Organizational Culture and Globalization - Essay Example

Organizational culture and Globalization Name: Institution: Course: Date: Introduction Organizational culture is a field of organization and management which is used to explain the attitudes, beliefs, experiences, values and psychology of an organization. It involves the norms and ethics or morals that people in an organization are supposed to share and they control their way of interaction with the stakeholders and with other workers in the organization. Organizational culture therefore dictates the behavior of members of an organization due to the development of norms and ethics which act as a guideline to how the people are expected to behave. This enhances a commonness or oneness in the organization and hence the achievement of organizational goals. It can also be defined as the organizational personality where it is comprised of norms, assumptions and tangible signs. Different organizations have different cultures. The culture of an organization can also be told through its furniture arrangement and its members dressing. Globalization is the integration of cultures, economies and societies through a global network of business and communication. Globalization is usually a factor of economic, cultural, social, political, biological and technological factors. Globalization can also be defined to as acculturation or transition from cultural activities. It is the process by which businesses increase its interdependence and connectivity to the global markets. Internet and telecommunications infrastructure is the forces behind globalization. It can also be defined as the tendency of businesses to invest in outside countries around the world which helps to improve its relationship with different markets. It has a positive impact to both international trade and cultural exchange. According to Edgar H. (2004), there are four types of organizational culture which are: Power culture which is mainly concerned with the power found in the few people in the organization. This culture is based on bureaucracy and rules and it is highly influential as it spreads to the group of members of the organization from the central position. According to this culture the personal relationship between the central position and the members of the organization is very essential. Role culture involves delegation of authorities within the organization. In these organizations, hierarchical bureaucracies are formed. A person’s position in the organization defines his or her power but not ones expertise. The organization using this type of culture is controlled by roles description, authorities and procedures which are highly valued as noted by Deal T.(1982) Task culture is another type of organizational cultures which involves the formation of teams or groups for problem solving. The expertise of an individual dictates his or her power. Matrix structures which are complex reporting lines are found in these organizations. Matrix structure is an approach which involves the use of small highly skilled teams who have experience. Person culture is found where all individuals in an organization think that they are superior for the organization. Survival for this organization becomes very difficult as a group of people with same minds tend to work towards the achievement of organizational goals. The following are other types of organizational cultures: Academy Culture is a type of organizational culture where the employees of the organization are highly qualified and are willing to work up the ranks and therefore they prefer to be in the organization. In this type of organization a favorable or conducive environment is found which gives the employees a chance to exercise and improve their skills (Joanne 2002). For example universities and hospitals Baseball Team Culture- here employees have high skills and are capable of securing jobs some where else and are therefore free agents in the organization. An organization using this culture is a high risk one. For example banks In the Club Culture the employees of the organization fit into the team and they start from the bottom rank in the organization and promotions are done from within the organization. For example military Organizations using Fortress Culture undergo large redeployment and employees are not certain on when they will be laid off. Example is the saving and loans organizations. There are four classifications of organizational cultures The Tough-Guy Macho Culture applies to organizations with financial activities which move fast. In this case the feedback is fast and with high rewards. To operate under this culture can be very stressful to the organization. The Work Hard/Play Hard Culture is a culture where there is a fast feedback but with few risks. It mostly found in large organizations which aim at improving customer service. It is frequently characterized by group meetings and jargons (John 1986). The Bet your Company Culture is characterized by taking large decision stake but it takes a long time before the results are given. The Process Culture takes place in organizations with little feedback or without feedback and it is highly coupled with bureaucracies. This culture is quite reliable as it produces consistence results. Pressures of global environment to organizations This is mainly what global environment requires the organizations to do in order for it to be able to operate in a global market. These pressures are mainly based on the PESTEL analysis which means the political, environmental, social, technological, economic and legal factors which affect a business. Therefore global environment put pressure on business to break any barrier towards globalization as noted by Jan (2000). Global environment put pressure to a business to integrate or to use the political factors to develop a wide range of global network. Political factor will include the priorities given to support business and the type of goods that a government requires the business to supply. Global markets are markets that are able to meet the needs of customers globally or in the whole world. Therefore, this becomes a pressure to the organization to integrate political factors from different countries which it intends to sell its products and market to them what the government requires. It also puts pressure to the organization to use the economic factors to analyze its global markets. These factors include taxation charges, interest rates, inflation and exchange rates. The organizations should analyze the inflation and interest rate in its home country. High rate of investment discourages investment and this will enable the organizations to move its investment to other countries with less interest rate hence becoming global. It can also analyze the inflation rate in the country which it intends to invest in and if found to be favorable then the organization invests in it. It is through this integration of economic factors from different countries which will enable the organizations to become global markets. It also put pressure to the organizations to use the technological factors to analyze the possibility of investing in a global market. New technologies results into new products and also a high production level and also improves business operations together with the introduction of online shopping, reduces production costs and leads to improved products hence high profits. The global environment puts pressure to the business to do this analysis which will enable it to use the available technology or the technology at its disposal to get into the global market. Social factor analysis is another pressure which global markets have been pressuring businesses to evaluate for them to enter the global markets. This factor dictates the demand for organizations products (Joseph 2003). This calls for the organization to analyze the social needs of the people of the global market which then enables the business to determine which market is to invest depending on the compatibility of the peoples needs with its products. The appropriate organizational culture when an organization is operating in a global environment is the role culture. An organization which is operating in a global environment should have several positions in it with people who will be monitoring the performance of the business and these calls for delegation of authorities according to ones expertise. In this case, role culture will be the most appropriate. The organization using this type of culture is controlled by roles description, authorities and procedures which are highly valued which is very common with organizations operating in global markets. Conclusion The following are the advantages which are enjoyed by an organization which becomes a global market: it reduces national interdependence, increases the flexibility of organizations to work and invest in outside counties, improves the communication between the organization and the world market, it eases the transport of good across border and helps to reduce cultural barriers. Organizational cultures are very essential when the organization wants to invest in outside countries as some act as inhibitors to this investments. References Edgar H. Schein, (2004). Organizational culture and leadership: The Jossey-Bass business & management series. John Wiley and Sons. Deal T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. (1982) Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books Jan Aart Scholte, (2000), Globalization: a critical. Palgrave Macmillan. Joseph E. Stiglitz, (2003), Globalization and its discontents.W.W. Norton, Karel De Witte, Jaap J. van Muijen, (2000), Organizational Culture, Psychology Press. Edgar H. Schein, (1983) Organizational culture: a dynamic model, Alfred P. Sloan School of Management Massachusetts Institute of Technology. John Steven Ott, (1986) Organizational culture: an analysis of its perspective, concepts, historical evolution, methods, and significance for understanding and managing organizations. University of Colorado at Denver. Joanne Martin, (2002). Organizational culture: mapping the terrain: Foundations for organizational science, SAGE. Malcolm Waters, (2001) Globalization: Key ideas, Routledge. Manfred Steger, (2010) Globalization: A Brief Insight, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. . Read More