Organizational Culture Paper
Organizational Culture
Christine Mayers
Argosy University
Abstract
When we look at organizational culture, we are looking at the personality of an organization. Culture is basically comprised of the values, norms, and tangible signs of an organization. Managers and employees of an organization if working long enough with one organization soon sense the particular culture of the organization. Rational and irrational decision making are key when it involves working with different cultures in an organization.
Organizational Culture Organizational culture is clearly different in organizations. The culture of a large for profit organization would be different from the culture of a government organization or a hospital. When you …show more content…
want to know the culture of an organization, you can look at what they talk about, what are the employees wearing, how is the furniture designed or arranged...similar to how do you feel when you meet someone, what does their personality tell you? Decision making is looking for problems that need attention and attending to them. Now whether those decisions you make are rational or irrational depends on the individual who is making the decision in the organization. The type of organizational world that we live in today has always given us a reservoir for potential problems. “One of the important skills we have to acquire in life, and one that has be in view of our organizations/institutions if they are to operate properly, is the skill of finding and attending to problems (Simon 1993)”. In my opinion, if the problem is important, then managers ought to be thinking of ways to rationally make a meaningful decision to handle the problem. Rational decision making is defined as a process that is followed in a certain order. Behavior is a rational process, and those decisions that lead up to that process are rational, especially if the goals are met from that process. S. P. Robbins talked about the different steps in the Rational decision making model. 1. Define the problem: Ask yourself, do we have a problem to solve, if so them you move on to find out what the problem is and what decision you need to make. 2. Identify the decision criteria: This is where we gather the information. What information is relevant to the decision, and what is not. We need to look at what is needed to make the correct decision or the right decision. 3. Allocate weights to the criteria: What course of action is needed. What is available to managers to make a decision? Is there data available? 4. Develop the alternatives: Look at several options. Be creative. 5. Evaluate the alternatives: What criteria should the manager use to evaluate? Use the best alternative that will achieve your objective? 6. Select the best alternative: Make sure that the solution that you have chosen will not have any adverse consequences. Will the solution create problems? Will there be any risk after making this decision. Then act on the decision. Put a plan in place to carry out the decision. Make sure you have allocated enough resources to implement the decision, and the decision has been accepted by upper management and your colleagues. There has to be this commitment to make the decision work. The rational decision-making model does have strength and weakness however.
A strength is that it does provide structure and discipline to the process, and makes sure that the decision is made in a logical manner. The model tells us how decisions should be made, but in an organization, the model is not always followed, and this is why managers sometimes make poor decision making. A weakness is that managers often do not include the persons that should be involved in the process, and decisions and actions were made which often have a terrible outcome to the problem. The factors that determine our decision are not rational and this is where irrational decisions are …show more content…
made. Irrational decision making is defined as making a decision on moods and emotions. In this decision making, people look for decisions that will benefit them, instead of making choices that will correct the problem. “We don't make sense. Our reasons for doing what we do, for choosing what we choose, frequently fail to add up. We are more dishonest and less logical than we imagine” (Bartlett 2011). There are reasons why people don’t always choose rationally, and sometimes they choose rationally, and when they do, they surprise themselves from what they thought they might choose, if the content of the issue is only considered: A few of the reasons are: 1. They feel peer pressure: They make a decision because they feel that they counterparts are making the same decision. 2. They are overloaded: They feel they have to make a quick decision, so they make the decision feeling they don’t have a lot of time. 3. They don’t have the correct information: The information they have is out-dated, or they have been misinformed about the problem, or the information is incomplete.
