Management And Organisations In Global Environment

Levels of Organizational Culture

Discuss about the Management and Organisations in Global Environment.

An organization can be defined as a group of people working together to achieve the common business goal. The group of individuals may perform different functions and it needs to be in coordination with one another (Alvesson, 2013).

There are several definitions of culture that can be summed up as: Culture can be defined as the knowledge and characteristics of the people who are categorized under religion, cuisine, music, language, social habits and various other subsets.

Organizational culture is divided into two distinct levels- hidden and visible.

Artefacts are the visible components of culture that are easy to formulate although the perception varies from one individual to another (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2013).

Rituals- The ceremonies or rituals that are performed in the organization, such as annual conferences, meetings, awards, new hire welcome lunches and training.

Symbols- These are highly abstract in nature as they summarize the intrinsic behaviour at the organization. These are the rituals or incentives such as ‘employee of the month’ that symbolizes excellent performance of the employee.

Stories- These are narratives based on true events which elaborates the stories of previous employees about the ways they dealt with their problems (Bedarkar et al., 2016).

The structure and social culture of the organization influences the inner values of employee empowerment.

Control and power- The organizations have different managerial structure and levels. The management by nature determines the way in which the employees enforce control. There are unwritten social norms that create an environment of conformity. The organization that lack control and proper empowerment have a negative impact on the workplace (Bock, Opsahl, & Gann, 2011).

Woolworths Supermarkets or Woolies is chosen for this report as it is the most renowned and largest supermarket chain in Australia. The supermarket chain sells vegetables, packaged foods, fruits, meat, stationery and various other products. There are over 110,000 employees working at Woolworths (Islam, Jasimuddin, & Hasan, 2015). The mission of the organization is to deliver the right products to the customers at the right time. The organization provides high quality products at the best prices. The retail chains have operations in Australia and New Zealand. The employees at the organization put the needs of its customers first. The company launched its Fresh Food People campaign. Woolworths also provides home delivery services to its employees. The organization follows code of conduct and ethics that helps in managing the employees effectively (Islam, Jasimuddin, & Hasan, 2015).

Organizational Culture Affecting Personality

A personality of an individual is determined by their characteristic pattern of emotion, behaviour and belief. There are any ways in which the organizational culture impacts or affects the personality of employees. Woolworths conducts training programs that helps the employees in attaining positive values towards the workplace. There are codes of conduct and ethical standards that need to be maintained in the organization. It emphasizes on employee responsibilities to what is expected on them. The ethical standards and vision statements help in communicating what Woolworths stands for (Milhauser, 2015).

The system of rewards helps in fostering the value in employees and enhancing their personality. Culture helps in shaping the behaviour and personality of the employees at Woolworths. Woolworths promotes passion and positive behaviour in their employees. Woolworths teaches is employees to work together as a team and yield higher profits. There may be people who find it difficult to work in teams as there are varied cultures and personality in the team. These values help in fostering positive behaviour and enhancing personality of the employees (Simosi, 2012).

There are several challenges encountered while implementing organizational cultural change as every organizational culture passes through artefacts, assumptions and values. The employee behaviours have to be changed unconsciously as they are least aware of the existing flaws in the organization. The employees face resistance when they need to implement organizational culture as their values and perception have to be reframed. It is challenging for Woolworths to maintain a healthy organizational culture as it represents the overall lifestyle. Not only it is difficult to implement organizational culture, but it is more challenging to be consistent and present every single day. As the number of employees working at Woolies is large, it is difficult to involve all of them. Involvement of all the employees is necessary so that every individual is moving in the same direction. Therefore, continuous optimization of the whole team is necessary in the organizational culture (Stokes, Baker, & Lichy, 2016).

From the above sections, it is evident that organizational culture has various forms. Therefore, it is challenging to overcome the difficulties with ease. One of the significant challenges faced in the organization is resistance from the employees while implementing organizational culture. The employees must be trained and provided with education about the benefits of a positive organizational culture. It is mandatory to manage resistance so that the symptoms such as complaining or not attending meetings.

Challenges in Implementing Organizational Culture

Organizational culture can be defined as a unique social or psychological environment of an organization. It includes the experience, philosophy, expectations and values that is based on beliefs, customs. The organizational culture determines the ways in which an organization treats its customers, employees and wider community. It also determines the freedom in decision making.

Organizational strategy is the manner or tactics that is taken by an organization to attain the objectives. The present state must be compared with the targeted state so that the differences can be defined.

The organizational culture is important as many employees spend a lot of time at the workplace. It refers to the ideologies, beliefs and values that the employees of an organization share. The unity among employees help in creating a sense of understand and promoting better communication with less conflict. A healthy organizational culture ensures that no employee is neglected and treated equally. Organizational culture helps in keeping employees motivated and loyal to the management. There is a higher sense of accomplishment where the people work harder without having to be forced. Organizational culture is important for competition. The employees strive to perform at the best and receive appreciation from the superiors. Therefore, the work quality can be increased that would make the organization prosper and flourish. An organizational culture also helps in enhancing the brand reputation so that it grows to be known and respected (Suparjo & Darmanto, 2015). 

