What Is Organisational Culture All about - Coursework Example

What is organisational culture? Explain the way that culture can be expressed within organisations. College Name of the Student: Name of the Instructor: Name of the course: Code of the course: Submission date Author note: Organisational culture An organisation contains several change variables and when culture is to be expressed under such variables, a certain degree of ambiguity arises in terms of assessing the culture's effectiveness. Several scholars who have been studying organisational culture over the past few decades have almost univocally suggested that in an organisation culture is practices and the climate that organisations develop around primarily their human resource matters (Schein, 2004). More often than not the organisational culture revolves around managerial practices and as Watson (2006) remarks organisational culture stems mainly from managerial thinking, which plays an important role in the development of the culture in an organisation. These practices are more or less aligned with leadership, which is conceptually intertwined with culture. Only correct leadership prevalent at an organisation may not necessarily give it the culture that it aspires to have. This stand has been supported by O'Farell (2006) who has remarked that only leadership based on codes of conduct, values, and other principles do not let an organisation develop the desired culture. These terms are only rhetoric or in other words aspirational statements. Someone in the organisation needs to turn these adjectives into a practical reality and that cannot be done unless there is an intertwining of leadership values with culture. In this regard Watson (2006) explains further that organisational culture is a 'cultivated' metaphor, which gives an organisation a unique sense of identity which rests on the foundation of rituals, legends, meanings, beliefs, norms, language, and values. An organisational culture is a direct communicator of what the organisation is best doing at and how best it can or has been doing the same in the past. These become sort of tenets in an organisation and are normally accepted without questioning by the long-serving members of the organisation. Since the culture gets filtered in some or the other way to general public that could include vendors, customers and service providers they attain the meaning of organisational legends. Legends are determined by norms and expected behaviours the company has been following for long in order to uphold its organisational culture. Schein (2004) has termed the concept of organisational culture as intriguing because it encapsulates the essence of phenomena, which though being invisible and unconscious is yet powerful. Culture in an organisation is a binding force that steers behaviour and personality of an organisation in certain direction; direction which yields benefit to the organisation and guides its growth. Deal and Kennedy's (1982, 2000) views coincide with that of Schein as he explains how components of organisational culture like legends, rituals, heroes and ceremonies shape behaviour of an organisation. Even as these components are visible ones, they state that the invisible levels are far more powerful in shaping organisational behaviour. To take this concept forward, Rousseau (1990) proposes a multi-layered model for organisational culture, which he calls rings. The outer ring being easy to access whereas the inner ring is difficult to penetrate. The outer ring is based on fundamental assumptions, the one next to it is based on values, then behaviour norms, then patterns of behaviour and finally artefacts. Clearly organisational culture is made up of two different aspects; one is superficial and one deep seated. The deeper seated ones include underlying assumptions, values and beliefs and the superficial ones are observable symbols and ceremonies and patterns of behaviour. Some proponents are of the opinion that organisational culture can be changed by brining into focus more visible aspects such as rituals and rites, which are responsible for shaping behaviour. At the same time those who have a counterpoint say it is the deeper levels that need to be considered in order to determine organisational culture and a possible potential to make a change in it. The way culture can be expressed within organisations It takes time for an organisation to develop culture as a complex set of factors are responsible for giving it a form. A number of key factors have been identified by Handy (1993) which play an important role in organisational culture's development. These include but are not limited to history, goals and objectives, primary function and technology, location, size, staffing and management, and the environment. Robbins (2007) reduces these factors to just three, which are size, strategy, and technology and the environment. He says these act as determinants of giving the organisational culture its ubiquitous structure. Environment, to a great extent, determines how culture is expressed in organisations. Expression of culture with organisations is indicative of how they respond to the external environmental influences. How changeable or stable these influences are also determine how the organisations respond to these influences. For example, in an environment that is dynamic the culture of an organisation needs to be sensitive and also readily the one that can adapt to change. An organisation that is organic in nature is likely to respond to new challenges and opportunities readily. It also has the potential of responding to risks and limitations as