Introduction
Every organization has its own culture. Every culture consists the expectations related to behavior. These norms and values are not in writing but it tell employees the way things really are. Perception of all the persons in business from chief executive to the lowest rank is influenced by these norms. Employees of any organization contribute to the success or failure of the organization; follow the norms by supporting and accepting them.
Organization culture
Corporate culture is the combination of shared values, norms and beliefs that give meaning to the persons of an organization and provide them with the rules for behavior in the organization.
Organization culture is concerned with how employees concerned with six basic features such as individual, autonomy, structure, consideration, conflict and structure.
Every organization explains in its own way what it means by culture. Some of them called it ethos, core, manner, ideology, philosophy, roots, style, vision, patterns and the way and the purpose.
Constituents of the culture
Organization culture is made up of tow dimensions
Guiding beliefs
Daily beliefs
Guiding beliefs– there are external beliefs relating to how to compete and how to direct the business and also there are internal beliefs relating to how to manage, how to direct the business. The philosophical foundation of every organization is built with these roots and principles. These roots and principles are held as universal truths and are enough to accommodate any variety of circumstances.
Daily beliefs are those rules and feelings that are related to everyday behavior. They are dynamic, situational and change to meet circumstances.
Functions of organization culture
Today organization can not neglect its human side. Employees of the organizations are the real fortune maker of the organization who play a great role in making the organizations strong and growing unit. It is necessary for organization to develop an organization identity and to nurture the spirit of oneness .organization culture performs four different types of functions.
Desired behavioral pattern
Employees must learn to behave according to basic organizations philosophy. And they should understand their surroundings.
Collective commitment
Organization culture is the result of team efforts. Culture is that visible bond of feelings and emotions that ties the employees at all the levels to develop collective commitment.
The fooling of organizational identity
Good Organization culture has ability to attract develop and keep talented people. Organization can not grow without strong commitment of its employees.
Socialization of members
The organization must uniformly develop system of promotions, remuneration and behavior patterns which can socialize the employees without any conflicts between them.
DIAGNOSING AND CHANGING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: BASED ON COMPETING VALUES
EMPLOYEE MORALE
It is the relationship that a particular employee or a group of employees have for their work and for their organizations they work for. If there is high employee morale means employees are happy and this is also reflective in the kind of job they do. On the other hand if there is low employee morale it will result in low productivity and pessimism in employees. It is important for all the organizations to make continually efforts to keep morale high.
Significance
Employees’ morale is a part of workforce culture. When there is high employee morale employees are happy, they become more efficient because they enjoy their work. It is important that employees do not feel overload and burdened by their job.
Develop
Better communication always improves employee morale. Encouraging employees to communicate their ideas and thoughts effectively will result in better understanding of each other. This also helps in developing the leadership styles in employees and teaching the employees how to be assertive. Top management should also talk sincerely to their employees and staff and build a solution to resolve the issues among the employees.
Effects
If there is high employee morale then it shall result in effective team. A supportive environment helps employees to work effectively and share their ideas without fear of being ridiculed. High morale is also an induction of job satisfaction. Employees should also be forward in asking for help and support of any kind in an organization.
Considerations
Human resource department helps a lot in improving the employee’s morale by participating in various activities and events that would help in raising the employees’ morale. Team building exercises play a great role because when employees work in harmony in teams , they tend to help each other.
Expert insight
The best way to improve high morale is to reward the hard work of employees. An employee may sometimes feel overloaded with the amount of work he needs to be done and could start of thinking the value of the work comparing the amount of pay he receives. When employees feel that they would appreciated then they shall more likely to want to shoe their skills and contribute more.
Impact of organization culture on employees’ morale
The nature of organization culture that exists in the company decides the degree to which the desired results from the employees are obtained. The perception of members about the organization usually determines that type of the organization culture.
