Challenges in the Development of Effective Organizational Cultures

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Environment and organizational culture
Motivating employees
Managing change and innovation
Conclusion
List of references

Introduction

One of the tasks delegated to the management function in an organization is the implementation of organizational culture geared toward creating a good working environment for the human assets in an organization. Organizational cultures are developed to steer companies toward the development of certain values that dictate on the behavior of the member of the company.

It follows that the application of good organizational cultures opens the grounds for employees in a given company to develop good rapports with each other, and this promotes the attainment of ultimate competence on the performance of individual members of the organization. A good organizational culture can serve as a motivational factor for the members of the organization.

The management function has the obligation to ensure that the values set for the human assets in an organization to follow are geared toward creating a good working environment. It is common for companies to conduct various organizational changes to maintain high performance on the part of the employees. This paper will look into several aspects of an organization with reference to the current news on the aspects evaluated.

Environment and organizational culture

Organizational cultures develop an internal environment with a perception of shared values among the members of the organization; thus, they can be effective in developing high performing workforce or they can fail if there is resistance on the part of the employees. The effectiveness of organizational culture depends on the level of acceptance portrayed by the human assets of an organization.

The acceptance of a new culture is dependent on the environment that the values develop in the company. The environment in an organization comprises of how employees relate to each other and the management through the values set by the organizational culture. In the current modern era, many companies have failed in the application of organizational cultures that best suit their companies’ internal and external environments.

The external environment is consists the society, competitors, suppliers, and customers (Ravasi & Schultz 2006, p. 434). The internal environment in organizations should possess effective communication channels to create an environment where employees can communicate directly to their leaders.

The channels help in the delivery of information in an effective way; hence it can be used in the advocacy for organizational changes (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter 2011).

One of the most eminent constraints for organizational cultures is resistance from the employees. Resistance occurs when the management develops oppressive values in the culture, especially in multi-cultural organizations. An organizational culture must be centered in the beliefs of the members of the company to gain the acceptance level that influences positive changes (Schein 2006).

If the values set in the culture are against personal beliefs of the employees, resistance to the changes implied is divine. Employees also require norms that do not build to their work stress; thus, managements should look into developing a culture that provides a good working environment in terms of limited pressure on the employees (Cameron & Quinn 2011).

The culture should consider the cultural dynamics in the organization in terms of the personal beliefs held by the members of the organization (Alavi, Kayworth & Leidner 2006, p. 193). Wal-Mart is among the many companies that have seen their authoritarian organizational culture lead them to trouble with the employees.

In 2011, Wal-Mart was sued by its employees for sex discrimination because it organizational culture was geared toward providing male workers with more promotion opportunities than their female counterparts.

The discrimination was clearly indicated by the values set by the management, whereby the male employees were placed under higher expectation opportunities than their female counterparts (Lichtenstein 2011). Through Wal-Mart’s case, it is clear that management functions should develop a culture that is not oppressive of any members of the organization.

Motivating employees

Organizational performance is directly dependent on the performance of the human assets in the company in their individual workstations. For employees to portray their highest competence levels in the workflow, they have to be subjected to motivational factors by the management in the organization.

Motivational factors in an organization are derived from the provision of a good working environment, meeting employees’ needs, and providing them with enticements (Tsai, Yen, Huang & Huang 2007, p. 158). Luring employees into assuming self-controlled ambition to meet the organizational goals requires the management in an organization to identify with the needs of the employees from a motivational perspective.

One of the most effective ways of motivating employees is engaging them in the decision-making processes in an organization. When employees are included in the development of important decisions in their company, they are likely to gain more interest in attaining the goals set collectively by the members of the organization.

Employees also need to be provided with opportunities to develop their personal goals in their workplace. The opportunities can be provided through the creation of promotional chances for the best performing employees. Promotions motivate the ambitious human assets to work hard toward harnessing the available opportunities (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter 2011).

Companies across the world have also identified the power of developing reward programs in motivating employees. When a company develops an enticing reward program for the best performing employees or teams, the members of the company are likely to be motivated to employ their highest competence levels in handling the workflow (Messmer 2011).

Developing some unique reward programs for employees is also a good motivation source in companies facing challenges in human assets’ performance. The programs should be geared toward influencing employees to portray their highest performance levels to attain the reward (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter 2011).

The Apple Inc. Company is one of the most successful companies in the world, and its remarkable success in its business industry can be directly linked to the highly motivated HR team in the organization.

Steve Jobs, the late CEO of the company, developed a motivational culture whereby his employees were provided with the financial requirements of their innovative projects if the projects were unique and viable for the market (Tobak 2014). Steve Jobs would help in the development of every viable idea developed by his team of employees.

This culture still prevails in the company, and it has resulted in the development of human asset base with highly motivated employees.

