HRs Role in Improving Strategic Capability by Managing the Organisational Culture - Literature review Example

Critically evaluate HR’s role in improving strategic capability by managing the organisational culture. Human Resource Management strives to set strategies that are in line with the organisational goals and Cultural principles. Cultural principles reflect the worker’s culture within the organizations. “A strategy that is at odds with a company’s culture is doomed. Culture trumps strategy every time.” Katzenbach et al (2012) The purpose of the study is to evaluate the role of Human Resource Management in improving strategic organisational management in respect to managing organisational culture. It will also look into employees’ behaviour within the organizational context. The business under focus here is a salon business where the study will focus on its culture and strategies; this will be discussed with the support of existing theories and previous research conducted. Based on the analysis and evaluation conducted, the paper will finally justify the findings. Organizational culture is defined as “the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization” Subedi (2006). This paper has been divided in to four parts; the first paper outlines the role of human resource management and its contribution to organizational productivity. The second part of this paper analyses the nature of changing role of human resource management, looking in to salon business management. Finally the paper has evaluated factors involved within salon business practice giving possible solutions to the identified challenges. Organizations that ignore change do that at their own peril. Most of the organizations are going for change in order to be effective and efficient. Salon business just like any other successful business needs to constantly change in order to catch up with the current market trends and technological advancements. There are various theories that support the concept of organisational culture and change. Many of the early anthropologists conceived of culture as a collection of traits and studied the spread of these traits from one society to another. According to Burke (2004), Kurt Lewin was among the first scholars to address change process. Chatzisarantis and Biddle (1998) also presented the review of the theory of planned behaviour, theory of reasoned action and the self-determination theory. These theories have given a framework for evaluating motivators. Ecological approaches explain the different ways that people live around the world as distinct adaptations to the variety of environments in which they live. Hofstede (1983), proposed five cultural dimensions. These are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity, individualism versus collectivism and long-term versus short-term orientation. Hofstede (1983) highlighted the Individualism and collectivism theory of culture. According to him, Individualism reflects a society where ties between individuals are loose; here everyone is expected to look after himself or the most immediate family members only. On the other hand collectivism reflects a society in where people are incorporated into strong, cohesive bond that takes care of each one of them. Human Resource Management practice varies from one culture to the other; on selection process for instance, collectivist cultures prefer internal workforce selection in order to promote loyalty to the firm while individualist prefer interviews and competitive selection where the most competent individual is selected. Human resource management in general refers to all the procedures involved in the employee recruitment and selection, training and development, classification and compensation, performance management and retention. (Delahaye 2011). Culture is a complex whole comprising of belief, knowledge, morals, customs, law, and habits acquired by man. Fischer (2008) observed that cultural values influence the design and implementation of HRM strategies. The Salon business managers need to be trained on cultural diversity in the local workforce in order for them to provide management that is desirable and acceptable in the local culture. Every organization has a culture that reflects the employee behaviour, reward mechanisms, the way work should be done and attitude on important things. Schneider and Barsoux (2003) defined culture as the unique pattern of shared assumptions, values, and norms that shape the socialization, symbols, language, narratives and practices of a group of people. According to Armstrong (2001), Organizational culture is the pattern of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes and assumptions that may not have been articulated but shape the ways in which people behave and things get done. This is supported by the cultural philosophy theory. Cultural Philosophy theory emerged from the field of anthropology. Cultural psychology is the study of how psychological and behavioural tendencies are rooted in and embodied in culture. The main tenet of cultural psychology is that mind and culture are inseparable and mutually constitutive. Jackson and Werner (2003) observed that external factors like country cultures and socio-political environment influence the way a company manages its human resource. HRM policies and practices for the salon business will be influenced by cultural dimensions in the organisation setting. This therefore calls for a clear analysis of the organisational culture in order to be able to develop effective HRM strategies. This can be achieved through training, socialization and employee involvement in order to tune minds and hearts hence ensuring believes and values are shared. Organizational