organizational culture essay conclusion

What Conclusions Can Be Drawn From Organizational Culture?

Principles of the Distributed Leadership Theory

Organizational culture includes the values, beliefs, behaviors, norms and artifacts that connect the members of an organization. As in all other cultures, organizational culture develops over a long period of time with the participation of the members. Through studying or analyzing the culture of an organization, you are able to come up with various conclusions. These include conclusions about the resistance of culture, organizational performance, and communication and leadership styles. These conclusions can be helpful for managers and consultants seeking to encourage better organizational cultures.

Organizational culture is difficult to transform or change. For example, the behavior and attitudes of employees toward the organization are influenced by the behavior of other employees. When entering an organization, new employees are actually entering a subsystem that transforms their attitudes and opinions about certain business practices. New employees then continue to perpetuate this culture until it becomes entrenched as their own reality. Thus, the organizational culture can be very challenging to change for those both inside and outside that culture. This is something many managers, management consultants and coaches have to deal with when trying to transform an organization’s culture.

Organizational Communication

The effectiveness of organizational communication can be derived from an organization’s culture. The flow of information vertically from the managers to the subordinates, and horizontally across the same department levels, is determined by the organizational culture. For example, an organization with a culture of openness may experience the free flow of information among all levels of the organization. A culture that emphasizes structure and hierarchy may hinder effective communication or slow down the flow of information. The conclusion here is that the culture can be used to determine the effectiveness of communication, and vice versa.

Organizational Performance

An organization’s performance can be understood from the organization’s culture. The organizational culture here can be defined as the collective attitudes that employees have toward the company, the leaders, co-workers, shareholders and customers.

Culture determines whether employees will value their customers, along with business innovations and the reduction of costs. The absence or presence of this value then determines the performance of the employees and the organization at large. For example, an organization that has an entrenched customer-oriented culture will tend to be more efficient and have a more loyal customer base compared to an organization that lacks such a culture.

Leadership Styles

The organizational culture reveals the leadership styles of those leading the organization. It also shows that the culture influences the type of leadership, and the type of leadership influences the culture. For example, an organization with a culture of less competition and more collaboration in achieving goals reveals that the leaders (managers) are more participation oriented or have a participative style of leading. On the other hand, transactional leaders will tend to create an organizational culture of reward and punishment, with a focus on the hierarchy separating leaders and subordinates. The conclusion is that leadership and organizational culture influence each other.

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Understanding and Developing Organizational Culture

The key to a successful organization is to have a culture based on a strongly held and widely shared set of beliefs that are supported by strategy and structure. When an organization has a strong culture, three things happen: Employees know how top management wants them to respond to any situation, employees believe that the expected response is the proper one, and employees know that they will be rewarded for demonstrating the organization's values.

Overview Background Business Case What Is Organizational Culture? Factors That Shape an Organization's Culture Creating and Managing Organizational Culture Practices to Develop Culture Communications Metrics Legal Issues Global Issues

Employers have a vital role in perpetuating a strong culture, starting with recruiting and selecting applicants who will share the organization's beliefs and thrive in that culture, developing orientation, training and performance management programs that outline and reinforce the organization's core values and ensuring that appropriate rewards and recognition go to employees who truly embody the values.

This toolkit covers the following topics:

• The importance of having a strong organizational culture.
• The employer's role in fostering a high-performance culture.
• Definitions of organizational culture.
• Factors that shape an organization's culture.
• Considerations in creating and managing organizational culture.
• Practices to ensure the continuity and success of an organization's culture.
• Communications, metrics, legal, technology and global issues pertaining to organizational culture.

See  SHRM Resource Hub Page: Organizational Culture . 

An organization's culture defines the proper way to behave within the organization. This culture consists of shared beliefs and values established by leaders and then communicated and reinforced through various methods, ultimately shaping employee perceptions, behaviors and understanding. Organizational culture sets the context for everything an enterprise does. Because industries and situations vary significantly, there is not a one-size-fits-all culture template that meets the needs of all organizations.

A strong culture is a common denominator among the most successful companies. All have consensus at the top regarding cultural priorities, and those values focus not on individuals but on the organization and its goals. Leaders in successful companies live their cultures every day and go out of their way to communicate their cultural identities to employees as well as prospective new hires. They are clear about their values and how those values define their organizations and determine how the organizations run. See  What does it mean to be a values-based organization?

Conversely, an ineffective culture can bring down the organization and its leadership. Disengaged employees, high turnover, poor customer relations and lower profits are examples of how the wrong culture can negatively impact the bottom line. See  Toxic Culture Top Reason People Quit .

Mergers and acquisitions are fraught with culture issues. Even organizational cultures that have worked well may develop into a dysfunctional culture after a merger. Research has shown that two out of three mergers fail because of cultural problems. Blending and redefining the cultures, and reconciling the differences between them, build a common platform for the future. In recent years, the fast pace of mergers and acquisitions has changed the way businesses now meld. The focus in mergers has shifted away from blending cultures and has moved toward meeting specific business objectives. Some experts believe that if the right business plan and agenda are in place during a merger, a strong corporate culture will develop naturally. See  Managing Organizational Change and Managing Human Resources in Mergers and Acquisitions.

Business Case

If an organization's culture is going to improve the organization's overall performance, the culture must provide a strategic competitive advantage, and beliefs and values must be widely shared and firmly upheld. A strong culture can bring benefits such as enhanced trust and cooperation, fewer disagreements and more-efficient decision-making. Culture also provides an informal control mechanism, a strong sense of identification with the organization and shared understanding among employees about what is important. Employees whose organizations have strongly defined cultures can also justify their behaviors at work because those behaviors fit the culture. See  Toxic Workplace Cultures Hurt Workers and Company Profits .

Company leaders play an instrumental role in shaping and sustaining organizational culture. If the executives themselves do not fit into an organization's culture, they often fail in their jobs or quit due to poor fit. Consequently, when organizations hire C-suite executives, these individuals should have both the requisite skills and the ability to fit into the company culture.

See  SHRM Inclusive Workplace Culture Specialty Credential

What Is Organizational Culture?

An employer must begin with a thorough understanding of what culture is in a general sense and what their organization's specific culture is. At the deepest level, an organization's culture is based on values derived from basic assumptions about the following:

• Human nature. Are people inherently good or bad, mutable or immutable, proactive or reactive? These basic assumptions lead to beliefs about how employees, customers and suppliers should interact and how they should be managed.
• The organization's relationship to its environment. How does the organization define its business and its constituencies?
• Appropriate emotions. Which emotions should people be encouraged to express, and which ones should be suppressed?
• Effectiveness. What metrics show whether the organization and its individual components are doing well? An organization will be effective only when the culture is supported by an appropriate business strategy and a structure that is appropriate for both the business and the desired culture.

