Effect of Work Culture on Operations Results - General Motors - Case Study Example

Operation Management xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Effect of work culture in operation result xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Institution xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Executive summary 3 Introduction 3 Background 4 Literature review 4 Discuss the state 9 Conclusion 10 Future state of operation management 10 References 11 Executive summary The field of operation management has widely co-existed with what is known to be proper work force. There has been great need for businesses, organizations and companies to incorporate this field into their operation system for better and more profits. The introduction gives a detailed definition of what operation management is and what it entails. The literature review or current state of knowledge widely entails the effects of work culture on operation result. The paper goes further to discuss the state in relation to future state of this discussion as a way to show what kind of measures are needed to be improved for maximum result (Mahadevan 2010). A detail conclusion has been issued to summarize all measure and discussion connected to operation management and operation result. This discussion gives a comprehensive understanding of the relationship that exists between OM and work culture. Introduction The whole essay will be focused on the General Motors (GM) Company, where the company defines Operations Management (OM) as a field in management which oversees and designs normal operations that are associated to better production of goods and services. It greatly ensures that that companies or organization operations are efficient even when little or no resources are used in terms of customer satisfaction. It mainly assists an organization in managing all the processes that convert company input into productive outputs. In addition, Operation management deals with management of supply chains, services and processes with companies. This field put various aspects including; procurement, utilization and development of resources to deliver goods and services according to customer satisfaction into consideration. OM is considered to range from three levels namely tactical, strategic and operational levels. Strategic level includes; determining location and sizes, designing of technological supply chain and manufacturing plants. Tactical levels involve structure and plant layout, equipment replacement and selection. Finally, operational level entails equipment maintenance, quality control and inventory management. Background Operation management background is traced from it founder known as Frederick Taylor in 1911.Traditionally, operational management was known to have been built and configures so as to address certain set departmental needs. This lead to inefficient usage of companies’ inner resources which resulted in an increase cost in ownership. Originally, information surrounding companies’ organization management did not rationalize disparate systems across companies and organization territories (Albritton McMullen& Gardiner 2003). Today, global production environment require a strong and stable operational management as way of combating challenges related to global economy. This has clearly made positive changes which is significantly different as compared to what was done years ago. As part to conceptualize the need and effect of work culture on companies’ operation system, it is essential to understand role and importance of this field of management. It is therefore evident that proper organization management requires an evolutionary manner through constant improvement that is normally brought about by improved technology, globalization and proper use of companies’ external and internal resources s exhibited in the general motors company. Literature review This literature review is based on General Motors. The operation management field and work force has been one of the most established management especially in the 1990s. In organization, operation management remains cyclical and linked to results been exhibited. According to Albritton, McMullen & Gardiner, (2003), different work cultures are known to affect an organization operational system and therefore resulting to either positive or negative outcomes/results. There are different kinds of culture that have an effect on operation within companies in different ways. It is therefore appropriate to first understand and define work culture within both business ethics and organizational culture. Ethics are the rules and regulations that put concern to personnel actions towards company wellbeing. Work culture is the totality of social, economic and physical behavior patterns toward a company. Work culture is the key determinant of ethical and unethical behavior especially known to affect operation management. These cultures are very essential since they ignite and maintain moral principles which are very important on company operation system. Although some individual critique this in the sense that they argue that company operational behavior widely depends on employees’ virtue. There is dire need for the top management in any organization to pay great attention to the organizational culture. It is argued that work stations that have positive organizational culture are able to retain its workforce as well as withstand a dynamic and competitive environment. Work culture or organizational culture can have positive or negative effects at a work place. For any organization to effectively work and attain its objectives there must be clear and open communication system. Organizations that have a closed system