effectively. Expression of organisational culture is as much a need as an attribute. There is no organisation that does not have a preoccupation with success and performance. Each organisation has a goals and objectives to achieve, which puts on it the pressure of having a culture that can act as a ladder to achieve these objectives. This is one reason why Huczynski and Buchanan (2003) have termed organisations as 'goal-oriented system'. It is under this backdrop that the need for effectiveness and efficiency arises. Culture is one way of exerting control that helps organisations steer through the process without paying extra costs. Drucker (1968) terms this as structure of the organisation. Structure again is a means for achieving objectives and goals. In Drucker's view both structure and culture are rooted in the same ambition of making an organisation successful. Based on this structure all organisations continue with their activities in such order that they get aligned with the ultimate aims and objectives and ensure that deliverables expected of the same are delivered. Culture, thus, assumes many facets; including adherence to the typical organisational chart, allocation of formal responsibilities, establishment of the linking mechanisms between several roles and amalgamation of ethical values in-between the same; the values that can reflect and are accepted both within and outside of the organisation. Organisations express their culture both through values and actions. The greatest expression of it is found in being held as a common perception; even among individuals that are from different backgrounds or are placed at different levels in an organisation. The organisational culture binds them all in a rope of values, beliefs and commitments they feel easy to internalise. In other words the culture expresses itself as a core value of the organisation that is shared by one and all. When organisational culture is referred to, it actually means dominant culture; the macro view of which gives a distinct personality to an organisation. Each organisation builds up core values of its culture on certain unique aspects. For example, IBM lays special emphasis on work/ life balance and Nike on fitness and sports. Nike employees intensely share the core value of enhancing lives of people through fitness and sports. Its founder Philip Knight has created a matchless sports-oriented culture, which is held so strongly in spirit by Nike employees that it reflects in almost everything the organisation does. So as to make explicit expressions of its organisational culture, Nike does not only go verbally high about it, but also develops novel ideas to get the concept of fitness and sports across. For example, it pays its employees extra money to organise a hiking rather than driving to the spot. This is one reason when it comes to sports, Nike strikes the mind before any other organisation does - it has become synonymous with being an athlete's company; hiring former Olympic athletes, former college and other sports professionals and clothing, shoe and sports enthusiasts. The best testimony of expressing its culture is its 74-acre campus in Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon that has beautiful jogging and walking trails and even buildings which have been named after well-known sports persons. Organisational culture plays an important role in an organisation and not only the organisation as a whole but its management, its employees and even its competition are supposed to be reactive to it. In management, this is emerging as one of the fashionable areas, though it cannot be denied that its history is relatively recent. The success of Japanese companies in '70s is supposed to have triggered interest in organisational culture. These companies inculcated a given culture and rode on its waves to succeed. In spreading the organisational culture within an organisation and beyond, organisations use several communicative indicators that not only contribute to the making of this culture but also disseminating its influence. Organisations use metaphors to compare their working with a family or machinery so as to communicate shared meanings of experiences. Stories are generated to guide employees how to behave or not to behave in certain conditions. Symbols, metaphors, stories are combined with ceremonies and rites. Different kinds of rites are used to propagate the culture or changes in it thereof. This is also expressed through several other means and actions, commonly termed as rites of passage, degradation, enhancement, renewal, conflict reduction and integration. For example, when employees are given new roles, it might also mean change in the organisational culture. When employees are publicly rewarded, it might also mean being people-friendly, and hence reliable. Rites of integration would mean rekindling the feeling of being an undisputed member of the organisation and reawakening a feeling of belonging. Rites of renewal would mean a cultural focus on improving existing social structures. It can be deduced that expression of organisational culture by organisations is also dependent, to some extent, on the type of culture that pervades in an organisation. Charles Handy (1976), influenced by Roger Harrison (1972) was one of the few scholars who linked organisational culture to organisational structure. He described four types. These four types express themselves in an organisation in their own ways. For example, in power culture a small group of people are vested with the powers of the organisation and they assume a central figure in the whole organisation. Power cultures enable