Culture is a nebulous concept and is often an undefined aspect of an organization. Although extensive academic literature exists relating to the topic of organizational culture, there is no generally accepted definition of culture. Instead, the literature expresses many different views as to what organizational culture is.

Organizational culture can manifest itself in a variety of ways, including leadership behaviors, communication styles, internally distributed messages and corporate celebrations. Given that culture comprises so many elements, it is not surprising that terms for describing specific cultures vary widely. Some commonly used terms for describing cultures include aggressive, customer-focused, innovative, fun, ethical, research-driven, technology-driven, process-oriented, hierarchical, family-friendly and risk-taking. See  6 Ways to Become a More Empathetic Organization .

Because culture is difficult to define, organizations may have trouble maintaining consistency in their messages about culture. Employees may also find it difficult to identify and communicate about perceived cultural inconsistencies. See  Defining Organizational Culture and Culture Conversation Starters .

Factors That Shape an Organization's Culture

Organizational leaders often speak about the unusual natures of their company cultures, seeing their domains as special places to work. But organizations such as Disney and Nordstrom, which are well-known for their unique cultures, are rare.

Most company cultures are not that different from one another. Even organizations in disparate industries such as manufacturing and health care tend to share a common core of cultural values. For example, most private-sector companies want to grow and increase revenues. Most strive to be team-oriented and to demonstrate concern for others. Most are driven, rather than relaxed, because they are competing for dollars and market share. Some of the cultural characteristics that distinguish most organizations include the following.

At the heart of organizations' cultures are commonly shared values. None is right or wrong, but organizations need to decide which values they will emphasize. These common values include:

• Outcome orientation. Emphasizing achievements and results.
• People orientation. Insisting on fairness, tolerance and respect for the individual.
• Team orientation. Emphasizing and rewarding collaboration.
• Attention to detail. Valuing precision and approaching situations and problems analytically.
• Stability. Providing security and following a predictable course.
• Innovation. Encouraging experimentation and risk-taking.
• Aggressiveness. Stimulating a fiercely competitive spirit.

Degree of hierarchy

The degree of hierarchy is the extent to which the organization values traditional channels of authority. The three distinct levels of hierarchy are "high"—having a well-defined organizational structure and an expectation that people will work through official channels; "moderate"—having a defined structure but an acceptance that people often work outside formal channels; and "low" —having loosely defined job descriptions and accepting that people challenge authority.

An organization with a high level of hierarchy tends to be more formal and moves more slowly than an organization with a low level of hierarchy.

Degree of urgency

The degree of urgency defines how quickly the organization wants or needs to drive decision-making and innovation. Some organizations choose their degree of urgency, but others have it thrust on them by the marketplace.

A culture with high levels of urgency has a need to push projects through quickly and a high need to respond to a changing marketplace. A moderate level of urgency moves projects at a reasonable pace. A low level of urgency means people work slowly and consistently, valuing quality over efficiency. An organization with high urgency tends to be fast-paced and supports a decisive management style. An organization with low urgency tends to be more methodical and supports a more considered management style.

People orientation or task orientation

Organizations usually have a dominant way of valuing people and tasks. An organization with a strong people orientation tends to put people first when making decisions and believes that people drive the organization's performance and productivity. An organization with a strong task orientation tends to put tasks and processes first when making decisions and believes that efficiency and quality drive organization performance and productivity.

Some organizations may get to choose their people and task orientations. But others may have to fit their orientation to the nature of their industry, historical issues or operational processes.

Functional orientation

Every organization puts an emphasis on certain functional areas. Examples of functional orientations may include marketing, operations, research and development, engineering or service. For example, an innovative organization known for its research and development may have at its core a functional orientation toward R&D. A hospitality company may focus on operations or service, depending on its historical choices and its definition in the marketplace.

Employees from different functions in the company may think that their functional areas are the ones that drive the organization. Organizational leaders must understand what most employees perceive to be the company's functional orientation. 

Organizational subcultures

Any organization can have a mix of subcultures in addition to the dominant culture. Subcultures exist among groups or individuals who may have their own rituals and traditions that, although not shared by the rest of the organization, can deepen and underscore the organization's core values. Subcultures can also cause serious problems.

For example, regional cultures often differ from the overall culture that top leadership tries to instill. Perhaps aggressiveness that is common in one area may not mesh with a culture emphasizing team building. Or an organization with a culture built around equality may have trouble if the national culture emphasizes hierarchy and expects people to bow to authority. Employers must recognize those differences and address them directly.

Creating and Managing Organizational Culture

An organizational culture tends to emerge over time, shaped by the organization's leadership and by actions and values perceived to have contributed to earlier successes. A company culture can be managed through the cultural awareness of organizational leaders and management. Managing a culture takes focused efforts to sustain elements of the culture that support organizational effectiveness. See  Addressing the Six Sources of Workplace Cultural Conflicts .

How culture develops

An organization's customs, traditions, rituals, behavioral norms, symbols and general way of doing things are the visible manifestation of its culture; they are what one sees when walking into the organization. The current organizational culture is usually due to factors that have worked well for the organization in the past. See  How to Create a Culture of Civility .

Founders typically have a significant impact on an organization's early culture. Over time, behavioral norms develop that are consistent with the organization's values. For example, in some organizations, resolution of conflicts is hashed out openly and noisily to create widespread consensus, whereas in other places disputes are settled hierarchically and quietly behind closed doors.

Though culture emerges naturally in most organizations, strong cultures often begin with a process called "values blueprinting," which involves a candid conversation with leaders from across the organization. Once the culture is framed, an organization may establish a values committee that has a direct link to leadership. This group makes sure the desired culture is alive and well. For values blueprinting to work, organizations must first hire people who live the values and have the competency needed to perform the job.

Sustaining a culture

The management of organizational culture starts with identifying a company's organizational culture traits or "artifacts." Artifacts are the core business activities, processes and philosophies that characterize how an organization does business day-to-day.

Identifying these traits—and assessing their importance in light of current business objectives—is a way to start managing culture. Three broad concepts help identify the traits specific to a culture:

• Social culture. This refers to group members' roles and responsibilities. It is the study of class distinctions and the distribution of power that exists in any group.
• Material culture. This involves examining everything that people in a group make or achieve and the ways people work with and support one another in exchanging required goods and services.
• Ideological culture. This is tied to a group's values, beliefs and ideals—the things people view as fundamental. It includes the emotional and intellectual guidelines that govern people's daily existence and interactions.

Leaders and managers within an organization should approach culture management by initially gaining an understanding of the common traits found in all businesses. Then, they should take the following steps to manage their organization's culture:

• Identify common artifacts or traits, including those from the standpoint of an organization's social, material and ideological culture.
• Convene groups of employees—representatives from all levels, functions and locations of the organization—to assess the validity, significance and currency of key artifacts.
• Subject those traits to a rigorous assessment of their underlying shared assumptions, values and beliefs.
• Summarize findings and share them with all participants to solicit additional insights.
• Create a culture management action plan. The plan should enhance traits that support corporate growth or organizational effectiveness and correct traits that might hinder a company's advancement.

