The concept of organization culture refers to the code of conduct of people or groups within an organization as defined by the beliefs and ideas that guide their interaction within the organization and without the organization where they interact with other stakeholders. These beliefs and ideas are the organizational values that stipulate the goals of the organization that are due to be pursued by the members of the organization and means of achieving them. Organizational culture has gained prominence over the past couple of years and has been accepted as mean of understanding human system from the organizational point of view.
It influences all the processes that take place in an organization because it defines the behaviors acceptable in an organization. Organizations have values and ideas as human beings have personalities that influence their behaviors (Young 19). The factors that constitute the culture of an organization are heavily borrowed from sociology and psychology of human beings. The objective of this essay is to find out the factors that constitute an organization culture and their importance to the organization.
Factors that constitute organizational culture and their importance
There are several factors that constitute organizational culture which affect the way the members of the organization behave within and without the organization.
These factors shape the organizational culture to make it apt for the organizational goals and objectives. The first factor is the working group present in the organization. An organization is a network of working groups pursuing a common goal. In all organizations, there is a formal authority that creates the working group of the organization.
The formation of the working group is determined by the personal characteristics of the selected individuals that include their personalities, experience among others. All these members have convictions, behaviors, and attitudes which are consolidated to set up an organizational culture. These personal characteristics are important as they guide the basis on which the values and the ideas of the organization are formulated (Goh 17). The other factor is the style of leadership of the managers. This influences the culture of the group because it affects the relationship between the managers and their subordinates. For instance, managers who are distant towards other junior staffs will have a negative effect on the behavior of the whole group. A trusted manager improves the efficacy of the whole group.
Leadership styles of all managers are important as they shape the behavior of other members of the organization and influences the way goals are realized. According to Vesta and colleagues (341), the characteristics of the organization also have an impact on the organizational culture developed. Organizations have different characteristics like size, history, level of specialization among others. All these characteristics affect the organizational culture that applies to a particular company. For instance, the organization culture of small enterprises is homogenous while large enterprises consist of sub cultures that are well defined (Ionescu 13).
The founders and the owners a company have philosophies that are shapes the basic values of the organization. The number of owners also matters a lot because it determines the profoundness of their influence. A small number of owners are thought to have a more profound influence on the organizational culture than otherwise. Many owners may exert pressure from many contradicting perspectives. Lastly there is environment that may influence how the organizational culture is carried out (Hofstede 34).
Environmental factors to an organization may include the legal system, the status of the economy, and technology among others. All these factors affect the formation of the organizational culture. For instance, technology will affect the level of operations of the organization and the type of members needed.
Conclusion
Organizational culture is of paramount importance in any organization because it determines the behavior of the members of the organization. Organizational culture differs from one organization to another depending on the owners, working group and the environment that an environment is exposed to. To some extent, organizational culture may limit the members from being innovative especially where the culture is not flexible.
Works Cited
Goh, Swee.
“ Toward a Learning Organization: The Strategic Building Blocks,” SAM Advanced Management Journal 63. (1998). 15-22.
Print. Hofstede, Geert. The management of multicultural structures. Bucharest: Publishing House Economic, 1996. Print. Ionescu, Gheorghe. The cultural dimensions of management.
Bucharest Publishing House Economic, 1996. Print. Vesta, Katherine, Rodney, Fralix & Scott, Spreier. “ Organizational Culture: The Critical Link BetweenStrategy and Results,” Hospital & Health ServicesAdministration, 42. (1997) 339-365. Print Young, David.
“ The Six Levers for Managing Organizational Culture,” Business Horizons 43. (2000). 19-28. Print.
