How Culture Is Expressed in the Organisation - Essay Example

Organizational culture Name Institutional affiliation Tutor Date Introduction Organisational culture can be defined as the values and behaviors which help to define an organisation’s psychological as well as social environment. Various other elements such as organisation’s expectations, philosophy, and experiences that puts the organisation in a working state as defined by its own image, working relationships as well as interaction with the outside world. For the organisation to be operative in any given environment, it must have a well defined attitude, customs, beliefs and rules that have been formulated. Organisational culture can be expressed in many ways; for instances, the way an organization conducts business and treat its employees, clients and the outside community. Decision making is also crucial in the success of an organisation; organisation culture can be defined by the way employees participate in such a decision. How information from the decision-making process flow to the lowest hierarchy team player is also crucial, this can also help to define organisational culture. Employees play an important role in ensuring that an organisation’s goals are achieved based on the culture of a specific organisation. This essay discusses how organisational culture can be expressed in an organisation. While discussing this, the essay shall consider the role of human capital which is the most important factor in implementing an organisation’s culture. Discussion The cooperate strategy of an organisation is guided by the organisational culture which determines the values and beliefs of the company. For the cooperate strategy to be well implemented, an organisation has a system and structure which guides the different personnel working in a company. Each person in an organisation has specific duties to play in realizing the organisation’s goals; the manager is expected to have flexible minds while dealing with his subordinates as well as understand what their needs and aspirations are (Diefenbach, 2007). The manager is required to understand the elements that influence the efficiency of his subordinates as well as his employees; such elements are employee’s needs, character traits, attitudes towards work and creativity. The manager has the potential to understand these elements and influence the employee to ensure that there is maximum efficiency in the utilization of the human resource for the purpose of implementing the organisation’s strategy. Respecting the conditions that influence human activities is a key factor that determines efficiency in the use of human resources in any organisation (Flamholtz & Randle, 2011). Factors that influence human efficiency Factors related to the employees: These are those factors that are directly related to the employees such as knowledge, experience, professional training, innovation and creativity. An organisation has its own recruitment policy that determines the kind of employees to be hired for specific jobs. A manager can intervene in such a scenario by selecting those employees who best comply with the organisation’s requirements. Factors related to the organisation: these are those factors that the organisation employs when addressing its issues and employees too. For instance, working conditions, motivational policy, employees’ facilities, organizational behavior and reputation. The managers have a key role to play in ensuring that they provide the required leadership in ensuring that the employees comply with the culture of the organisation (Schein, 2010). A key component in organisational culture is the use of symbols that are used to represent or mean the members of an organisation or those members who have common interest thus ensuring that there is easy communication and harmonization. The cultural symbols can have a message that contains the philosophy, values and beliefs which are common among the employees. For instance, a symbol can be the name of the organisation when it represents some essential elements of the activities that it does. Over time, leading companies have been used as symbols of what the companies represent; for instance, Sony and Mercedes have been used as symbols of quality televisions and vehicles respectively. Some companies use their logos as a symbol for their clients or the their employees; a good example is “tiger” Exxon Company symbol is used to assume the power that the fuel generates as well as the power that the company produces being one of the world’s leading oil companies. The symbol is used as a symbol for fuel quality for the customer and as symbol for market position for its employees and its competitors (Diefenbach, 2007). Organisational culture does not only focus on the values and principles but it also mean that a firm is ready open to new changes, develop good communication skills between the staff members and departments, create a climate that supports innovation and good working relations, and bring managers down to the position of individual workers. Such an environment is one that promotes a place where people would never be tired of coming daily. Organisational culture should be keen on staff ethics, management style, identity and attitude towards risk, competition, clients, external forces, and employees (Flamholtz & Randle, 2011). Alvesson (2010) observe that managers need to now that an effective organisational culture is the one that brings long and short term benefits to the organisation. Managers will guide the organisation to a particular direction as