Organizational Culture

What is Organization Culture ?

     Organizational culture is an important concept for the people profession. The work of HR and L&D  influences and is influenced by organizational culture because every organization is made up of human relationships and human interactions. Culture is therefore central to the role of the profession and must be managed and developed accordingly.

One of HR’s fundamental roles is organizing and coordinating the workforce to deliver value and success. HR systems and processes are part of this, but on their own are not enough for an organization to make real progress. Workplace norms, values and behaviors, traditions, perspectives and beliefs of individuals are also crucial. It’s these shared characteristics among people within the same organization that create its organizational culture.

According to Ashkanasy, Wilderom, & Peterson, 2000; Lundberg, 2001; Martin (2002) emphasize that an organizational culture is a socially learned and transferred group-level phenomenon, comprising conscious and visible, unconscious and invisible, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional aspects.

According to Davey and Simon (2001) argue that organizational culture is usually approached from either an interpretative or a functional perspective.

Theories of organizational culture

• The consistency hypothesis – the idea that a common perspective, shared beliefs and communal values among the organizational participants will enhance internal coordination and promote meaning and a sense of identification on the part of its members.

• The mission hypothesis – the idea that a shared sense of purpose, direction, and strategy can coordinate and galvanize organizational members toward collective goals.

• The involvement/participation hypothesis – the idea that involvement and participation will contribute to a sense of responsibility and ownership and, hence, organizational commitment and loyalty.

• The adaptability hypothesis – the idea that norms and beliefs that enhance an organization’s ability to receive, interpret, and translate signals from the environment into internal organizational and behavioral changes will promote its survival, growth, and development.

Increasing Importance of Organizational Culture

         Schein (1992) suggests that organizational culture is even more important today than it was in the past. Increased competition, globalization, mergers, acquisitions, alliances, and various workforce developments have created a greater need for:

• Coordination and integration across organizational units in order to improve efficiency, quality, and speed of designing, manufacturing, and delivering products and services

• Product innovation

• Strategy innovation

• Process innovation and the ability to successfully introduce new technologies, such as information technology
  
  
• Effective management of dispersed work units and increasing workforce diversity

• Cross-cultural management of global enterprises and/or multi-national partnerships

• Construction of meta- or hybrid- cultures that merge aspects of cultures from what were distinct organizations prior to an acquisition or merger

• Management of workforce diversity

• Facilitation and support of teamwork.

 

How to establish attitude of authority in the workplace?

              Authority is a quality by which your employees recognize and respect you as a managerial person of prestige. You are responsible for your business and decisions rest on your shoulders, whether you execute those decisions or not. Cultivate your leadership in the best sense of the term, exercising skillfulness, energy and foresight. Your desk may be the place where the buck stops, but you hold your staff accountable and acknowledge employees' strengths. Provide guidance for their errors. Invest your time and energy in your employees' success.

• Display leadership qualities. Share and support your business vision and values, recommends Dave Bowman of TTG Consultants in "The Five Best Ways to Build -- and Lose -- Trust in the Workplace." Use your vision and values to define your goals and the means to achieve them.

• Provide your employees with what they need to perform their tasks. Monitor employee progress and evaluate reasons for missing the mark on core issues like productivity and quality.

• Keep your customers in the front of your employees' minds. Join with your team to serve your clients, making sure your staff knows you are in the business together.

• Act with consistency. Provide your staff with a sense of security that what you say has lasting value to promote a culture of trust, advises Bowman.

• Strive for a balance between an overly directive and overly collaborative workplace environment. Establish your role as the business owner and final decision maker. Balance that by encouraging employees to communicate issues, problems and solutions.
  
  

How organizational culture impact on employee attrition

            The  concept of  organizational culture  has received sizeable attention  from researchers,  consultants,  managers and  other practitioners  predominantly  in  the  business  field  as  they assumed that  shared understanding of organizational  culture can  enhance  organizational  change,  positive  image  of  the organization  in  the  clients‟  eyes  and  strategy  implementa-tion6,  influence  employee  attitudes  and  behaviors  and  also employee  outcomes  of  well-being,  organizational  commitment and job satisfaction. Similarly, other empirical evidences link organizational culture with positive work attitudes, decreased turnover and higher service quality. Some found relationship between organizational culture and successful efforts to improve service quality and perceived positive client outcomes. Researchers are of the view that culture plays a pivotal role in organizing for innovation and to fostering individual creativity in service organizations.
  
         In a similar tone Schein, notes that  culture provides  a base for  understanding  the  differences  that  may  exist  between successful firms operating in the same national culture and he differentiates  truly  high  performing  organizations  from others and enhances employee commitment and others note that it has much influence on organizational effectiveness.

         Organizational culture can influence how people set their personal and professional goals, perform tasks and administer resources to achieve them. Further, it affects the way in which people consciously  and sub-consciously  think, make decisions and ultimately the way in which they perceive, feel and act.
Once an organization enhances their culture, it purely effect on employee well-being. Eventually, when employees are satisfied with their working environment will lead to a reduction in turnover. That means employee will retain in the organization and reduce with employee attrition level in the organization.



References

Baker, A. K. (2002) Chapter 11 organizational culture 1. Chapter 11 Organizational Culture 1, pp. 1-13 [Online]. Available at https://citeseerx.ist.psu.ed . Accessed on 31^st May 2021.

Lone, D. & Fayyaz, A. & Tanveer, A. (2013) Organizational culture in hotel industry: perceptions and preferences among staff. Organizational Culture in Hotel Industry: Perceptions and Preferences among Staff, 6(5), pp.55-59 [Online]. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272136290_Organizational_Culture_in_Hotel_Industry_Perceptions_and_Preferences_among_Staff . Accessed on 31^st May 2021.

Reinhart, C. (2018) Organizational culture in the hospitality industry. Chron [Online]. Available at https://smallbusiness.chron.com/organizational-culture-hospitality-industry-12969.html . Accessed on 31^st May 2021.