The Organizational Culture of the Cisco System Company - Report Example

CASE STUDY REPORT Contents Contents 2 Literature review 3 Personal position 4 Methodology 5 Main Body 5 Differences in communication amongst diverse employees 5 How is this catered 6 Leadership promoting effective cross cultural management 7 Organisation catering differing needs of employees 8 Cross cultural management important for the organisations sustainability and success 9 Recommendation 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Cisco system, Inc is an American multinational company. The company was founded in 1984. From the very beginning the company focuses on its organizational culture for providing different benefits and facilities to its employees. The employee friendly culture of the company contributes a lot in increasing its profit. This is a multinational company so the employees of various cultures work together. The cross cultural management of the company facilitates it manage its different employees who belong from different cultural backgrounds. The organizational culture of Cisco provides stability to company and its business process. In this firm various issues arises for maintaining its culture. Through its different policies and procedures the company is capable in managing those issues. Literature review According to the authors Leonard, Graham and Bonacum diverse workforce can be managed effectively by doing communication. Employees of multinational companies come from different cultural backgrounds. As per the authors if good communication system is not maintained within the company then it becomes difficult for the organizational members to deliver good performances. The authors state that communication helps an individual to express his views and ideas. Communication process differs from person to person. Major differences in communication arise from culture. People of different culture use different ways and methods to communicate with each other. Therefore it is one of the important tasks of the company to develop a general communication process which will help the firm to unite all its employees (Leonard, Graham and Bonacum, 2004, p. 35). The authors Lok and Crawford focus more on leadership style of the company for managing its organizational culture effectively. According to these authors the organizational leaders play the most important role in enhancing the productivity of the company. Their way of managing cross culture facilitates the company to motivate its employees for delivering their job perfectly. The cross cultural leaders have different traits and skills which help them to understand employees. As a result these leaders are able to develop effective strategies and policies which help the company to manage its employees (Lok and Crawford, 2004, p. 59). On the other hand the author Ali Mohammad Mosadegh Rad highlighted that a company needs to satisfy different needs to the employees and cater their need to achieve the goal and objectives of the company. A satisfied employee helps the company to improve its productivity. As per this author, in multinational companies cross cultural management should be done effectively for achieving sustainable development. If there is a strong bonding between the employees then the work process will be very smooth. This will help the company to achieve its goals and objectives easily (Mohammad Mosadegh Rad, 2006, p. 151). Personal position As per my thoughts it is a very important challenge for the company to manage all its employees who belong from different culture. Employees are the vital part of a company. They have a large contribution in fulfilling the goals and objectives of the company. For this reason an organization should have transparent and effective communication process which will facilitate the employees to perform their job. I think leaders guide the organizational members for performing their activities. They communicate with the employees and make them understand about rules and regulation of the company. Leaders develop strategies for implementing cross cultural management. Methodology Research methodology helps to conduct a research. Mainly there are two types of research methods. One is quantitative and another one is qualitative. In quantitative research method different types of statistical tools are used for conducting the research. In qualitative research method views and opinions of various people are analysed. Both of these research methods can be conducted by using primary and secondary data. Primary data can be directly collected from field whereas secondary data are collected from sources like internet, books, journals etc. In this case study qualitative research method has been used. Data are extracted from various secondary sources. This research technique helped to complete the entire research with a short span of time. Relevant information and data are extracted from secondary sources by using this research technique. Main Body Differences in communication amongst diverse employees In the multinational organization Cisco System, employees come from different countries having different cultural backgrounds and values. These employees are habituated with different types of communication processes for communicating with each other. Some of the employees prefer verbal communication while some prefer written communication etc. In the workplace the employees need to maintain formal communication (The Economist., 2009). All the employees are not use to this therefore they faces some problems for maintaining formal communication (National Communication Association, 2015). Sometimes employees tend to follow informal way of communication for making their job easy. Informal communication in Cisco involves in verbal warnings, instructions etc. Some employees are not so much interested to use written mode of communication. For this reason these employees prefer to use informal ways of communication for doing their job (Schein, 2010, p. 29). How is this catered Cisco caters differences in communication among its diverse workforce by understanding how they perceive business level communication. The company holds many meetings with its employees for delivering them any message or information. Cisco also maintains transparency in its communication process which helps its diverse workforce to trust the company and its communication system. Vital information is communicated in the company through emails (Sims, 2007, p. 72). Cisco System follows Shannon and Weaver Mathematical model of communication for reducing the differences of communication in its diverse workforce. In this model, information is encoded and channelled to the receivers through different sources. The sources are mainly electronic. The receiver decodes the message and work according to that. This communication model helps the company to maintain standard communication system for controlling and guiding its diverse workforces (Schabracq, 2009, p. 92). Leadership promoting effective cross cultural management The American multinational company Cisco System has very efficient employees. The organizational leaders of Cisco help the company to manage its cross cultural and workforce diversity effectively. The leaders of this company always motivate the employees to deliver high performances. They establish different cross functional teams where employees of different cultures work together (Reuters, 2015). This process helps the company to reduce the differences among the employees. The organizational leaders of Cisco influence the employees to establish effective communication with each other (Jones and Brazzel, 2014, p. 19). For making its leadership system more effective the firm follows participative leadership style. This leadership style benefits the company to manage its cross