Essay On Org Culture: Impact On Stakeholders, Effectiveness, And Development Strategies.

Types of Organization Culture

Discuss about the Organization Culture for Stakeholders.

The culture of an organization refers to the beliefs and perceptions of the different stakeholders of the organization. The organization culture is the determining factor in success and the operations of an organization. The cultural dimensions of an organization are central to all the major sections of the organization. The organization culture is also critical in the companies where organization culture receives little to low attention as it represents the beliefs, idea, working style and the local culture of the organization. Even when the organization culture is too soft or subtle, it influences the operations and eventually the profitability of the organization. Precisely, the organization culture can be defined as the values of the organization that develops or create the social or the psychological environment of a business organization. The organization culture can be considered as a characteristic of an organization. Thus, it can be modified or adapted by the senior management and the leaders of that organization (Alvesson, 2012). In this essence, in this essay, the impact of the positive and adaptive corporate culture in organization effectiveness is investigated. The essay has also shed light on how the business leaders can create a positive environment in the organization.

The organization culture can be observed in the manner in which the organization conducts its business, the respect with which the employees are treated, how the organization treat customers and the wider community. It also refers to the freedom given to the employees in decision making, idea generation, the information flow and the commitment and engagement of the organization for its objectives. The organization culture of a business enterprise impacts on the productivity, performance and the image of the organization in the perception of the consumers (Schein, 2010).  The organization culture is considered as an asset to the organization as it creates the strategic fit between the organization and its external business environment. There are several types of organization culture, namely, the clan culture, adhocracy culture, market culture and hierarchy culture. These organization cultures have ben differentiated according to their stability and control. For instance, in the clan model, the focus is on human relations, development of morale, and employee commitment towards the organization. In the adhocracy model, an open system is created within the organizations which foster innovation, creativity and adaptation to the current circumstances. The hierarchy model refers to standardized internal process model wherein the information and the communication are managed in a formalized and structured manner. In the market culture, the emphasis is on the goals their achievement and the external positioning of the organization. All these organization cultures have a different impact on the effectiveness of the organization. Although the effectiveness of an organization is evaluated on the basis of its efficiency to meet the organization goals, it is also dependent on the information management and the process control of the organization (Aktas, Cicek and Kiyak, 2011).

Impact of Organization Culture on Effectiveness

The adaptive organization environment is essential for the organizations to survive in the changing organization environment.  The adaptive organizations have the capability to adapt to the economic, societal and political shifts that occur in routine manner in the external and the internal environment of the organization. It is the ability of the organization, its employees and departments to smoothly adapt themselves to the changes that have occurred in the external environment. One of the key characteristics of the adaptive organizations is that they have high networking capability (Kegan and Lahev, 2016).). These employees of the organization network with the entities outside the organization to identify new information source or the potential source for the business development. The employees may network with the competitors, rival companies, customers or the external industry experts. The adaptable organizations are also capable of fostering innovation. It is made possible by developing open organization culture and development of a reward system that encourages innovation.

Besides improving the financial performance of a firm, the organization culture also impacts on the innovation and employee motivation. The organization culture is the ultimate driver the performance of the employee and their engagement toward the organization. As a result, an organization puts great emphasis of the development of the positive organization culture. Although organization culture mainly encompasses the values, mission and the assumptions or attitudes of the employees and different stakeholders, it is also supported by architecture, interior design, location and the technologies used in the organization. In the globalized world, the competition among the business organizations is enormous; therefore, it becomes critical that a positive and motivating organization environment is created within the organization. With the positive corporate culture, the employee engagement increases and he is constantly motivated to achieve the organization’s aims and objectives (Jones, Jimmieson & Griffiths, 2005). The organization culture also impacts on the employee interaction and communication. The communication between the employees is significant aspect in the efficiency, productivity and the innovation. A positive organization culture is also crucial in development of safety culture and increase in organization adaptability. A positive organization culture reduces the employee resistance towards adoption of new technologies. The organization culture also has a positive relationship with the collaboration, involvement, strategic direction, care of clients and control mechanism of the organization. An effective organization is capable to provide employee satisfaction in the job, fetch employee commitment and acknowledges all the departments regarding the vitality of the customer service and satisfaction.

Adaptive Corporate Culture for Improved Effectiveness

The organization culture is the key to encourage responsible behavior and accountability of all the stakeholders of the organization. It is also essential to create a learning environment within the organization and increase organization flexibility. The incentive schemes and the reward system is also a component of the organization culture which results in increased productivity and competence.

