Organizational Culture - Essay Example

Organizational Culture Name Institution Date Organizational Culture Introduction Culture defines people’s way of life. It stands for what the people believe in and accept without question. They are therefore guided by certain principles and values in their day to day activities which are then passed on to the younger generations. Schein argues that culture begins by leaders, in their desire to perform, imposing their beliefs and values on other people. The leaders start by seeing that things are done in the way they think is right. When his means are adopted by the people and in so doing the means become a success, then when the leader’s ways and assumptions are taken for granted, it becomes a culture for the people. According to Schein (2004), people begin to believe that that is the right way to go and it becomes part of their life. He further says that culture manifests in different levels. The levels range from those manifestations that could actually be seen and felt to those that are not visible, those which he calls the ‘essence of culture’. Espoused beliefs and values These are beliefs and values that at the beginning may not be of much importance to a given group. They are developed with time and ultimately become part of the group. An example may be a proposal of a new way of doing things by one member of the group. The group tries this new way treating it just as an opinion, but whether or not it grows to be culture will depend on the success of this proposal and the success of the following attempts. A successful opinion ultimately becomes the way of operation and become accepted without question. Basic underlying Assumptions These are those assumptions that have proved workable for the group to such an extent that it has been believed that there is no other way. Any other approach other than this belief becomes inconceivable. Argyris describes such assumptions as “theories-in-use”- those assumptions that dictate behavior and determine how to perceive, think and feel. Such basic assumptions are not debatable and therefore very hard to change (Schein 2004). Organizations have built themselves and their operations on strong organizational structures with distinct ways of doing things. Organizational culture therefore gives an organization a sense of originality and identity and phrases like ‘how we do things here’ or ‘what we do’ are common. The culture will therefore grow with time and usually describe what the organization has been doing or what they do best. The culture will give direction and inculcate principles in employees so that they will know the good and the bad. Organizational culture will therefore include the written and unwritten rules that will make an organization unique in its way of operation. The organization’s culture are then passed to new employees as they continue to learn the organization’s legends and passed history. Culture has been perceived differently in organizations with beliefs that there are stronger cultures and weaker ones. Organizations have also tried to discourage the ‘wrong’ cultures while encouraging the ‘right’ culture. In this sense, organizations have believed that having a culture goes a long way to improve and maintain effectiveness (Flamholtz & Randle, 2011). Trompenaars and Hampden-Tuner, great researchers in culture and the cultural differences in different organizations defined seven aspects of culture which they called the “Seven dimensions of culture” in an attempt to correct misunderstandings that managers had about culture. These are discussed below: Universalism/particularism This dimension distinguishes between cultures that place importance on governing rules and cultures which focus on personal relationships. Universalistic cultures believe in the rule of law values and standards which to them is more important than personal relationships. These societies are run by facts and they believe that the law should define how people interact and react while they go about their daily activities. Organization policies are defined by international standards and they believe that once a contract has been signed, it can not be modified. Particularistic cultures on the other hand give much importance to personal relationships and friendship. They care about each other and base they deals and agreements on friendship so that an agreement could be modified to accommodate they new state of things (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). Individualism/Collectivism Individualism describes cultures where emphasis is vested on individual interests as opposed to interests of the group. Individuals struggle for their own success and fulfillment and are responsible for themselves. Organization’s representatives quickly make decisions on behalf of the organization “on the spot”. Collectivism on the other hand put interests of the community first. It is common to hear the term “we” and organizational decisions mostly referred back to the organization by the representatives. People achieve as a group and they believe that in fighting for the group’s interests, their personal interests will have been catered for. Achievement/ ascription This dimension distinguishes cultures based on how authority and status is distributed. Ascription-oriented cultures give consideration to position, gender, age and such factors to distribute authority and respect. Those in high positions in the hierarchy of the organization are highly respected and title is extensively used. Company’s managers are mostly middle-aged and assume such responsibilities depending on seniority and not merit. For achievement –oriented cultures, authority is primarily based on individual achievements. Titles are used depending on the competence brought to task and respect is given in accordance to individual achievements. In such cultures, the management is composed of individuals of varying ages promoted solely based on their competence as opposed to just seniority. Neutral/affective Differentiates cultures depending on the extent to which individuals display their emotions. Neutral societies are characterized by rare display of emotions and thoughts. There is little body contact and little can be captured from the facial expressions or body postures. Individuals are composed with self control. Affective cultures on the other hand display emotions and affections openly. Gestures, body postures and the facial expressions are easy to read and it is not difficult to know what someone is thinking of. Transparency, care and concern are evident in such societies. Specific/diffuse Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner argue that specific/diffuse shows culture differences based on the extent to which members of society allow others in to their affairs. How much do colleagues know of the private life of other colleagues? Specific societies strictly separate their private lives from their work places and assume different authorities in the two settings. In diffuse oriented societies, there is no clear cut between work and their personal affairs. It is therefore common to find their authority at work carried to their private lives outside work. Internal/external This investigates whether or not the society attempt to control their environment. Internal-oriented societies believe that nature can be controlled. They therefore attempt to modify their external environments to make it favourable for their existence. External-oriented societies on the other hand believe that nature should not be modified. They prefer to adapt to the external changes of the environment rather than change the environment to favour them. In this view therefore, internal-oriented societies do not embrace change unlike external-oriented societies who welcome change and easily adjust their lives to fit into the new way of life. Time Orientation With respect to time, societies are described as sequential or synchronic. Societies with sequential cultures believe that it is better to do one thing at a time as opposed to doing several activities at the same time. They therefore develop and strictly follow time tables. Synchronic societies however are more comfortable engaging in different activities at the same time With regard to time, Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner describe another dimension. They described past-oriented societies as those that believe in past incidences and take the future as a repetition of history. Much