Factors for Establishing a Positive Company Culture

ESTABLISHING A POSITIVE CULTURE

Elliot Jacques stated that “the efficiency of one or other form of organization cannot be assessed merely in terms of economic or material outcomes; it must be considered in the fullness of its impact on human feelings, on community, and on social relationships and the quality of life in society” (Jacques, 1976 : 15). In other words, a company’s culture is a vital part of its success in business. So many people wonder why positive culture is an important part of business. This is simply because without a positive culture, workers will struggle to find their base and the worth of their work. This kind of struggle results in a variety of adverse consequences for that organization. Establishing a positive culture is slowly becoming one of the much-needed institution in an organization. Research has shown according to Forbes that organizations with positive cultures “help employees feel and perform their best at work” (Alan Kholl).

Culture is defined as the shared beliefs within an organization. These beliefs are what lead members of that organization “to behave in certain ways that benefit the entire franchise group” (Mccoy, Rodger). It is well known that every organization has its own culture; there is this strong belief that identifies a “company’s culture as its biggest assets or liability” (Mccoy, Rodger). There is a huge list of benefit in being an organization centered on positive culture. A strong positive culture will: “distinguish an organization in the marketplace, lay a solid foundation for achievement, enable productivity, allow the capture and retain of strong personnel, facilitate high team engagement, and perpetuate brand awareness” (Mccoy, Rodger). Therefore, establishing a positive culture is highly important in an organization.

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However, establishing a positive culture cannot be effected without the contribution of the leader. A leaders most vital role is to create a positive culture. This is important because as long as employers invest in the happiness of their staff, a positive culture can be established, and it will grow. According to Forbes, “there is reason why companies who are named as Best Place to Work see so much Success” (Kohll, Alan). This is because these companies “tend to have a strong positive corporate culture that help employees feel and perform their best at work” (Kohll, Alan). Today more organizations are now reliant on having a positive culture, than having business models. The reason for this is simple: “A strong positive culture with a commitment from the entire franchise organization will make franchise model compliance more likely, and enhance the entire franchise group” (Mccoy, Rodger).

Everyone is attracted to positivity rather than negativity. Positivity always produces flourishing results in individuals and organizations. This kind of effect results in creating a positive atmosphere for attracting and retaining the best team for any company. Having a positive organization has three kinds of effects: “it encourages an amplifying effect whereby there is a tendency to repeat and reinforce similar virtuous actions by various individuals, once a positive tone is set within the organizational culture. Positivity also induces a buffering effect which enhance the ability of organizations to be resilient during traumatic and challenging times. If an organizational trauma is well managed, it is possible to transform the crisis into a healing opportunity, a growth experience that leaves the system stronger than before” (Virani, Farida). In other words, every organization should do all they can to establish a positive culture.

BUILDING A POSITIVE CULTURE IS MANIPULATIVE

According to Psychology Behind, psychological manipulation, is “not about making people do what you want them to do but rather getting them to want to do what you want them to do” (Psychology Behind). The question then arises, how do you make people do what you desire? The answer is easy, “you have to learn their true desires” (Psychology Behind). There are lots of instances where positive culture is being used as a form of manipulation, or to reduce resistance. This is easily found in environments “where employees are seeking a source of identity” (Brewis, J 2007). Positive culture can be used as a tool of manipulation by providing employees with a strong sense of individualism and collectiveness. By employing positive culture, management is then able to peddle a sense of belonging in their organization in order to limit employee’s confrontation as there is minimal chance of conflict.

When employees discover that culture is being used as a form of manipulation, they then rebel by distancing themselves from their structural ideology; their organizational ideologies becomes “bullshit that comes from above” (Brewis 2007). The value and ethics of an organization comes directly from the leadership of that organization. The issue then arises when the value and ethics of that institute are not the reality of the leadership or organizations themselves. Then, the solitary purpose of instilling such positive culture is manipulation. Looking at an organizations culture, “one may say that each company offers a different package of benefits and has its own view towards corporate culture, but at a closer look all of them have a common base” (Cristea, Adelina). In that common base, “all of these benefits are created in order to better stimulate the employee with the clear purpose [so that the employee] successfully meets the company’s expectations” (Cristea, Adelina).

Nonetheless, such positive culture “within an organization has been referred to as cultural engineering” (Brewis, J 2007), wherein employees are “shaped into corporate actors” (Ogbonna and Wilkinson 2003).  For that sole reason, the “employee [are molded] to work for pleasure. He should be happy, creative and develop ideas for [organizational] benefits” (Cristea, Adelina). However, the question then arises: “can the employer find something better than a package of common benefits shared with the other companies?” (Cristea, Adelina). Most organizations are good at masking their motives; their type of positive culture becomes one in which their agenda is accomplished but at the expense of their employees.

Is positive culture a bad thing? The answer is no. We all desire to work in a place that allows us flexibility, longevity, and growth. However, most organizations do not provide that. To escape the malicious and manipulative management style, employees need to know that “encouraging people to maintain a happy outlook in the face of less than ideal conditions is a good way of keeping citizens under control in spite of severe societal problems, or keeping employees productive while keeping pay and benefits low” (Robbins and Judge 2013).  In a system where positive culture is used for manipulation, no one benefits in the long run. 

In short term, this manipulation may yield some results, but it will create a stigma where workers no longer believe in their organization. Organizational culture is a set of beliefs, assumptions, values, artifacts, and symbols that are largely shared by an organizational community (Breu, Karin 2001; Hatch 1993; Kabanoff et al.1995), and that are manifested and thus become empirically observable in people’s perception and behavior (Breu, Karin 2001; Hofstede 1999; Fiol 1991). However, organizational culture can turn manipulative when handled the wrong way.

ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IN CREATING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Management is a worldwide phenomenon; it is “a social process involving responsibility for economical and effective planning and regulation of operation for an enterprise in the fulfillment of given purpose” (Junega, 2018).  Management is also a dynamic process consisting of a series of inter-related functions. It is also the process by which management creates, operates, and directs purposive organization through systematic, coordinated, and co-operated human efforts” (Terry and Franklin, 1997). Culture is part of management; “an organizations current customs, traditions, and general way of doing things are largely due to what it has done before and how successful it was in doing it” (Robbins and Judge, 2013). The integration of culture into management begins with its founders. The founders of an organization “have a vision of what the organization should be” (Robbins and Judge, 2013).  These founders “hire and keep only employees who think and feel the same way they do” (Robbins and Judge, 2013).

Then they “indoctrinate and socialize these employees to their way of thinking and feeling. Finally, the founder’s own behavior encourages employees to identify with them and internalize their beliefs, values, and assumptions” (Robbins and Judge, 2013). If these steps go successfully as expected, “the founder’s personality, becomes embedded in the culture” (Robbins and Judge, 2013).  Then culture becomes integrated in the system of that organization. When culture is put in place, “practices within the organization maintain it by giving employees a set of similar experiences” (Robbins and Judge, 2013). In all, the influence of management in an organization process and performance is immeasurable. Management influences a firm’s productivity, and its capability to deliver in an efficient way completive and profitable products or services” (Crisan, E). Nevertheless, the actions of top management play an important role in an organizations culture. “Through words and behavior, senior executives establish norms that filter through the organizations about” (Robbins and Judge, 2013). To summarize it all, “the original culture derives from the founder’s philosophy and strongly influences hiring criteria as the firms grows. Top managers actions set the general climate, including what is acceptable behavior and what is not. The way employees are socialized will depend both on the degree of success achieved in matching new employee’s values to those of the organization in the selection process, and on top management’s preference for socialization methods” (Robbins and Judge 2013).

The functions of management were introduced during the early 1900s by Henry Fayol. Originally, “he proposed five management functions: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. [However], modern texts have reduced the functions from five to four. They include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling” (Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor, 2016). So managers who are cognizant of these functions and are able to utilize them well “are extremely valuable to an organization because they create order from what could become chaos” (Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor, 2016). These four functions are necessary because, management entails the ability to circumnavigate various organizational, technical, and interpersonal trials in the journey of guiding the team/ organization to finishing various goals.

One of the main role of a manger is to generate a plan to meet the organizations objective. During this process, the manager assigns employee resources, delegates responsibilities, and set a timeline for the project’s completion. This stage requires “those in management roles to continually check on the teams progress in order to make small adjustment when necessary, while still maintaining a clear picture of a company’s’ larger aims and goals” (American Intercontinental University). Everything done in the planning stage requires the management to work independently in order to determine which responsibility goes to what team and setting the precedence level for the different task.

In the organizing stage, a mangers skill in this area helps to “ensure a company unit runs smoothly. From establishing internal process and structures to knowing which employees or teams are best suited for specific tasks, keeping everyone and everything organized throughout daily operations are important functions of management” (American Intercontinental University). However, organizing is much more than delegating task and responsibilities. It also requires mangers to recognize challenges, and how to responds to them. These various challenges can come in different forms, like “altering a team’s internal structure and roles in response to company growth, or adjusting the timeline for a project” (American Intercontinental University).

Leadership is also an important function in management. Employees need management to project “a strong sense of direction and leadership when setting goals and communicating new process, products, and services, or internal policy” (American Intercontinental University). Leadership is demonstrated in various ways; sometimes it might be management identifying when their employees need support, or how to handle internal conflicts that arises. Leading an institution through various change, “especially one fraught with diverse interpretations, conflicting drives, and competing forces such as employee engagement, requires strong and well-coordinated leadership” (Conkright, Todd A.). Finally, the controlling stage is all about monitoring the projects success, the quality of work, and also employee’s routine in their responsibilities. In essence, “control (and quality control) in management is about making sure the ultimate goals of the business are being adequately met, as well as making any necessary changes when they aren’t” (American Intercontinental University).

Globally, the world is moving at a fast pace. This competition has motivated industries and organizations to join the trend and modify their management skills at home and overseas. With globalization comes shorter product life cycle, increase in speed, and technological developments. As the world is changing rapidly, management structure must be flexible to move with the rapid change. Moreover, “managerial and organizational resources and capabilities, together with environmental factors, have an impact on export marketing strategy and results, which in turn affect exports and economic performance” (Freixanet, Renart, Rialp-Criado 2019). With all these advantages, it is necessary for managers to have global orientation. This orientation “has been described as a geocentric view of international markets and an aspiration to exploit these with proper marketing strategies” (Freixanet, Renart, Rialp-Criado 2019). Finally, in most organizations, the manger “responsible for strategic internationalization-related decisionsmy exert decisive influence in the firm’s export behavior” (Freixanet, Renart, Rialp-Criado 2019). Their expertise and “better decision making is likely to bring about improvements in [an organizations] export marketing strategies and results. As the world is evolving, the values of management are evolving as well, and mangers are required to know the functions necessary to succeed both domestically and internationally.

CONCLUSION

Modern management has come a long way. This form of management with its innovative strategy and motivation constantly needs originality to successfully manage the affairs of the organization. Today’s management does not consist only of authority, but includes precise planning, scrupulous control, and methodical intelligence. As organizations evolve, management requires experts who are skilled to build the strength of their organization and also propel the organization to compete globally and domestically. In all, management is the structure of society.

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