change is inevitable; it can be either triggered by a problem or opportunity originating from within the organization or from external factors. Organizational change is a process where an institution changes its working methods through transformation of its business strategies or major sections. According to Anderson and Anderson (2001), change just like systems is at equilibrium but constant forces acts on them. Burke (2008) also stresses that the impact of the external environment on the organization cannot be overstated. According to him, there are forces in the external environment that impacts on performance. Change is the only strategic means to adapt in order to catch up with emerging issues in the current market such as technological trends. (Carr, 2000). Market stability has been a challenge that most organisations may not find an easy solution to; this is because organisations operate in complex environments that cannot be easily understood. Burnes (2004) observed that complexity theories are now being used by organizational practitioners and theorists to understand and change the organizational operations and culture. This view believes that organizations are similar to complex systems, they are dynamic and non-linear. Markam (2000) observed that change initiatives in organisations are often faced with conflict within the organization and among the stakeholders; this gives rise to two inherent forces that is the change agent and the antagonist. This was supported by (Marshak, and Grant, 2008) who pointed out that there is need to change the mindsets and consciousness in order to facilitate a shift from the traditional believe to the current appropriate way of doing business. According to them, change is a process that needs to begin from the management and freely flow through the entire organization. This is opposed by Watson (1993), who proposed that change should emerge from bottom-up fashion and not driven from the top. Change process need to be managed well. Most of the problems arise from change approach which is mainly rooted in the organizational culture; Salon business therefore needs to change in order to realize its vision. Human resource management has a key role in managing employees; this task has multiple challenges because on top of the normal human resource factor, there are other duties that need to be accomplished. (White, 1999). It is the role of HR managers to provide direction to the organization as well as persuade, serve and act as a role model to the employees. (Burke, 2008). Burke (2008) observed that organization managers and leaders should set goals that are both in concert with the organization’s priorities and address individual needs. According to Armstrong (2006), Strategic Human Resource Management is an approach to the strategic management of human resources in accordance with the intentions of the organization on the future direction it wants to take. Recent research by Ongori, H. (2007) shows that workforce management process should be adaptable, impulsive and conforms to the organizational plans influenced by financial conditions. Marshak and Grant (2008) pointed out that most of the challenges facing organizations are contributed by poor training, rigid structures and discrimination promotions. There is need to ensure the practices and styles of HRM fit into the organisational cultural objectives. According to Watson (1993), detailed plans, procedures and flexibility are required. This is supported by contingency theory. According to Armstrong, (2006), contingency theory tells us that the organizational aims, policies, strategies, lists of activities and analyzed roles of the HR department are only valid if they are related to the organizational culture. Human resource managers need to promote organizational objectives through loose controls, based on culture and employee empowerment and personal initiatives. Salon business industry is growing in the market. The salon management is keen in ensuring there is executive commitment and support to foster innovation-nurturing culture. The strategies set out gives the organization what it intends to do about the different aspects of its human resource management policies and practices. (Armstrong, 2006). According to Drucker (2002), employees perform well if the organization structure supports them. Salon human resource managers will strive to promote employees to improve their participation. Managers need to plan and implement change within the organizations in such a way that it will minimize employee resistance. The employees need to accept change. Kotter and Cohen (2006) suggested ways to entice change participants where the employees involved with the actual change implementation need to be rewarded. This reward will entice and encourage team members. This was affirmed by Donald (2008), Donald, proposed the use of change champion, this is a person who is recognized and accepted as part of the culture within the organization. According to Katzenbach et al (2012), each employee’s teams with a motivator and initiator called change champion will reverse the tendency of leaders who dwell on the negative traits of the organizational culture. There are several things that the salon business needs to change. The best consumers are still largely the households with the most women. The business still employs only the barbers and hairdressers; no cosmetologists and shampooers employed yet. The wage rates are still lagging behind; these rates are way below the accepted standards paid by other industries. Cultural progress needs to be monitored and measured to ensure the business is moving in the correct course. According to Katzenbach et al, (2012), the human resource