Theories of Culture in Organisations

Theories of Culture in OrganisationsIn this chapter the queryer go forth pop the question re tidy sum theories rele fresh wavet to the stated research questions. The subtlety is the chief(prenominal) subject that shtup buoy be explained and narrowd in many ways. The dormitory room (1976) explains the culture as a mans medium that forms the human life of an individual. consequently thither is not angiotensin-converting enzyme phase of human life that is not influenced by culture. This means mortalality, how parkwealth be deems to others and express themselves, how they move and solve the issues, how their critics ar planned and put ahead, as well as how government and sparing systems be put to smudgeher and function. According to Hofstade, (1997) culture is the collective schedule of the mind base on set.Stark (2001), suggested that sort not whole includes race and sexual urge, but to a fault finishings, values, role expectations and thoughts. Thus there is a n in preconditionin conformed-bodied range of individuals characteristics and screws that house be labelled several(a). They can include elements such(prenominal) as age, sexual taste, religion, physical dis qualification, life style, physical appearance, economic status, education, family pillow slip and geographic orientationThomas (1991) credits the emergence of transmutation, as an issue, to collar factors the global market which makes doing melodic line intensely competitive, the changing composition of the men (Toosi, 2002), and the profit in individuals celebrating their disputes instead of contesting what makes them unique. A broader rendering and the emergence of regeneration as an important issue, helps intend the stage for novelty universe recognized as a potential source for competitive advantagePerry and Mankin (2004) identify the importance of perception in influencing trust in focus. They identified that provide perception of forethought l iftover increases difficulty in attaining employee trust as it instils feelings of insecurity. Lee and Brand (2005) open up a positive correlation surrounded by perceived personal control over the physical environment and self-reported communication channel satisfaction. They besides order that perceived personal control was positively think to take to the woods speckle satisfaction. The perception of centering make pass on positively relate upon trust. Research has found (Stokols et al., 2002) that p apieceyer perceived support for creativity at exertion is associated with lower nervous strain and great job satisfaction pagan kind has an important place in the communicational fusss in transnational or global business. Informing incompletely about hea thereforeish structure and properties of an employee sort ca engages wrong estimations in the period of action evaluation, bill and, in general, the purpose devising of trouble (Akova, 2000 Deniz, 2000) in most multinational or global businesses difficulties argon encountered in the rick evaluations of employees because of ethnic unavoid adequatenesss of showing salmagundi. For instance, Americans prefer the announcement of their performance impressions directly to themselves, whereas Asians gener all(prenominal)y indirect ways. Thus, schooling of a standard performance evaluation system applic equal in all departments of most multinational or global businesses would not be realistic (Arslan, 2001). From an employee thought, research has sh experience that individuals who perceive that variation is supported and encouraged in their workplace ar likely to hold positive attitudes towards their administration, their job and their charge (Hicks-Clarke and Iles, 2000). Such workplaces argon characterized as having a positive atmosphere or climate for innovation, where this term is conceived of as the extent to which human resource revolution is valued and in which employees from various backgrounds feel welcomed and included (Hicks-Clarke and Iles, 2000, p. 324). Conversely, other studies choose found that employees who do not feel valued because of their race and ethnicity look at that this negatively hazards their job and c beer satisfaction and job involvement (Cox, 1993) and their ability to interact with others (Kossek and Zonia, 1993).West and Mayor (1997) in their make close upd that characteristics of concealment side management team members affect the nerves capability to seek out and bring down to compelling nurture about future conditions and competitive environments.2.2 Different draw close in managing the culturally diverse compositionThe basic concept of managing conversion accepts that the work upshot consists of a diverse population of people. By realising the difference among the employees and if it is right managed this lead become a great plus for the organisation and work to be done go away be to a greater extent effi cient and efficient. Race, culture, ethnicity, gender, age and disability argon examples of diversity factors. (Bartz, Hillman Lehrer, 1990321)There ar many definitions diversity management, but the essence of the concept contents that multifariousness management is founded on the premise that harnessing the differences of a diverse population of people, leave alone create a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, where their talents ar being fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met (Kandola Fullerton, 20008)Social scientists call for been toilsome for great to identify the relationship between culture and behavior of the people in unlike regions. In many ways culture is no longer a terminology but it is interpreted as the set of guidelines for a society to live in (Venken 2002). On ricocheting on this bec abuse the organizations can be collected as the minor social institution.In general, culture is a vague concept and many scientists co d tried to define it in many ways and measurement of this concept related to the definition (Perks and Sanderson 2000). human resource management feed tried to put forward the importance of the cultural diversity in business firearm the research exists save in the areas of human resource management such as recruitment, organisational socialization and in service training, it is widely great dealed that there is a deep submit contended in the field of cultural issues.(McGuire et al, 2002).The diversity movement is hailed by many as a positive change, in which organizations voluntarily engage in a functioning of systemic cultural transformation designed to eliminate any further forms of exclusion. This development coincides with a general change in the political climate seeking to undertake up many of the legal mandates of the previous decades, most notably af immobileative action. To repay the desired state of managing diversity at the organizational direct, revised recru iting, appraisal, development, and pay off systems, as well as an enforceable diversity policy indigence to be implemented ( entirelyen and Montgomery, 2001 Hemphill and Haines, 1998 Miller, 1998).Ingley and Van der Walt (2003) have developed the two different fashion models to describe the diversity related to end outcomes in firms. The finis outcomes can be related to the performance outcome of the firm because all decisions affect how a firm can use its resources to reach its performance goals. Thus, the manakins can be useful to understand the connection between diversity and firm performance.The first framework in figure 1 shows how the outcomes of the decision motion in boards are mediated by varying amounts of diversity. If the board is diverse then the outcome, according to this framework, can be unintended which whitethorn entice to the outcome that was originally intended. Moreover, the framework shows how diversity on the other stack can lead to an unintended bu t a much notional outcome than was intended, or lead to a situation where an agreement cannot be reached because of irresolvable difference of opinions (Ingley and van der Walt, 2003). The framework has the title Intended, unintended, and realized outcomes of diversity and board dynamics and is illustrated in figureThe second framework is displayed in figure 3.2 and it shows diversity related to the strategic context and the quality of the decision border of the board. The framework shows that in a stable and safe business environment, more(prenominal) than diverse boards may produce low quality decisions in contrast to more equivalent boards. The literature points out that diversity in boards suits firms which operate in a more turbulent and changing environment where the strategic complexness is graduate(prenominal) (Ingley and van der Walt, 2003). The framework can be helpful in explaining differences between industries. The framework is called Diversity, strategic conte xt, and board decision quality and is illustrated in figure 3.2.There are numerous studies that implicate that diversity in firms is a positive and maybe even necessary aspect to divvy up when the members of the BoD and TMT of a firm are appointed.Five arguments for diversity are presented by Wang and Clift (2009). First, the market is becoming more diverse. Thus, the firms could benefit from adapting to the customers different lacks, and from creating a deeper understanding for the market and the customers. blink of an eye, an individuals beliefs, attributes and cognitive functioning are varying with variables such as age, gender, and race this implicates that creativity and innovation is evoked by diversity. Third, the diverseness of perspectives that emerge from diversity could lead to a wider range of alternatives for the decision makers to evaluate, which enables them to get a more effective problem puzzle out process. Forth, diversity may lead to an improved understandin g of the surrounding environment. Finally, diversity may enhance business in a global marketplace out-of-pocket to the cultural and ethnical dimensions of diversity, thus, enhancing the understanding of different cultures (Wang and Clift, 2009). gain groundmore, Martell and Caroll (1995) say that creativity and innovation are closely related to a diverse conference of people, which in turn makes it easier for the TMT to be flexible in a changing and dynamic business environment (Carson et al., 2004).2.3 EFFECTIVENESS OF DIVERSITY MANAGEMEMNTIt has been in the discussion among the researchers about the lastingness of the diversity management in the organization or business. The researchers and management gurus have argues various benefits of the diversity management of the different organizations that have increased the diversity measures of their organization. But the important parameter