organisations make swift decisions as they need little bureaucracy and few rules. On the other hand role culture has a highly defined structure, full of hierarchical bureaucracies, power mostly vested in a personal few. This sort of culture expresses itself through authoritative decisions, strict role definitions and procedures thought about in advance. In contrast to these in task culture it is the teams that express power and in the process communicate a small team approach prevalent in the organisation, which are dotted with a sort of matrix structure having multiple reporting lines. Smaller teams in such organisations are highly skilled in their fields. Worst kind of organisational culture gets, however, expressed in organisations which believe in person culture. In such organisations are considered only secondary to certain individuals who believe they are far superior to the organisations. Such organisations do not find it viable top operate after some time since there are no like-minded persons working there and thus no organisational goals. For such organisations it is difficult to change as they lack a healthy culture. The change is difficult to achieve because imprint of weak culture is carried by such organisations for too long and it become s daunting task to efface that imprint all at once or merely with a sudden change. The inertia of the wrong imprint is so strong that the new one does not make a mark in the first place so easily and so effectively. It needs more than culture change for such organisations to stay afloat in the market, which include reduction of employee turnover, make company improvements, influence employee behaviour, refocus on company objectives, rescale organisation, focus on customer service and reorient the company with new objectives and goals. Impacts There are direct and indirect impacts of organisational culture. If the culture is robust and healthy it provides a number of benefits like efficient and consistent employee performance, team cohesiveness, competitive edge derived from customer service and innovation, high employee morale and a strong alignment towards achievement of objectives and goals. Even as there is not much direct research done on the link between organisational performance derived from organisational culture, researchers do not express any doubt that this relation does not exist. Firms having unique organisational culture have expressed sustained and superior performance; examples are McDonald's, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Procter & Gamble. They all reflect their organisational culture. A report from a study done in 2003 at Harvard Business School has concluded that culture of an organisation does affect its long-term economic performance. This study was done on 160 organisations, evaluating their management practices over a period of ten years. While good organisational culture, the study pointed out, can peak the performance of an organisation; the bad culture can actually be its sole reason of plummeting financial graphs and a dent in the reputation. Denison, Haaland and Goelzer (2004) have remarked that culture does contribute to an organisation's success, even as all its dimensions may not be seen accomplishing the same task. Furthermore, and what was, in fact, an interesting observation, was that different global regions react to cultural dimensions of an organisation differently. That means national culture impacts organisational culture. If the national culture is one of the 'safety climates', it transforms into an organisation's safety record. Conclusion When culture becomes a cultivated metaphor, in an organisational setting, it becomes organisational culture. Several scholars have looked at organisational culture differently but most of them concur on one point – that is sound organisational culture leads to efficient workforce and better organisational outputs. Organisational culture has a profound impact on the reputation and workforce of the organisation. Global ginats as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and McDonald’s are a few examples of companies that possess sound organisational culture. References Deal T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. (1982, 2000). Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1982; reissue Perseus Books, 2000. Denison, D. R., Haaland, S. and Goelzer, P. (2004). Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness: Is Asia Different from the Rest of the World? Organizational Dynamics, pp. 98–109. Drucker, P. F. (1968). The age of discontinuity. New York: Harper & Row. Handy, C. (1993), Understanding Organizations, Penguin, London. Huczynski, A. & Buchanan, D. (2007). Organisational Behaviour: An Introductory Text, 6th ed., Harlow: FT/Prentice Hall O’Farrell, G. (2006). Cultures and Values in the Queensland Public Service, Speech presented at the Queensland Regional Heads Forum Annual Business Conference, Conrad Hotel, Broadbeach, 25 May 2006. Rousseau, D.M. (1990). Assessing organizational culture: The case for multiple methods. In B. Schneider (Ed.), Organizational Climate and Culture (pp. 153–192). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Robbins, J. (2007). Continuity Thinking and the Problem of Christian Culture: Belief, Time, and the Anthropology of Christianity. Current Anthropology, Vol. 48, No. 1 (February 2007), pp. 5-38. Schein, E.H. (2004) Organizational Culture and Leadership, Third edition, San Francisco:Jossey-Bass. Watson, T.J. (2006). The Organization and Disorganization of Organization Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Vol.43 (2), pp. 367-382. Read More