Summary:
In this reflection, I have attempted to describe the culture of the
organization where I have worked before and in the process, I have
expressed my views about the same .I have also indicated the kind of
impact which my organization created to me about work culture.
An
organization's culture varies as widely as the nature of work itself.
Often a unique different mix of values and norms govern the cultural
environment of an organization. In today's fast changing business
environment, the cultural make-up of an organizations plays a critical
role in the success of the firm to achieve its strategic objectives. In
this paper I will explore the idea of organizational culture and discuss
factors associated with understanding the reality of an organization's
culture, with examples presented to illustrate my discussion points.
Culture
is not an easily defined concept, but generally it is the values,
beliefs, and norms expressed in work practices and behavior. An
organization's culture is not necessarily an articulated list of values
found in a carefully worded statement or available as an appendix in an
annual report. Rather, culture is created by the organization itself.
How employees treat and interact with one another and the values of the
employees and the organization, such as work ethic, manifest an
organization's culture. Some cultures encourage innovation and risk
taking, while others punish those who challenge established norms and
practices.
Here,
I’d like to discuss about work culture at my organization. After
finishing my undergraduate in India, I worked for a startup in US where I
had a brief encounter with the organization’s culture. The speaker
addressed us as Software Developers instead of interns, which was our
designation and we were asked to address any employee by their name
(which is not usual in India where the senior people are addressed as
“Sir/Madam”, so that was a complete change of grounds for me). Also the
Identity card never represented the designation of a person. The main
reason behind this was to reduce the “Power-distance”
which is usually very high in India. There is a kind of domination by
the people in higher positions. I used to work along with CEO, CTO and
other senior people in the same office and they were very much
accessible to me. Every day all the employees used to had lunch and
dinner with CEO, CTO.
Another
instance where the culture in my Organization had a positive impact on
me was when I learned about the Values, which were believed and
practiced by every employee of the organization. Those values are –
Executive Support, Training Leading change, Integrity, Respect for
individual, Learning and sharing.
Executive support:
Executives in the organization must support the cultural change, and in
ways beyond verbal support. They must show behavioral support for the
cultural change. Executives must lead the change by changing their own
behaviors. It is extremely important for executives to consistently
support the change.
Training:
Culture change depends on behavior change. Members of the organization
must clearly understand what is expected of them, and must know how to
actually do the new behaviors, once they have been defined. Training can
be very useful in both communicating expectations and teaching new
behaviors.
Leading change:
All the employees are given the freedom to think innovatively and make
necessary changes to the project they are working in; the main motive
behind this is that we believe that change is very essential and leading
change helps us gain a potential advantage in the competitive market.
Integrity:
Integrity is a mirror revealing the truth about an individual or a
corporation. It involves walking the talk -- not just talking it.
Integrity is violated when corporate policies and procedures are thrown
out the window in the quest for personal or corporate gain. From an
organization's perspective, personal and corporate integrity are two
sides of the same coin. In order for a corporation to have integrity, it
must have an ethical environment with employees and business partners
willing to follow and enforce corporate culture, policies, and
procedures. From an individual's perspective, an employee or partner
wants to for a corporation aimed at doing the right thing and in-sync
with their personal values and beliefs.
Respect
to individual: As I have said before, all the employees are treated
equally disregarding to their designation and role in the company and
everyone has freedom to access any employee including the senior
management.
Learning
and sharing: One’s knowledge doubles when he/she shares it with others.
I strongly believe in this and have always done that which I continued
to do at work with my organizations support.
Considering
the size of the company, I was a bit uncertain during the initial phase
of my job but the clear mission, vision and value statements and the
level of coordination and integration among the employees definitely
reduces the uncertainty.
Conclusion:Discussing
all this, I should say that the culture at my organization definitely
had a positive impact on me; it has created a positive and comfortable
work environment. Organizational culture is a very important factor for a
company and the culture of an organization represents the organization.