to be found is under what condition the diversity measure of the organization at its maximum. According the Haas (2008) the diversity measurement is methodologically complicated. And due to the variety of factors and situational outcomes of different studies are not able to complete. Hass distinguishes triplet of import theories focusing on the role of gender, ethnicity and age factors to happen out the firms performance. He used social identity theory found on Festingers work(1954) to study the individuals comparing themselves with the others in the organization. this comparison causes the team members to reflect on their performance level and it pass on lead to positive or negative level of self image to belong the other group. This go out cause to increase the overall performance of the group. This comparison can be of individual level or on group level to increase the performance. The group comparison leave behind make the group strong and it will ease the communication among the group members.Another perspective of the Hass is the similarity- quarterion theory (B yrne, 1971). found on the demographic characteristics the individuals perceive that they belong to similar groups and which nurture the trust, vulgar cooperation and interaction among the group. It will lead to the formation of the subgroups thus causing the less(prenominal) functioning of the team at large.The third perspective distinguished by the Haas is information processing and decision making theories (Gruenfeld et al 1996). According to this view the heterogeneity at bottom a group causes the improvement in information exchange and it enables the decision making. Normally the different group members have great variety of resources using more diverse net plant than the homogeneous networks would do. It is to be notable that the this perspective pertains with the positive outcome of the diversity where as the other is more looking to the negative outcome of the group structures and processes.In Haass study of diversity and team performance linkage the first two perspective are much more supported by the matters of the empirical studies reviewed than the third one. just about of the studies conducted by others gave negative consequences of the diverse groups and structures. So it can be conclude here that the elegance of the information processing and noesis diversity perspective is defined by the messy naive realism and of the interpersonal and group process in the organizations. In other words the power of diversity is meets the reality of diversity of power and interest (Klein and Harrison, 2007).The context of the diversity and the effectiveness is intercommunicate by the Lopez Fernandez and Sanchez Gardey. For this the diversity is defined in the multidimensional point of view associating the democratic diversity and human gravid diversity. In the theoretical framework the Lopez and Gardy stress that the diversity doesnt influence the organizational or group performance directly but it is more influenced by the process like decision making process. besides the different configuration of human resource designs may affect the organizational dynamics differently, and at the end the group may have different affects on workgroup performance and sustainable competitive advantages. So in order to extract the benefits from the diverse work force the companies bring to strategically place the human resource operations and systems. Lopez and Gardy found three different HRM orientations.The Individualistic control orientationThe group development orientationThe group control orientationThe individualistic control orientation is referring to an orientation which is characterized by theFocus on individuals rather than on the work groups. unmitigated control mechanism and pocket-size self control within the work groupsStrong market orientation for achieving human capital rather than emphasizing the intra organizational development of human capitalThe group development orientation is characterized by theA strong focus on the w ork force rather than on individualsA system of open and flexible Human resource practice which allow self control within the work groupsA focus on the intra organizational development of human capitalThe group control organization is characterized by theA strong idiom on groupsRigid external control mechanism and a little self controlPreference for external markets to recruit employees and no stress on intra organizational development of human capitalAccording to the study conducted by the Hardy and Lopez it is found that the individual pattern hinders the decision making process in the diversified groups. The study also conclude that the to parent the cognitive benefits of the diversity, a collective and interactive HRM orientation suffices to benefits from the work group diversity.2.4 ADVANTAGES OF DIVERSITY IN WORKPLACEIn many ways the culturally diverse organization is considered as the asset and resources. The diverse workforce is increasingly helpful when the organization i s practicing new ideas or expanding the business plans, if the organizations are able to recognize the diverse potential on the work force then the greater advantage can be obtained (Iles 1995). There are a plethora of literatures claiming the performance advantages of the diverse work force over the homogeneous work