Management course: discussion topic 11

This week you will assess organizational change and its impact.  You will assess why individuals resist changes and discuss the step-by-step process that will lead organizational change. You will further discuss organizational culture and, how the culture of an organization is tied to its leadership and processes.  You will learn how the culture created set the tone, provides direction, determine behaviors and decision-making in the organization. 

PROMPT: Suppose you are asked by senior officers of a city government to identify ways to reinforce a new culture of teamwork and collaboration.  The senior executive group clearly supports these values, but it wants everyone in the organization to embrace them.  Identify and evaluate four types of activities that would strengthen these cultural values.

Support your answer by utilizing research that you have gathered from at least 2 sources other than your text. Finally, be sure to cite your sources in proper APA formatting.

A detailed and thoughtful response to the topic is required (minimum of 500 words). RUBRIC IS ATTACHED BELOW.

 Additionally, emphasis is placed on your ability to conduct and synthesize scholarly research. 

  Your posts should be professional in content and follow the APA standards. Be sure to city your sources in APA formatting.

SAMPLE RESPONSE:

The organizational culture of an organization is a culmination of the values and assumptions that members share (McShane & Glinow, 2013).  In many cases, the culture is built around the common values that the majority of people share.  A strong organizational culture is developed when the employees share the values and goals of the company and few people have differing ones.  When the opposite is true, there are several ways that the culture and subsequent values can be strengthened. 

            One way is to have a strong vision for the company and to have the founder or other leaders within the company express this vision.  Hiring a person whose sole responsibility is to focus on the culture is an effective way to get all the employees heading in the right direction (McKinnon, 2013).  The leaders in a company are viewed as role models and the other employees often aspire to be like them.  By practicing the values that the company culture needs to be built upon and expressing these values as often as possible, others will begin to pick up these values as well. 

Another method to strengthen the values is to align company artifacts with those values (McShane & Glinow, 2013).  The artifacts of a company represent what the company stands for and how it is run.  A leader could change the artifacts to suit the new values or make sure that the old artifacts stay in place.  It is important to pick only a few necessary values to focus on and align these artifacts with (Aguirre & Katzenbach, 2013).  Too many will cause the culture to lose focus and opens the door for other values to take precedence. 

            A reward system should also be put in place that emphasizes the values and artifacts that the company wants to express.  Offering rewards strengthens the opinions of employees that following the values is good.  This creates commitment and lessens the chance of countercultures arising that would harm the company’s goals.  If an employee does not follow the company’s values, the leaders’ rational needs to be explained.  Simply punishing the employee will not cause a lasting impression because he or she may not understand the values. 

            Finally, the company needs to hire employees that have similar values (McShane & Glinow, 2013).  This is especially important when a company is acquiring another organization or if a new branch is being established.  If the employees that are hired already believe in these values, they can become the natural leaders and instigators for creating a culture based on them.  Hiring people with similar values also decreases employee turnover, which leads to less training and cultural clashes.  Employees with similar values as the company will not feel conflicted when making tough choices and will be happier completing their work.  As the organizational culture grows stronger, it will be easier to identify and attract new hires with similar values.

            Establishing these new values will not lead to long term success.  The company’s leaders need to maintain the values by constantly reinforcing proper behavior and leading by example (Aguirre & Katzenbach, 2013).  Attracting and selecting the right people is also imperative because having many people who share the values will create a positive dominate culture.  Only with the majority of the employee’s support will the company be successful at creating a strong organizational culture with fully integrated values. 

References

Aguirre, D. & Katzenbach, J.  (2013, May 8).  4 ways to get your culture working for you.  Tanveer Naseer.  Retrieved from http://www.tanveernaseer.com/four-steps-to-improve-organizational-culture-jon-katzenbach-deanne-aguirre/

McKinnon, T.  (2013, October 4).  How to build a great company culture.  Forbes.  Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2013/10/04/how-to-build-a-great-company-culture/

McShane, S. L., & Glinow, M. A. (2013). Organizational behavior: emerging knowledge, global reality (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.