managers need to measure whether the change desires are achieved. The human resource management should look at the key performance indicators to rate success. Changing an individual is not easy, employee involvement will be very important in this process. Human resource division in the Salon business will form problem solving teams; these groups will regularly meet to highlight major quality and productivity problems and give possible solutions. Multiculturalism is one thing that we cannot avoid in this era of globalization. (Koshy, 2009). Organizations are now tapping in to the global market in order to access international labour. The human resource division is therefore faced with great challenges of managing employees from diverse cultural backgrounds. Koshy (2009) defined multicultural workforce as the employees of a company from different ethnic, religious, racial and gender backgrounds. Copeland (2006) pointed out that there are chances of culture-clash as organizations adopt multiculturalism. Culture clash is where two different cultural groups interact in a work place and the differences in their beliefs, values, and styles of communication or rules of behaviour builds some misunderstandings or antagonism. There are cultural challenges such as language barriers, gender preferences, religion, stereotyping among other multicultural issues. According to Shenkar (2001) Managing workforce from a diverse culture in a range of business context can be challenging, however managers from a parent country needs to understand the local workforce who may require a different organization structure. Behavioural theories of cross-cultural analysis state that the cultural differences present in mankind can be explained through understanding differences in behaviours. This is supported by Structural theorists who analyze the relationships among cultural constructs of different societies, deriving universal mental patterns and processes from the abstract models of these relationships. As salon business ventures in to the global market, workers from diverse cultural backgrounds are employed, trained and retained. There is need for a proper management of diverse human capital. The business is therefore progressively formulating diverse strategies to manage multicultural workforce. Emerging markets supported by the rise in international visitors has ensured the salon business increasing its market share. These contemporary issues are shaping the salon market. Technological Savvy human resource managers need to keep abreast on new developments in technology. The use of information and communication technology through electronic-commerce, e-marketing and evolution of more experts online has challenged the salon business to be present online to utilize and compete in the cyberspace.  Salon business has evolved into sophisticated, multi-discipline and well integrated business capable of attracting more clients and improving on productivity levels. Salon industry has begun to offer diverse service and products to meet the diverse consumer preference. These current products and services includes hair care services, hair coloring services, merchandise sales and other beauty care services such as modifying hair texture, manicure services, pedicure services, hair styling services and temporary makeup services. Graetz and Smith (2010) concurred with the resource philosophy of organizational change management that key competence are assets that will improve organizational performance, the organizational strategy to change from resource point of view is an internal strategy to perform rather than fit into the environment. The human resource managers in the salon industry should therefore keep abreast with the new developments in the legal field and technology both local and international in order to maintain their competitive advantage in the industry. In conclusion, the human resource strategy to ensure employees adapt to new modes of doing business within salon business has developed a positive culture in dealing with organizational change. This culture has reduced the previous perception that change abrupt, scary and fraught with negative consequences (Kanter cited by Wood, 1998). The most prudent way to realize change in organizational setting is to make use of change champions who have the change process at heart and are able to motivate others to adopting change. Proper change management needs prudent planning, evaluation and effective implementing of the selected operational strategies that are deemed worthwhile for the economic performance of the organization. These processes need to be flexible and efficient. Hatch (1993). If change is not flexible, then the organization is unlikely to survive. Change of manual to automated technical system is a non-routine change is a bit complex and is likely to cause resistance since the change is unpredictable, radical and could be viewed as threatening job security. The management therefore needs to look in to the change process keenly and evaluate it effectiveness before roll out. It is good to note that in as much as we want change, change is a risky venture, it therefore call for effective and constant evaluation to ensure the process is in line with the organizational mission and vision. The employees should be ready to lose their favourite ways of doing thing and adopt new changes. References Allaire, Y. and Firsirotu, M. E. (1984). ‘Theories of organizational culture’. Organization Studies, 5, 3, 193–226. Armstrong M, (2006). “A Handbook of Human Resource Management Personnel Management”, Practice, 10th edn, Kogan Page, London Anderson, D., and Anderson, L.A. (2001a). 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