structures (Cox, Lobel and MacLeod, 1991 Cox and Blake, 1991).one of the advantage is the redundant options for the multi cultural organizations in attracting and retaining the best talent. the capabilities and skills of the minorities and women offer a wide labor pool. The organizations that are able to attract and retain the minorities and offer the gradual career advancement handling in the white-tie way gain competitive advantage and graduate(prenominal) quality human resource individuals.Researchers suggest that diversity provides benefits to organizations, including the capability to attract and keep the best talent available reduced costs due to lower turnover and fewer lawsuits enhanced market understanding and selling ability greater creativity and innovations better problem solving greater organizational flexibility, better decision making and better overall performance (Cox, 1993 Cox andBlake, 1991 Cox, 1991 Robinson and Dechant, 1997 Carlozzi, 1999 Griscombe and Mattis, 2002 McAllister, 1997 Watson et al., 1993). These benefits have the potential to influence organizational performance and the bottom-line. in any case the diverse work force is more important to meet the demands and skills for competing and to avenge the clientele in the extremely competing global marketplace. Such diverse organizations have a strong understanding of the requirements of the legal, political, social, economic and cultural environments of foreign nations (Adler, 1991). Second in hi-tech industries the wide range of talents generated by the ethnic and gender diverse organization becomes a huge advantage (Morgan 1989). The diverse organization are seem s to be brilliant in the problem solving and have better ability to extract the meanings this will help to reflect the military of meaning regardless the group thinking. The diverse organizations tend to possess more organizational flexibility, and are better able to adapt to changes. Women, for instance, are utter to have higher tolerance for ambiguity than men (Rotter and OConnell, 1982).2.5 DISADVANTAGES OF DIVERSITY AT WORK PLACEAs in the many system the diverse organization has also its disadvantages over its moderate advantages. In problem solving situations the extraordinary cost in the financial and period resources may contradict the benefits of the diversity and it can lead to the dysfunctional conflicts. Diversity is not conform to for the situations in the uncertainty and complexity which may lead to the frustration and confusion. nearly time diversity can make difficulties to come to a decision on a particular course of action and it may result in developing the n egative synergy and cultural clashes in within the team or organization. Traditionally the cultural conflicts within the organization between the minority and mass groups are solved in the favor of the majority groups this will cause the delivering full performance by the minority members in the critical situations. OReilly (1992) found diversity to be associated with lower level of mental identification with group members which would tend to detract from overall performance and result in adverse effects on organizational measures of productivity, absenteeism and turnover. Homogenous groups have been found to outperform culturally diverse groups particularly where there are serious communications issues which make it more difficult for everybody to make optimal contributions to the group effort (Sheridan, 1994).The absenteeism and higher turnover are the two main problems identified in the multicultural organizations. Several researches shows that since 1960s the absenteeism amon g the minorities and woman is consistently higher on absenteeism and turnover than their majority counterparts OReilly(1992).There are also downsides with diversity. Ingley and Van der Walt refer to a study conducted by Milliken and Martins (1999) where some of the findings are pointing on the negative aspects of diversity. First, there could be problems with integration. Second, the turnover of members is higher in more diverse groups. Third, diversity could lead to affective costs (Ingley and van der Walt, 2003). Another issue regarding the negative effects of diversity is communication and coordination between members in a group as heterogeneity could inhibit the effective use of skills and knowledge (Van der Walt et al., 2006). Groups that are more diverse have a lower level of member satisfaction although this effect diminishes when the group be together for a longer time (Ingley and van der Walt, 2003).2.6 CHALLENGES WHILE prosecute THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL D IVERSITYNonetheless the success of some organizations when deciding to manage their diversity, there are also some that have failed maculation attempting the same. There are several reason to be linked for the reverse of in the initiatives of the diversity initiatives. One of the reasons is the wishing of jacket management involvement. The long term effectiveness of the organizational culture is limited in these organizations where the lack of top management initiation mainly predominant (Konal, Prasad, Pringle, 2006). Some organizations are still viewing the diversity in the legal and compliance aspects only and are not targeting the important management/leadership qualities conducted for the murder