal of Business and Management, 3(12), pp. 137-141. Read More