Organizational behavior (1)

Organizational culture Introduction Management is the action of getting individuals together to achieve desired objectives and goals using existing resources effectively and efficiently. Management involves organizing, planning, staffing, directing or leading and governing an organization or work with the aim of achieving a common goal. An organization is a group of one or more persons or entities who work towards achieving similar goals (Hofstede, 1980). Resourcing incorporates the deployment and management of human resources, technological resources, financial resources and natural resources. This paper will describe the 21st century manager and discuss how various organizational cultures influence such managers.
The 21st century manager is faced with the duty of managing people in this era of change. This era is characterized by technological innovation, deregulation, globalization, new political systems, a new workforce mentality, more service-oriented jobs and a new emphasis on ” knowledge work” (Hofstede, 1980). These are the changes that managers and their organizations ought to progressively respond to in order to achieve effective organizational structures (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2008).
To discuss how organizational culture influences the 21st century manager, it is important to define organizational culture. Organizational culture is a set of shared mental suppositions that guide action and interpretation in organizations by outlining apposite behavior for various situations (Hofstede, 1980). Cultures develop in organizations due to internal integration and external adaptation. External adaptation mirrors an evolutionary tactic to organizational culture and proposes that cultures exist since they assist an organization to subsist and flourish. If the culture is useful, then it embraces the prospective for engendering constant competitive advantages. Internal integration, on the other hand is a valuable function because social structures are requisite for establishments to exist. Organizational practices are cultured through socialization at the workplace. Work environments strengthen culture on a daily basis by encouraging workers to exercise cultural values (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2008).
Organizational culture influences managers to embrace behaviors that persuade employees to embark on tasks in a constructive and empowering way. Managers in the 21st century have learnt to embrace the contingency approach to management in a business world that is faced with diverse and ever growing pool of management techniques and tools. Managers have the ability to influence how people within an organization will operate. They can also determine the organization’s direction in the future and now (Hofstede, 1980). It is therefore very important to understand the organizational culture so as to workers to operate in a desired manner.
Managers have the definitive influence on employee conduct through the principles they express in priorities, decisions and promotions. Organization culture ensures that the efforts being directed towards a goal or a set of specified goals is achieved (Hofstede, 1980). The culture in use can empower the manager to formulate a strong motivation strategy for workers to obtain the expected results. Additionally, organization culture allows mangers to provide a structure and a technique of devices to organize the employees efforts, without having a steady set of processes or systems (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin & Cardy, 2008).
Conclusion
I see myself as a manager with a collective-participative style where employees are encouraged to participate in all ventures and assignments. However, the manager will still be the one to make all the final decisions. Organizational culture therefore assists managers to effectively carry out their managerial functions.
Key terms
Contingency approach
Organizational culture
References
Gomez-Mejia, L. R., Balkin, D. B., & Cardy, R. L. (2008). Management: People, Performance, Change, 3rd edition. New York, New York USA: McGraw-Hill.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Cultures Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.