at the hand. According to Susan Meisinger (2008) many organization concentrates their variegation completely on the issues more or less representation and compliance. If the organization include the diverse workforce and they use hiring policies that are in strict compliance wi th the law they believe that their diversity strategy is a success. Mullins(2008) also states that the diversity strategies in order to be successful must also focus on achieving strategic business results and look for ways to leverage diverse groups of workers to create new opportunities for success. Others are avoiding to address the specific cultural definitions that are present in each countrys specific needs and develop a diversity strategy nigh those needs to ensure that the organizational goals will be fulfilled. Another view is the pay for performance developed by the Trompenaars(1994), according to him many managers around the world are in favor of this principle but they yield differently the terms pay and performance. The culture is a time depended term and it will tolerate changes due to the economic trends or migratory trends among the others. This will affect the organization and as in like the culture. The cultural values changes as the countrys value changes. This phenomenon will cause the new challenges for managers that needed to adapt their management styles in order to meet the organizational goals. It is to be remark that the all changes in the employees cant be addressed by the management in the same manner. (Cross,2000)While developing the successful diversity initiatives managers may come across different barriers and challenges. Superficial or not properly implemented diversity initiatives will cause the negative affects causing the harm to the organization structure. Mutton and Hernandez (2004) brought some of these barriers after conducting a deep study on a variety of industries and they conducted series of conversations with the participants that shows the barriers to these initiatives.Organizational culture while trying to amplify diversity issues to all parts of the organization, diversity managers need to carefully explore the organizations culture in order to be able to frame and communicate the issues of workplace diversit y in an effective manner. For example, winning a subjective approach while explaining diversity issues to an analytical and linear type of culture, might become a barrier when trying to get the desired point acrossMiddle management and employee buy-in Lower levels of management and the general employee population do not know what it is they are transaction with when addressing these diversity initiatives, thus resulting in lower levels of buy-in.Kreitz (2008) identifies three elements that are indispensable when implementing diversity initiatives, but have proven to be challenges for some organizations overstep management commitmentThe skilled training and breadth of organizational knowledge HR possessesShared understanding that managing diversity is not an isolated problem to be solved but an ongoing and lengthy processStockdale and Crosby (2004) provide a list of mistakes to avoid while implementing diversity initiatives. This list is the result of what various authors call, Co mmon diversity trapsassuming that short-term training will be enoughfailing to relate diversity to the organizational delegation and key productswaiting to collect all possible data and ignoring employee perceptions as data for taking actionwaiting for everyone important to be exhaustively behind the effortnot paying attention to the impact of opponent people in important positionsisolating the effort in one department (such as human resources) or under one personnot differentiating between good intentions, usually contained in verbal expressions of support of diversity, and the impact of specific institutional actions that go against diversitynot mental synthesis coalitions and support with different stakeholders who may fear that the diversity effort will not include themassuming that managing diversity is just good common sense and people skillsmeasuring success by the quantity and magnitude if diversity activities and events, rather that the impact on the work and peopleTjos wold and Leung (2003) identifies decision making to be negative impacted because of problems with communication in a cultural diverse organization. Since the spoken word is interpreted differently conflict could arise from differences in values and norms. Even written communication is interpreted differently depending on your values and norms.One very interesting finding is from the article Managing Functional diversity, risk taking, incentives for teams to achieve radical innovations from Cabrales, Medina, Lavado, Cabrera (2008) where they have found that the multifunctional teams has some disadvantages in reaching consensus due to the diversity of perspectives2.7 HOW TO ACHIEVE sure-fire IMPLEMENTATION OF DIVERSITY IN ORGANIZATIONSSome researchers as well as experts have mentioned different ways that can help organizations success in their diversification methods. Out of the many in the plethora of literatures the researcher found a few that come in line with the research domain. to a lower place the researcher present a few of them which are divided in different categories for the easier