ROLE OF CULTURE IN

ORGANIZATIONAL
EFFECTIVENESS
DETERMINANTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
What factors most influence company performance and what can managers do to ensure the

effectiveness of their companies? The answers to these questions are, in reality, complex

because of the vast number of factors that may influence company performance. These

include external factors such as market share and market environment, as well as internal

company factors including organizational culture, management styles and human resource

management practices. Recently, the increasing level of competition worldwide has led

managers and researchers to focus even more sharply on these questions. Reducing labor

costs in some countries, particularly in countries in the process of industrialization, has raised

the level of competitive threat for countries which have been industrialized for some time.The

pressures on managers to manage the complex and varied influences on company

performance are greater than ever before.

CULTURE-STRUCTURE EFFECTIVENESS
Culture, in organizational context, may be broadly defined as a group’s or nation’s way of

thinking, believing, feeling, and responding. Culture is the way of life of a group of people.

More formally culture is defined as the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,

morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits adopted by members of a society. A

society may be represented by the members of a nation or by members of an organization.

“The individualism-collectivism dimension illustrates this shift from cultural dimensions to

cultural syndromes.” [ CITATION Nat83 \l 1033 ] Often, it is observed that the ‘Actual

Culture’ is quite different from ‘Official Culture’ with respect to participation in decision

making and social orientation in a company.

If we assume that organizational structure is measured by four dimensions (specialization,

standardization, formalization, and centralization) and culture is also defined also by four

dimensions (individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and

masculinity/femininity), relationships between these dimensions will describe the relationship

between organizational structure and culture. Based on such assumptions we can deduce that

culture can relatively influence organizational structure in different variations; consequently,

enhancing organizational effectiveness.

EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES AND PERFORMANCE

Even if a small percentage of the variation in organizational performance can be explained by

employee attitudes, then managers are likely to take considerable interest in the factors that

influence employee attitudes. On the other hand, if there is no link between employee

attitudes and organizational performance, then those charged with running organizations may

well argue that concerns about job satisfaction, for example, are moral and ideological rather

than economic issues. “Organizations do not decide to become bureaucratic. Bureaucracy, or

any other organizational form, is the function of the actions of people in the organization,

perhaps in response to conditions outside the organization.”[ CITATION Fra99 \l 1033 ]

Rather than concentrating upon the culture of the organization, the performance of the

management depends on the mind-set of the employees. Here the argument arises that any

organizational form must comprise of such an environment that contributes to the optimum

performance of the organization. Here the attitudes of the employees play an important role;

they are responsive to the factors that exist internally as well as externally in the organization.

Managers are required to make an effort through which organizational form integrates with

the attitude of the sub-ordinates. Being contradictory to the proposition above still it can

prove to increase organizational effectiveness.

CULTURAL STRENGTH AND

 ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Organizational culture is interpreted here as the aggregate of employees’ perceptions of

aspects of the organization, for example, quality of communication, support for innovation,

level of supervisory support and so on. However, the evidence for the influence of culture

upon organizational productivity is limited. “The voluntarism, commitment, and

identification with the humanistic mission were seen by the organization's members (and the

researchers) as having a positive effect on the organization's functioning, particularly in the

early stages.”[ CITATION Den95 \l 1033 ] Organizational culture is the set of values, norms

and beliefs shared by member of organization. Organization develop a unique culture and

employees share common values and beliefs about work-related issues. Organizational

culture also can support company mission and strategy. Even companies in the same industry

tend to have entirely different cultures based to their own mission and goals. This helps in

providing the organization a clear direction to work towards. Ultimately when the

organizational culture starts to support company strategy, mission, and policies; indirectly the

employees will be redirect towards a collective motive. The strength of the culture depends

on how strongly member share its values and basic assumption.

The pervasiveness of an organization’s culture requires that management recognize the

underlying dimensions of their corporate culture and its impact on employee-related variables

such as satisfaction, commitment, cohesion, strategy implementation, performance, among

others. One consistent theme in the culture literature concerns the impact of a strong culture

on organizational performance. The hypothesis is that an organization with a high level of

shared meaning, a common vision, a “clan-like” attitude toward members, and a high level of

normative integration will perform well.

Some authors have argued that this theory has universal application, while others have argued

that the culture of an organization, in addition to having these characteristics, must also fit the
business environment. “The multicultural organization is characterized by pluralism, full

integration of minority-culture members both formally and informally, an absence of

prejudice and discrimination, and low levels of inter-group conflict; all of which should

reduce alienation and build organizational identity among minority group

members.”[ CITATION Cox91 \l 1033 ] Aligning organizational culture with strategy is a

powerful means for gaining competitive advantage and industry or sector leadership.

Organizations that seek leadership and sustainability make the choice for culture by design,

not default.

BUILDING AND SUSTAINING A CULTURE OF

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Building and sustaining a culture of engagement requires a full commitment from leadership

and a climate that regularly considers how the organizational environment influences

employee attitude, productivity, well-being and loyalty. In any organizational structure there

are some regular official activities in which participation is required by every employee. But

the extent to which the participation is mandatory is the question to ask. The engagement of

the employees in the organizational structure is the primary cause of their involvement in

these activities. “The seemingly common structure of rituals, i.e., meetings, training

programs, and formal sessions for information exchange, they serve contrasting functions in

high and low innovation-supportive cultures.”[ CITATION Jas02 \l 1033 ] Here it can be

proposed that cultures of different variation of notions can have a major impact on the

employees’ attitudes concerning their required performance.

We see organizational culture as the critical foundation which shapes the way that the work

of the organization gets done (established through goals, plans, measures, and rewards) and

the infrastructure (systems, process, and structures) gets utilized.

Engagement reflects alignment of each employee’s very personal goals and drivers of job

satisfaction with the organization’s strategy and contribution requirements. And, realistically,

if employees themselves aren’t clear on what they do well and what matters most to them, it’s

unlikely that any work situation will engage them.

Cultural diversity is a part of organizational life. In the present business environment it

cannot be ignored. The question arises ‘how to manage it?’ When a manager focuses

attention on cultural differences, it causes problems as it is often confused with evaluation of

a culture. According to Sadri and Lees [ CITATION Sad01 \n \t \l 1033 ], a positive

corporate culture could provide immense benefits to the organization, and thereby a leading

competitive edge over other firms in the industry. However, a negative culture could have a

negative impact on the organizational performance as it could deter firms from adopting the

required strategic or tactical changes. Such type of culture could inhibit future changes in an

organization. The changes cultivated by organizational culture have a positive relationship

with the financial performance of the firms.

 CONCLUSION
This term paper has enhanced the understanding of the role of culture in Organizational

Effectiveness. Culture was found to impact a variety of organizational processes and

performance. While more research remains to be done in this area, this term paper has

demonstrated the power of culture in influencing organizational performance. Strong culture

which all members in organization such as employees, executives and managers in

organization’s operation and management decision. In the same time, organizational culture

also supports organization’s strategy, mission and policies to achieve their goal. This term

paper also showed that organizational culture is associated with attitudes toward

organizational change. Different types of organizational culture have different levels of

acceptance on attitudes toward organizational change. Finally organization culture play

important role and is effective in many ways to achieve successful.

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