Typically, shared assumptions and beliefs originate with an organization's founders and leaders. Because those beliefs proved successful (otherwise the company would not exist and the leaders would not be in their positions), often they go unchallenged; however, those assumptions and beliefs might be outdated and may hinder future success. See 6 Steps for Building an Inclusive Workplace and The Relationship Between Culture and DE&I .

Practices to Develop Culture

When an organization does a good job assessing its culture, it can then go on to establish policies, programs and strategies that support and strengthen its core purpose and values. In aligned organizations, the same core characteristics or beliefs motivate and unite everyone, cascading down from the C-suite to individual contributors.

There are many tools for developing and sustaining a high-performance organizational culture, including hiring practices, onboarding efforts, recognition programs and performance management programs. The biggest challenge is deciding how to use these tools and how to allocate resources appropriately.

Hiring practices

Effective hiring practices can help an organization capitalize on its culture. Traditionally, hiring focuses primarily on an applicant's skills, but when a hire's personality also fits with the organization's culture, the employee will be more likely to deliver superior performance.

On the other hand, ill-fitting hires and subsequent rapid departures cost approximately 50 percent to 150 percent of the position's annual salary. Unfortunately, nearly one in three newly hired employees' leaves voluntarily or involuntarily within a year of hiring, and this number has been increasing steadily in recent years.

Some hiring practices to ensure cultural fit include:

• Looking at each piece of the organization's vision, mission and values statements.  Interview questions  should hone in on behaviors that complement these areas. For example, if the organization works with a lot of intensity, then job applicants should display that natural intensity to be considered for hire.
• Conducting a cultural fit interview. Ask questions that elicit comments about organizational values such as honesty or integrity. If a candidate's description of the worst place he or she ever worked sounds just like the organization where he or she is interviewing, the candidate probably will not be successful.
• Leaving discussion of company culture for later. Do not tell candidates about culture up front. First, listen to what they have to say about their experiences and beliefs. This tactic will reveal more candid responses to help determine whether they are a fit for the organization.
• Making sure at least three people are involved in the hiring process. Different people will see and hear different things. These varied perspectives give a clearer understanding of the person being considered for hire.

Searching for employees who will fit in seamlessly can have drawbacks. The biggest mistake an organization can make is to paint an inaccurate picture of itself as it tries to attract candidates. If new hires discover they have been sold a bill of goods, they will not be happy; they will probably not stick around, and, while they are around, morale will decline.

Another possible drawback is that people are more reluctant to take negative actions against people like themselves. As a result, mediocre workers are more likely to stay employed if they share the cultural values. Similarly, although an organization's comfort level is palpable when the culture is aligned, experts say, too much comfort can result in groupthink and complacency.

Onboarding programs

Onboarding teaches newcomers the employer's value system, norms and desired organizational behaviors. Employers must help newcomers become part of social networks in the organization and make sure that they have early job experiences that reinforce the culture. See  Understanding Employee Onboarding .

Reward and recognition programs

These programs are key mechanisms employers can use to motivate employees to act in accordance with the organization's culture and values. For example, if teamwork is a core value, bonuses should value teamwork and not be based on individual performance. Employers should also put the spotlight on those who personify the company's values. See  Employee Recognition Tech Must Align with Company Culture .

Performance management programs

Employees who share values and aspirations tend to outperform those in environments that lack cohesiveness and common purposes. Performance management programs can greatly affect corporate culture by clearly outlining what is expected from employees as well as by providing a feedback tool that informs employees about proper behavior. See  Performance Management That Makes a Difference: An Evidence-Based Approach .

Communications

Conflicting messages regarding corporate culture may create distrust and cynicism, which can prompt, or help employees justify, actions as deleterious as embezzlement. Experts say that cultural inconsistencies may also cause workers to grow discouraged, to believe management is disingenuous, to doubt statements from higher-ups and to be less inclined to give their best effort.

Organizations may be investing significant time and money in creating a culture but may not be reaping the commensurate rewards—especially if executives, supervisors and rank-and-file employees have differing perceptions of the company's culture. Employers must therefore ensure that the organization clearly and consistently communicates its culture to all employees. See  HR's Role in Creating a Culture of High Trust: Q&A with Richard Fagerlin.

Assessing organizational culture is a crucial step in developing sound strategies that support enterprise objectives and goals. But how do you measure something as potentially tough to describe as culture? After identifying the key dimensions of culture such as values, degree of hierarchy, and people and task orientations, performing these next steps will help organizations assess culture:

• Develop a cultural assessment instrument. This instrument should enable members of the organization to rate the organization on the key cultural dimensions, as well as on aspects of the organization not covered on the assessment.
• Administer the assessment. Survey respondents should include individuals at all levels, functions, divisions and geographical units of the organization.
• Analyze and communicate about assessment results. Leaders and managers should discuss areas of agreement and disagreement about the organization's culture.
• Conduct employee focus groups. Just because top management leaders agree on organizational culture does not mean that all employees see things that way.
• Discuss culture until consensus forms around key issues. Focus on "Who are we?" and "What makes us who we are?" Organizations that decide that where they are now is not where they want to be may need to look at moving the organization to embrace a different culture.

Cultural assessments, and other activities such as cultural audits and 360-degree feedback, may also help uncover cultural inconsistencies. Then leaders can eliminate the inconsistencies. For example, if customer service is a focus of the company's culture, evaluate how much time employees spend visiting customer sites, how much interaction they have with customers, what customer service training they receive and other indicators of a customer service focus. See  The New Analytics of Workplace Culture and Building a Data-Driven Culture Health Index .

Legal Issues

Employers that emphasize cultural fit in their recruitment and selection process can be vulnerable to discrimination claims if they are not careful. Employers should ensure that hiring practices and selection decisions based on a cultural fit rationale do not result in discriminating against any applicants who may not be "just like" the selectors.

Employers should also be aware that certain types of organizational cultures (for example, cultures that are highly paternalistic or male-dominated) may tend to perpetuate disparities in promotions, compensation and other terms of employment. Those disparities may violate anti-discrimination laws. 

Global Issues

Research suggests that national culture has a greater effect on employees than the culture of their organization. Organizational leaders should understand the national cultural values in the countries in which the organization operates to ensure that management and company practices are appropriate and will be effective in operations in those countries. National cultural differences should be considered when implementing organizational culture management initiatives in global businesses.

Managers must be able to respond to nuances in communication styles, as well as deal with different expectations that employees have of their leaders across national cultures. Not meeting those expectations may doom the global organization's chance for success in particular countries.

