How Workforce Culture Is Defined, Managed and Influenced - Essay Example

In management of organizations, why is it important to be clear on how workforce culture is defined; managed and influenced? The workforce culture: The stern behavior of managers is ignorant of an integral and most fundamental organizational element, i.e. its culture. Organizations not only function in the context of a culture, they also bear their culture. Culture is a very broad term and has been conventionally defined in a number of ways. According to Sathe (1983 cited in Kemp and Dwyer, 2001, p. 78), organizational culture is a whole set of perceptions which are mutually shared by all members of the organization. In this way, culture essentially serves as a combining phenomenon in that all members of an organization mutually share it and their individualistic cultures become consistent with one another. Culture can also been defined as “the interweaving of the individual into a community and the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes members of one known group from another” (Ogbonna, 1996). Culture acts as glue and binds the culturally diverse workers together removing their differences. It dictates the way things should be done in a particular work environment. Though there are reservations to their view, yet a vast majority of the researchers are of the view that realization of a solid organizational culture is the first and foremost requirement of practical strategic planning and plays a pivotal role in determining the performance of the organization (Brown, 1998 cited in Kemp and Dwyer, 2001, p. 78). Realization of a strong culture favors identification of employees whose performance counts a lot in the achievement of organizational objectives. Managers can indeed, use culture as a tool to achieve unanimity of responses in the employees and incorporate ethics in the work practices. Significance of organizational culture: Smooth functioning requires development of a coherent culture in any organization. A coherent organizational culture integrates independent departments within an organization and makes them united. This union earns an organization competitive advantage over others in the market. It is not easy for the competitors to imitate such an organization. The whole concept of culture can best be understood with the help of a cultural web as shown in the figure below: Fig: Cultural web of an organization (Johnson and Scholes, 1997, Fig. 2.10, p. 69). Cultural web explains the way a culture modifies human behavior in the context of an organization, and how the change affects the organization itself. The strategies an organization bases its plans upon are conventionally preserved in such organizational documents as annual reports. However, the underlying traits of these strategies that actually shape an organization’s paradigm show up in the interaction of employees working in the organization. Indeed, the assumptions forming the base of strategies are so deeply rooted in an organization that they are easily visible in the actions and behavior of individuals that form part of it. Johnson and Scholes (1997) have identified a paradigm of organization that constitutes such assumptions that are not conventionally talked much about. They are least likely to be thought of as problematic and the managers usually do not discuss such factors much in an organization. The individual elements of their paradigm are a reflection of the total experience that an organization attains. In the absence of such elements, employees are subject to unique problems in everyday matters in the workplace and so, they repeatedly have to formulate a new course of action for every new problem they encounter. In such circumstances, every individual forms his/her own perception of the forces that prevail in the work environment and the way organization can use its capabilities to deal with them. In order to obtain a concise and rational understanding of the very paradigm of an organization, one needs to be sensitive to the external factors that make part of the broader organizational culture. In fact, the wider culture itself needs to be fully understood because it not only determines the paradigm of an organization, but also introduces new assumptions that may alter the existing paradigm. “Managers need to be especially sensitive to local cultures of learning, which can vary widely across units” (Garwin, Edmondson, and Gino, 2008, p. 116). These elements that shape the culture of an organization are generally called “artifacts”. They are indeed, the most prominent traits of the organizational culture. They completely determine an organization’s social and physical attributes. Johnson and Scholes (1997, p. 69) identified six most fundamental artifacts as shown in the figure above. Discussion in context of the present day trends in hospitality sector: The hospitality industry has for long, been considered as a dull industry equipped with low-skilled individuals owing to the inadequate HR policies (Ogbonna and Harris, 2002, p. 37). The pool of workforce fundamentally consists of young and inexperienced workers and women that have been otherwise sidelined in the society. However, management can reduce the impact of these issues on the general work in the hospitality sector by managing the organizational culture. What strategies the hospitality organizations make use of in order to gain competitive advantage over their contemporaries in the market plays a decisive role in determining