of communication always end up in resentment as the employees always feel that they do not have the capacity to make effective decisions or the will and power to persuade decisions. This could result in careless decisions which do not meet the needs of the organization as the workers are not involved in making them. The employees may not see the need to carry out the assigned tasks ending up in decreasing productivity as the organization culture will not be functioning in line with the firm’s objectives. On the other hand, overly competitive work environments can lead to low performances especially in firms that insist on staff being competitive as such an environment leads to hoarding of information and lack of teamwork among workers as they will be busy competing against one other instead of working towards attaining unified goals. Key decisions in such environments may end up being made for the wrong reasons as workers are engineered towards thinking of how they can accomplish as individuals instead of complementing one another to attain the company goals (Greasley 2000). Work environments that foster teamwork and encourage the workers to have satisfaction in their occupation and involve the workers in decision making report positive results. This fosters creativity and a workforce that is dedicated to achieving the work objectives as the work organizational culture has similar objectives. Organizations that has workers and leadership that encourages innovation and risk taking is bound to survive and sustain competitive environments. However, it is important to note that some closed cultures are required in certain industries where as others need environments that embrace information sharing. Norms always characterize good cultures as it explains their commitment to the organizational goals. Such environments are supportive to flexibility hence can withstand new regulations and adapt to new technological improvements. Work places are to employ diversity and implement ceremonies that aim at promoting social cohesion. Motivated employees tend to stay longer at work places and decrease employee mobility. Employees should have clearly stated labels that specify their roles in particular organizations (Bettley 2005). Despite the top down model finding more consideration and widely practiced by much organizational leadership, the servant mode is considered the best and achieves more returns. However, it is the least practiced as it requires more effort in its implementation. This mode of leadership is effective as it aims at upgrading the level of workforce capacity through mentoring. This is a great way of motivating a work force if practiced exceptionally and on merit basis. The leadership practicing this mode of leadership could design a tool that will that will assist in evaluating performance and identifying employees to be promoted based on merit. An effective tool for this exercise would be the peer and employee appraisals. However, the servant leadership mode could derail achievements if not effectively administered as it requires high level of skill to check the limits of being a servant to the people you serve. It is vital to assess the organizational culture of a given firm before implementation of this approach. Positive culture and leadership aims at reinforcing core beliefs and mode of performance that the organization desires and skillfully reject the values that are not desirable by the organization (Bettley 2005). The dynamic nature of the environment determines the leadership strategies to be enforced in a particular environment. This is because new demands are to be met by equal and effective strategies. It is to this effect that leadership is viewed as the competence towards achieving formulated goals. The dynamic leadership calls for the employment of transformational leadership as opposed to instructional leadership. Effective leadership is equivalent to an art require perfection and enhancing which comes with experience. Different working environment require different skills and knowledge in creating formidable and measureable results. Different approaches have been defined and implemented by different organization but it should be noted that an approach that could be best in a particular area could not necessarily be applied with effective success at another environment (Greasley 2000). Skill and approach are the essential elements in leadership. Leadership comes with power as this is the modal through which the leader gets work done through people. Power is either attained through hard work or through inheritance. Power and leadership complement each other as one can not function in isolation. Roles are to be assigned depending on the competencies and technical know how of the skill to be employed. Skill and knowledge of performing a task could as well be inherent or perfected over a period. Leadership and responsibilities are often demonstrated/ illustrated on organizational charts. This clearly indicates the mode of communication channel in an organizational and aims in creating order in the command chain. It should however be noted that organizational structures are specific to each organization. Power is the approach through which the leadership applies to get results from a workforce. Social relations greatly influence power and how it is applied. The concept of motivation is identified as a factor that aims at increasing employee participation. To attain sustainable a productive growth of a firm there has to be a transformation of the leadership customs. Leaders must demonstrate the willingness to transform. Every employee should be an initiator of change and not just a sheer executer. Effecting change in any given