BUILDING ORGANIZATION CULTURE FOR EXCELLENCE: "Gurudas Purohit  ..."
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
BUILDING ORGANIZATION CULTURE FOR EXCELLENCE
Indian corporate both public and private have witnessed heavy turbulence in post liberalization era. The companies which had a strong organizational culture and mission driven leadership with long term perspective have not only withstood the changed scenario and positioned themselves to meet the competition but emerged as winners.
The innovations in improving the organizational culture have played vital role in building a strong bond in the employer and employee relationship; customer satisfaction through appropriate strategies of cost reduction, time cycle and continuous improvement in qualities and ultimately resulting in higher production, productivity and profit, with social accountability can definitely be termed as “all round excellence.”
The innovations in improving the organizational culture have played vital role in building a strong bond in the employer and employee relationship; customer satisfaction through appropriate strategies of cost reduction, time cycle and continuous improvement in qualities and ultimately resulting in higher production, productivity and profit, with social accountability can definitely be termed as “all round excellence.”
Approach to build Organization Culture
Vision :
The statement of leader’s visualization about the Company such as, committed to make a better world. A world class innovative, competitive and profitable organization. The vision statements are wish statements of the organization to be materialized.
Coal India
A mission statement for an organization includes the purpose and values of the organization. Thus the mission statement articulates the reason for the very existence of the organization..
It indicates the nature and quality of what the organization can provide in statement of mission, sets direction of the organization a better way than any other type or form of similar entities. Hence , the values , shared beliefs of the members of the organization , define the criteria to be used in developing and managing the organization’s strategies for meeting its objectives.
“The Mission of Coal India Limited is to "Produce the planned quantity of coal efficiently and economically with due regard to safety, conservation & quality."
“The Mission of Coal India Limited is to "Produce the planned quantity of coal efficiently and economically with due regard to safety, conservation & quality."
Goals :
Goals expand on mission statement. Although more specific, these are still broad statement of the organization’s aspirations for the future. These are generally timeless, often not measurable in quantitative terms. For example Leadership in Coal production .
Objectives :
Objectives are desired achievements, which are specific and measurable. These are internally focused, indicating desired results for specific internal departments and people. Performance against these objectives become the Indicator for Judging the Achievements.
Policy :
These are statement of method, philosophy of working for the fulfillment of vision, mission, goals and objectives, taking factual inputs from employees, customers, suppliers, Government and financial institutions etc.
The policy statements are reviewed and modified based on the feedbacks.
Strategy :
In order to achieve objectives in line with the policy made by the organization, the detail plan for achieving the objective is strategy, which becomes the path to be followed.
The strategy needs business process to be followed for implementation.
The strategy needs business process to be followed for implementation.
Action Plan :
The strategy, after conversion into absolute, measurable, identified and time bound activities is an action plan.
High Performance Culture :
Culture of the organization represents the prevailing roles, relationships, beliefs, norms, values, attitudes, skills, etc. pertaining to work. Developing a high performance culture, therefore, essentially implies managing change, more specifically, developing beliefs, norms, values, attitudes and behaviors that are consistent with the new reality. A high performance culture in an organization may be brought through an interaction of the characteristics of the organization with those of individuals and groups within the organization. The organizational and managerial practices such as team work, trust, leadership, communication, rewards and cooperation among the various work groups within the organization would go a long way in developing positive attitudes and commitment which in turn are likely to exert positive influence on performance and productivity.
In general, two perspectives on culture can be discerned; culture as a behavioral system and culture as an ideational system . The behaviorist approach also includes the products of behavior as a part of the material culture. On the other hand, it is “the totality of equivalent and complementary learned meanings, maintained by a human population, and transmitted from one generation to the next”. Both approaches agree that culture is acquired and transmitted from generation to generation. Considering that strict demarcation between the two approaches as unnecessary and artificial , it is argued that “ in essence the term culture is a descriptive one , embracing a wide range of phenomena, whether these be meanings or behaviors. There is a continuous reciprocal influence on relationship between the structure of meanings in terms of norms and values and the behavioral events within the framework of physical realities. “Culture embodies this totality of interactive relationship within an identifiable context.”
Culture of an organization takes time to develop and after having come into being, acquires an enduring character that is resistant to change. So , culture of an organization can be characterized as the prevailing beliefs, norms and values which serve to guide behavior of individuals and groups which are shared by people throughout the organization, and culture is developed over a period of time. The collective beliefs, norms and values affect the daily behavior of employees at two levels.
The overt level represents observable, intentional and direct changes in behavior in terms of performance, productivity, discipline, and efficiency at work.