their performance. The culture prevalent in an organization has a huge impact on its strategies and the level to which they would prove successful with the passage of time. It is common for managers to overlook the very culture of their organization, though it is a potential tool in the total armory required for strategic planning. Strategic planning and management is vital for an organization’s success because it serves to layout the future course of action. Strategic planning lays basis for the missions, vision and objectives for an organization. Employees are expected to wholeheartedly accede to the management’s approach and do their bit to make the plans successful. Such a managerial style gives total power to the boss on the top in the managerial hierarchy of the organization. People down the line are expected to play their respective roles as dictated by the senior. Members of the organization that have little to no influence on the decision making do more and think less. Roles of individual employees in the work are decided by his/her position. Such an approach is a good way to make sure that the company proceedings comply with the strategic planning. Nonetheless, the repercussions of such a strict and inflexible organizational culture can not be denied. There are negative effects on the workers’ motivation and dedication towards their work. Managers’ act of keeping the subordinates out of the decision making process sends them a message that they can never make their name by contributing to the organization. The workers’ do not feel owned by the organization. This declines their commitment to their work. Exclusion and disregard of the workers’ opinions and views in the decision making process makes them repellent towards the change implemented by the top managers. By merely asking the opinion of subordinates, managers can make a significant improvement in the acceptability towards the change, even if their opinion is practically disregarded completely. Positive and negative impacts of defining the organizational culture: Definition of the organizational culture provides the employees with a firm base according to which they can formulate their attitudes. This provides the customers with a defined set of values, norms and organizational standards to which they may relate. This promotes unanimity of opinion and reduces the conflicts. Cultural diversity among employees is a growing concern in organizations all over the world. Culturally diverse employees are commonly preferred and considered suitable for the progress of an organization. Many corporations proudly announce that they are equipped with a culturally diverse workforce. This can fundamentally be attributed to the fact that unionization of more and more cultures in the context of the organization makes its approach more prudent and well though with respect to all cultural standpoints and perspectives. However, a culturally diverse workforce is susceptible to more interpersonal conflicts. Many employees tend to degrade their fellows on the grounds of racism. Many traits of differing cultures compliment one another. Accordingly, individuals coming from those cultures to work in a common workplace compliment one another. This gives rise to conflicts. In such circumstances, managers’ attempt to identify and introduce an organizational culture provides conflicting employees with a common set of values. Their individualistic cultures are overpowered by the organizational culture. Hence, the organizational culture binds workers together and makes them united to work in the best interest of the company. On the other hand, realization of a standard organizational culture makes the organization inflexible with respect to the changing demands of the society. This may be a slightly negative consequence of realization of the organizational culture. However, the negative effects can be lessened by constantly modifying the organizational culture depending upon the constantly changing nature of the external factors that influence the organization. “At times of organizational change a danger arises when a new management vision is not totally shared by the multiples cultures within the organization” (Cameron, 2001, p. 112). Future trends in the hospitality industry: Workforce identity: An individual’s identity in the context of an organization gives him the impression that he is a member of particular social groups that hold special significance to the individual (Tajfel, 1972 cited in Hogg and Terry, 2000, p. 122). With the growing emphasis on the workforce culture, workers in the hospitality industry in the future are expected to increase their association with the company. The concept of culture: Since the last 25 years, organizational culture has been increasingly employed as a means to comprehend the human system within the organizations (Devis, 2007). Organizational strategic planning requires the implementation of a strong culture. In order for an organization to materialize its strategic objectives, it is imperative that it has full support of its employees (Clark, n.d., p. 37). Managers need to motivate the employees through planning according to the motivational models. Given the complex nature of motivation, (Herzberg, 1987, p. 109) several strategies may be employed in an attempt to make the employees motivated. “Culture too carries the assumption that others are out there interpreting symbols and sharing meanings in the same way and in that sense it is a group phenomenon” (Cameron et