These issues become even more complex in global business mergers. Success in international mergers depends on the merged organization's willingness to enable people with different cultural perspectives to engage in meaningful and valuable discussions about the new business.

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Organizational Culture: Essay Sample for Free

Organizational culture: essay introduction.

An organisation’s culture plays an integral role in influencing its success. Particularly, the corporate culture entails the values and behaviours that account for the uniqueness of the organisation’s psychological and social environment. The culture is founded on an array of shared features, including the rules, beliefs, customs, and attitudes (Alvesson 2012). The construction of the business culture occurs over time to reinforce its validity in streamlining the social and psychological aspects of interactions. As such, an organisation may adopt one of the various types of organisational cultures to shape up the values and behaviours that promote the attainment of shared goals and objectives (Singh et al. 2017). Nonetheless, several critical factors influence the importance of the adopted organisational culture. Therefore, it is crucial for an organisation to consider the factors that would make the adopted organisational culture realise its importance in the workplace environment. Therefore, this paper analyses the different types of organisational cultures before identifying the critical factors that influence the success of an organisational culture. Finally, the paper will discuss the importance of a corporate culture in an organisation.

Main Types of Organisational Culture

Each organisation adopts a culture that is unique since it needs to align it (culture) with the vision developed by the leaders, as well as the different experiences of the employees in an organisation (Singh et al. 2017). For this reason, Ahmady, Nikooravesh, and Mehrpour (2016) assert that an organisation may adopt a type of corporate culture that is compatible with its vision, as well as the unique attributes of the stakeholders. In this respect, the Competing Values Framework led to the establishment of four types of organisational cultures that include clan culture, adhocracy culture, market culture, and hierarchy culture.

The Clan Culture

The clan organisational culture takes a family-like approach that underlines the essence of friendliness and collaboration (Kim 2014). The clan culture works best in an environment where individuals possess similar attributes. As such, leaders in organisations that adopt the clan culture play the role of a team builder, facilitator, and mentor (Kim 2014). Such leaders need to nurture the members of the organisation through collaborative involvement. The clan type of business culture is advantageous since it binds together the members through loyalty and traditions upheld by the organisation. The bonds created by the set moral standards in the organisation foster the commitment of the members, thereby developing the human resource in the workplace environment. Importantly, the ability to care for the employees while addressing the needs of the client determines the success of the clan organisational culture (Chuang, Morgan & Robson 2012). The approach supports participation, teamwork, open communication, and consensus (Barbars 2016).

The Adhocracy Culture

The adhocracy culture works best in environments characterised by entrepreneurial and dynamic individuals. Particularly, the adhocracy culture encourages members to take risks and/or approach new endeavours with creativity and innovation, thereby creating bonds in the organisation (Ergün &Tasgıt 2013). Further, the adhocracy culture underlines the essence of prominence in the organisation. In this light, leaders persuade their followers to take risks and introduce new products and services that can make the organisation a prominent one, thereby denoting its success (Ergün &Tasgıt 2013). For this reason, an organisation embracing the adhocracy culture encourages the members of an organisation to be free and initiative. As such, this type of corporate culture identifies agility and change as its core values (Iivari & Iivari 2011).

The Market Culture

The need for an organisation to stay competitive and/or realise impressive results led to the development of the market organisational culture. Leaders in such culture influence their followers to be competitive and goal-oriented (Reitzig & Maciejovsky 2015). Therefore, the shared goal of the organisation creates an important bond among members who put their efforts towards beating their rivals. In this light, ‘getting the job done’ is the main drive of the market culture adopted by a given organisation.

The Hierarchy Culture

Structure and control characterise the hierarchy organisational culture (Reitzig & Maciejovsky 2015). The culture is usually integrated into a formal workplace environment that follows strict rules and institutional procedures (Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin 2013). Leaders underscore the significance of predictability and efficiency to bolster organisational success. The process of coordinating and monitoring of leaders is facilitated by the integration of core values, including consistency and uniformity. Efficient delivery, streamlined planning, and low-cost operations denote the success of a hierarchy culture (Bareli 2017).

The Critical Success Factors of the Organisational Cultures

The different types of business cultures require the influence of certain factors to realise the envisioned success. As such, discussing the various factors that influence the success of an adopted corporate culture is consistent with the aim of this paper.

Success Factors for the Clan Culture

The ability to cater for the needs of the entire members in an organisation is what defines the success of a clan culture. The critical success factors of the clan business culture include commitment, communication, and development (Barbars 2016). Commitment influences the success of the clan culture by encouraging members to work as a team towards securing the shared goals. In this case, the synergy created by all members reinforces the collaborative approach embraced by a particular organisation. Members’ commitment also denotes their contribution towards creating an enthusiastic approach to improving their well-being. Furthermore, communication is an integral aspect of the clan culture. In this case, the members of an organisation need to communicate openly and efficiently (Barbars 2016). Efficient communication allows parties to address issues that require solutions to realise the shared interests. As such, poor communication undermines the involvement of the entire family, thereby undermining its success (Alvesson & Sveningsson 2015).

The essence of developing the human resource in an organisation is connected directly to its success. As such, the clan culture requires leaders to develop their employees constantly (Nguyen & Mohamed 2011). The regular development of workers demonstrates an organisation’s interest in improving their well-being, thus encouraging their commitment to realising organisational goals and objectives.

Success Factors for the Adhocracy Culture

Factors that account for the success of the adhocracy culture include creativity and innovation, agility, and transformation. The need for creativity and innovation is crucial to the success of an organisation that embraces the adhocracy culture since it encourages the staff to take calculated risks. Therefore, engagement in creative and innovative undertakings is vital in facilitating the success of the adhocracy culture.

The agility or swiftness of the members of an organisation that adopts an adhocracy culture is a crucial contributor to its success. Importantly, members need to be timely in developing creative and innovative responses to the changes in the industry. For this reason, the agility factor needs to be reinforced by a visionary leader (Nguyen & Mohamed 2011). The agility is also a major contributor of the transformation supported by creativity and innovation.

Success Factors for the Market Culture

Success factors in the market culture include customer preferences, the efficiency of external partnerships, the level of competition, and the involvement of customers and suppliers (Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin 2013). The chinning preferences of customers require the consideration of the leaders of an organisation. In this concern, it is important to meet the dynamic needs and expectations of clients to gain a considerable market share. External partnerships also contribute to the success of the market organisational structure (Prajogo & McDermott 2011). Partnerships with crucial players in the industry, including suppliers, are central when it comes to improving their relationships and/or aligning resources towards the envisioned goals. Therefore, reinforcing the internal need to realise the goals is also influenced by the degree to which the company collaborates with key industry stakeholders. Competitiveness also determines the success of an organisation that adopts the market culture (Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin 2013). In this respect, all members of the organisation should direct their efforts towards fostering the competitiveness of the organisation. For instance, the development of successful expansion strategies may be integral in bolstering the competitive edge of the company. Undoubtedly, successful companies usually have a considerable market leadership.

