In Order to Have a Successful Organisation, the Most Important Thing Essay

In Order to Have a Successful Organisation, the Most Important Thing for Management Is to Get Culture Right - Essay Example Organizational Culture has emerged to be one of the most crucial factors that strongly influence the performance of an organization. In recent years, organizational culture has gained considerable attention from managers because of that it is extremely significant in relation to meeting the industry needs for greater effectiveness and the material and social needs of employees in order to create a constructive work-environment and foster high performance working. Organizations put efforts to develop ‘right kind of culture’, culture with quality’ or a culture of customer service’ and managers most often try to inculcate certain values in their organizations. There are widespread assumptions as better or worse cultures and stronger or weaker cultures and more importantly the ‘right’ kind of culture influence the effectiveness and success factors of the organization (Schein, 2004, p. 7). Organizational culture is the system of shared actions, values and beliefs that are developed and established within an organization and this influence its members to guide and shape their behavior (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn, 2005, p. 436). As McShane and Von Glinow (2004, p. 476) noted, organizational culture refers to a basic pattern of shared values, assumptions and beliefs that are considered to be the right way of thinking and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization. According to them, organizational culture is the DNA of an organization because it is not only invisible to the naked eye but also a very powerful template or tool that can shape what happens within an organization.... No individuals have same behavior and personality and likewise, organizations also have very different and unique culture, and therefore, organizational culture can also be termed as organization’s personality. People in any organization are considered to be the most valuable, powerful and high-valued assets and therefore utilizing these resources more effectively and strategically seems to be the underlying principle of organizational behaviour. People in an organization may belong to different cultures, social setting and life-style, but when the organization is able to create, design and establish a culture of its own by aligning and integrating the shared values among the people, the organization will also be able to be successful in achieving the goals. Do organizations require forming and structuring a specific culture and getting it right? If managers target better organizational performance, if they look at increased productivity of employees and thus to earn higher pr ofitability, if they would like to achieve high performance working and they like to maintain sustainable competitive advantages, the answer to the above question is certainly ‘yes’. Especially in today’s competitive business environment, complex marketing contexts, complicated technological advancements and in times of globalized economies, managers need to identify the organizational culture, design and structure its features, understand its significances in terms of business opportunities and evaluate its benefits to the business as well. Smircich (1983, p. 344) described that organizations are social instruments that produce goods and services and thus they produce cultural artifacts like rituals, legends and