importance is given to tradition, respect for the elderly and ancestors, origin of families and such kind of things. Present-oriented cultures do not pay much attention to the past. They believe and focus on the present while future oriented societies believe on the future. They are not of the thought that the past has an influence on what comes in the future. Much focus is on future plans and achievements, aspirations and are great planners and strategists (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). Geer Hofstede, another researcher identified five value dimensions in his findings on how culture is reflected in societies. His approach had similarities with Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s approach with values like individualism/collectivism, power distance, and long-term/short-term orientation bearing close description with Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s Individualism/Collectivism, Achievement/ ascription and Time orientation respectively. Yet again, Gofee and Jones center their argument about organizational culture on the interplay of sociability and solidarity. They therefore define four reflections of culture which include networked culture, communal culture, fragmented culture and mercenary culture Researchers have also identified different types of structures in organizations. These include: 1. Power culture- this is the type of structure where extensive power is vested upon a certain group of people or a specific individual. They involve in most operations of the organization and make key decisions. This kind of culture however may only exist in small organizations 2. Role culture – in this culture, the activities and duties are assigned to specific individuals. The structure is usually hierarchical and individuals work according to laid down rules 3. Task cultures – here, teams are created and given tasks instead of assigning the tasks to individuals. The team is authorized to make decisions and therefore develop their own team culture and they can be creative. 4. Personal culture – this culture allows individuals to take full responsibility and make decisions on their own. It is the most individualistic and can exist in a very loose organization (The times 100 2013). The culture of organizations has been expressed in much different ways. Some cultures being intentionally made visible while others manifested unconsciously. Many forms of manifestation however are not tangible as will be discussed below: Symbols Symbols have been used in organizations to stand for different ideologies, principles and beliefs which are understood by all the employees, managers and even customers. A symbol could be among other things, the organization’s name. A company’s logo for example is a major symbol. It shows what the company stands for or what the company deals in. The tiger in the logo for the Exxon Company for example may represent a show of power in their product (oil). It is common for organizations to formulate and engrave their core values in stone that will usually be found at the entrance to the organization. This goes along way to help such an organization express its culture to everyone that walks in. The choice and arrangement furniture in offices and conference halls signifies the culture of the organization. Large round tables in the meetings room may mean that the organization encourages interaction and debate between employees and the management while large and high desks for managers may mean that the management is authoritative and unquestionable. Cultural symbols therefore go a long way to communicate to the employees and promote or discourage certain values within the organization (Florentina & Georgiana, 2012). Innovation and risk taking The level of innovation and risk taking defines the culture of an organization as well as contributing directly to the overall performance of the organization. An organization may encourage research and innovation and be a leader in its specialization to maintain a leading edge a head of its competitors. In search organizations, employees are busy and will not be found idling around. They will appear focused and motivated to work. Innovation will go hand in hand with risk taking. The organization can therefore decide to take risks and become pioneers. Pioneering means taking risks since the new product has not been tested and may not be predictable, but at the same time, it may be a breakthrough for the organization. Innovation and risk taking is therefore a major positive characteristic of organizational culture and will define how much importance the organization has attached to innovation (Buzzle, 2011). Outcome orientation The business model of each organization will define the centre of focus of the organization during its operations. While some organizations will focus on the process, some will be results oriented. Those that are process oriented will mean that employees are expected to pay keen attention to the stages of production and will be held responsible. People orientation While some organizations will not pay much attention to their workers, other organizations employee oriented. Those that pay less attention to workers will be characterized by unmotivated workforce which may directly affect the effectiveness of the organization as a whole. In these organizations workers are harassed by the management and treated like work-machines, their interests are not considered and they don’t like their work place. Employee oriented organizations on the other hand have employee interests at heart. The management tries as much as possible to make the work environment a better place for the employees to work in. the workforce is therefore highly motivated and devoted to their work Team orientation Most organizations today focus on properly balanced teams to carry out the tasks as opposed to individuals. The teams are made up of complimentary skills that on proper coordination results to better performance. The teams are however carefully ministered to avoid cases where only few individuals within the team perform the task while others are just idling. Aggressiveness Employees from different organizations also show different levels of aggression. This directly shows the level of aggressiveness defined by the organization’s management. Highly aggressive employees greatly contribute to the market share dominated by their organization and therefore the level of profits. Stability Some organizations are comfortable when their operations are stabilized. This may be in terms of production, effectiveness and market share. Others on the other hand are with the belief that for them to grow, the must embrace change and innovation. Employees are therefore kept on toes and are highly motivated. Attention to detail This is defined by the level of accuracy expected in the work place. Once this has been defined by the management, employees make all efforts to increase precision and scrutiny. This goes along way to determine the performance of the organization. Organizations where errors are encountered in their services directly shows incompetence of the workforce and a management that is not serious at what they do. Such organizations are likely to lose customers (Buzzle, (2011). Conclusion Organizational culture continues to be expressed in several other ways depending on the location of the organization and the specific element of culture itself. These other ways range from behavioral practices, rituals, ceremonies, to organizational stories and traditional myths in the organization. The subject of culture is so wide and diverse and is not exhaustible, the range just as wide as the communities that exist all around the world. References Trompenaars F. & Hampden-Turner C. (1998). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business 2/E: 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York. Buzzle, (2011). Primary characteristics of organization culture, retrieved on 11 August, 2013 from Schein E. H. (2004). Organizational Culture and leadership 3rd edition, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Florentina P. & Georgiana M. R. (2012).Organizational culture and its way of expression within The organization, retrieved on 11th August, 2013 from The times 100 (2013). Corporate and organizational culture, retrieved on 11th August 2013 from Flamholtz E. & Randle Y. (2011).Corporate Culture: The Ultimate Strategic Asset, Stanford University Press, California. Read More