Introduction
Organizational culture is one of the most critical elements of an organization. It determines the success of the company and the well-being of its people and customers. In this regard, it is essential to consider how the culture of a company is. Principally, organizational culture defines an organization’s internal and external identity (Connolly et al., 2017). Understanding the attributes that make up the organization’s culture is, therefore, important to know the identity of the company. Additionally, understanding the culture of an organization helps an individual know how the company does business and how it interacts with the outside world.
Factors That Have Been Important in the Creation of My Organization’s Culture
One of the most perceptible issues that have been critical to the development of our organization’s culture is the founder’s values. Our firm’s culture is inextricably embedded in the background, personality, and values of the founder. It resonates with the founder’s vision for the organization’s future. When an entrepreneur establishes their own business, how they plan to do business dictates the organization’s rules and the structural setup (Harpelund, 2019). The founders are also usually responsible for hiring people.
Some of the present corporate values of our organizations can easily be traced to the personality and values of the founder. The founder’s social convictions and beliefs in the ideals of and service to others form a basis for the current culture in the organization. Additionally, the founder’s customer-centric approach also forms an essential part of the organizational culture. In our organization, customer service remains to be a priority. This is a value that our employees have endeared since the organizations’ foundation.
My Experience Concerning How My Organization Has Maintained Its Culture
My organization has done a lot to maintain its existing organizational culture. Notably, it leverages hiring practices that are congruous with its culture and values. As a new employee, I experienced how the company integrates its culture into hiring processes and absorption of new employees. To achieve successful onboarding, a company must strive to create an essential bridge between employee recruitment and the management of new employees (Harpelund, 2019). Admittedly, my organization uses the onboarding process as a platform to cultivate and nurture organizational culture. For instance, the company seeks candidates whose individual traits are aligned with its culture.
During the onboarding process, I realized that the human resource team was profoundly concerned about imparting crucial organizational values to the new employees, I included. The organization’s culture enables it to conduct the onboarding process in a manner that guarantees the continuity of operations and smooth integration of new employees into the organization (Odor, 2018). Immediately after we arrived at the company, we were given a professional orientation that was implicit in the organization’s culture. Notably, every communication from the human resource team conveyed the organization’s culture. The organization’s human resource personnel were keener in relaying the values, ideologies, and work ethics of the firm.
As a new employee, I was taken through the different steps of the onboarding process. In one of the most critical steps, the company’s human resource manager sought to replace my intrinsic traits with standardized behaviors that are congruous with the organization’s culture. The manager particularly addressed the relevance of a customer-centric approach and the importance of upholding the value of dedication to customer service.
How my Organization Communicates its Culture
One of the ways through which my organization communicates culture is through the use of visual methods. For instance, the company produces internal marketing and communication materials such as posters and banners that extol its corporate values. Visual impressions are profoundly critical in reinforcing the culture of a company (Mannion & Davies, 2018). After creating the posters, the concerned personnel place them at strategic locations within the premises of the organizations. The message outlined in the posters and banners serves as a constant reminder to all members of the organization regarding the culture of the organization.
By repeatedly implanting such visual images into the minds of employees, the organization manages to reinforce the culture and make part of the priorities in the workplace. Additionally, the company leverages other visual elements in meeting rooms to reinforce its culture. Information featured in the visual elements includes the organization’s quality policy, vision, mission, values, and quality certifications. I agree that these elements portray the underlying values and assumptions in our organization.
Cultural Aspects That Need To Be Changed
Some of the aspects of our organizational culture need to be changed. For instance, our culture emphasizes more on the values and behaviors that employees should embody to align their personalities with the overall organizational objectives. However, the organization’s culture does not put enough emphasis on employee engagement and satisfaction. This is a critical area that needs to be reviewed. Employee engagement is one of the most perceptible predictors of organizational performance (Sun & Bunchapattanasakda, 2019).
There is sufficient proof to show that optimal employee engagement enhances organizational productivity and lowers workforce turnover. Additionally, it increases retention rates and lowers the rates of work absenteeism. It is, therefore, imperative for organizations to integrate employee engagement into their organizational culture.
As an employee in our organization, I would push for the integration of employee engagement policies into the organization’s culture by advocating for a change in the reward system. Remarkably, the criteria through which employees are rewarded have a critical role in determining cultural values (Padhi, 2017). The current reward system used in our organization has proved to be ineffective in attaining optimal employee engagement.
In this regard, I would advise the management to consider offering lucrative rewards to employees who embrace the company’s values. Giving promotion incentives to such employees will also help to ensure that they strive to safeguard the company’s culture. On the underscore, it is prudent for the organization to adopt a team-based reward system. This will ensure that employees are more engaged in teamwork. In the end, this strategy will help initiate a culture change.
References
Connolly, L. Y., Lang, M., Gathegi, J., & Tygar, D. J. (2017). Organisational culture, procedural countermeasures, and employee security behaviour. Information & Computer Security, 25(2). Web.
Harpelund, C. (2019). Onboarding resources: What do we need? In Onboarding: Getting New Hires off to a Flying Start [eBook edition]. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Mannion, R., & Davies, H. (2018). Understanding organisational culture for healthcare quality improvement. BMJ, 363. Web.
Odor, H. O. (2018). Organisational culture and dynamics. Global Journal of Management and Business Research, 18(1), 1-8.
Padhi, P. (2017). Organizational culture and employee performance. International Journal of Research in IT and Management, 7(5), 77-81.
Sun, L., & Bunchapattanasakda, C. (2019). Employee engagement: A literature review. International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 9(1), 63-80. Web.