An organization culture consists of two components –
The primary value of the organization
The existing systems and styles of management
These two components mainly determine the degree to which the desired results shall obtained from the employees. The value systems of the employees indicate the direction in which the employees’ originations are likely to move in the future. A strong culture is the lover for guiding behavior of employees. It helps employees to do their job better. Organization culture can be stated in following five features
- Conflict
- Consideration
- Organizational structure
- Individual autonomy
Reward for the employees
- The essence of the organization culture is mainly concerned with how workers perceive each of the five features stated above whether positive or negative. A system of informal rules can be necessary for an effective culture that spells out how employees in organizations are behaving most of the time. It also enables people to feel better about what they have done, so that they are more likely to work harder. It provides a sense of common direction and rules for day to day activities.
- If organization culture is such that they give reward and appreciate the employees for their work done then there will be an high employees morale in an organization. Most of the people thrive on feeling appreciated. Every organization can improve employee morale by showing appreciation in simple ways such as rewarding employees by saying well done and than you for the good work.
- Psychological research shows that atmosphere greatly and also directly affects the employees’ morale and motivation level. Providing comfortably and aesthetically pleasing furniture is one way to motivate people. Lighting flowers and artwork can be the method help improve employee morale.
- If in the organization employers are friendly and interested in employees then there will be high employee morale sincere query and a warm smile shall help in motivating employees.
- Every organization must encourage social interaction between employees and must resolve conflicts immediately to improve the employee morale. Social events such as picnics and softball or baseball games can create a sense of belongingness between employees. Social interactions help in positively influences the cooperation about coming to work everyday. On the other hand if there are no interactions then such situation of isolation can cause depression and a lack of motivation.
- Providing a pleasant atmosphere is sometimes not possible like in factories and repair shops. In these types of environments offering a proper relaxation time period and a break room helps to improve motivation level. In any work environment, safe and comfortable conditions raise employee morale by providing a reasonable sense of security.
- There are many issues that stems from practices embedded within in an organization culture affecting employee morale and productivity. These include –
- Little or no accountability
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Employees need to know that mistakes may count for learning instead of punishing criminals for repeat offenses.
- Leadership not serving as examples
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Today some leaders are ruthless, demeaning and narcissists. Leaders need to act always in harmony and ensure equal treatment of all like the organizational culture in McDonalds and FedEx.
- Departmental infighting
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Companies are in business for one reason: to create clients. End the fighting and focus on the most vital asset. When the fighting ends perhaps harmony shall arrive.
- Career planning and succession planning is null
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Most of the CEO’s and senior managers join an organization from competitive industries and companies. In the organization there is null career planning then there will be very less employee morale and the motivation level.
How employee’s morale benefits your business?
- If compared to employees who are motivated with disengaged workers we shall find that disengaged workers do their work less efficiently, miss more workdays and also cost organization thousands of dollar due to loss of productivity. Keeping the employees motivated and high morale is one the best way you can maintain the productive workforce.
- For getting employees and to feel connected to the company, managers must ensure that employees clearly understand their roles. Managers must provide good training and continuous feedback to ensure high motivation level of employees.
- High morale of employees shows the setting of high standards and shows commitment toward the organization. When it comes to things like customer service and quality then act in such a manner that consistent with what you demand from your employees.
- Make employees feel valued and connected by asking for their feedback and suggestions and giving them room to make decisions by involving employees as equal members of your team.
- If the organization promotes policies that support employees in taking action to resolve issues then there will be less wastage of time and energy that will no doubt shall effects the organization productivity
Direct relationship between employees morale and organization culture
Therefore to have a high employee morale there must be favorable organization culture. There are some of the pointers to improve the organization culture –
- Say “thank you “often and sincerely face to face.
- Offer the options to the employees to come an hour late on Monday mornings or leaving the employees an hour early on Friday afternoons when possible.
- Employers must take time to meet with employees one at a time.
- Acknowledge special events either through cards, meetings ad news letters.
- Encourage a sense of ownership in work.
- Publicly appreciate hard work and an initiative on the company bulletin board, in the news letters and board meetings.
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Suggestions – for high employees’ morale
- With the helps of survey determine what motivates employees. Gauge the areas in career development, recognition and rewards, status, task accomplishment activities, leadership, and praise, problem solving achievement and guiding others.
- Communicate with employees about how company’s basic goals, vision and mission connect to individuals employee goals. Set up a display about the employees’ proudest moments. Create such environment that expresses concern for employees.
