ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE CHANGE – INDISPENSABLE CONSTITUENT FOR THE SUCCESS OF EVERY ORGANIASATION

ORGANISATIONAL CULTUR CHANGE – INDISPENSABLE CONSTITUENT FOR THE SUCCESS OF EVERY ORGANIASATION

Organizational culture

Organizational culture is an idea in the field ofOrganisational studies and management which describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values (personal and cultural values) of an organization.

When people are at work on a daily basis, many of the manifestations of culture become almost invisible. Assessing your organizational culture is a lot like trying to tell someone how to tie their shoes. Once you've been tying your own shoes every day for years and years, it is hard to describe the process to another person.

Culture is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a group of people. Culture is the behavior that results when a group arrives at a set of - generally unspoken and unwritten - rules for working together.

Organizational culture grows over time. People are comfortable with the current organizational culture. For people to consider culture change, usually a significant event must occur. An event that rocks their world such as flirting with bankruptcy, a significant loss of sales and customers, or losing a million dollars, might get people's attention.

When people in an organization realize and recognize that their current organizational culture needs to transform to support the organization's success and progress, change can occur. But change is not pretty and change is not easy.

Is Organizational culture change possible?

Organizational culture change is possible. Culture change requires understanding, commitment, and tools.

Culture is the environment that surrounds you at work all of the time. Culture is a powerful element that shapes your work enjoyment, your work relationships, and your work processes. But, culture is something that you cannot actually see, except through its physical manifestations in your work place.

In many ways, culture is like personality. In a person, the personality is made up of the values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, interests, experiences, upbringing, and habits that create a person’s behavior.

Culture is represented in a group’s:

• language,
• innovation
• decision making,
• symbols,
• stories and legends, and
• Daily work practices.

Organisational Culture is

• is historically rooted
• everyday practice
• leads to uniform thinking and behavior
• guides all decision making
• socializes  newcomers

Characteristics of organizational culture

An organization’s culture is made up of all of the life experiences each employee brings to the organization. Culture is especially influenced by the organization’s founder, executives, and other managerial staff because of their role in decision making and strategic direction

Changing the organizational culture is the toughest task. The organizational culture was formed over years of interaction between the participants in the organization. Organizational cultures form for a reason. Perhaps the current organizational culture matches the style and comfort zone of the company founder. Culture frequently echoes the prevailing management style. Since managers tend to hire people just like themselves, the established organizational culture is reinforced by new hires.

• Culture is Behavior.
• Culture is learned.
• Culture is learned Through Interaction.
• Sub-cultures Form through Rewards
• People Shape the Culture.
• Culture is negotiated.
• Culture is Difficult to Change.
• Work culture is often interpreted differently by diverse employees.
• Culture may be strong or weak
• Ideally, organizational culture supports a positive, productive, environment.

How to Observe Your Current Organizational Culture

You can obtain a picture of your current organizational culture in several ways. To participate in the assessment of your organizational culture, you must: People in every workplace talk about organizational culture, that mysterious word that characterizes a work environment. One of the key questions and assessments, when employers interview a prospective employee, explores whether the candidate is a good “cultural fit.” Culture is difficult to define, but you generally know when you have found an employee who appears to fit your culture. He just "feels" right.

1. Observation of your culture in action.

One way to observe the culture in your organization is to take a walk around the building, and look at some of the physical signs of culture. Like space allocation, offices location, space allocation, Displays on bulletin boards& desk checking memos or email, tone of talks (formal or informal, pleasant or hostile, communication with one another etc.

2. Emotion and conflict in the Organization

While interacting with the employees we must see how much emotion is expressed during the interaction.

3. Watch Hangouts, area arrangements

Look at the objects and artifacts that sit on desks and hang on walls. Observe common areas and furniture arrangements

4. Interact with employees

Ask your employee some question to know what is the type of culture they have in their mind and what culture do they expect in the organization

• What would you tell a friend about your organization if he or she was about to start working here?
• What is the one thing you would most like to change about this organization?
• Who is a hero around here? Why?
• What is your favorite characteristic that is present in your company?
• What kinds of people fail in your organization?
• What is your favorite question to ask a candidate for a job in your company

How the culture evolution to be made:

Culture is a major determinant of an organization’s ability and desire to innovate.  Understanding what your culture is now, and how it needs to evolve, will help map out a way to produce even higher octane levels of performance in your organization, whatever its size may be.

• Do employees know your organization’s vision, mission, strategies and objectives clearly
• How supportive is your  previous culture
• What are draw backs of the previous culture and why do we need to change it.
• Are employees being more creative active?
• Do the organization change frequently
• How employees focus on problem-solving.
• How much flexibility do people have in coping with the change
• Who in the organization typically comes up with ideas?
• How would you describe the overall communication climate in your organization
• To what extent does your organization invest in sufficient employee training

Hints for Organizational culture change

1. Find something easy to change first.
2. Build coalitions of supporters.
3. Set targets for incremental completions.
4. Share information/reduce rumors.
5. Define how results will be measured.
6. Reward desired behaviors.

Conclusion:

Organizational culture change is necessary to support almost all organizational change efforts (strategic, structural, or process). Organizational change efforts will fail if organizational culture remains fundamentally the same. The effectiveness of organizational change efforts requires embedding improvement strategies in the organizational culture.

Changes in procedures remain superficial and short-lived unless there are fundamental changes in values, ways of thinking, and approaches to problem solving. The resisting forces will simply renew their efforts to re-establish the old status quo.

DR.P.V. PRABHA,MBA, M.COM,M.PHIL, Ph.D DIRECTOR, RVS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, COIMBATORE.

MRS.R.MANJU SHREE, MBA,M.PHIL,(Ph.D) RESEARCH SCHOLAR(BHARATHIAR UNIVERSITY),FACULTY, RVS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, COIMBATORE.