environment has proven to be a tough road to ride on as there are forces of resistance, stagnation and pro change that want to maintain the status quo. There are always relations between power and change (Greasley 2000). Work culture effect operational result through set of learned responses where most basic beliefs and that are normally shared by all staffs for the improvement and betterment of organizational results. There are several components that accompany organizational management. These components include organization structure, leadership, socialization mechanism, leadership and policies. Other than the above mentioned work culture components there are other informal components that affect organizational management process (Gabric & McFadden 2001). They include role models, organizational myths and rituals, values and company historical background. It is argued that work culture has widely contributed to creation and maintaining companies’ image thus positive growth of operation result. Work culture has evolved on creational of functional mindset to those participating in operation management. This is due to a strong and establishes corporate conscience which shapes up business and organization results and output. Cooperate conscience defined in the operation management context is extending one unconditional respected towards ensuring that companies mission, vision and objectives are attained. Work culture which normally is known to reflect companies team work, values, passion and creativity reveals about who employee engagement. The things or resources within organizations that makes an organization achieve a competitive advantage over its competitors as a way of achieving it operational systems. It is through employee engagement that organization is able to set up its operational management results as it tend to drive attitude and action of employees toward attaining result (Mahadevan 2010). Discuss the state Work Culture, leadership and power are related rudiments for any meaningful modification in organizations to achieve formulated goals and visions. To fully understand this, there is need to define the three terms. Assumptions are based on theories that belief that things ought to be the way they are normally whereas values are what is perceived to be of importance to workers. These are their aspirations which directly impact on the production level in attaining aspired organizational goals. The right methodology is perceived as the best widely utilized manner of performing a given task. Organizational culture differs from world culture as the later is believed and widely defined as a people’s way of life that in corporate believes, customs, values and traditions. World culture and organizational culture have a similarity as they can both be passed on from one generation to the other (Mahadevan 2010). Conclusion It is evident that operational management remains the key area in promoting positive result in an organization. It is clear that there is need for other management teams such as human resource management, marketing and finance to work hand in hand as way of promoting work culture that is crucial in the company’s growth. Work culture coupled with good operation management is considered as an overall contributor to high organizational profits. Today, companies have seen to ensure that work culture is maintained as way of improving daily operations by staffs. From above discussion, OM has proven to contribute to acquiring and maintain a competitive advantage over competitors. Customers being the baseline towards positive results, it is essential to incorporate them into substantial operation management process for additional skills that cannot be generated by the personnel (Paterson 2000). Current reaction in global economy and improved technology requires that companies to invest on a good operation management team for more profits. Future state of operation management With future increase in globalization and improved technology, the future of effect of work culture in conjunction with operation result seems to display challenges to organization. Companies need to improve their organization management team through constant training as a way to combat with negative effect associated to globalization. Training will offer operation personnel with knowledge to be able to adapt new technology as a way of being ahead of their competitors hence a better competitive advantage. Other than educating the operation team on the operating system, it is important for all staff to be willing to give support to the team as a way to improve result (Fuller & Mansour 2003). References Albritton, M, McMullen, P, & Gardiner, L, 2003, OR/MS Content and Visibility in AACSB-Accredited US Business Programs, Interfaces, vol. 33 no. 5, pp. 83-89. Alexander Ardichvili and K. Peter Kuchinke ,2002, Leadership Styles Among Managers and Subordinates: a comparative study of four countries of the former Soviet Union, Germany and the US; 99-117 Barnes, D, 2008, Operations management: an international perspective, London [u.a.] : Thompson Learning Bettley, A, 2005, Operations Management: A Strategic Approach, Bristol : Lucky Duck Publishing. Fuller, J, & Mansour, A, 2003, Operations Management and Operations Research: An Historical and Relational Perspective, Management Decision, vol. 41 no. 4, pp. 422-426. Gabric, D, & McFadden, K,2001, Student and Employer Perceptions of Desirable Entry-level Operations Management Skills, Mid-American Journal of Business, vol. 16 no.1, pp. 51-59. Jacob, B, 2001, Operations Management for a Competitive Advantage, Ninth Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin. 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