al., 2000, p. 227). Organizational learning: Managers assume a very important role in the overall culture of an organization because of their power to make decisions (Ashraf, 2010). They should introduce professional training and development programs in order to facilitate the learning. This may also serve as an incentive for the employees. Work structures: Work structure tells how employees within one organization work together or even, how companies work with one another in a given environment (Sullivan, 2011). Employees integrate their individualistic capabilities in the work environment to formulate an efficient work system. With the promotion of knowledge-based organizations world over in the contemporary age of information and knowledge, little room has been left for the old model because of numerous reasons (Edmondson, 2008, p. 62). Therefore, future organizations are expected to benefit from the knowledge based competencies of the workers. Examples: Case study – I: Heaven’s Gate BV Heaven’s Gate BV, a production unit has been working as part of the chemical industry in Netherlands for over 60 years (Hofstede, 1991). A vast majority of people who join the company remain associated with it for the whole of their professional career. HGBV has always been visualized as a very rich and lifelong employer. It was always so well known for the quality of its goods that the demand exceeded supply. Owing to their huge popularity and liking among the public, products are more distributed than sold. Customers have to maintain a good profile with HGBV in order to remain in the list of beneficiaries. Parents educate their children to the maximum level and want to see them serving in HGBV. All of this tells that the company is touching the apogee of success. Customers standing in a line to be attended, what else can an owner dream of! A careful analysis of the internal matters and the organizational culture HGBV tells the reason of its unusual popularity among the public. HGBV does not only provide its employees with job, it owns them. The employees share a common culture and live with one another like a family. There are rules, but there is flexibility that outshines them. If one can break the rules gently, nobody has a problem. It is not the rule violator who is ever in trouble. Instead, it is the one who makes unnecessary issues of such cases whose future with the company is at stake. The manager would prefer to keep a problem that may even incur the company unnecessary cost but would not like to solve it in an unfriendly manner. The biggest priority is the sustainability of mutual harmony and peace among individual members of the team. Work is secondary. Work environment is ridiculously staff friendly. If some employee can solve a problem in the best interest of the company through personal links and contacts, he is appreciated no less than another who does it through his personal skill and capability. Leadership is flexible. Leaders maintain close ties with their subordinates so as to minimize the feeling of status difference. The leverage employees are provided with encourages them to use their full potential and dedicate themselves to their work wholeheartedly. The culture of HGBV is so well defined and the norms, ethics and values are so well maintained that the team stands as juggernauts in front of any risk that may try to belittle the profitability of work. This case study makes an excellent example of a constructive and optimistic organizational culture. The staff of HGBV has their specific ways of attending to the problems that differentiates them from the behaviorally and culturally diverse employees working for other companies. Although the employees of HGBV come from different ethnic origins and hence cultures, yet inside HGBV, they belong to the culture of HGBV. Case study – II: The Regent Hotel, Sydney In order to comprehend the organizational culture in the hospitality sector, it is imperative that the usefulness and importance of the “cultural web” is perceived first. This case study discusses the significance of cultural web in context of the Regent Hotel in Sydney. Routine works include how guests are greeted and seen off in the hotel whereas formal processes within the organization like training programs, promotions, appointments and recruitment are termed as the rituals. In the Regent Hotel, the culture encourages all members of the staff team to contribute towards ensuring the peace of the guest. The hotel makes use of rituals that are formal activities that serve to maintain and cultivate the cultural norms and beliefs. The culture makes use of rituals in order to develop and be implemented. Such rituals as weekly meetings allow the staff members to sit together and share information with one another about events, changes and new decisions. Meetings are also visualized as a means to gather the opinion of all employees concerning a particular matter so that all feel involved in the decision making process, which enhances their acceptability towards the new decisions taken by the top management. The minutes of meetings are formulated and displayed on the bulletin boards that are accessible to all members of the staff so that they are made aware of any changes in plans or new decisions. References: Ashraf, S. (2010). What Is Organizational Culture? Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-organizational-culture.htm. Cameron, D., Gore, J., Desombre, T., and Riley, M. 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