Reconditioning Organizational Culture
It is no big news that employees are concerned about job security and employers consistently worry about employee credibility – they fear that employees might misuse resources of the company. This relationship between employees and employers is unhealthy and counterproductive; it represents a love-hate culture. A good solution would be to build a culture that links performance with trust, team-work, and transparency.
Culture of any organization consists of unwritten rules which are so ingrained in the workforce that they are hard to describe. These unsaid rules represent the core of an organization – its values, beliefs and vision. These rules guide employees on performance, decision making, team building and customer care. These rules affect everyone and everything in the company.
Organizational culture needs attention of all stakeholders. Charisma and leadership are just a part of stimulating corporate culture. If an air of trust is promoted in the organization – it will directly enhance morale levels of employees and augment company performance
When working on organizational culture, stakeholders need to fully understand company values, long-term goals, vision etc.; how does the company respond to a changing business environment?
In an ever-changing business climate, where alliances and mergers are ubiquitous, leaders need to check out characteristics of the current culture, the forces which are shaping it; importance of communication; costs associated with developing a new culture and most importantly, what will be the impact of the new culture on bottom of the pyramid?
Company leadership should not move forward without asking these questions. Change implementation is a gradual process – not a one-time task. You need to aim for a point where employees would happily accept change as part of their day to day lives in the company.
Effective communication is a must in shaping organizational culture. Culture is incorporated in day to day activities of the organization; writing it down on a piece of paper will not lead to progress and prosperity of the company. It is imperative to train all leaders across the organization because they will play a vital role in implementation of cultural change.
When it comes to implementation, you need to understand the limitations of communication. Incorporate employee reward programs and work on strategy development. Put supporting procedures and policies in place for effectiveness.
Some multi-national companies try to implement similar culture in all their offices across the globe; they practice this to unite all stakeholders under a common brand umbrella. They pull this off by increased collaboration and knowledge sharing. Other Multi-nationals focus on developing sub-cultures to augment employee performance.
