Behaviour in Organizations - Essay Example

Organizational Behavior Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: Contents Contents 1 Aim 2 Scope 2 Methodology 2 Assumptions 2 Limitations 3 Plan 3 Introduction and Background Information 3 Literature Review 4 Organization Culture and Values 4 How to Change an Organization Culture 6 Benefits of Good Organizational Culture and Values 8 Recommendations 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Aim The aim of this report is to show the importance of values and organizational cultures in business organizations. The report also gives recommendations on the two issues to Real Time Tours Ltd, a company for which I work for. Scope The report purely deals with organizational culture and values Methodology The report is basically theoretical. It makes use of previously written literature to get its data and information. Assumptions The only assumption is that Real Time Tours Ltd is that the company is making amendment on the other factors which are affecting it performance since this report focuses on organizational culture and values only. Limitations The only limitation is time since the duration for doing the report is too short for any experimental approach to be done on it. Plan In order to do this report, reviewing the literature of previously written works will be done. Introduction and Background Information The way of doing business is changing day in a daily. This is due to the various objectives that business organizations must meet in order to be competitive in the market. One of the many trends in today’s business world is the transformation of the values and cultures which organizations hold. An organization culture is a specific behavioral / manner of carrying out operations. Values are the virtues/ elements which the organization upholds for instance transparency, integrity and ethics (Hogan, 2011). Due to the need for organizations to change and remain competitive, organizations change their cultures and values continuously so as to adapt to the market. Real Time Tours Ltd is a company which deals in tours and travel. Overtime, the company has seen a tremendous drop in the company’s profits and clients. The company has also lost some of its most competent employees to its competitors. Precisely, the company is losing is image in the market and if an appropriate action is not taken soon, the company will be making losses in the future. One aspect of the organization which needs an overhaul is its culture and values. The company is so focused on making profits hence forgetting about giving utility to its customers. The management is also authoritative and does not give its employees’ opinions a chance. The organization does not have a clear organizational structure, hence leading to conflicts in decision making and command. For this reason, the Real Time Tours Ltd needs to make an overhaul transformation of its organizational culture and values. The following report gives a deep insight into organizational culture and values and indicates how Real Time Tour Ltd can transform its culture. Literature Review Organization Culture and Values An organization culture is a specific code of conduct that is practiced in an organization. An organizational culture is a behavioral culture that is upheld in an organization. For this reason, it defines the practices in a company (Nicole, 2011). More often than not, an organization culture affects the success of the organization directly. This is because of the fact that an organizational culture determines the productivity of the organization, the efficiency of the operations systems in an organization and the market image of the organization. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that an organization’s management should establish and encourage the right organizational culture which pools all the organization’s resources towards ensuring that the organization is able to meet its goals and objectives. Organizational values are virtues which an organization upholds. They are elements which an organization stands for, for instance transparency, quality, and conducive environment among others. Organizational values reflect the organizational culture in an organization. This is because of the fact that they are coined around the aspects of the organizational culture practiced by a company. There are different forms of organization cultures. They include the following: power, role, task and person/ support cultures. In a power organization culture, the command and the monitoring of the culture in the organization derives its source from the management. The culture is heavily dependent on the power and control of the leaders (The Open University, 2012). This kind of culture is very effective I responding to issues which affect an organization. However, the culture is too dependent on an individual rather than engraved in hearts of the employees, hence it is due to fail I instances whereby the individual is not present in the organization. A role culture in an organization upholds delegation of roles/ duties in an organization (The Open University, 2012). There is splitting of roles in an organization after which they are given to different individuals on the ranks of the organization. The roles are usually specific to the various departments in the organization. Therefore, this culture upholds specialization hence contributing towards the general success of an organization. It is appropriate for use by large organizations. On the other hand, a task culture is based on a team approach towards undertaking a specific task. In this culture, every staff in the team is responsible for a specific activity in the task. This culture is effective in project management, and task based organizations since it tends to make employees feel as part of the organization hence leading to productivity (The Open University, 2012). Lastly, a person/ social based culture is only concentrated towards an individual and all the structures in the organization are geared up towards ensuring that the individual is successful (The Open University, 2012). How to Change an Organization Culture It is eminent that an organization’s culture and values are important in determining its success. For this reason, it is important to ensure that an organization has the best culture which ensures that it is operating on an optimum capacity. The following section describes how an organization can be able to change its culture and values. It is the model which Real Time Tours Ltd should use. The first step towards changing an organization a culture is to assess the current state of an organization. The analysis of an organizations culture is meant to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the culture and determining its effect on the success of the organization. An organization’s management should make use of the surveys on employees, analysis of productivity and the assessment of the market image of the organization and relate the findings to the organization culture (Murray, 2012). After the assessment, the organization is able to know its weaknesses hence it is able to know the areas which it needs to change. It is at this point that the organization determines where it wants to be in the future. At this juncture, the management comes up with a strategic plan which describes what the organization stands for, what it aspires to achieve and how it intends to do so. It also determines the organization culture which it intends to cultivate in the organization. Several practices which the organization does in this step include the following. Setting the mission and vision of the company is important. The vision states what the organization wishes to achieve. Basically this represents the values of the organization since they are things which the organization stands for. The mission statement indicates how the