Organizational culture is usually responsible for defining the personality of the organization. It represents a system of shared values and behaviors that members of the organization relate to and help to distinguish them from others (McNamara C, 2006).
The kind of organizational culture represented in Mississippi is a very interactive type of culture with a lot of independence encouraged by management. This has been facilitated by management being very open for delegation of authority by decentralizing their power and responsibility to the juniors. This is very positive as it encourages employees to be able to make decisions quickly and respond fast to situations such as the Hurricane Katrina disaster without having to wait for orders to come from top management (McNamara C, 2006).
This kind of culture also allows employees to take initiative and engage their creativity and experience in being able to deal with situations which will require great technical and understanding in solving issues which are urgent (McNamara C, 2006). The kind of culture encouraged by Mississippi power also allows for duties to be performed by proficient people and experts who have specialized in the specific areas.
Mississippi Power also has a very co-operative culture which has been fostered by great communication and relations between top management with junior employees and this has resulted in great team building skill been developed by employees which has increased their ability to work together and cope with challenging situations such as Hurricane Katrina.
The overall effect of the culture adopted by Mississippi Power has resulted into a very strong culture which has strengthened the company,s ability to adapt to the organization and to any unexpected changes that might occur (McNamara C, 2006). It has also impacted positively on organizations ability to have its employees engage positive behavior likely benefits the organization, engage in creative and positive decision making.
This culture is very important as it encourages members to work together and take up responsibilities and risks to overcome challenging situations. The drawbacks of such kind of culture include the possibility of junior employees making bad decisions and choices when they are entrusted to take up initiative at the expense of protocol (McNamara C, 2006). They can also take up risks which are not planned and the results end up being disastrous.
The company employees who join the firm can learn the culture through stories, ceremonies, symbols, myths and from heroes of the company who have achieved greatly in the past. They also can learn the organizational culture from rituals and also from actual experience acquired from being a members of the organization for a reasonable time (McNamara C, 2006).
The major stakeholders of the company would include its customers, employees, and investors. The issues likely to be faced may range from the quality of service raised by mainly the customers, working conditions and working environment by employees of the firm and profitability or growth and probably the kind of value being created by the firm are major issues likely to be raised by the investors. The stakeholders are not likely to change in cases of a disaster unless their is the presence of an alternative in the case of customers, employees are likely to remain with the organization in order to solve the crisis, while the investors are likely only to exit from the company if the future of the company is challenged with no possibility of a solution to the financial position of the company.
Other organizations are likely to learn that organizational culture is very fundamental and instrumental toward the success of the organization. The organizational culture is what distinguishes an organization from others (McNamara C, 2006). Mississippi Power organizational culture allows members to be creative and take initiative and this is primarily responsible for their ability to deal with the crisis so fast.
Mississippi Power allows employees to make significant decisions without having to wait for management to make decisions on their behalf thus helping to save a lot of time that could have been spent waiting. Mississippi Power allows employees to take risks on behalf of the organization, which is very important as the benefit is collateral if not greater.
Mississippi Power encourages team building and co-operation among employees which helps to consolidate not only their efforts but also their ideas which enables to achieve greater working together (McNamara C, 2006).This has been greatly facilitated by the fact that the organizational members together with their seniors relate well which has also been facilitated by great communication which has an overall effect on ensuring that the organization meets its objectives and goals efficiently.
All these factors are a result of the organizational culture which has numerous benefits which should be emulated by other companies.
References
McNamara C, 2006, Field guide to consulting and organizational development, Authenticity consulting LLC.