Moreover, the ability of leaders to foster the involvement of customers and suppliers is essential for facilitating the success of the organisation (Alvesson 2012). As such, it is important for leaders who support the market culture to encourage employees to create a meaningful relationship with customers. Essentially, effective customer affairs are necessary for improving the brand image of a company. Further, effective relationships with suppliers streamline the supply chains and logistics aspects of operations.

Success Factors for the Hierarchy Culture

The critical influences for the success of the hierarchy culture include efficiency, uniformity, consistency, and timeliness. Efficiency ensures that the organisation escapes from making errors that would undermine the satisfaction of stakeholders. In this respect, strict rules and institutional procedures that characterise the formal organisational structure require keen observation to guarantee its success (Büschgens, Bausch & Balkin 2013).

Uniformity is also a factor that needs a full implementation to realise the success of the hierarchy culture (Prajogo & McDermott 2011). In this respect, members of the organisation need to uphold shared values and behaviours necessary for fostering the success of the organisation. The need for uniformity also calls for consistency in the entire departments of the hierarchical organisation.

Undoubtedly, the absence of timely delivery of services or products to consumers undermines the success of the hierarchy corporate culture (Bareli 2017). Thus, the essence of timeliness holds relevance to a considerable extent in a hierarchy business environment. Notably, the factor that has led to the criticism of the hierarchical organisation is that the bureaucracy involved undermines timeliness. In this concern, the culture needs to observe the timely delivery of offerings to consumers to bolster the organisational success.

Importance of an Organisational Culture

The corporate culture adopted by an organisation offers various benefits to its employees. Notably, the culture shapes interactions among employees in the workplace (Alvesson 2012). Healthy interactions allow the members of the organisation to gain motivation and hence loyalty to the employer. Importantly, the relationships created by the organisational culture are crucial in facilitating job satisfaction.

Corporate culture is also important since it sets rules and institutional policies for observation by all members of the organisation. The guidelines ensure that employees perform their roles and responsibilities accordingly. Further, the code of conduct underlined by the organisation culture ensures that the entire workforce engages in morally upright actions.

Business culture also facilitates the reinforcement of an organisation’s brand image (Bareli 2017). Notably, the organisational culture adopted by a competitor in an industry makes it distinct from its rivals. For this reason, the culture embraced accounts for the creation of a unique brand that is essential in improving the competitive edge of the organisation.

Additionally, the organisational culture binds together all the members of an organisation by creating a common platform (Singh et al. 2017). As such, the culture provides an environment where every member is treated equally. Since employees from diverse backgrounds characterise the contemporary business setting, it is important to ensure that all workers receive equal treatment. By so doing, the culture streamlines the relationships in the organisation, thereby promoting a collaborative approach to goal attainment.

Moreover, the business culture facilitates the need to bring out the best out of every member of the team (Prajogo & McDermott 2011). The culture contributes to the development of the individual employee, thereby enhancing his or her productivity. As such, no one is forced to work since everyone is committed to offering his or her efforts towards meeting the shared goals and objectives.

Conclusion of Organizational Culture Essay

An organisational culture plays an important role in shaping the values and behaviours adopted by members in an organisation. The major types of corporate cultures include the clan, adhocracy, market, and the hierarchy ways of life. The common success factors regarding the different types of organisational culture include commitment, communication, development, involvement, innovation, and competitiveness. Moreover, the adoption of a suitable business culture is important for fostering the approach to interactions, the building of meaningful relationships, bolstering productivity, and embracing diversity among other benefits.

Reference List

Ahmady, G, Nikooravesh, A & Mehrpour, M 2016, ‘Effect of organisational culture on knowledge management based on Denison model’, Procedia – Social and Behavioural Sciences, vol. 230, no. 1, pp. 387-395.

Alvesson, M & Sveningsson, S 2015, Changing organisational culture: cultural change work in progress , Routledge, Abingdon.

Alvesson, M 2012, Understanding organisational culture , Sage, Thousand Oaks.

Barbars, A 2016, ‘Engagement in the information and communication technology sector in Latvia’, Journal of Business Management, vol. 1, no. 12, pp. 84-100.

Bareli, A 2017, ‘Hierarchy, representation, and inclusion in a reflective democratic culture: conflicting perspectives in Israel’s nascent years’, Israel Studies, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 139-140.

Büschgens, T, Bausch, A & Balkin, D 2013, ‘Organisational culture and innovation: a meta‐analytic review’, Journal of Product Innovation Management , vol. 30, no. 4, pp.763-781.

Chuang, F, Morgan, R & Robson, M 2012, ‘Clan culture, strategic orientation and new product performance in Chinese marketing ventures: an exploration of main and moderating effects’, Journal of Strategic Marketing, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 267-286.

Ergün, E & Tasgıt, Y 2013, ‘Cultures of adhocracy, clan, hierarchy and market and innovation performance: a case of hotels in Turkey’, Journal of Travel & Tourism Research, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 132-142.

Iivari, J & Iivari, N 2011, ‘The relationship between organisational culture and the deployment of agile methods’, Information and Software Technology , vol. 53, no. 5, pp. 509-520.

Kim, H 2014, ‘Transformational leadership, organisational clan culture, organisational affective commitment, and organisational citizenship behaviour: a case of South Korea’s public sector’, Public Organisation Review, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 397-417.

Nguyen, H & Mohamed, S 2011, ‘Leadership behaviours, organisational culture and knowledge management practices: an empirical investigation’, The Journal of Management Development , vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 206-221.

Prajogo, D & McDermott, C 2011, ‘The relationship between multidimensional organisational culture and performance’, International Journal of Operations & Production Management , vol. 31, no. 7, pp.712-735.

Reitzig, M & Maciejovsky, B 2015, ‘Corporate hierarchy and vertical information flow inside the firm-a behavioural view’, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 36, no. 13, pp.1979-1999.

Singh, A, Gupta, V, Dubey, A & Singh, A 2017, ‘The role of work-family culture and personality traits in organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) of first-level managerial personnel’, IUP Journal of Organisational Behaviour, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 58-71.

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14.6 Conclusion

Organizations can function within a number of different structures, each possessing distinct advantages and disadvantages. Although any structure that is not properly managed will be plagued with issues, some organizational models are better equipped for particular environments and tasks. A change in the environment often requires change within the organization operating within that environment.

Change in almost any aspect of a company’s operations can be met with resistance, and different cultures can have different reactions to both the change and the means to promote the change. In order to better facilitate necessary changes, several steps can be taken that have been proven to lower the anxiety of employees and ease the transformation process. Often, the simple act of including employees in the change process can drastically reduce opposition to new methods. In some organizations this level of inclusion is not possible, and instead organizations can recruit a small number of opinion leaders to promote the benefits of coming changes.