expressed by the organisational culture while the staffs follow in the same direction in order to reach their desired performance while they feel appreciated by the organisation from the services they have rendered. However, it is not always possible that the organisation takes the proposed direction as there are hindrances factors which may lead the organisation to the wrong direction, the managers need to understand such factors timely. Such factors have negative outcome as they create misunderstanding, frustrations and conflicts which are likely to decrease the organisation’s performance. This may be possible, because the employees get frustrated by the work environment because they may love their work; the frustration may be caused by colleagues or managers or in instances when their services receive less appreciation. This introduces the elements that can either be controlled or coordinated so as to reduce or control the conflictual situations; these elements are known as “4 C’s) (Schein, 2010). Change: change in an organisation is inevitable and it may be as a result of growth or decrease. As change takes place, more circumstances are generated that may lead people to fight amongst them as a result of these changes. Each organisation should have a way to address such a scenario in order not wait until conflicts arise. Competition: employees are constantly engaged in disagreements as a result of competition. However, competition may be positive if it stimulates a creative thinking opportunity and good cooperation between the employees and different departments. Competition could also be internal where employees compete or departments compete; this should be changed to teamwork. Employees should develop the culture of enjoying the benefits of colleagues and learn from them because situations might change in future. Cooperation: when employees collaborate in achieving certain organisational goals, success is expected to be three times than when thy take individual responsibilities in different directions. Control: Control is a form of power that can help to either unite or divide an organization. The level of authority should be measured to a certain level in each circumstance in order to ensure organisational success. The managers should learn that there are times that they can control the employees towards certain directions but also there are times when the employs should be allowed to lead themselves (Zheng, Yang & McLean, 2010). Effective teams in the work place Teamwork refers to action which is taken by a group of people jointly and interests of the individuals are put aside for the interest of the group as a whole. What counts most in such a situation is having the group being united and efficient. In as much as the individual is still important, he is not the main focus. When each employee puts aside his self interest and all them aim for a common goal and work in harmony with others, it becomes much easier to achieve the organisation’s goals. Teamwork is a very critical in the working environment. During evaluation of whether a person is suitable for employment, employers are concerned whether such a person is able to work as part of a team (Flamholtz & Randle, 2011). Teams help the organisation to be empowered since each member of the team plays a complementary role. Creating teams which are up to the task is not an easy task but it is one challenge that a good manager should not shy away from. If the perfect team is achieved, the organisation is likely to reap very handsomely. One of the theories which deal with teamwork is the management theory. The theory states that a team consists of at least three people who take on an opportunity and create ranks and relations between themselves. The management theory identifies three types of teams. The first is the organic team. Such a team gains its support from the structure of the organization. There also non organic teams. These teams are brought together to accomplish a certain task. A project team come up to deal with a given project. A team manager is tasked with guiding the team as to the procedure they should follow and also guides the members professionally. The effectiveness of a team is judged based on the target set and the amount of resources at the disposal of such a team (Robbins & Judge, 2005). Synergy sets apart a team which is effective from one which is not. For an effective team to be attained a manager should ensure that advantages which result from a team are realized. An effective manager in a team is supposed to utilize the unique knowledge that each member of a team has. The diverse knowledge that the team members have as a whole outstrips that of an individual. An ideal manager should provide room for differences of opinion among the members of the group. The importance of this is that every team member has gone through a different experience thus employ different methods of solving problems. A good manager should ensure that every team member feels accepted and as a part of the team. Every team should have good relations and interactions with the other team members. A team leaders should not feel threatened by disputes by the team members but should see them as an opportunity to provide guidance and hence growth in the team (Alvesson, 2010). Bruce Tuckman provides a very well known teamwork theory which is known as team stages model. The significance of Tuckman's model is the recognition that groups never start as well organized and cohesive entities. Therefore, a team develops from individuals and finally they become teams which focus