An organizational problem that I have experienced related to differences in cultural perspectives is the computer industry. I worked as an Information Resources Coordinator for nine years in a Health Oriented organization. The computer field was not a widely known field for women to enter during the time I worked. The culture was mostly male. The position I worked in was Help Desk, only because they felt I was not able to lift the computers and install them, or because I was a woman with a family, I could not travel to outlying sites on a daily basis. “ For some time now there has been rising concern in the US and in many of the developed nations over the declining numbers of women entering and succeeding in computing related fields” (Blum, Frieze, Hazzan, Dias 2006). In this situation, managers should be concerned with the ability of the employee to perform the work, and does the employee fit well into the field whether man or woman. Women are capable of performing in the computer environment and they are now visible and active in this environment. Manager’s role is to communicate a vision and to guide strategic planning. Those who have successfully done this have teams that help build the vision that is shared, and motivation of each individual increases and plans then succeed. If managers of an organization want to be successful, the managers must exercise consistent communication, and be clear in clarifying their directives. Leaders should always engage their teams by sharing the vision of the organization, and whenever their goals are achieved, they should celebrate this success with the employees. “To ensure that the vision is shared, teams need to know that they can test the theory, voice opinions, challenge premises, and suggest alternatives without fear of reprimand” (Blum, Frieze, Hazzan, Dias 2006). I agree that managers be consistent in their communication of the vision to the employees, they should also implement ways in which the vision can constantly be seen, i.e. poster, videos, web sites, slogans. My recommendation would be to make sure people are accountable for their actions, and the team’s actions if you are the leader. Make sure the leaders are clear about your vision. All organizations have strengths and weaknesses. According to the Denison Organizational Culture Survey (Denison & Neale, 1996), there are four characteristics of organizational culture called culture traits: Involvement- building human capacity, ownership, and responsibility.
Consistency- defining the values and systems that are the basis of a strong culture. Adaptability- translating the demands of the business environment into action. Mission- defining a meaningful long-term direction for the organization.
“Although all four cultures were correlated with return on assets, some of the characteristics were more closely linked to organizational effectiveness than others” (Denison & Neale 1996).
There are various styles of leadership , but what is most important is that the Leaders recognize what their individual leadership style is, and that it is accepted, to have different styles of leadership as long as they complement each other.
References
Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A. (2010). Organizational behavior (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River; NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall.
Bartlett, T. (2011). Social scientist ways to save our own decisions. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from
http://chronicle.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/article/Why-We-Make-Bad-Decisions-and/127882/
Blum, L, Frieze, C, Hazzan, O, Dias, M.B. (2006) A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity in Computing. Retrieved from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cfrieze/CrossingCultures.pdf
Denison D.R., Neale, W.S. (1996). Denison organizational culture survey. Facilitator’s guide.
Christine Mayers
Argosy University
Abstract
When we look at organizational culture, we are looking at the personality of an organization. Culture is basically comprised of the values, norms, and tangible signs of an organization. Managers and employees of an organization if working long enough with one organization soon sense the particular culture of the organization. Rational and irrational decision making are key when it involves working with different cultures in an organization.
Organizational Culture Organizational culture is clearly different in organizations. The culture of a large for profit organization would be different from the culture of a government organization or a hospital. When you …show more content…
want to know the culture of an organization, you can look at what they talk about, what are the employees wearing, how is the furniture designed or arranged...similar to how do you feel when you meet someone, what does their personality tell you? Decision making is looking for problems that need attention and attending to them. Now whether those decisions you make are rational or irrational depends on the individual who is making the decision in the organization. The type of organizational world that we live in today has always given us a reservoir for potential problems. “One of the important skills we have to acquire in life, and one that has be in view of our organizations/institutions if they are to operate properly, is the skill of finding and attending to problems (Simon 1993)”. In my opinion, if the problem is important, then managers ought to be thinking of ways to rationally make a meaningful decision to handle the problem. Rational decision making is defined as a process that is followed in a certain order. Behavior is a rational process, and those decisions that lead up to that process are rational, especially if the goals are met from that process. S. P. Robbins talked about the different steps in the Rational decision making model. 1. Define the problem: Ask yourself, do we have a problem to solve, if so them you move on to find out what the problem is and what decision you need to make. 2. Identify the decision criteria: This is where we gather the information. What information is relevant to the decision, and what is not. We need to look at what is needed to make the correct decision or the right decision. 3. Allocate weights to the criteria: What course of action is needed. What is available to managers to make a decision? Is there data available? 4. Develop the alternatives: Look at several options. Be creative. 5. Evaluate the alternatives: What criteria should the manager use to evaluate? Use the best alternative that will achieve your objective? 6. Select the best alternative: Make sure that the solution that you have chosen will not have any adverse consequences. Will the solution create problems? Will there be any risk after making this decision. Then act on the decision. Put a plan in place to carry out the decision. Make sure you have allocated enough resources to implement the decision, and the decision has been accepted by upper management and your colleagues. There has to be this commitment to make the decision work. The rational decision-making model does have strength and weakness however.
