Assignment

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

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LEADERSHIP AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

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Leadership and Cultural Organization

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Introduction

Each organization from small local ones to large international worldwide companies have a distinct organizational culture. The organizational culture is built on beliefs, experiences, and involvement of creators of the organization in its foundation stages. The teams created based on these beliefs, values, thoughts, and feelings evolve into becoming the organization culture which is passed on to future generations (Antonakis et al., 2017). This paper seeks to explain the impacts of organizational culture on employees, effect the leaders has on culture and the findings of an interview conducted on a leader to discuss their impacts on their organizational culture.

Concept of Culture

Culture can be defined as the complex way of life of a society in how they do things. Culture include culture traits like values, beliefs, norms and these can be influenced by the environment (Bennett, 2015). The society changes their ways of life to adapt and thrive according to their environment. Tangible aspects of a culture can include art like drawings, paintings or music, artefacts and they reflect elements of the culture in a broader aspect. Another element of culture is how it expands to other areas and migration of people to other areas thus spreading out their culture. This can lead to domination of one culture by another one which adopt the dominating culture’s practices and can take several decades to lead to complete dominance. Sometimes, there is no dominant culture and they both coexist, this is known as multiculturalism. The element of cultural region means that certain geographical locations are dominated by a specific culture example India is dominated with Hindu culture. Vernacular regions are formed when specific beliefs hold true to people within that culture. Regions where culture begins are known as the hearth of the culture which date to thousands of years ago. Ethnocentrism is a cultural concept which means that other cultures feeling superior to others based on their beliefs (Ghasabeh et al., 2015). The opposite of this is known as cultural relativism which means making judgements specifically within this culture alone without comparison to others. Another concept is cultural differences which entails joining old and new concepts that can lead to positive changes of cultures over time.

Impact of Organizational Culture

The culture within an organization is responsible for the level of productivity within an organization (Nikpour, 2017. An organization that encourages clear communication among subordinates and leaders will have result to quick decision making. A culture where reports can be made by an employee directly to the leader will encourage prompt handling of issues which means more productivity. In cultures where employees cannot directly speak to leaders and must pass through a hierarchy formal channel delays solving of issues which then leads to decreased productivity. The culture of an organization mirrors the ways of leadership within it. If the leadership culture is adopted by the words of the leaders rather than their actions, can lead to an abrasive culture within the organization. Employees can become frustrated leading to less productivity (Nikpour, 2017). The frustrated employees question their leaders on why they should follow their words which is not compatible with the actions of their leaders. Excessive workload given to employees with strict deadlines given by leaders who do not meet their deadlines can decrease productivity of employees. The employees’ work ethic unintentionally reduces as they begin to realize that leaders do not take their deadlines seriously. This also makes employees to view leaders as unprofessional. An organizational culture where leaders lead by words and action help increase productivity and the employees hold them in high regard as leaders. They are more inclined to follow their lead. A culture where employees are treated accordingly and appreciated for their efforts leads to high employee satisfaction, increased productivity, and increased admiration for leaders who ensure this. Rewarding high performance employees with monetary appreciation or allowances will create a culture where they seek to improve their productivity in order to be appreciated. The leaders are also viewed as attentive to the work of their employees leading to increased satisfaction and general high performance. This also trickles down to equal treatment of employees by leaders, avoiding favorism and rewarding the same performance in the same manner. This increases the credibility of the organization as professional. A culture that encourages subordinates to contribute to the vision of the organization leads to excitement, improved communication, and an overall positive outlook of the leaders.

Theories on Impact of Leaders in Culture

The path goal theory states that the leader is responsible for increasing employee motivation for achieving set goals. This involves leadership style, situations, and rewards which are also called contingencies. Motivation is done through increasing the incentives that are important to the employee and guiding them through practices that will increase their likelihood to achieve set organizational or personal goals (Nikpour, 2017). This can be through supportive leadership where the environment is friendly and the leader’s cares about their needs. This creates a relaxed and approachable organizational culture. Directive involved giving subordinates plans and instructions of the path they should follow and creates a culture of rules and regulations which are to be followed. Participative leadership involved asking questions, regular meetings and this encourages a culture of equality within an organization. Achievement leadership style encourages reaching high set of goals which encourages a culture of high achievement. These are known as leadership behaviors and they can be learnt and adopted in organizations.

Transactional leadership theory involves organizing and supervising a group in order to create specific performances that leads to satisfactory outcomes. It follows the Maslow’s hierarchy of satisfaction. The leaders award and punish subordinates. This encourages a culture where certain expectations are held on the employee in order to maintain a certain standard. This theory is effective in organizations that are not flexible and during emergency situations.

Transformational theory encourages employees to go beyond the set objectives and goals that will benefit the organization (Northouse, 2018). These leaders work with a vision, which means they are risk takers and work with the future goal in mind. The employees trust and respect their leader to direct them to specific goals. This in turn creates a culture of clear and open communication within the organization and a leader who acts as a coach and mentor.

Interview Answers of Leader

The leader works in National Council on Family Relations which focuses on education, and family research. They describe the culture as a high-performance culture which intends to strengthen families and what this means for among different countries. They describe employees from different fields including social workers, therapists, educators, clergy, health workers, and teachers. With their end goal which is to strengthen family relationships and maintain professional standards, the leader stated that they have a strategy that they follow in order to achieve this goal. This strategy is based on a culture which for this leader includes grouping of teams to work on specific tasks. These groups are aware of their contribution to the total achievement of overall organizational goals. Therapists, educators, social workers, and health workers are aware of their impact on the achievement of goals in families which translates to organization. This means that there is a culture of accountability where each department is aware of their contribution to the overall goal. The leader also added that they have a culture where all employees value the family dynamic and they are held accountable to these values. This includes honesty, communication, morality, and teamwork.

The leader takes steps such as hiring professionals with strong family beliefs. This ensures that family values are already instilled within employees at all levels. The leader also ensures that they lead by example by ensuring all departments are regularly reminded of the goals of the companies including maintaining an environment that encourages effective communication. This includes quarterly meeting with different departmental leaders and a leader who reminds them of the overall organizational goal and their contribution towards this goal, as well as progress.

Effective management practices include ensuring clear communication lines. This means that there are no blurred lines on how to handle issues and creating a specific department where issues are handled. Maintaining clear communication line is an effective leadership practice as it ensures smooth and organized running of organization. Motivating workers through action or rewards is also an effective practice (Northouse, (2018). This means that leaders guide and pave the way for employees. They are encouraged to achieve organizational goals by the leader. This creates an internal drive for employees to achieve goals. Sharing a vision with employees is an effective practice that ensures subordinates feel involved in the process. This can intrigue personal interests and values of employees who share the same vision or want to be a part of achieving the goals of the organization.

Conclusion

Leaders have a direct effect on the production levels of the company. The leadership strategies that they employ influence culture and therefore overall production level. It is important for leaders to develop a positive organizational culture that ensures success.

References

Antonakis, J., & Day, D. V. (Eds.). (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.

Bennett, T. (2015). Cultural studies and the culture concept. Cultural studies, 29(4), 546-568.

Ghasabeh, M. S., Soosay, C., & Reaiche, C. (2015). The emerging role of transformational leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), 459-467.

Nikpour, A. (2017). The impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: The mediating role of employee’s organizational commitment. International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 6, 65-72.

Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.