Question

How can management engineer culture in an organisation? What specific actions can management take to influence organisational culture?

Answer 1

Organizational culture is an important factor to be considered strategically for long run success and growth of an organization.

Organizational culture refers to set of those practices, philosophy, observed behaviors regularly, rules, values, informal and implied norms that are prevalent and being practice at the workplace in the organiztaion. The working and practices of an organization to a greate extent reflects its culture.

Organizational culture does not build over night rather the process of culturing takes long time and it gets developed gradually. The begining of creation of an organizational culture by management starts with an idea of a new enterprise with some specific common visions and values of the originators which get solidified as culture of the organization through steps of socialization.

The management engineer the culture of an organization through socialization process which may take following specific actions and steps -

1) Careful selection of entry level personnel seeking specific traits whose styles and values do match and make a fit with the organizational values and norms. For example a company that consider innovation as key element of survival and success wont go for employees who have great resistance to change and are not creative.

2) New personnel are orchested with series of different experiences that may make the employees understand and learn about the values and may question themselves whether they can accept them.

3) Managemnet reinforced extensive feild experinces acrefully to have employees mastery on their jobs wiith alognment to the cultural sets which management is seeking to engineer.

4) Peformance measurement and reward also takes place in alignment with the set rules, norms, guidelines, expected behaviors, values. For example an organization who does not tolerate harsh-handling of subordiinates or ethical violations may send the employees to penalty box and may negatively compensate them. On other hand reward and recognition and evaluation of performance may be based on these parameters as well.

5) Adherence to most important values through making employees identify the values by reconciling the personal sacrifices brought about by their memebreship in organization.

6) reinforcing the stories and folklore through keeping stories alive that validate the organization's culture and way of doing thngs.