3.4.3 The impact of culture on organizational effectiveness

Lecture



The importance of organizational culture in the successful functioning of the company is generally recognized throughout the civilized world. All successful companies, without exception, have created and maintain a pronounced organizational culture, the most consistent with the goals and values ​​of the company and clearly distinguish one company from another. However, it does not follow from this that strong cultures are an attribute of large companies. Today, one of the main components of the success of any company is a strong organizational culture. Successfully developing companies have a high level of culture, which is formed as a result of targeted efforts to develop the spirit of the corporation.

Organizational culture is a strategic tool that allows staff to focus on common goals, mobilize employee initiatives, ensure loyalty, and facilitate communication.

Consider how the main types of organizational culture affect organizational performance.

  1. In organizations with a culture of power , the figure of the leader plays a special role. His personal qualities and abilities determine the company's policy, his opinion is a decisive factor in promoting employees up the hierarchy, his management skills become the key to business performance. The source of power are resources, the distribution of which is engaged in the head. Such an organization with a rigid hierarchical management structure is characterized by speed of reaction to a change in the situation, efficiency in making decisions and their implementation.

  2. In organizations with a role-playing culture, a strict functional distribution of roles and specialization of employees acting on the basis of a system of regulated rules, procedures and standards allows for effective functioning in a stable environment, provided that well-coordinated actions of employees at different levels of management are established. The main source of power is not personal qualities, but the position held in a hierarchical structure.

  3. The task culture primarily focuses the firm on problem solving and project implementation. High professionalism of employees and their effective cooperation to a large extent determine the success of the operation. Power is often concentrated in the hands of those who are currently an expert in a leading area of ​​activity, possessing the maximum amount of information.

  4. In companies where participants unite in an organization to achieve their personal goals, a culture of personality is developed. Power is based on proximity to resources, professionalism and the ability to negotiate. Work efficiency is achieved under the condition of the ability of employees to cooperate to solve their problems. Power and control are coordinating.



One of the most important factors determining the production success of a company is its philosophy , that is, those fundamental principles on the basis of which all activity is based. Purposeful formation of key principles and goals, their official proclamation, realization by managers * of the company and consolidation of documents become the key to creating a positive external and internal image of the company and, consequently, increasing the efficiency of its activities. The systems of such principles and goals, the style of doing business and relations with the external and internal environment of the company constitute the credo of the company.

In order to introduce a new philosophy into the company, it is necessary for philosophy to become an integral part, firstly, of a leadership style (only then it will be possible to motivate the staff within this philosophy); secondly, the relationship in the team, within the enterprise (only then will it be possible to transfer the new image to the external environment); thirdly, the principles of working with customers and consumers (on the basis of which the slogan of the firm will be formulated). Observance of the principles of the new philosophy is intended to rally employees around common, clearly defined goals and values, to become part of the personal motivation of each employee and, consequently, increase the efficiency of the company.

Analyzing the differences in the culture of slow-growing enterprises and fast-growing enterprises, we can draw the following conclusions []:

  • slow-growing enterprises are enterprises focused primarily on power and status. Associated with this fear leads to oppressive uncertainty, emphasizes the hierarchy, the cost of energy and time to establish their own position can be significant. Perhaps these businesses should take care of themselves too much;

  • Fast-growing enterprises, on the contrary, are more focused on the achievement of the tasks set; employees are self-confident, they know that their achievements are taken into account and paid for. People want to improve and learn something. Perhaps, these enterprises have more time to work in the full sense of the word;

  • Both types of enterprises obviously attract employees: "those who seek hygiene," that is, employees who can first of all be satisfied with reliability, respect and authority * or factors surrounding work, and "those who are looking for motivation" whose motivation is the content of labor and own achievements.

Although the material presented is based on employee surveys and primarily takes into account the moral climate of an enterprise, it still shows cultural differences schematically, even if we do not equate moral climate with culture.

