In modern administration, organizational culture plays a very important role, since it constitutes a means to achieve the organizational objectives that lead to fulfill the mission and achieve the vision that is what gives meaning to the company.
Although Organizational Culture is a pattern of behavior, in which all members of the organization interact, there are elements that must be encouraged, reinforced, or changed.
In this sense, the role of the human resources administration plays a very important role, since it becomes an element of support to achieve it.
Often the Organizational Culture fixes the image of the company, and establishes implicit rules on the way in which people must behave within it.
Knowledge management in this context is important, since it must be in charge of cultivating those elements that are within shared beliefs and values, and that can contribute to raising the disposition of the organization's personnel in an effective way to achieve its objectives..
Human beings are forced to adapt to the environment around them and within it, constantly striving to meet their needs and achieve emotional balance.
This adaptation process pursues the satisfaction of basic needs and also the need to belong to a social group.
The need to belong to a social group implies the need for self-esteem and self-realization. The inability to meet these needs causes adaptation problems, since it depends on other people, especially those in authority.
Within organizations there are different interest groups: Groups of people with different goals and ambitions. Individuals will unite with those who have similar ambitions or who feel threatened by similar fears, both in relation to their personal lives, as well as in their working relationships.
This political competition in companies will infiltrate the process of change, and will be reflected in questions such as the following:
- How do people's goals differ? What are they going to compete for? What are the resources that each one controls? What gives them power over others?
The culture of change of any organization is a consequence of the culture of change of its members, the first of them can hardly exist if the second does not exist.
It is important to highlight that - the change in organizational culture must be a consequence, it cannot be conceived as an objective, - since Organizational Culture is a reflection of the attitudes of the members of the organization, making it very difficult to try to change the feeling and thinking of each one of them, if other types of changes are not made in the administrative process that governs the organization.
In addition, The Change or Transformation of the Organizational Culture cannot be taxable, nor can it be claimed to observe results overnight, it must arise from the conviction of the members of the organization.
Therefore, the cultural change that is being pursued must be instilled and its effects may be visible in the medium term.
In the process of change or transformation of Organizational Culture, knowledge management plays a leading role. Such management must be designed as a strategic rather than an operational function, and must become a facilitator of the change process and permanently ensure compliance with the rules and policies that allow achieving and maintaining the proposed objectives.
However, the management of the Organizational Change process should not be the sole responsibility of the Human Resources area, so the other areas that make up the organization's organizational structure should not be excluded, since it should be a responsibility shared by all those who lead the organization, understanding in this new concept as Human Capital Manager anyone who has at least one person under their charge.
The Human Capital Manager must create norms and policies that allow developing and maintaining the desired Organizational Climate in the organization, as well as ensuring compliance with them by all its members, regardless of the level to which they belong.
The cultural differences that occur within the organization's personnel can be considered critical, when cultural shocks develop that do not allow progress with organizational change projects.
Within organizations there are people who have a strong tendency to identify and commit to their area of work, to their coworkers and to their clients, which in some cases is reflected in a lower turnover of staff and a greater willingness to accept challenges and commitments.
However, some others demonstrate the contrary and are the ones who normally promote culture shock. These cultural differences must be considered at the time of the implementation of the strategies oriented towards the change of the Organizational Culture, since although the type of culture must be the same - institutional -, yes it can, and must contemplate some variants within the process of implementation and development.
These variants must be predefined, evaluated and considered by the Human Capital manager, and their purpose is to take advantage of the strengths and reduce the weaknesses detected in the analysis of the predominant cultural features in both sub-cultures.
The satisfaction in the work that people do is determined by the predominant organizational climate within the organization.
That is to say that, within the focus of Organizational Culture, the environment that surrounds them causes more satisfaction in employees than the tasks they perform in different jobs.
The organizational climate is essential for the stability of the staff, it depends on whether you want to spend a lot of time within the organization, or conversely, that a change in the short term is contemplated within your personal plans.