Some types of change, such as mergers, often come with job losses. In these situations, it is important to remain fair and ethical while laying off employees. Once change has occurred, it is vital to take any steps necessary to reinforce the new system. Employees can often require continued support well after an organizational change.

Organizational Behavior Copyright © 2017 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Organizational Culture, Essay Example

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Organizational culture is a crucial aspect in any organization and helps in guiding and explaining the behavior of top management and employees of the organization. Good quality culture helps the company to run its operations smoothly by facilitating appropriate communications and interactions within the organization.

It is essential to have consistency in the quality culture developed and adapted by the company. Consistency helps to reduce the possibility of having double standards, which undermines the values of the organization. Consistency also assists as the reference point for the regular, organizational operations and sets a required standard.  The organizational culture must have a relationship with the vision and the mission of the company.  The quality culture should not manipulate the employees, but act to develop a proper attitude towards productivity.

Quality organizational culture must empower the employees towards exploration of their creativity and; therefore, must give them an opportunity to be autonomous as long as they stay within the stipulated guileless. Empowerment leads t organizational success through the use of positive changes within the organization. A quality organizational culture must also incorporate the aspect of respect between all the players in the organization. Respect is essential in the communication between the organizations employees and management. Understanding of one another in the organization assists in the alignment of the values of the organization.

Another element necessary in the development of a strong quality culture is the development and learning. The people involved in the operations of the organization should be developed by the culture adopted by the company. The process should not chastise mistakes unnecessarily but strive to provide a learning environment to facilitate productivity.

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An absence culture and its impact An absence culture is defined as an organizational culture in which a specific degree of employee absenteeism is tolerated as the standard. While individuals would prefer to work in an organization with a culture of absence, attendance is one of the most prized work ethics...

Employee Contact and Organizational Culture Employee contact, which occurs after a period of time working together, determines organizational culture. It comprises of how employees engage with one another both inside and externally. As a result, corporate culture has a wide range of positive benefits on employee performance. First, it inspires motivation....

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Symbolic Culture and Organizational Cultures Symbolic culture and the concept of organizational cultures are strongly related. Most businesses employ symbols in an effort to uphold and foster culture (Bennett, 2007). The way that symbols are used influences how people prefer to approach and think about an organization. Adding new, young employees...

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Essay on Organizational Culture

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Topic: Company , Culture , Corruption , Business , Russia , Corporate Culture , Social Issues , Crime

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Published: 08/23/2021

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Organizational culture refers to the underlying values, beliefs, norms, assumptions, and the mode of interaction existing in a particular work setting of an organization (Lubis & Hanum, 2020, p. 88). A corporate culture with a positive value system is likely to impact positively the local business culture. Cultures with positive feedback to issues such as child labor, corruption, and environmental degradation are likely to influence business firms positively. A successful business organization has tough policies governing its code of ethical standards. Businesses ought to formulate and implement and strong integrity and ethical program to safeguard themselves from deformation due to unethical employee practices. Employees must adhere to the laid down policies and core values of the organization. A firm may need to implement its ethical program due to the following reasons. The culture with negative feedback to such factors is likely to have a negative influence on the local business culture and ultimately corporate culture.

IKEA is a multinational company formed by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943 that designs furniture and make household equipment and other ready-to-assemble appliances. It is the world’s largest furniture retail company since 2008, and currently, it has more than 400 stores operating in 49 countries and employing more than 140,000 workers (Ericsson, 2018, p. 4). The company has a good reputation for its best designs, high quality, and low-cost products.  IKEA is also the largest wood consumer in the retail industry. Throughout its operation, the company focuses on making sure it adheres to its policies, including responsible logging and socially responsible practices. It also focuses on bettering lives for all its stakeholders including the community in which it operates.

According to Cole (2019, p. 10), the company’s success is attributed to its strong ethical policies guarding its operations in international markets. In the case of Russia IKEA was able to overcome most hurdles imposed on it by the country’s local government. Russia, being a country with a weak legal system on matters of corruption, subject most international organizations operating therein to corrupt deals. The country’s war on corruption is primarily below par with most local government officials, who demand bribes to provide basic utility services. Shashkova (2019, p. 67) refers to corruption as ‘another subsector of the economy’ estimating it to US$ 300 billion annually.

IKEA’s non-tolerance to corruption in Russia is evidenced by the way it handles its employees who bow down for corruption. The Transparency International report of 2012 ranked Russia in the top five list of the most corrupt developed countries (Cole, 2019, p. 19). IKEA is a company with strict adherence to corporate policy and does not protect its corrupt employees even the ones who turn a blind eye to corrupt deals. For instance, in 2010, IKEA, fire two of its executives Kaufman and Stefan for failure to report a corruption scandal even though they were not directly involved. IKEA has an unconditional obligation to ensure its high ethical standard and core values are upheld. I agree that such an attitude towards unethical practices reflects a typical, corporate culture that every business organization ought to emulate. Corruption is unethical and a social vice that sabotages economic development.

IKEA faced the Russian lawsuit with various allegations devised by the local authorities as a way to fight back for failure to comply with their corrupt deals. For instance, in 2004, the company was establishing a new store at Chimki, a few miles out of Moscow, the Russian capital under permission from the mayor (Shashkova, 2019, p. 65). When the mayor was succeeded by Strelchenko, a retired military officer, his officials bared opening of the store claiming that the road leading to the store is passing over a gas pipe and thus was risky heavy traffic. IKEA offered to remedy the situation by constructing pressure reducers to which the authority declined. IKEA claimed that it failed to pay a bribe for the new mayor and thus took a fight against the company. The incident shows the extent to which corrupt regimes go to force businesses to bow down to their corrupt demands. I believe that the move taken by the company to make the matter public is an excellent way of fighting corruption.

Another interesting incident concerning the firm happened when the local authority barred the company from building an off-ramp over Leningrad Highway to ease traffic, leading to its Khimki store (Cole, 2019, p.28). They claimed it would thwart the view of the historic Tank Trap monument while it was later pointed out that the company declined to bribe Luzhkov and his team. It took the intervention of Kamprad who appealed to the president, Vladimir Putin, which made the firm being granted permission. The extent to which IKEA protects its core values and ethics depicts a typical corporate culture that every firm should adopt. The company faced many setbacks in the course of its expansion processes; the firm was incurring unnecessary expenses and spending more time as a result of barriers imposed by corrupt and bureaucratic Russian local government.