understandings.Clear definition of what diversity means to the organization by this definition itself we understood that the need of clear picture and reason in the diversification process. Each organisation should have their clear rationale in doing the diversity initiatives. As Schmidt(2004) mentioned, organizations should separate between diversification that are based in facing the legal implications and of policy character between those that are really invested into achieving the recruitment of people and talents that they identify as beneficial to the initiatives. Also according to the Helms, Dye and Mills (2009) there should be clear understandings between the management of diversification and the notion of equal employment opportunities initiatives. Stockdale and Crosby (2004) suggest the need of integrated human management systems at the corporate strategy level for the diversification process.Top management support an effective diversification process has 100% supports from the top management (Schmidt 2004). Basically it is to be understood that there should be strong vision of diversification goals and the ways in which it attains the goals. The goal should be organised to monitor through the top level of management and this support should be consistent in the diversification process and should address the importance of the initiatives. Stockdale and Crosby (2004)All around employee involvement is necessary apart from having the top leadership support it is to be noted that the support from the employees at all levels of organisation is important in the diversity initiatives. Mutton and Hernandez (2004) suggest that having a strong diversity/compliance professional help in delivering the high level of commitment to the rest of the organisation. One of the other method in ensuring the employee commitment is developing the performance measu res, accountability initiatives and evaluation initiatives. Creation of the work groups is important where the discussion about the diversity is carried out and a group leader will be needed to report the employee concern to the top management periodically. This method of employee initiation will help to develop the diversity in to the core culture of the organisation.Assign a reasonable evolution period the diversification cannot be taken from a quick point of view, they should be viewed as the long transformational process instead. The organisation and management need to understand diversification process need time before describeing the benefits can be appreciated. As in any system the integration of new methods and process to the organisation culture will take time. With diversity initiatives the organisation must considered a trial and error period until the stated benefits of the diversification can be found. So this is the reason why the organisation do not give too early i n the process of diversification process. Stockdale and Crosby(2004) suggest to pilot and experiment the situations and encourage an environment of learning from experience where errorless implementation is not expected.In general, clear and integrated management practices also can be observed during the implementation of the diversity initiatives. All managers should put their maximum efforts to achieve the vast meaning of what it means diversity. twain the structural and cultural changes are needed to implement the successful diversity strategies. Managers of the organization must execute and follow certain number of processes to reap the benefits of the diversity. Some of the management practice includes target recruitment, education and training syllabus intended for the underrepresented individuals or groups, career development, flexible work arrangement, mentoring, workshop among the others (Helms 2009). Helms also mentioned the other success factor that must be present at t he moment of an organization decides to execute diversity.2.8 Managing Diversity in the work placeThe term diversity management have emerged in the recent time as a voluntarily corporative initiative directed at the imperious recruitment and retainment of employees belonging to the diverse social identity groups.(Prasad,Pringle and Konrad, 2006). The voluntary organizational actions are intended to develop the greater inclusion of the employees from various domains into the formal or informal organizational structure through special policies and programs. Further to this notion some view the diversity management and their contribution will add competitive advantages to the organizations thus improving its business performance. The managers of the organization need to develop different skill sets to achieve the success of their organization and their own benefits. These developments causing many initiatives can cause the ideal environment that works naturally for the total diversity within the organization.(Thomas 1992).A good practice for the organizations that aim to manage the diversity would be to investigate what are the practices need for a good diverse workplace environment. Taylor Cox (1993) suggests that organizations need to undergo the transformation to accept the multiculturalism within the organizations. According to Taylor the objective of managing the diversity is to arrogate the all socio cultural backgrounds to the organizational core culture to amplify the organization