organization wishes to achieve its vision. In order to ensure that the employees are able to realize with the mission, vision and values of an organization, it is important to ensure that they are included in their establishment (Provincial Government Western Cape, 2009). This ensures that they own them hence motivating them towards working together towards achieving them. Staffing and recruitment is also a key element of changing an organization culture. The management hires people who are capable of driving the organization towards the desired culture. A key element which is sought for in the new employees is performance and the cultures and values which they hold. This is because it is of utmost importance to ensure that the person leading the culture change believes in what he/she is doing and secondly, that he/she is a strong performer (Murray, 2012). Other practices in the second stage of culture change include establishment of communication systems, training and employee empowerment, establishment of integrity, employee retention and rewards among others. The third step of changing the company’s culture is aligning the organization’s culture. This is the stage whereby the new culture is cultivated into the organization’s practices. In order to do this, the organization is supposed to make use of the Human resource department since it is directly connected to the employees. The HRM department should establish a code of conduct which specifies what is expected of the employees and in so doing cultivates a culture and instills the organization’s values in the employees (Nicole, 2011). This move is highly effective. Another practice by HRM which ensures that the right culture is established is by ensuring that it has the right hiring procedure. Recruitment should be meant to ensure that organization is able to get the right employees to work for it. For this reasons, aspects of organizational culture based recruitment should be included in the recruitment procedure. The HRM department should also ensure that the employees understand the importance of an organization culture (Nicole, 2011). For this reason, training and employee empowerment should be done. After all the above steps have been completed, it is important to ensure that the organization is able to measure its success. This can be done by establishing an appropriate measurement tool. Some of the tools include a feedback system, surveys and analysis of the organization’s performance all of which are done after a specific period of time. Benefits of Good Organizational Culture and Values As indicated earlier, good organizational culture and values directly affect the success of the organization. If Real Time Tours Limited is able to establish and cultivate a good organizational culture and values, it is bound to benefit from this in the following ways: Firstly, Real Time Tours will increase its productivity tremendously. This is due to the fact that good values and organization cultures tend to streamline the organization towards achieving its goals and objectives. Secondly, the organization will be able to give better services to its clients. In so doing, it will be retain customers and increase its market share consequently. Because of this, it will be make more profits. Thirdly, with a new culture and values, the organization will treat its employees better. This will brighten the image of the company in the market and ultimately translate to more professionals willing to work for it in addition to the society regarding it well. This will collectively contribute to the organization’s success. The organization will also be able to factor in sustainability since it will be able to cultivate values and a culture in the organization which give it a stable foundation which will ensure that it remains competitive in the market (Tidd & Bessant, 2009). All in all, good values and organization culture will assure Real Time Tours Limited success now and in the future. Recommendations Taking a look at the current state of Real time Tours, it is of great importance that the organization moves to the next level of carrying out its activities so as to ensure that the organization is competitive in the market. This starts with a good organizational culture and values. It is recommended that the organization: Assess its current practices and identifies its weaknesses. After this, the organization will relate the weaknesses to its current culture and values. Develop a strategic plan indicating the specifics of where the company wants to be in the next five years. The plan should include mission and vision statements which must be established with the full consultation between the management and the employees. Develop a human resource management plan which integrates HRM and the proposed organizational culture and values. This will ensure that the organization’s labourforce on which the values and cultures are to be cultivated in are give full consideration in addition to ensuring that a conducive working environment is established. Lastly, the organization should measure its progress annually so as to determine its performance. Necessary amendments should be made hence ensuring that the organization stays in line with its goals and objectives. Conclusion In conclusion, a good organization culture and values are very important in the success of a company. Precisely, the two are directly connected. Overtime, Real Time Tours has continuously seen a drop in its profits, clients and employees. With an analysis of its organization’s culture and values, it is evident that they are passed by time; they are no longer relevant in the modern world. The company practices bad wok ethics, the management is dictatorial hence creating a rift between the employees and the management, the organization is profit oriented hence forgetting of client utility as opposed to its competitors. For this reason, the organization should change its culture and adapt new values. The change should be sequential in that it should first assess its current state and identify its weaknesses. It should then determine where it wants to be in the future. For this, it should develop a strategic plan which outlines how it will achieve this. Thirdly, it should cultivate the values and culture in the employees hence leading to a culture transformation. Lastly, the organization should monitor its progress and do the necessary amendments on its plan. It is after this that Real Time Tours Ltd will reap the benefits of a good organization culture and values. References Hogan, R. (2011). Values and Organizational culture, Viewed on 12th September 2011, Retrieved from < http://www.hoganassessments.com/_hoganweb/documents/Values_and_Organizational_Culture.pdf > Murray, A. (2012).How to Change Your Organization’s Culture. The Wall Street Journal [Online] Viewed on 12th September 2011, Retrieved from < http://guides.wsj.com/management/innovation/how-to-change-your-organizations-culture/ > Nicole, C.(2011). Social Responsibility, crisis and sustainable Development. The Business Review, Cambridge. 17 (1); 149-158 Provincial Government Western Cape, (2009). Modernization Programme. Organizational Culture and Values. Provincial Government Western Cape. 1-64 Ruel, H & Kaap, H (2012). E-HRM Usage And Value Creation. Does A Facilitating Context Matter? German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management.Vol 26, no.3 pp. 260-281 Tidd, J & Bessant, J(2009). Developing An Organizational Culture That Facilitates Radical Innovation In A Mature Small To Medium Sized Company: Emergent Findings (Working Paper Series) February 2004. Managing Innovation, 1(1);1-29 The Open University, (2012). Handy’s four types of organizational cultures, The Open University [online] Viewed on 12th September 2011, retrieved from < http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=403948§ion=3.5.2 > Read More