cultural employees effectively. As a result Cisco is able to enhance it productivity. In participative leadership style the leaders makes strong communication with the organizational members (Jones and Brazzel, 2014, p. 20). They discuss different problems and issues with the employees and take suggestions from them. They treat the employees of different cultures equally. Based on employees’ performance the leaders judge them. Therefore by this process the company is able to manage its diverse cross cultural workforce efficiently (Avril and Zumello, 2013, p. 48). The leaders of Cisco understand the differences of various cultures and based on that they develop organizational strategies and policies for the employees. The leaders of Cisco help the employees to understand the advantages of different cultures and motivate them to adopt various positive things of different cultures. By this process the organizational leaders facilitates the company in establishing good organizational culture (Ashkanasy, Wilderom and Peterson, 2011, p. 64). Organisation catering differing needs of employees Cisco System is very much concerned about its employees. The company considers its employees as one of its important resources. Its employees play vital role in satisfying and acquiring more customers for the company. Different types of employees work in this multinational organization. Therefore they have different types of needs and requirements. Cisco pays much attention to solve their needs and requirements (Cisco, 2015). The rules and policies of the company are designed in such a way which provides many benefits and facilities to the employees. By this process the company is able to motivate its employees by providing them necessary facilities. The organization also provides various opportunities to its employees for enhancing their career. Based on the performances Cisco judge its employees and increase their salaries and other facilities (Thorpe and Beasley, 2004, p. 29). Cisco follows the model of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs for satisfying and motivating its employees. The company provides enough salary to its employees by which they are able to meet their psychological needs. The company provides medical and insurance facilities to its organizational members which help them to satisfy their safety need. Cisco treats its employees well and it highlights their achievements (McLeod, 2007, p. 57). By this process the company is able to meet the social and esteem needs of its staffs. The organization assists the employees in enhancing their potentialities which fulfils self actualization needs of its employees. Cross cultural management important for the organisations sustainability and success Cross cultural management is very significant factor for the company for achieving sustainability and success in its business process. Cisco emphasises a lot in managing the cultures of its employees. The company follows many rules and policies which help it to manage its cross cultures (Luthans, 2005, p. 24). In the competitive business environment the company needs to focus more on sustainable development of its business for achieving for term success By managing different cultures effectively Cisco is able to extract best things from different cultures which benefit the company to achieve success (Chandrasekera, 2014, p. 81). Recommendation To improve the communication level among the employees Cisco can assign some important tasks solely to the employees and make them responsible to complete it. This will enhance the communication process among its employees. Each and every employee will support each other and they will try to deliver the work perfectly. This will help them to make effective communication and by this they will know each other. In some situations Cisco can implement Laissez-Faire. This will help the company to make its employees more responsible. This leadership style will also improve the communication level among its diverse workforce. Conclusion Cisco System, the multinational company has huge number of employees. They manufacture, design and sell various network equipments. The organizational culture of the company influence it employees focus more on the customers. Effective and transparent communication is established in Cisco System with the help of its culture. The organizational leaders of Cisco System play a vital role in guiding the employees and fulfilling their different needs. The company organizes various programs for training and development of its employees. These programs facilitate the employees to enhance their skills and capabilities. As a result the company is able to improve the performance of employees by guiding them and providing them necessary knowledge. The leaders of Cisco always influence and motivate the employees for performing their job efficiently. References Ashkanasy, N. M, Wilderom, C.P.M. and Peterson, M. F., 2011. The Handbook of Organizational Culture and Climate. London: SAGE. Avril, E., and Zumello, C., 2013. New Technology, Organizational Change and Governance. NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Chandrasekera, E. D., 2014. Turning grievances into gratitude. [Online]. Available at < http://www.sundaytimes.lk/141116/business-times/turning-grievances-into-gratitude-127592.html > [Accessed on 28 April 2015]. Cisco., 2015. The Fearless Generation. [Online]. Available at < http://www.cisco.com/web/IN/about/leadership/fearless_generation.html > [Accessed on 28 April 2015]. Jones, B. B. and Brazzel, M., 2014. The NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change: Principles, Practices, and Perspectives. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Jones, B. B. and Brazzel, M., 2014. The NTL Handbook of Organization Development and Change: Principles, Practices, and Perspectives. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Leonard, M., Graham, S. and Bonacum, D., 2004. The human factor: the critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing safe care. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13(1), pp. 85-90. Lok, P., and Crawford, J., 2004. The effect of organisational culture and leadership style on job satisfaction and organisational commitment: A cross-national comparison. Journal of Management Development, 23(4), pp. 321-338. Luthans, F., 2005. Organizational behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill. McLeod, S. A., 2007. Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. [Online]. Available at < http://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html > [Accessed on 28 April 2015]. Mohammad Mosadegh Rad, A., 2006. The impact of organizational culture on the successful implementation of total quality management. The TQM Magazine, 18 (6), pp .606 – 625 National Communication Association., 2015. What is Communication. [Online]. Available at < https://www.natcom.org/discipline/ > [Accessed on 28 April 2015]. Reuters., 2015. Cisco Named Best Employer in Canada. . [Online]. Available at < http://in.reuters.com/article/2010/10/29/idUS150797+29-Oct-2010+MW20101029 > [Accessed on 28 April 2015]. Schabracq, M. J., 2009. Changing Organizational Culture: The Change Agents Guidebook. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Schein, E.H., 2010. Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Sims, R. R.., 2007. Human Resource Management: Contemporary Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities. New York: IAP. The Economist., 2009. The world according to Chambers. [Online]. Available at < http://www.economist.com/node/14303574 > [Accessed on 28 April 2015]. Thorpe, R. and Beasley, T., 2004. The characteristics of performance management research: Implications and challenges. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 53(4), pp. 334-344. Read More