From Total Institution Culture to Corporate - Essay Example

LEARNING FROM TOTAL INSTITUITION CULTURE ON CORPORATE ARTICLE REVIEW College February 24, 2008 INTRODUCTION A total institution may be defined as a place of residence and work where a large number of like- situated individuals, cut off from the wider society for an appreciable period of time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered round of life. Prisons serve as an example. Total institutions are broadly classified into five types: institutions to care e.g. Homes for the blind, aged, orphans etc. Institutions to protect community e.g. Prisons, Institutions to better the lives of society e.g. boarding schools, Institutions established as retreats e.g. Convents. Institutions to take care of diseased and mentally retarded persons. Culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the nation or organization from the rest. The main function of culture is to create a distinction between nations and organizations. Culture conveys a sense of identity for organization members. Culture facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger than one's individual self interest. Culture also enhances the stability of the social system. Culture id the social glue that helps the organization held together by appropriate standards for what employees should say and do. FEATURES OF TOTAL INSTITUTIONS 1. All aspects of life are conducted in the same place and under the same authority. 2. Each member's daily activity is carried out on a large batch of orders 3. All activities are tightly scheduled one after the other in a sequential manner. 4. The various enforced activities are brought together into a single rational plan to fulfill the aims of the institution. CULTURE MISTAKES In the articles, Goffman addresses the details of a total institution with reference to mentally retarded persons, prisons etc. There are a lot of problems in the system of total institution. Some of the major cultural mistakes include: The individual not aligning with the community and going on his own way of doing things as an actor performing without caring about the audience. This is popularly called the cynical mistake. Self interest or private gain focus, leading others to be insincere. The moral career of an individual is destroyed entirely All aspects of life are conducted in the same place and under the same single authority Each phase of the member's daily activity will be carried out in the immediate company of a large batch of others. All phases of the daily activities are tightly scheduled, with one activity leading at a prearranged time into the next. The contents of the various enforced activities are brought together as parts of a single overall rational plan. Handling of many human needs by the bureaucratic organization. The Staff-inmate split due to racial, religious differences. Sociological stripping process. Managing Workforce Diversity Culture will act as a barrier for change It also acts as a barrier to acquisitions and mergers STRATEGY TO OVERCOME THE CULTURAL CHALLENGES When one wants to change an aspect of the culture of an organization one has to keep in consideration that this is a long term project. Corporate culture is something that is very hard to change and employees need time to get used to the new way of organizing. For companies with a very strong and specific culture it will be even harder to change. The following stages can be used to bring the change: 1. Formulate a clear strategic vision 2. Display Top-management commitment 3. Model culture change at the highest level 4. Modify the organization to support organizational change 5. Select and socialize newcomers and terminate deviants 6. Develop ethical and legal sensitivity Changes in culture can lead to tensions between organizational and individual interests, which can result in ethical and legal problems for practitioners. This is particularly relevant for changes in employee integrity, control, equitable treatment and job security. These are the various ways by which HRM Techniques are able to bring out a change in the culture of the organization. Some of the major HRM techniques from the HR Interventions include: Action research Action research is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. Action research can also be undertaken by larger organizations or institutions, assisted or guided by professional researchers, with the aim of improving their strategies, practices, and knowledge of the environments within which they practice. Sensitivity Training Sensitivity Training is a form of training that claims to make people more aware of their own prejudices and sensitive to others, such as homosexuality. According to its critics, it involves the use of psychological techniques with groups that its critics claim are often identical to brainwashing tactics. Critics believe these techniques are unethical. Meanwhile, Training Groups or T-Groups were being developed at the National Training Labs, now part of the National Education Association. Over time the techniques of T-Groups and Encounter Groups have merged and divided and splintered into specialized topics, seeking to promote sensitivity to others perceived as different and seemingly losing some of their original focus on self-exploration as a means to understanding and improving relations with others in a more general sense Team Building The process of team building includes, (a) Clarifying the goal, and building ownership across the team and (b) Identifying the inhibitors to teamwork and removing or overcoming them, or if they cannot be removed, mitigating their negative effect on the team. Ecological and cultural adaptation forms the major challenges against change. The following model will give an illustration of how the problem of ecological and cultural adaptation can be solved. GLOBAL SUSTENANCE MODEL ECOLOGICAL ADAPTATION Source: Primary Any person, product, process or service has to ecologically and culturally adapt to become globally sustainable. So these two factors must be considered while recruiting individuals. According to this model, closer the employee is to his/her home; higher will be the cultural adaptation. Any uni-lateral adaptation may not help to achieve the desired goal. Diversities are natural phenomena and one has to uphold the personal esteem to overcome the differences and to be convergent of the individual capabilities. LEARNING FROM THE CULTURE OF TOTAL INSTITUTIONS 1. Discipline 2. Centralization of activities 3. Following strict rules and regulations 4. Motivation through punishment and privilege system and not monetary rewards 5. Transforming or forcing people to change to a particular culture and achieving it the first day itself. 6. Patience - Key to survival in such organizations 7. Bureaucracy 8. High level of control with a single individual often misused. 9. Achieving the overall goals without any sort of commitment from the workers. 10. Not looking for cultural victory. 11. Creating and maintaining a unique culture EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE - ENRON AND CULTURE Enron Corp., which in December 2001 became the largest ever U.S. Bankruptcy, didn't fail solely because of improper accounting practices, although that was certainly a major contributor. It also failed because it had a culture that pushed executives into unethical behavior. One former employee of Enron Corp. summed the Enron culture this way: "If your boss was [fudging], and you have never worked anywhere else, you just assume that everybody fudges earnings. Once you get there and realized how it was, do you stand up and lose your job It was scary. It was easy to get into well, everybody else is doing it, so maybe it isn't so bad." Enron is a good example of cultural mistakes leading to the fall of the entire company as a whole. REFERENCES 1. Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behavior, Prentice Hall of India, Tenth Edition. Pg. 524 -546. 2. Garry Dessler, Human Resource Management, Eastern Economy edition. Pg 465-479. 3. Randy L. Desimone, Jon M. Werner and David M. Harris, Human Resource Development, Pearson education. Pg. 21, Pg 225-239, Pg. 575-579 4. Cummings & Worley, Organization Culture and Change , 2005, page 490-512 5. 3 Articles (include the reference for the enclosed articles). Read More