Organizational culture is a system of shared values and beliefs that guide the manner in which organizational members interact with one another and with other organizational stakeholders. The shared values have an influence on the manner in which the members dress, talk and perform their roles. Every organization has its own unique culture which may act as a source of competitive advantage to help the organization increase its competitiveness within the global market.
Debra Woog McGinty and Nicole C. Moss have a short corporate survey that can be used to analyze an organization’s culture and develop a plan through which the culture can be improved. From the survey results, I realize that the organization has an established/stable culture. The test scores fit within my general expectation because they describe the organization as one that has been in existence for quite some time. The organization has necessary systems to address situations and has mentor programs to help in employee development.
The test results can be compared to Carter McNamara categories. McNamara has different categories of culture including academy culture, baseball team culture, club culture and fortress culture (McNamara, 2000). Employees within the academy culture are highly skilled and loyal to the organization. The organization provides the environment through which employees can develop their skills making it easy for the employees to work their way up within the organization (McNamara, 2000). This is easily comparable to the stable organizational culture described by McGinty/Moss assessment. The point of confluence is in the fact that both systems provide an environment for employees to address different situations thereby empowering employees to be decision makers within the organization.
Employees within the baseball team culture category are highly skilled meaning that they are always in high demand. The implication of this is that they can easily switch jobs from one organization to another (McNamara, 2000). This is way different from the stable culture. The reason for this is that organizations having an established or stable culture always find it difficult to let go of employees because of disruptions that may be generated through this turnover. This may increase the time required for the organization to respond to customer’s needs.
The club culture category is where employees are expected to fit in the group. Employees may start at the bottom but their hard work, dedication and results may see them promoted to different roles within the organization. In such a culture, the organization mainly promotes from within and places a lot of emphasis on seniority (McNamara, 2000). There is some relationship with the established culture because most organizations having stable culture have been in the business for quite some time and are large enough to offer opportunities for growth. The other relationship is the idea of command and control which exists in both. For the club culture, this comes out due to the emphasis on seniority. However, the command and control system may make it difficult for the stable organization to handle some employee issues and this may result in high employee turnover (Moss, 2001).
Within a fortress culture, employees are not aware whether they will be laid off or their services will still be needed within the organization. Organizations with such cultures undergo massive restructuring in order to fit their culture with the business environment. This means that they provide opportunities for employees with the set of skills required at a specific time (McNamara, 2000). This is very different from established culture because in an established culture, there is no massive reorganization of systems and processes.
The assessment and McNamara categories have helped me gain insights on management skills. One of the skills that I have learned is the importance of situational leadership in modern management. This is because different employees and different situations may require different styles of leadership. In addition, there is need for organizations to focus their culture and systems to addressing the needs of customers. Through this, an organization can improve its competitiveness thereby promoting sustainability of its operations.
The assessment results have shown that the organizational culture fits with me. As has been mentioned, the test results show that the organization has a stable culture. This is characterized by solid institutional memories and clear patterns of doing things. The organization is also innovative and encourages employee development. This fits well with me because I always like challenges where I am expected to innovate different ways to handle customer or stakeholder issues. I also like it when my efforts are adequately valued and compensated by the organization. The established or stable culture provides for good compensation of employees. I also like mentoring and training programs that are guaranteed by the organizational culture. Through training, I have learned of different issues like compliance, corporate social responsibility and customer satisfaction among others. One thing that I can do to make interaction with culture more effective is to have more peer interaction. Through this I will learn from my peers and this will improve my communication and interpersonal skills.
The questions asked in the survey help in understanding the organization. The survey questions are mainly about operation within the different departments in the organization. The questions ask about the layers of management and whether it is fun to work within the organization. However, the questions do not consider communication and how to promote communication culture within an organization. Despite this, the questions assess what is needed in order for one to analyze the organization’s culture.
