ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational Culture and the Role of Managers



Organizational Culture and the Role of Managers

Introduction

In this paper the impact and importance of organizational culture in the successful development of an organization are discussed. The role of managers in following and synthesizing the organizational culture are discussed. The real importance of following it with respect to the managerial staff is compared with what is portrayed during academics. The paper begins with a brief introduction to what organizational culture is and what is its importance to different levels of employees. What makes the student's perception of the importance of organizational culture for the management different from what it is on actual grounds; followed by an example application of organizational culture which will then be analyzed to compare the role of managers with the general perceptions (Ybema, 2011). What are the steps and factors involved that led up to the synthesis of organizational structures and critical evaluation of the study will be made in the end.

Discussion

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture has no specific definition. This is because of the fact that it has developed on its own and then its importance and impact to an organization were identified. An organizational culture is a broad field which requires knowledge and understanding of several fields like sociology, psychology, anthropology, communication and management. It may be defined as a set of meanings, understanding, practices, rituals or traditions shared by the members of a group of people related to each other in some way (Alvesson, 2002). This set of practices may be unique to that group and passed to all the new joining.

Most of the experts divide the understanding of organizational culture in two types. The first one being the implicit form of culture as understood by a common man, the norms of a society. The second one is explicit form which is the development of a unique culture in an organization by the integration of traditions of high level employees and the needs and practices of an organization. The managers make strategies and deploy a culture that may help in improving the working of their organization.

Components of Organizational Culture

Artifacts

Artifacts are the unique practices of an organization such as, the uniform of managers and different levels of employees, utilization of different technology levels, layout of the working environment, seating and placement of different levels of employees in different locations within the organization and special purpose of different blocks of the building.

Values

The values of culture are neither quantitative nor tangible; therefore, it is hard to determine the real values of different practices. Usually the values of organizational cultures are not defined and vary with time and situation of an organization.

Beliefs

The first step in the development of cultural practices is the development of beliefs and assumptions. The level of these beliefs and assumptions determine the value, and if the value becomes higher than the belief and relevant practices becomes the culture of an organization.

Typical Types of Organizational Structures

Following are some of the well known and tested organizational ...