culture
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INCORRECT ASSUMPTIONS OF STRONG ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE
It could be incorrectly assumed that strong organisational culture is always associated with a highly motivated workforce. Elsmore (2001, P.71) shows an example of this from Roethlisberger and Dickon's 1939 publication examining the organisational culture present within a bank wiring room. The four 'rules' of the wiring room show us that organisational culture provides a means of social interaction between workers and that by not following the set culture that workers can, and will be excluded from the group. In a positive, creative and vibrant workplace this would normally be to the advantage of management as employees almost certainly feel obligated to do the required work, but within the wiring room too much work would result in being known as a "rate-buster". The comparison between the workers in the wiring room and a modern business in a place of competitive advantage is that it is easy to become comfortable with the surroundings and to establish rules that best suit the individuals involved. But, for the business that is trying to maintain it's competitive advantage this attitude, as tempting as it may be cannot be adopted if it wishes to stay as the market leader. It would appear that the most effective way to ensure that employees do not adopt a relaxed attitude, limiting productivity and detracting from the customer focus is through a strong sense of organisational culture promoting adaptability and innovation.
Conclusion
So it can be seen that organisational culture is an essential tool available for use while maintaining a competitive advantage. For an employer, an environment characterised by a strong sense of organisational culture can provide the edge needed to stay ahead of competitors and has proven itself to be of great use in problem solving, innovation and creating the desired persona of the business as proven by successful businesses such as Virgin Blue, Sony and Intel...