The covert level is characterized by obscure, unintentional and indirect influences on behavior such as commitment to the job, pride in work and motivation, etc. A combination of these elements in high performance culture implies that the employees of the organization make extra efforts to be productive, accept change, do not neglect details, do their best, are willing to try something new, develop their talents and abilities, are proud of their abilities, enjoy their jobs, seek constant improvement and display confidence in management. Such a work culture promotes high morale, peak performance and higher productivity through most effective utilization of all resources and elimination of all wastes, material and human, leading to steady growth in the organization and its members.
In general, two perspectives on culture can be discerned; culture as a behavioral system and culture as an ideational system . The behaviorist approach also includes the products of behavior as a part of the material culture. On the other hand, it is “the totality of equivalent and complementary learned meanings, maintained by a human population, and transmitted from one generation to the next”. Both approaches agree that culture is acquired and transmitted from generation to generation. Considering that strict demarcation between the two approaches as unnecessary and artificial , it is argued that “ in essence the term culture is a descriptive one , embracing a wide range of phenomena, whether these be meanings or behaviors. There is a continuous reciprocal influence on relationship between the structure of meanings in terms of norms and values and the behavioral events within the framework of physical realities. “Culture embodies this totality of interactive relationship within an identifiable context.”
Culture of an organization takes time to develop and after having come into being, acquires an enduring character that is resistant to change. So , culture of an organization can be characterized as the prevailing beliefs, norms and values which serve to guide behavior of individuals and groups which are shared by people throughout the organization, and culture is developed over a period of time. The collective beliefs, norms and values affect the daily behavior of employees at two levels.
The overt level represents observable, intentional and direct changes in behavior in terms of performance, productivity, discipline, and efficiency at work.
The covert level is characterized by obscure, unintentional and indirect influences on behavior such as commitment to the job, pride in work and motivation, etc. A combination of these elements in high performance culture implies that the employees of the organization make extra efforts to be productive, accept change, do not neglect details, do their best, are willing to try something new, develop their talents and abilities, are proud of their abilities, enjoy their jobs, seek constant improvement and display confidence in management. Such a work culture promotes high morale, peak performance and higher productivity through most effective utilization of all resources and elimination of all wastes, material and human, leading to steady growth in the organization and its members.
Developing a Culture of High Performance.
Developing a high performance culture essentially implies managing change. More specifically, it means developing beliefs, norms, values, attitudes and behaviors that are consistent with the new reality. For example, a company moving on to a strong customer orientation needs to decentralize decision-making. The company which was traditionally bureaucratic would have to develop new beliefs about the value of creativity and customer service. Both the management and the employees would have to learn new assumptions appropriate to working under the new mission of the organization.
However, it must be borne in mind that the new beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors do not develop overnight. It has been seen that culture takes time to develop; the attitudes and behaviors that people depict today as habit patterns had developed over a period of time. Similarly, new habits will develop when new behaviors are repeated over a period of time. When we talk of transforming the culture of an organization or developing new culture what we mean is consciously and carefully planning and designing change in work culture. This is opposed to evolutionary development of culture, which is unplanned emergence of beliefs, values and behaviors concerning work. While evolutionary development culture reinforces beliefs and behaviors developed in the past, planned ; the architectural development culture reinforces beliefs and behavior needed to support present and future strategy.
A new culture cannot be developed in any simple way in organizations that are already in existence and have evolved a way of life. In such organizations, the first important step is to conduct a diagnostic study to identify and explore into the problems and needs of the organization. The objective of such a study could be ; to get to know the attitudes and task behaviors of employees at various levels concerning the organization and its customers, its policies, practices etc., their satisfaction with different facets of the job, their commitment to the organization, etc., and to identify the facilitators , and impediments to the effectiveness of personnel , at various levels in the context of the job situation. This type of study will help provide direction for development of an action plan for bringing about the desired improvements in the culture of the organization.
Under the team concept the starting point for organizational design is the person, who makes , assembles or operates machines for production , or provides service to the customer .He is the most important person in the organization and the other members of the organization should be organized in such a way , that ensures the best possible support to him.
Team working and specially self-managed teams satisfy people’s need to control .The success of team reinforces the idea that the power of giving up control over people is crucial in getting control of results , both productivity and morale. Self-managed teams improve productivity as well as make the work more meaningful for the employees .
Team working and specially self-managed teams satisfy people’s need to control .The success of team reinforces the idea that the power of giving up control over people is crucial in getting control of results , both productivity and morale. Self-managed teams improve productivity as well as make the work more meaningful for the employees .
Effective Communication :
The importance of open , honest and relevant communication in developing a culture of high performance is well recognized . The members of any organization have a strong need to know about and understand their working environment. If this need is not met through official communication channels , it may be met by non-official channels even through irregular practices.