IKEA always worked so hard to ensure sustainable environmental protection in its logging practices. There is an instance where the Russian media accused the company of illegal logging practices (Ericsson, 2018, p. 12). This brought a lot of scrutiny and harsh criticism from various global environment protection agencies. Analyst later found out that the company was working according to the Russian logging guidelines. The defamatory allegation was only intended to tarnish the company’s name and ruin its reputation because of the grudge held against it by the Russian local government. Being an environmentally and socially sustainable company should have made IKEA cautious on its logging practice and opt to cut fewer trees to conserve forest resources. Also, in my opinion, IKEA ought to shun its aggressiveness in increasing production scale since it is dealing with one of the world’s most sensitive products. A business wishing to venture into international markets should scan both internal and external environmental factors of the business. With increased globalization facilitation and a need to expand, firms are looking abroad in search of new markets for their products. Globalization is a major factor in contemporary management practices in world economics. Managers across the world operating multinational firms are faced with a need to analyze international markets before they venture.

Management of a company needs openness, accountability, and communication in both its internal and external operations. To achieve the same, employees from every single department ought to exercise their highest level of integrity. Integrity and adhering to the corporate culture becomes a vital element of achieving transparency in the organization. Lack of clarity in the firm's operations may make employees conform to the local cultures in foreign markets, which can be harmful to the company’s reputation. In countries with weak legal systems to deal with social vices like corruption, child labor, and environmental degradation, the national business culture, is in most cases unethical (Warrick, 2017, p. 397). Therefore, organizations need to be in control of their adherence to ethical practices for the sake of their good reputation.

As the number of business organizations venturing into international markets continually increases due to globalization, a robust organizational culture rooted in the ideals, core values, and ethical principles can greatly influence the success of a multinational business firm. Companies in the contemporary corporate landscape need to scan, identify, and evaluate the external environment and establish a robust organizational culture through establishing their values, preferences, and lifestyle. This approach will enable a firm to establish appropriate synergies to enable it to establish and sustain a robust organizational culture. The knowledge of how to conduct business in a foreign market is extremely important. Before venturing into a new market in a foreign country, a company needs to scrutinize and understand the culture of people living there. Such firms are to go through various cultural hurdles and uncertainties while competing with other businesses, local and international. Culture can bring positive or negative influence on employees’ conduct, which has far-reaching consequences on how they undertake their routine tasks as well as how they treat customers.

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Bibliography

Cole, R.E., 2019. The Effects of Deforestation on Carbon Storage in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5333&context=masters_theses

Ericsson, A., 2018. Organizational Culture and Employee Loyalty: The Case of IKEA. Available at:https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1192802/FULLTEXT02

Lubis, F.R., and Hanum, F., 2020, December. Organizational culture. In  2nd Yogyakarta International Conference on Educational Management/Administration and Pedagogy (YICEMAP 2019)  (pp. 88-91). Atlantis Press. Available at: https://download.atlantis-press.com/article/125949878.pdf

Shashkova, A., 2019. Russian Specifics in Combating Corruption.  Available at SSRN 3506011 . Available at:http://archive.kulawr.ru/netcat_files/521/703/1.2015_Kutafin_University_Law_Review_4_52_0.pdf

Warrick, D.D., 2017. What leaders need to know about organizational culture.  Business Horizons ,  60 (3), pp.395-404. Available at: https://fardapaper.ir/mohavaha/uploads/2018/06/Fardapaper-What-leaders-need-to-know-about-organizational-culture.pdf

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Southwest Airlines Organizational Culture

This essay about Southwest culture examines the rich, diverse cultural landscape of the American Southwest, highlighting the significant influences of Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo cultures. It discusses how these distinct traditions have melded over centuries, creating a unique regional identity that is expressed through art, architecture, literature, and cuisine. Native American tribes contribute their artistic legacies and spiritual connections to the land, while Hispanic influences are evident in language, festivals, and colonial architecture. Anglo contributions are noted in the economic development and artistic communities of the region. The essay also explores the fusion of these cultural elements in Southwestern cuisine, which blends local ingredients with traditional cooking methods. Additionally, it reflects on the deep relationship between the people and the natural environment, emphasizing sustainability and reverence for nature. Overall, the essay portrays the Southwest as a dynamic example of cultural diversity and integration.

How it works

The expanse of the American Southwest constitutes a realm imbued with a kaleidoscope of cultures, each imprinting its distinct essence upon the overarching cultural fabric. Encompassing territories like Arizona, New Mexico, and segments of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Texas, this domain is principally renowned for its confluence of Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo influences, amalgamated over epochs to engender a unique cultural ethos. The Southwest transcends mere geographical demarcation, embodying a pulsating, living cultural panorama that narrates the tales of its heterogeneous populace through the mediums of art, architecture, literature, and culinary heritage.

A salient hallmark of Southwestern culture resides in its profound Native American heritage. The landscape is adorned with myriad tribes, including the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni, each bequeathing its own opulent customs, dialects, and artistic legacies. Native American motifs and symbolism pervade the Southwest, manifesting in the intricate motifs of Navajo textiles, pottery, and adornments, alongside the spiritual sanctity imbued within locales such as Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde, steeped in indigenous mythology and historical lore.

Another bedrock of Southwestern culture emanates from its Hispanic lineage, tracing its origins to Spanish colonization during the 16th century. This imprint is palpable in the Spanish colonial architecture, epitomized by the adobe-style edifices ubiquitous across the region. The annual festivities, the effervescent dances, and the melodic Spanish vernacular are all testament to the enduring resonance of Hispanic culture. The synthesis of Native American and Spanish influences has engendered a distinctive regional ethos, most vividly embodied in the religious revelries like Santa Fe’s annual Fiesta de Santa Fe, intertwining Catholic and indigenous rites.

Furthermore, the Anglo-American cultural sway, particularly catalyzed by railroad expansion, mining ventures, and subsequent influxes of artists and literati, infused novel dimensions into the Southwestern cultural mosaic during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Enclaves such as Santa Fe and Taos burgeoned as epicenters of artistic fervor, magnetizing luminaries like Georgia O’Keeffe, whose canvases immortalized the austere allure of the Southwestern terrain. The Anglo-American footprint also heralded novel architectural idioms and contributed to the economic prosperity of the region.

The amalgamation of these diverse cultural constituents finds its most delectable manifestation in Southwestern gastronomy, a hearty melange of Native American and Hispanic palates, tinged with Anglo ingenuity. Culinary offerings such as chili, tacos, and tamales, often incorporating staples like maize, legumes, and squash (termed the “Three Sisters” in Native American agricultural lore), epitomize the regional culinary ethos, accentuating freshness, simplicity, and a symbiotic rapport with the terrain.

The ethos of the Southwest is further distinguished by an intrinsic bond with the natural milieu. The stark, parched terrains have indelibly molded the cultural ethos of its denizens, permeating every facet from architecture harmonizing with the landscape to spiritual observances evincing a profound veneration for nature. This affinity resonates through sustainable practices observed by Pueblo communities, the judicious water conservation methodologies underpinning agriculture, and the homage paid to natural elements reflected in indigenous artwork.