Steve Jobs also developed an effective organizational culture that was geared toward providing employees with the freedom to make decisions in their work, and this is also a motivating factor in the company because the human resources are obliged to attain high levels of self-efficacy (Pallis 2013).

The Apple Inc. Company has effectively demonstrated that employee motivation is an important management obligation for any company looking to get to the top of its business industry in terms of competitiveness. A video recorded speech by Apple’s CEO, the late Steve Jobs, revealed that motivating employees is an integral part of building a company to success (Motorbreath0007 2012).

Managing change and innovation

Change management in an organization is a crucial task for the leadership and management functions. The challenges following the implementation of change depend on the implications of the change on the resources available for a company including the human resources.

In most cases, the changes proposed by the management and leadership fit a company’s budget; hence, the only challenge is the acceptance of the change by the human resources. Managing change is a task delegated to the human resource management department in most organizations. The HRM develops programs to accommodate the change (Burke & Ng 2006, p. 87).

Some of the programs geared toward compelling employees to accept change is training and development programs. For instance, if an organization is looking to shift from a paper based information system to an electronic information system, the employees are bound to resist the change if they are not acquainted with the necessary training on the use of the new system.

Managing change management also entails training the human resources toward embracing certain values geared toward leading an organization to reach an intended state (Carnall 2007). Change management must be developed within realistic goals and a transitional period must be offered to the stakeholders.

Innovation, on the other hand, involves the development of creativity and the utilization of self-rationale in the development of new ideas. Innovativeness enhances the competitiveness of an organization; hence, management teams should look to develop innovative human resources through training and development (Drucker & Drucker 2007).

Having an innovative team provides managers with an easy task of developing ideas to attain the organizational goals. Innovative employees should be monitored because sometimes they may fall into business risk traps in the process of developing and implementing their ideas (Tidd & Bessant 2011). Innovation is also an important tool for managers looking to develop solutions to challenges in their organizations.

Samsung is one of the most innovative companies in today’s smartphone business, and its success is attributed to its innovative teams and effective management of the many changes that the company has gone through over the past decade (Grobart 2013). Samsung has taken a leading position in the production of high-tech Smart phones through its innovative product development teams.

Conclusion

Management is a challenging task for managers facing resistance from their employees; hence, managers should look to provide their employees with a good working environment.

Organizational cultures are an effective way of developing the environment required for employees to attain their optimum performance levels. Many companies face challenges in the development of effective organizational cultures because of the implications of the espoused values trigger resistance from the employees.

Organizational cultures can develop a positive environment leading to easier management of human resources. Motivating employees is a requirement for managements looking to influence high performance levels of their employees. Managers can use motivational factors on their employees to exploit their skills and knowledge fully.

Motivating factors include enticing offers for the best employees, training and development programs for personal career development and promoting individuals to reach their career goals. Without the motivation of employees, managers hardly have the ability to actualize organizational goals.

Change management entails piloting employees into assuming a specific direction for an organization to attain a defined form. The HRM is responsible for preparing employees for changes in an organization. Innovation is an important factor for managers because it helps them develop effective ideas to tackle challenges.

List of references

Alavi, M., Kayworth, T. R. & Leidner, D. E. 2006, ‘An empirical examination of the influence of organizational culture on knowledge management practices’, Journal of management information systems, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 191-224.

Burke, R. J. & Ng, E. 2006, ‘The changing nature of work and organizations: Implications for human resource management.’ Human Resource Management Review, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 86-94.

Cameron, K. S. & Quinn, R. E. 2011, Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey.

Carnall, C. A. 2007, Managing change in organizations, Pearson Education, New Jersey.

Drucker, P. F. & Drucker, P. F. 2007, Innovation and entrepreneurship: Practice and principles. Routledge, London.

Grobart, S. 2013, How Samsung became the world’s No. 1 Smartphone maker. Web.

Lichtenstein, N. 2011, Wal-Mart’s Authoritarian Culture. Web.

Messmer, M. 2011, Motivating employees for dummies. John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey.

Motorbreath0007, 2012, Steve Jobs Motivation and Success, Video recording, You Tube, California.

Pallis, M. 2013, Boosting employee motivation: Lessons from Steve Jobs. Web.

Ravasi, D. & Schultz, M. 2006, ‘Responding to organizational identity threats: Exploring the role of organizational culture’, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 433-458.

Robbins, S. P., Bergman, R., Stagg, I. & Coulter, M. 2011, Management, Pearson Education, New Jersey.

Schein, E. H. 2006, Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 356), John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey.

Tidd, J. & Bessant, J. 2011, Managing innovation: integrating technological, market and organizational change, John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey.

Tobak, S. 2014, The Steve Jobs way to motivate employees. Web.

Tsai, P. C. F., Yen, Y. F., Huang, L. C. & Huang, I. C. 2007, ‘A study on motivating employees’ learning commitment in the post-downsizing era: Job satisfaction perspective’, Journal of World Business, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 157-169.

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