on given tasks. Through extensive and intensive research, Tuckman identified the four stages through which a group goes through before becoming a team. The first stage is known as the testing phase. This results in some amount of disagreements and conflicts. After this there is a stage which is more cohesive. The other stage is known as the functional phase whereby team members are concerned about the role or the task that each member plays in the team (Diefenbach, 2007). Huge companies like Google pay a lot emphasis in team orientation as a core characteristic of its organisational culture. Google encourages its employees to play and work together thus strengthening their relationship to work as members of one family. Normally, meeting that are expected to last for hours take a short time as conversation is made during lunch hours. The employees feel at the same level and comfortable to work together, the limited walls in the buildings ensure that the employee feel that they belong to the group rather than members of an outside department (Google, 2007). Google is very keen the hiring process as it hires people who embody the company’s values and have desire to sharing information as guided by the company’s philosophy. This desire reinforces teamwork and helps the employees to work towards common goals and intensify the common bond. Google’s culture brings a lot of things together; it can be summed as ethical and customer responsive. The employees are encouraged to be creative when solving problems to the extent they take some risks. The company provides adequate freedom to the employees in their work such that they do not take the work for granted and value the ethical ground of work. The spirit of teamwork among the employees encourages them employees to work as a common team thus avoiding any form of competition that may lead to unethical behavior. The employees strive hard to achieve satisfy google-users because they are trained to relate with the customers. The employees are forced to understand the needs of the customers even if it calls for thinking outside the box by going beyond the needs of the customers while ensure that the company’s values are maintained (Google, 2007). Decision making in the organisation Decision making is a critical aspect of any business. The success of a business is determined by the quality and timing of the decisions that are made and which are critical to the operations of the organisation. It is vital that people understand how good decisions are made. For any decision to be made there should be information and relevant information for that matter. The person receiving the information should have the necessary knowledge and experience so as to make the relevant conclusions and hence make the relevant decision. The ability to admit one's mistakes and accepting correction is a pointer to a characteristic few have but that is what defines a great decision maker. Training also comes in handy in aiding managers to improve on their decision making capabilities (Robbins & Judge, 2005). A supportive environment also enhances the chances of success of a manager since it is important to recognize that at times people do make mistakes and managers are no exception. At such instances, managers require supportive superiors and their colleagues. In a working environment where criticism is the order of the day, managers are more likely than not to make decisions which they consider safe. By struggling to be safe, every time managers become risk averse and hence cannot decisions which can enable the business to strike it big. At times managers would be looking around for scapegoat rather than ensuring smooth running of the business operations (Zheng, Yang & McLean, 2010). Conclusion Understanding organisational culture is very important for employees because this affect their daily work, interaction with colleagues, dressing style and any other process that affect their work. Employees can understand the organisational culture through experience and observation in order to understand how various actions are taken within the organisations and which rules govern it. Culture exposes the human resource of the company to the populace and the behaviors of he employees at work as well. It is often assumed that all organisations have the same culture because they are exposed to similar challenges and competition. However, the truth is that there are no two organisations that share similar cultures. This is because each organisation’s culture is influenced by distinct factors; for instances, the founder’s culture, organisation’s size and age, characteristics of the employees and national culture which guides the organisation’s operations. References Alvesson, M. (2010). Understanding Organizational Culture. New York: Sage. Diefenbach, T (2007). ‘The managerialistic ideology of organisational change management’, Journal of Organizational Change Management, 20 (1): 126 – 144. Flamholtz, E. & Randle, Y. (2011). Corporate Culture: The Ultimate Strategic Asset. London: Stanford University Press. Google. (2007). Corporate Information. Retrieved on July 11, 2007 from http://www.google.com/corporate/culture.html Robbins, S. & Judge, T. (2005). Organizational Behaviour. 11. Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. Schein, E. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Zheng, W., Yang, B. & McLean, G. (2010). Linking organizational culture, structure, strategy, and organizational effectiveness: Mediating role of knowledge management. Journal of Business Research, 63, (7): 763–771. Read More