The Impact of Organizational Culture on Managers

Ahmed and Shafiq (2014) defines organizational culture as a “collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one organization from other.” (21) In other words, it refers to particular beliefs and values amongst workers in an organization, which governs their overall behavior and shared vision. There are various ways which an organizational culture affects managers.

First, it places managers in the role of a pace setter, because employees are likely to follow suit in the behaviors of their leaders. Therefore, if part of the organizational culture is transparency, it has to start with the manager. Second, managers become disciplinarians in cases where a worker strays away from the set organizational culture, by warnings or punishment. Last, but not least, organizational culture imposes a display of leadership qualities on the part of a manager.

Diversity, on the other hand explains the various differences manifesting themselves in workers a particular workplace (Shaban, 2016). Diversity presents both positive and negative impacts on a manager, depending on how well they apply management strategies.

First, managers heading a diverse team may often experience high levels of success during projects, primarily because of diversity in ideas and implementation. However, diversity can also cause derailment or poorly done projects because of lack of coordination among people with disparate backgrounds. In addition, diversity influences a manager’s decision-making process because they have to put various additional factors into consideration (Becker & Palmer, 2009).

Silent languages refer to the way cultures impact people without their knowledge. Managers should learn this aspect, especially on cultures represented in their organizations, because it aids in the learning and accommodating their subordinates. It may also help them to take advantages of opportunities presented by cultural diversity.

References

Ahmed, M., & Shafiq, S. (2014). The impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: a case study on telecom sector. Global journal of management and business research.

Becker, C., & Palmér, S. (2009). The effects of culture on managers’ decision making: a case study of Mexico and Germany. Master Thesis: Lulea University of Technology.

Shaban, A. (2016). Managing and Leading a Diverse Workforce: One of the Main Challenges in Management. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 230, 76-84.