A strength is that it does provide structure and discipline to the process, and makes sure that the decision is made in a logical manner. The model tells us how decisions should be made, but in an organization, the model is not always followed, and this is why managers sometimes make poor decision making. A weakness is that managers often do not include the persons that should be involved in the process, and decisions and actions were made which often have a terrible outcome to the problem. The factors that determine our decision are not rational and this is where irrational decisions are …show more content…
made. Irrational decision making is defined as making a decision on moods and emotions. In this decision making, people look for decisions that will benefit them, instead of making choices that will correct the problem. “We don't make sense. Our reasons for doing what we do, for choosing what we choose, frequently fail to add up. We are more dishonest and less logical than we imagine” (Bartlett 2011). There are reasons why people don’t always choose rationally, and sometimes they choose rationally, and when they do, they surprise themselves from what they thought they might choose, if the content of the issue is only considered: A few of the reasons are: 1. They feel peer pressure: They make a decision because they feel that they counterparts are making the same decision. 2. They are overloaded: They feel they have to make a quick decision, so they make the decision feeling they don’t have a lot of time. 3. They don’t have the correct information: The information they have is out-dated, or they have been misinformed about the problem, or the information is incomplete.
An organizational problem that I have experienced related to differences in cultural perspectives is the computer industry. I worked as an Information Resources Coordinator for nine years in a Health Oriented organization. The computer field was not a widely known field for women to enter during the time I worked. The culture was mostly male. The position I worked in was Help Desk, only because they felt I was not able to lift the computers and install them, or because I was a woman with a family, I could not travel to outlying sites on a daily basis. “ For some time now there has been rising concern in the US and in many of the developed nations over the declining numbers of women entering and succeeding in computing related fields” (Blum, Frieze, Hazzan, Dias 2006). In this situation, managers should be concerned with the ability of the employee to perform the work, and does the employee fit well into the field whether man or woman. Women are capable of performing in the computer environment and they are now visible and active in this environment. Manager’s role is to communicate a vision and to guide strategic planning. Those who have successfully done this have teams that help build the vision that is shared, and motivation of each individual increases and plans then succeed. If managers of an organization want to be successful, the managers must exercise consistent communication, and be clear in clarifying their directives. Leaders should always engage their teams by sharing the vision of the organization, and whenever their goals are achieved, they should celebrate this success with the employees. “To ensure that the vision is shared, teams need to know that they can test the theory, voice opinions, challenge premises, and suggest alternatives without fear of reprimand” (Blum, Frieze, Hazzan, Dias 2006). I agree that managers be consistent in their communication of the vision to the employees, they should also implement ways in which the vision can constantly be seen, i.e. poster, videos, web sites, slogans. My recommendation would be to make sure people are accountable for their actions, and the team’s actions if you are the leader. Make sure the leaders are clear about your vision. All organizations have strengths and weaknesses. According to the Denison Organizational Culture Survey (Denison & Neale, 1996), there are four characteristics of organizational culture called culture traits: Involvement- building human capacity, ownership, and responsibility.
Consistency- defining the values and systems that are the basis of a strong culture. Adaptability- translating the demands of the business environment into action. Mission- defining a meaningful long-term direction for the organization.
“Although all four cultures were correlated with return on assets, some of the characteristics were more closely linked to organizational effectiveness than others” (Denison & Neale 1996).
There are various styles of leadership , but what is most important is that the Leaders recognize what their individual leadership style is, and that it is accepted, to have different styles of leadership as long as they complement each other.
References
Robbins, S.P., Judge, T.A. (2010). Organizational behavior (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River; NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall.
Bartlett, T. (2011). Social scientist ways to save our own decisions. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from
http://chronicle.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/article/Why-We-Make-Bad-Decisions-and/127882/
Blum, L, Frieze, C, Hazzan, O, Dias, M.B. (2006) A Cultural Perspective on Gender Diversity in Computing. Retrieved from http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cfrieze/CrossingCultures.pdf
Denison D.R., Neale, W.S. (1996). Denison organizational culture survey. Facilitator’s guide.