The importance of open , honest and relevant communication in developing a culture of high performance is well recognized . The members of any organization have a strong need to know about and understand their working environment. If this need is not met through official communication channels , it may be met by non-official channels even through irregular practices.
Organizations , where the members feel that Management is holding back information, or they are not told , about what is going on , then it results in suspicion , rumor , distortion and mistrust of management .Such an organization will not be capable of generating a culture characterized by high levels of communication and performance.
Developing good communications is therefore most essential in order to generate trust , confidence, co-operation , commitment , and above all the feeling of belonging .
Developing good communications is therefore most essential in order to generate trust , confidence, co-operation , commitment , and above all the feeling of belonging .
Organizations have to develop an effective communication system to build trust and commitment , must ensure that it is tailor made to meet the Organization’s need. There has to be a problem solving approach to ensure that communication is -5-two-way . People have to be trained in communication skills to ensure top management support in developing and maintaining the system.
Organization Development :
Bringing about the changes in culture requires the total organization effort , involving restructuring the organization aimed at reducing the hierarchy , integration of functions , growth of team work etc.
Bringing about the changes in culture requires the total organization effort , involving restructuring the organization aimed at reducing the hierarchy , integration of functions , growth of team work etc.
The responsibility for building organization culture lies with the top management , who must have the vision, the drive, the determination, and the leading qualities to continuously guide the organization towards building culture for all round excellence .
Union Management Relations :
The process of developing Union Management co-operation is definitely time consuming and there is no other choice .The Trade Union representatives can be made to understand the overall business situation and if they are given the opportunity to work through long term strategic plans as an organization development program ,they may appreciate that , such management efforts are designed to ensure the long term success of the organization ,and at the same time , long term satisfaction of the needs of the Unions and their members , resulting in their contribution to the planning .
To achieve high levels of commitment and the capacity on the part of the Unions to think strategically , an effective long term working relationship needs to be developed . The active co-operation of all the people in the organization including the trade unions can bring about a flexible organization , an organization which is able to utilize the opportunities in its environment and take action to develop a culture of high performance.
To achieve high levels of commitment and the capacity on the part of the Unions to think strategically , an effective long term working relationship needs to be developed . The active co-operation of all the people in the organization including the trade unions can bring about a flexible organization , an organization which is able to utilize the opportunities in its environment and take action to develop a culture of high performance.
Social Accountability:
For achieving all round excellence, an Organization must voluntarily choose to implement a comprehensive system for managing its ethical work place conditions as a part of its business agenda. The eight human rights conditions i.e. (1) prevention of child labor, (2) prevention of forced labor, (3) maintaining safe and healthy work environment, (4) Freedom of association, (5) eliminating discrimination, (6) maintaining strict discipline, (7) defining working hours and (8) proper remuneration with provision of awards and rewards for good work, are required to be integrated in to the management system.
This policy needs to be regularly reviewed in order to continually improve it according to changes in social requirements.
For achieving all round excellence, an Organization must voluntarily choose to implement a comprehensive system for managing its ethical work place conditions as a part of its business agenda. The eight human rights conditions i.e. (1) prevention of child labor, (2) prevention of forced labor, (3) maintaining safe and healthy work environment, (4) Freedom of association, (5) eliminating discrimination, (6) maintaining strict discipline, (7) defining working hours and (8) proper remuneration with provision of awards and rewards for good work, are required to be integrated in to the management system.
This policy needs to be regularly reviewed in order to continually improve it according to changes in social requirements.
Conclusion :
High performance culture in an organization may be brought about through an interaction of the characteristics of the organization with those of individuals and different work- groups with in the organization .
The organizational policies and practices , such as team work , trust , rules and regulations , leadership , goal setting , challenges , rewards and the co-operation and partnerships among the various work groups within the organization would go a long way in developing positive attitudes and commitment which are likely to exert positive influence on performance and productivity . Improvement in any one of the characteristics of the organization will give result accordingly, in one or more of the characteristics of work culture , such as discipline , team work , commitment and motivation etc. and at the same time improvements in the work values of individuals within the organization will also be evident with positive impact on the culture of the organization leading to overall excellence .
High performance culture in an organization may be brought about through an interaction of the characteristics of the organization with those of individuals and different work- groups with in the organization .
The organizational policies and practices , such as team work , trust , rules and regulations , leadership , goal setting , challenges , rewards and the co-operation and partnerships among the various work groups within the organization would go a long way in developing positive attitudes and commitment which are likely to exert positive influence on performance and productivity . Improvement in any one of the characteristics of the organization will give result accordingly, in one or more of the characteristics of work culture , such as discipline , team work , commitment and motivation etc. and at the same time improvements in the work values of individuals within the organization will also be evident with positive impact on the culture of the organization leading to overall excellence .
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