There are various elements of organizational culture. Firstly, the organizational values are the core of the culture. In my organization, there are articulated set of values which are communicated to the employees. It is applied in the organization by establishing rules and procedures. The goal of the organization is to satisfy the customer needs. There are celebrations, activities and rituals at the organization. The heroes of the organization are used to set as examples and are helpful in highlighting vision. The organization conveys the belief that the expression of humour in the workplace is an effective way to increase productivity and job motivation (Stokes, Baker, & Lichy, 2016). 

The divisional structure is the one that determines the manner in which organization performs and operates. The organization has multiple divisions based on product departmentalization. It involves grouping of tasks that is related to a particular product line under a single senior manager who specializes in the company’s business. There are different functions that have to be produced and sold such as manufacturing, human resources, accounting and marketing. The sales people in my organization talk to the manufacturing and design department so that they can address the issues involving customer satisfaction. Further, the printing and copywriting activities of my organization operate in separate departments. This structure is beneficial as it allows the employees of every department to work closely (Simosi, 2012).

Organizational Culture and Strategy

Based on multiple functions, there are different activities performed in the organization. There are smaller functional areas that are used in my organization. Several groups such as operations, finance, marketing and IT are disconnected from each other. Therefore, the senior management of my organization have several functions or departments. The performance is maximized by sharing valuable expertise among the subordinates of my organization. The team also provides special training and development so that the employees can be quickly recognized and placed so that there are helpful ideas and skills. Each functional unit handles one aspect of the product or service provided: information technology, marketing, development, and research. Top management is responsible for coordinating the efforts of each unit and meshing them together into a cohesive whole (Simosi, 2012).

My organization faces certain challenges within an organizational structure. There are some factors that need to be maintained in the organization. As the divisional structure is applied, there are several semi-self-structured functions in a business. The company is structured into multiple divisions and there is delayed decision making. Because individuals in a divisional organization do not need to route and re-route requests, but instead can deal with them in-house, they can sidestep some of the red tape through which they would have to navigate in a different set-up. Further, there are communication challenges faced in the organization that may fail to communicate as it should. The necessary information is delayed or half-shared that leads to confusion and conflict. The employees in the organization need to be more specialized and information must be shared in a manner that reaches every individual.

Based on the above challenges identified, a few recommendations can be helpful in improving the organizational culture. The organization can be organized by function and own chart needs to be created for ensuring that the staffs are properly staffed. As the business grows, the individuals who can handle the process efficiently must be employed. The person’s duties can also be expanded. The chain of demand shall help in preventing the departments from competing and employees have to follow the employer’s direction. The structure must be efficiently communicated so that the benefits can be communicated in the meeting. The reporting and grievance procedures must be effectively strategized.

References

Alvesson, M. (2013). Understanding organizational culture (1st ed.). London: SAGE.

Alvesson, M. & Sveningsson, S. (2013). Changing organizational culture (1st ed.). New York: Routledge.

Austen, A. & Zacny, B. (2015). The role of Public Service Motivation and Organizational Culture for Organizational Commitment. Management, 19(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.1515/manment-2015-0011

Bedarkar, M., Pandita, D., Agarwal, R., & Saini, R. (2016). Examining the Impact of Organizational Culture on Customer Centricity in Organizations:An Analysis. Prabandhan: Indian Journal Of Management, 9(2), 19. https://dx.doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2016/v9i2/87229

Bock, A., Opsahl, T., George, G., & Gann, D. (2011). The Effects of Culture and Structure on Strategic Flexibility during Business Model Innovation. Journal Of Management Studies, 49(2), 279-305. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2011.01030.x

Hogan, S. J., & Coote, L. V. (2014). Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A test of Schein's model. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1609-1621.

Islam, M., Jasimuddin, S., & Hasan, I. (2015). Organizational culture, structure, technology infrastructure and knowledge sharing. VINE, 45(1), 67-88. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/vine-05-2014-0037

Keyton, J. (2014). Communication & organizational culture (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Milhauser, K. (2015). Assessing Organizational Culture and Climate. Organizational Cultures: An International Journal, 15(2), 1-10. https://dx.doi.org/10.18848/2327-8013/cgp/v15i02/50946

Simosi, M. (2012). The moderating role of self-efficacy in the organizational culture-training transfer relationship. International Journal Of Training And Development, 16(2), 92-106. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2419.2011.00396.x

Stokes, P., Baker, C., & Lichy, J. (2016). The Role of Embedded Individual Values, Belief and Attitudes and Spiritual Capital in Shaping Everyday Postsecular Organizational Culture. European Management Review, 13(1), 37-51. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/emre.12065

Suparjo, S. & Darmanto, S. (2015). Mediating Role of Jobs Satisfaction among Organizational Commitment, Organizational Culture and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB): Empirical Study on Private Higher Education in Central Java, Indonesia. Journal Of Research In Marketing, 4(1), 289. https://dx.doi.org/10.17722/jorm.v4i1.112