In essence, Southwestern culture embodies a dynamic, evolving saga woven from the interplay of its heterogeneous denizens and their communion with the land they inhabit. It constitutes a cultural tableau characterized by the fusion of customs, adapted over time to forge a coherent and distinctive identity that offers a glimpse into the intricacies of cultural amalgamation and evolution. Consequently, the Southwest transcends mere geographical delineation to emerge as a vibrant, living testament to cultural diversity and resilience.

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Organizational Culture and Leadership Presentation

Introduction: understanding leadership and culture, leaders and managers, relationship between leadership and organizational culture, initiator-leadership and follower-leadership, charisma as a culture-building instrument, conclusions.

• Leadership involves exercising influence over the followers;
• Culture and leadership are the two complementary concepts (Alvesson, 2013);
• Leader’s actions determine the company’s market course;
• Organizational culture is formed by leaders’ decisions;
• Different groups perceive and value leadership differently;
• There are communities that worship autocratic leaders (Narikae, Namada, & Katuse, 2017);
• Community-centered views are not enough for leaders.

Leadership is defined as exercising influence over the followers. As Alvesson (2013) admits, the terms leadership and culture are synonymous concepts that substitute one another. Leader’s decisions determine how a company will profile itself on the market and what organizational culture will be promoted. Yet, different groups value leadership differently: the 1930s showed that autocratic management is sometimes more preferred than liberalism (Narikae et al., 2017). This fact makes one conclude that community-centered views are not enough to be a successful leader.

• Leaders and managers have different business roles;
• Managers rely on their duties and professionalism;
• Leaders focus on visions and personal abilities (Alvesson, 2013);
• Successful leaders combine leadership with managerial tasks;
• Leaders change strategies according to company’s needs;
• Leadership decisions are interpreted in cultural context (Alvesson, 2013);
• Actions of leaders directly impact their subordinates.

Leaders and managers are the two concepts that are often distinguished by business analytics. Managers mostly rely on their position, engaging in all types of bureaucratic work (organizing, budgeting, planning, and more), while leaders focus more on their personal abilities, visions, and communicational skills (Alvesson, 2013). The latter, however, successfully combine leadership with the duties of a manager when adjusting market strategies to the occurring company needs. Alvesson (2013) stresses that leader’s actions are always interpreted in a cultural context since they impact all subordinates.

• Leadership is the activity that influences culture;
• Leadership can create and change organizational atmosphere;
• Culture’s importance compares to that of leadership;
• Organizational culture can influence the company’s performance (Warrick, 2017);
• Culture-driven ideas help leaders choose proper direction;
• Culture is heavily dependent on leaders’ decisions;
• Leadership impacts company’s values and workers’ orientations (Alvesson, 2013).

In business circles, leadership is viewed as a culture-influencing activity, which possesses the strength to create and change the atmosphere within an organization. Warrick (2017) emphasizes the relevance of an organizational culture claiming that it “can significantly influence the performance and effectiveness of a company” (p. 395). Although organization-specific cultural ideas help leaders to choose the right direction, culture is still heavily dependent on leadership: the latter has a far-reaching impact on orientations and values of the entire company’s staff (Alvesson, 2013).

• Initiator-leaders are the ones who launch projects;
• Initiators rely on their employees’ utmost support;
• Follower-leaders help the initiatives to gain development;
• CCC shows how initiator- and follower-leadership combine;
• Leaders play crucial part in motivating employees;
• CCC personnel willingly engaged in new projects (Alvesson, 2013);
• Sharing knowledge is essential for organization’s success (Kassim, Baharuddin, & Khalib, 2018).

Initiator-leaders or founders are always energetic to launch new projects; they tend to demonstrate a genuine interest in their employees’ support. Follower-leaders allow these initiatives to gain a foothold and help them achieve further development. The example of Computer Consultancy Company (CCC) shows how successful foundation and follower-leadership combine: guided by their leaders, personnel willingly engaged in all initiatives (Alvesson, 2013). The organization’s further success was attributed to the fact that the company’s leaders possessed the ability to share required knowledge (Kassim, et al., 2018).

• Charisma helps managers to win employees’ trust;
• Allows to promote changes without being criticized;
• Charismatic leaders create specific culture around themselves;
• Charisma expansion is positively associated with profit (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015);
• Poor performance affects the leader’s charismatic status (Alvesson, 2013);
• Charisma is only used as motivational tool;
• Strategies must never rely on character traits.

Charisma is the instrument helping managers to win employees’ trust and promote changes without being criticized. Charismatic leaders create a specific culture without excessive effort put. Leader’s charisma continues to increase for as long as the company’s operational reports ascertain profit (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). However, as Alvesson (2013) indicates, “when results are no longer good, the perception of the leader as charismatic may vanish” (p.117). Therefore, this character trait should only be used as a motivational tool, not as a strategic element.

• Culture and leadership determine the company’s course;
• The two concepts stimulate faster knowledge transition;
• Analytics state that leadership differs from management;
• Managers rely on their position and duties;
• Leaders engage in creating specific organizational culture;
• Charisma helps leaders to establish employee-manager contact;
• It assists with promoting and implementing changes.

Leadership and culture are the two concepts that determine the company’s course on the market and stimulate the transition of knowledge. Business analytics tend to differentiate leaders and managers: the latter only rely on their position and focus on duties, while the former influence employees’ values and create a specific culture within an organization. Charisma often arrives as the tool to help leaders establish contact with subordinates and guide them during the launch of new projects. It also assists with promoting changes and altering the established cultural orientations.

Alvesson, M. (2013). Understanding organizational culture (2nd ed.). London, UK: Sage.

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. London, UK: Routledge.

Kassim, N. A., Baharuddin, K., & Khalib, L. H. (2018). Organizational culture and leadership as factors of organizational learning capabilities. Development, 7(3), 268-277.

Narikae, P. O., Namada, J. M., & Katuse, P. (2017). The role organizational leadership plays in strategy implementation. American Journal of Leadership and Governance, 1(1), 96-111.

Warrick, D. D. (2017). What leaders need to know about organizational culture. Business Horizons, 60(3), 395-404.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, April 19). Organizational Culture and Leadership. https://ivypanda.com/essays/organizational-culture-and-leadership/

"Organizational Culture and Leadership." IvyPanda , 19 Apr. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/organizational-culture-and-leadership/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Organizational Culture and Leadership'. 19 April.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Organizational Culture and Leadership." April 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/organizational-culture-and-leadership/.

1. IvyPanda . "Organizational Culture and Leadership." April 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/organizational-culture-and-leadership/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Organizational Culture and Leadership." April 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/organizational-culture-and-leadership/.

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