The culture of an organizatiom: Wieck and Pascale Theories

An organization’s culture is characterized by its basic values, beliefs, and traditions, which reflect the company’s personality. As a result, organizational culture is vital in the corporate environment since it ensures that organizations give high-quality services to their clientele. For example, it is the key skill required to shape both management and employee behavior, as well as improve consumers’ reactions/responses to the many conditions provided by the firm. Finally, organizational culture comprises the staff’s shared beliefs, assumptions, and standards, as well as their behaviors. People can sense an organization’s culture as they enter its grounds, even if it is difficult to explain. The concept of organizational culture is vital towards achieving the present and the future goals of the company.

Wieck and Pascale Theories

According to Wieck (1987) and Pascale (1984) theories, organizational culture is directly connected to the company’s effectiveness and productivity (Chorn, 2014). Both authors argued that shared culture (beliefs and values) have a positive impact on the staff’s performances. As a result, they are highly creative, innovative, engaged, committed, and motivated towards achieving the objectives and vision of the organization which enhances its competitive advantage in the ever-changing business climate. They added that implicit control systems where organizational culture facilitates the decision-making process increase the sustainability compared to Knee-jerk control schemes which rely on perceived values. Indeed, the latter could lead to internal conflicts between the management and staff resulting in a crisis.

Importance of Organizational Culture

The values and beliefs of the employees within the organization influence their daily transactions directly or indirectly. Usually, they are essential in defining inter-collegial interactions and establishing a healthy relationship with the customers. As a result, the company is better placed to promote the desired mannerism and accentuate how the workforce should approach their work ethic (Alvesson, 2016). Also, they are vital towards the development of the organization’s policies, in fact, the company policy is derived from its values. Thus, organizational culture determines the procedures and processes to be followed by all the members as well as improve their professional and private interactions to enhance effectiveness.

Also, the culture of the organization is core towards its expansion locally or internationally. The employers refer to formulate the employee selection and recruitment criterion by deciding which individuals fit into the standards of the company. As a result, the human resource department ensures that the workers share similar values defined in the company policy to ease their adaptation to the work setting atmosphere. A compatible workforce is necessary to guide the organization towards achieving long-term success (Whalen, 2016). The people would be willing to take part in organizational change without too much resistance because they have a shared meaning to the company policy and their efforts are aimed at attaining universal objectives.

Factors Affecting Organizational Culture

The characteristics of the workforce play a significant role in enhancing the company’s culture. Of course, the employees are the most valuable assets in an organizational setting. Therefore, individual personalities regarding their attitudes, interests, perceptions, and mentalities have a direct impact on corporate culture. It is believed that a person can define a company’s culture from the staff’s dress code, workplace arrangements, and their conversations in the job environment. The management style and leadership approaches are another factors that can affect an organization’s culture. The Southwest Airlines implements training for its employees where 25000 workers are trained yearly from their university (Bunz & Maes, 1988).

Another factor that affects organizational culture is the nature of the industry which the business operates. Some industries such as banking, agriculture, and stockbroking are heavily dependent on external factors including earning per share, as well as demand and supply. As such, if these factors are suppressed due to inflation and high costs of living, these companies downsize their workforce. The tension and job insecurity among the remaining employees is a demotivation factor which negatively affects organizational culture. Similarly, the organizations’ goals and objectives have a significant impact on culture. The company demands to its workforce contribute to its organizational culture. These requirements are essential in defining the values and beliefs of the organizations as formulated in the business’ agenda. Thus, the goals and objectives of the organization directly determine the behavior, values, and eventually the performance of the staff towards achieving universal success.

From the discussions in this paper, it is evident that organizational culture is core in the business setting. It is the ideal image of the company to the clients and primary stakeholders. However, the culture of large corporations is considered to be stricter compared to that of small businesses. Moreover, in both scenarios, the values, beliefs, and traditions are essential in molding them to attain the set objectives and long-term success. Organizational culture is the sole of business entities and gives them the capabilities to remain competitive in the market. Therefore, companies should consider improving their culture to promote effectiveness.

References

Alvesson, M. (Ed.). (2016). Organizational culture. Sage.

Chorn, N. H. (2014). The relationship between business-level strategy and organizational culture (Doctoral dissertation).

Bunz, U. K., & Maes, J. D. (1998). Learning excellence: Southwest airlines’ approach. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 8(3), 163-169.

Whalen, P., Uslay, C., Pascal, V. J., Omura, G., McAuley, A., Kasouf, C. J., ... & Gilmore, A. (2016). Anatomy of competitive advantage: towards a contingency theory of entrepreneurial marketing. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 24(1), 5-19.