- Allow time to the employees at the beginning of the shift so that they can review past and ongoing goals. Instill a sense of confidence and encouragement in the company’s ability to provide resources to employees for succeed. Highlight the accomplishments and success stories of employees.
- Use themed apparel and a casual dress day to promote a sense of tea spirit. Provide a relaxation breaks and pictures of great vacation or picnics as rewards for group achievements. Encourage them to start book clubs, craft circles and other activities that they can share with co-workers.
- Organization must also promote open communication system in work environment. Employees who are dedicated to the company’s future and goals instinctively work towards accomplishing their goals.
- Employers should model the behavior which they want to seek in the employees. Leaders need to be enthusiastic and confident about company’s goals and vision.
- Encourage the staff to be proactive problem solves and welcome their contributions. Help them in identifying the challenges and encourage work together to overcome obstacles and explain how to maintain individual success.
- Respect their personal lives
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If manages are putting so many hours in the work, everything else is probably suffering. It can be highly motivating to show concern about a manager’s life outside work.
- Occasionally talk about life
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Organization need to set aside time for one-on-one meetings, to talk about managers’ career development and personal agenda.
- Create closure
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One the major reasons that their work is never done, no matter how many hours they put in, employees get to finish their project but the manager comes back to the same desk every morning.
Tips and warnings
- Morale is the responsibility of every organization. In the end, employees are responsible for the value the place on morale
- Be creative in conveying the importance of morale by coming up with new ways to create an exciting place to work.
- Print posters with inspirational sayings and place them in highly visible areas.
- Do not focus all your efforts on negative and non motivated employees. If accountable, their actions eventually cause them to improve or leave.
- Balance self motivation with company motivation to improve morale.
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GOOGLE’S ORGANISATION CULTURE
- Google has one of the interesting organizational cultures. They are one of the top among 100 companies to work for according to fortune (2008).it is one of the most fastest and useful web searches around the world. Google strives to have the reliable search engine in order to accomplish this Google hires employees that are the best in their technological field.
- Google rewards the hard work of their employees with an extremely relaxed workforce that encourages creativity through gun activities such as office picnics, roller hockey, and softball and through a casual dress code. Google also provide the services of gym and massage inside the company building
- Google build such loyalty with their employees that many of the employees see each other and Google management as a family. In Google, there is an emphasis on team achievements and pride in individual accomplishments that contribute to the company’s overall success.
- Google’s group orientation is the primary feature of its culture. It encourages its employees to work and also play together so that a family bond is formed. Google’s culture is the combination of various things such as ethical, customer-responsive an d spiritual. Its employees are encouraged to be creative in problem solving which sometimes calls for risk taking.
- Google’s employees are allowed an enough freedom so that they do not take it for granted and this keeps them on ethical ground. The also have a sense of team rather than self so this encourage them to work together to achieve organization’s goals.
- Google’s employees understand that ‘thinking out of the box’ is what they are known for so they go beyond others would do to satisfy a customer need while maintaining company values.
- This ‘out of the box’ type of organization puts the company into the spiritual type of organization. They are also encouraged to have fun with their job.
- Google has a unique and comfortable way of conducting business that appeals too many. It is a give take relationship both sides get something out of it. Google’s culture is of such a sort that creates individuals a desire and the motivation to stay with the company.
Thus, we can say that Google’s culture is very strong. It hires people that embody their company’s values and feel the same intense desire. This desire allows the company’s employees to work towards the same goals and intensifies the bond the share. Google receives 1300 applications’ a day and tends to have a low turn over rate.
Conclusion
- The top management of every company should involve in the process of developing right organization culture. Also it is not only the responsibility if human resource department. And why not after all the company’s culture has a major impact on employee morale and productivity.
- However, there are many companies who view their organizational culture only as a recruitment tool and element in employee motivation and communications.
- But now focus is shifting and organizations are now realizing that an effective culture engages employees at a fundamental level, and translates that engagement into high performance.
- Culture helps the every organization to accomplish what it desires to achieve. The organization culture as a management tool has great motivating impact to motivate employees to improve their own organizational performance.