Since organization culture is an important asset to the organization to increase its effectiveness and overall performance, the leaders take several initiatives to develop an effective organization culture. In development of a positive organization culture or changing the previous organization culture, the foremost step is to examine the present culture of the organization. A business organization that does not know its culture does not know its identity and the perception of the public towards the organization. The existing culture of the organization must be evaluated to find the gaps between the desired culture and the existing culture. The assessment of the culture is also essential for development of a common language regarding current culture, direction for the future and the workspace.  The knowledge of the present culture of an organization is also essential to streamline the desired changes in the organization. In the absence of any knowledge, the changes may contradict the current practices of the organization and create a situation of chaos. In many cases, there is always a gap between the desired culture and the existing culture. This gap can be bridged and an ideal working environment can be created to support the desired culture.

With the culture diagnosis, an organization can determine which departments or sections of the organization are already in alignment with the organization goals. Therefore, with the culture diagnosis, an organization can focus on shifting the specific divisions of the organization towards the values and behavior of the organization. Recently, the organizations are also focusing on developing a competency framework to establish a positive organization culture. In this framework, words and phrases are developed that presents the skills, knowledge and the attitude of the employees towards their jobs. It also indicates that the employees are required to meet their workplace standards. The competency frameworks are beneficial in the talent management as well as in the knowledge, attitude and the behavior management of the organization. It also creates an atmosphere in developing the environment for the cultural change initiatives. It provides means to engage the workers or the employees to contribute to the best of the organization (Cameron & Quinn, 2005). 

Strategies for Creating a Positive Organization Culture

The organization change basically occurs in three forms, namely, evolutionary, focused and revolutionary. In the revolutionary culture change, the management allows the change to occur slowly with the time and the company wide transformation occurs simultaneously. In the focused organization change, the companies take measures to change specific subcultures or certain elements. In the revolutionary changes, the management pushes the culture change suddenly in the entire organization. The revolutionary approach to introduce an organization change is creates chaos within the organization. It is turbulent and reduces the employee morale (Van Dyck, Frese, Baer & Sonnentag, 2005).

In order to create positive organization environment, a business organization must focus to embed few elements in its operations, such as rewards, clarity, standards, responsibility, team commitment and flexibility. The employees must be clear regarding the organization’s goals and objectives. Along with it, they should also have knowledge regarding their contribution to the organization’s goals. The management should also focus on developing goals which are attainable and challenging. The leader plays a critical role in the development of positive environment in the organization. The leaders are the major motivational and inspirational factor in encouraging employees to perform challenging tasks. It is the responsibility of the leaders to encourage the employees who show dedication and perseverance towards the organization. The leaders can also create a positive and adaptive organization change by creating open and flexible atmosphere. Self-motivated and self-directed teams foster productivity and innovation within the organization. The organization with high rigidity and excessive rules is unable to provide flexibility and adaptive capability in the organization environment which is required in the present era. As a result, a large number of organizations have discarded the hierarchal organization culture (Connors and Smith, 2011).

Conclusion

Conclusively, it can be stated that the organization culture is an important asset to the organization. The organization culture refers to the sets of values or beliefs embedded in the working of an organization. A positive and adaptable organization culture is correlated to the performance of the organization. There are several kinds of organization culture, namely, the clan culture, adhocracy culture, market culture or the hierarchy culture. These cultures are developed according to the prime motive of the organization. The organization culture is also correlated to the employee performance, adaptability and motivation towards the work. Therefore, the companies take considerable efforts to create a positive organization culture in the organization. The infrastructure or the architecture is tangible assets through which the organization can change its organization culture. Moreover, the companies can also diagnose the current culture of the organization and identify the gaps between the current and the desired organization culture. The organization change will focus to bridge the gap so that the organization can better address its goals.

References

Aktas, E., Cicek, I. and Kiyak, M. (2011). The Effect of Organizational Culture on Organizational Efficiency: The Moderating Role of Organizational Environment and CEO Values. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 24, 1560-1573.

Alvesson, M. (2012). Understanding Organizational Culture. SAGE.

Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2005). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework. John Wiley & Sons.

Connors, R. and Smith, T. (2011). Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accounta bility for Results. Penguin.

Jones, R. A., Jimmieson, N. L., & Griffiths, A. (2005). The impact of organizational culture and reshaping capabilities on change implementation success: The mediating role of readiness for change. Journal of Management Studies, 42(2), 361-386.

Kegan, R. and Lahev, L.L. (2016). An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization. Harvard Business Review Press.

Schein, E.H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. London: John Wiley & Sons.

Van Dyck, C., Frese, M., Baer, M., & Sonnentag, S. (2005). Organizational error management culture and its impact on performance: a two-study replication. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(6), 1228.