Question No. 4 - MMPC 01 - Management Functions and Organisational Processes - MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

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                            MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

MMPC 001 - Management Functions and Organisational Processes

MMPC-004/TMA/JULY/2022

Question No. 4. What are the characteristics of an organizational culture? Briefly discuss how to build sustainable organizational culture including ethical culture with examples.

Organizational culture may be understood as a system within the organisation which fosters shared meaning by its members, differentiates it from the other organisations. The changing time has moved the expectation levels from desiring a good organizational culture to a great organizational culture. Typical features and characteristics of an organisation culture are: 

1. Alignment: Alignment of organizational values with employee motivation results in exceptional outcomes.

2. Innovation and risk taking: Degree of innovation and creativity by the employees within organisation.

3. Precision:Level of precision, analysis and attention to details expected from employees.

4. Outcome orientation: Level of management focus on results and outcomes rather than techniques and process used by the organisation.

5. Outcome orientation: Level of management focus on results and outcomes rather than techniques and process used by the organisation.

6. Team Orientation: Focus on development of task and activity for the group of people rather than individuals.

7. Aggressiveness: Environment of being competitive and aggressive rather than easygoing.

8. Stability: Ability of an organisation to maintain stability in contrast to growth.

9. Resilience: Responding to change makes organization resilient displaying empathy during the times of disruption, re-establishing normalcy.Degree of above stated characteristics varies from low to high depending on the type of organisation and activities within it. Few authors have described the following characteristics of organisational culture:

- Regularities in Behaviour:Interactions among employees within organisation are done in common language, terminology and rituals. 

- Rules and regulations:Each and every employee in organisation is bound to adhere to the rules laid down by the organisation. 

- Dominant values: Most of the organisations have strong and dominant values to be followed by each employee. These dominant values can be high efficiency, low absenteeism, high product quality etc. 

- Philosophy:Philosophy means beliefs and values of organisation which are in organisation’s policy which may be regarding treatment of customers and employees. 

 - Organisational climate: Environment of trust and harmony among employees, interdependence and reciprocity and commitment. All these collectively develop organisational climate. 

The world-famous Spanish painter Pablo Picasso once said- “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.” This reiterates the importance of planning in making a success story. Hence, we are on the path of understanding the clear line-of-action in building an organizational culture with built-in self-repair and autoupgradation modes.

Depiction of the route-map is distributed into 9 landmarking steps. 

They are: 

i. Shine in recognition:Recognition is a great lure for improvement. In an era, where around 76% employees don’t feel that they are recognised and acknowledged for their contributions; a personalized message to the employees can make remarkable business impact. Social recognition when bundled with monetary reward makes the firm move with an irresistible force. 

ii. Gift voice to the employees:Expression of ideas, feelings, and opinions often emerges as the feedback-pool. The various kinds of listening tools may ease the process of feedback collection. 

iii. Human intervention: To analyse the results, paying minute attention to the subtle expressions will make the nonverbal channel of communication create visible organizational strength. Gallup world poll has showed that the managers who get constant feedback bring in 9% more profitability as compared with managers who do not receive any feedback or suggestions on their strengths. In today’s context where gig economy, and hybrid work culture is at an all-time peak, gifting freedom of coercion-free expression will boost the strength of remote working 

iv. Redefine culture advocates to be the leaders: Acknowledgement is the simplest yet the most effective tool of motivation. The path of culture advocacy is hard to walk. Benchmarking culture advocates as leaders creates significant amount of influence on the mind of the team of workers. Such a practice begins the root-level correction at the tender minds of new employees. Studies have shown that, when leaders follow the values of the company, others to follow the suit. Building a culture where every aspect of the values of the company are valued and prioritized at every aspect of the work life is the need of the hour. 

v. Outlive organizational values:Values are the unique identification set of traits of an organization. Delivering to meet the values enables growth of an enriched culture and improved identity of the employee as a man of values. Projecting such employees boost the motivation of the others, hence creating a value-pull. Volunteering such actions leaves impactful impressions, and future course of action. 

vi. Forge teams: Teams are the pool of different sets of strengths. The unique strength of one when forged with another unique trait gives rise to invincible organization traits. This helps the firm to cross the just notifiable difference (JND) seamlessly creating competitive advantage to reap tall profits. 

vii. Focus on the holistic development: The modern era of development has widened the employer’s perspective. Offering employees various skill upgradation courses motivates the employee to contribute to the growth of the parent company. This has a dual impact on the company: first, it ensures enrichment of the human capital and second, curbs the turnover intention.Focus on the holistic development flaunts a culture of learning in the organization. Soft-skill development is deeply respected in the business fraternity. Companies with a constantly fuelled learning and development budget are likely to grow much faster than the ones who do not invest on training. 

viii. Culture- as an irrevocable intangible:Company’s culture being the valued-most intangible need to be nurtured with utmost care. Finding culture-fit through focussed questions at the very stage of hiring eliminate the inclusion of employees who either possess a culture-mis-fit or culture-poor-fit. Misalignment of employee’s expectation with that of the organization’s expectation results in high turnover ratio. Culturally aligned employees not only stay for a long-time but also enjoy their work tenure. 

ix. Tailor-made employee experience: With the liberalization, world has become a global village. Companies are able to attract talent from every nook and corner, hence also attracting their pre-existing cultures. Using the power of experience, the organization needs to mindfully align the culture of individual employee to that of the corporate. Creation of tailormade highly personalized employee experience generates great amount of trust on the culture of the parent organization. 

x. Showing proactive allyship: The employees feel powerless at the encounter of unfortunate situations. Companies may plunge to protect their interests even at the cost of the firm’s financial profit, so as to depict the ‘we care for you’ in practice, hence acting as an ally. The allyship strengthens the bond between the employee and the organizational culture.