There are two ways of the influence of culture on organizational life. First, culture and behavior mutually influence each other. Secondly, culture affects not only what people do, but also how they do it. There are various approaches (models) to the selection of a set of variables through which the influence of culture on the organization can be traced. For example, the Sate model considers the influence of culture on organizational effectiveness through seven processes: []

  • cooperation between individuals and parts of the organization;
  • making decisions;
  • control;
  • communications;
  • organization commitment;
  • perception of the organizational environment;
  • justify their behavior.

On how these processes occur, depends on the efficiency of the organization.

Cooperation as a model of behavior in an organization is always more effective than the work of individual performers and departments. In the Japanese model of management (culture), the philosophy of group work is the highest value, while in the American model it is individualistic.

Making decisions. Practically every member of the organization regularly makes a lot of various decisions, making a choice between possible options for their actions.

Individual decisions more often than group ones turn out to be wrong, they have a much greater risk of errors. The problems of organizations are becoming more complex and integrated. For decision-making in such cases various, quite often specialized decisions are necessary. That is why, at present, an ever-increasing number of managerial decisions are being made on the basis of discussion by engaging specialists of different profiles or creating special groups. Since an organizational culture can help minimize disagreements, the decision-making process becomes more efficient.

Making a decision * from the point of view of the law of the required diversity will be more effective if not only the leaders but also the performers take part in the decision-making, that is, if it is of a collective nature.

Control is a process that ensures the achievement of an organization’s goal. It can be tough, persistent and depressing. And it can be built on trust and respect for the performer, be episodic, imperceptible in nature and therefore be more effective.

Communication is a complex process of exchanging information, embedded in all types of management activities. Therefore, communication is called a link, which is of great importance for the success of organizations. Surveys showed that 73% of American, 63% of English and 85% of Japanese executives consider communication as the main obstacle to the effectiveness of their organizations [29]. These surveys show that non-effective communications are one of the main areas of concern. Deeply comprehending communications at the level of the individual and organization, it is necessary to strive to reduce the frequency of cases of ineffective communications. The content of culture affects the content of communications. In some organizations, the openness of communications is valued, and in others - the opposite.

Dedication organization. A strong culture makes a strong sense of identity for the organization. In this case, the person can intensify their actions in an effort to help the organization. The phenomenon of high loyalty and dedication of the organization can be clearly seen in Japanese enterprises. The manifestation of this process is seen in the following facts:

  • low staff turnover;
  • participation in quality circles;
  • overtime work;
  • incomplete use of vacation dates;
  • the purchase of goods only his company;
  • joint leisure activities, etc.

The perception of the organizational environment. Affects the degree of job satisfaction. It is useful to analyze whether employees know the organizational culture of their company, how clear their goals are, what the organization expects from them, etc.

The degree of job satisfaction is defined as an effective response to the environment. It is related to what the remuneration system is, what methods of conflict resolution are, what the employee thinks the organization expects from him and how satisfied he is with it.

Justify your behavior. Culture helps people in organizations to act meaningfully, providing justification for their behavior. In organizations where risk is valued, a person goes to him, knowing that in case of failure he will not be punished and that lessons will be learned from failure for the future.

To assess the effectiveness of the management system (and hence the effectiveness of the organizational culture), the ultimate goal of which is the creation and sale of products (services) on the market, the resource efficiency indicator, a modified indicator of resource efficiency that takes into account, among other factors, market financial credit relations and inflationary processes.

In addition to the main generalizing indicator of efficiency, a number of auxiliary indicators should be used for a more complete assessment of organizational culture, such as the level of production relations, the range of management, the degree of stability of personnel, etc.

To develop measures to improve the level of organizational culture, it is also necessary to determine the relative effectiveness. The fact is that the possibility of measuring the effectiveness of an organizational culture does not mean that its formation is moving towards the ideal. This problem can be solved on the basis of checking the conformity of the existing and desired organizational culture using a social indicator - the culture index, which displays, using the correlation method, the relationship of power, rules of behavior and values ​​in a particular organization.

The leading role in the culture of enterprises is played by organizational values. Organizational values ​​- this is the ideology of management, position, point of view and behavior, shared by all members of the enterprise. The formation of these values ​​and determines the effectiveness of the organization.

The implementation of these values ​​is carried out in the following main areas.

    1. The objectives of the organization. First of all, any organization is created for the implementation of any goals: meeting the market demand for a certain type of product, providing services to the public, etc. Therefore, the formation of the organization’s goals is the creation of special values, a particular culture with its inherent work efficiency.

    2. Facing consumer . The objectives of the organization are formed specifically by the consumer. According to statistics, only four out of a hundred unsatisfied customers complain. But each of them will tell about ten friends and colleagues about their unsuccessful experience. Thus, by not properly satisfying one hundred customers, we may lose a thousand!

      Other statistics indicate that only one in ten unsatisfied customers may return. And attracting a new client is five times more expensive than saving an existing one. A ten percent decrease in market share leads to a 5-8% decrease in the share of profits.

    3. Performance depends on the person. Each employee is considered as a generator of ideas, a source of effective innovations. Therefore, personnel management should be based on the nature of man: all people love to feel like winners; they are very sensitive to rewards and punishments; they need a sense of life and well-being, therefore, work must provide employees with the opportunity to unleash their creative abilities; learning is the main mechanism by which people change their behavior; Both internal and external factors have a significant influence on a person.

    4. Creating a creative search environment. Exemplary companies are distinguished by decentralized management, the creation of conditions for the development of self-reliance and enterprise.

      The search atmosphere is created by the support of enthusiasts, the development of all forms of business contacts between employees, collegial management, and soft internal competition.

    5. Effective management. Many exemplary companies everywhere use slogans, stories, legends associated with the effective activities of the organization, its creators, prominent leaders and specialists. They form the propagated values ​​of the organization, i.e. its culture.

The stronger the culture of the organization * and the more it is focused on the market, the less needed are directives, organizational charts, detailed procedures and rules.

  1. Loyalty to the business. Some degree of diversification becomes the basis of the sustainability of the organization. It allows you to increase the workload of equipment and the employment of labor, to support the economy of the enterprise during the recession of the main production, etc. However, indiscriminate diversification is the least successful strategy * .

  2. Simplicity of form, modest management staff. Internal structural forms, planning, incentive systems, etc. in exemplary organizations are distinguished by their elegant simplicity.

  3. Strong leaders. The values ​​and methods of management * that transform organizations into exemplary ones are established and developed under the influence of strong leaders.

Corporate culture, a very complex parameter of the organization, has the greatest effect on organizational effectiveness, therefore the understanding and management of organizational culture by managers * is a means of achieving maximum efficiency.

Constant change in the market environment leads to the need for changes within the organization. Here, as a result of the collision of old and new cultures, conflict may arise as a reaction to changes. Thus, it becomes necessary to analyze the already established organizational culture in order to predict the company's reaction to the introduction of innovations * , and then the systematic formation of a corporate culture that would support innovations, adapt to them easily and generate them themselves.

The organizational culture parameters that contribute to the effectiveness of change are:

  • a policy of supporting and encouraging creative activity, rationalizing and innovative spirit of employees, which can be expressed both in material and financial incentives, participation of employees in proposing proposals, and in the possibility of moral encouragement, promotion, training, etc .;

  • analysis of the current state of the market and the internal capabilities of the company, conducted in order to determine the optimal pace and rhythm of adaptive changes, to develop a strategy of change, focused primarily on priority goals and objectives;

  • informing employees about the plans and goals of the company and creating interest in their implementation, so that staff voluntarily contribute as much as possible to the implementation of priorities.

The tasks of the manager are to find leverage: factors, motives and arguments that can convince people of the need for change, and then develop methods for adapting employees to change, expressed in training, improving their skills, personnel changes, etc.

Corporate culture reflects most of the social and material life of the collective, the dominant moral norms and values, the code of conduct. The objectives of the management team of the company are to form, analyze, manage and maintain the most conducive to the effectiveness of the corporate culture.


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