In the operational area, it is common for personnel, even if they are not satisfied with their work, to demonstrate greater stability, and this is due to the fact that opportunities for employment and personal development are much more limited than in the strategic area.
This is worrisome, since people who demonstrate greater stability do not necessarily do so because of job satisfaction, it may be due to accommodation or necessity.
The participation of the collaborators within the process of continuous improvement of the organization, must be promoted by its authorities and by the different immediate Managers, the staff cannot be expected to take the initiative to do so, if there is a low level of affiliation among collaborators. - company, and very little satisfaction in the work they do.
Promoting the participation of staff means giving them the freedom to carry out their activities under clear guidelines for action, which allow them to flexibly develop the activities within the processes they execute and put into practice their initiative and creativity to improve those activities, achieving the objectives. preset with greater effectiveness.
The lack of participation of the personnel causes an organizational stagnation and a waste of the knowledge, experiences and common sense of those who are directly involved in the operation of the tasks that are carried out to meet the objectives of the company, since they are the ones who Being in charge of carrying out the operational activities, they better know the weaknesses of each one of them and / or of the processes and systems in general.
The values within the organization are determining factors of the Organizational Culture, since they constitute the reflection of it, therefore, they must be shared by all its members and must be part of their beliefs and principles, they must be permanently promoted and encouraged to that they become a fortress and that as a consequence, the desired type of culture can be reached.
The conception of the core values in the organization should not be left to the interpretation or judgment of its members, since each person will use their criteria to come to understand them and put them into practice, as a consequence of the importance that each one assigns to them.
This conception must be oriented and must highlight for each one of them, the importance they have for the organization, taking into account that they are a part of the Institutional Mission and Vision.
The permanent evaluation of the internal communication process is very important within the management of change or transformation of the Organizational Culture, since the staff acts according to the knowledge of the organizational objectives and all those events that occur within the company.
Organizational objectives are sometimes not met due to lack of information, and not necessarily due to lack of efficiency and effectiveness of personnel.
The communication process must be planned and fed back, so that it can strengthen formal communication and minimize informal communication, which in most cases causes deviations in operational tasks.
Effective communication is the responsibility of all the members of the organization, it is not exclusive and can become a cultural factor that will allow the fulfillment of the organizational objectives, with more agility and greater assertiveness, since it will eliminate unnecessary efforts and resources.
The interpersonal relationships between all the members of the organization, regardless of hierarchical levels or structural areas, constitute the reflection of the Organizational Culture and are a direct consequence of the organizational climate that prevails within the company.
Good interpersonal relationships promote effective communication and encourage the participation of staff together, towards the search for continuous improvement of the company. On the contrary, if the interpersonal relationships are bad, it will not be possible to implement organizational development plans based on teamwork.
The identification of the staff with their coworkers is a conditioning factor to achieve satisfaction with the work they do, so ensuring that there are good interpersonal relationships is a condition for ensuring that the organization effectively fulfills its Mission and Vision.
In addition, it is important to take into account that interpersonal relationships also exist between the staff and the clients or users of the organization's services, so the quality of care of the services offered must be evaluated.
The structural separation, which causes the organizational design of the different areas that make up the company and the specialization of functions, which causes the functional design of each of the jobs that make up those areas, favor focusing more effort towards the search for particular objectives (the objectives of the work areas and / or the objectives of the jobs), and transfer organizational objectives to the background.
The fulfillment of the organizational objectives is a direct consequence of the effectiveness in the coordination of efforts between the different areas or jobs, and this in turn of the interdepartmental relationships and the interpersonal relationships that occur within the company.
The motivation in the personnel within the organization is the consequence of a good organizational climate, it only occurs if there is job satisfaction and if the levels of affiliation between the personnel and the company are sufficiently solid and stable.
The sense of belonging or identification of the personnel with their organization, with their coworkers and with the activities or tasks that they carry out, encourages the participation of the personnel within the process of continuous improvement and facilitates the process of change or transformation of the organizational culture. Otherwise, if the staff of the organization is not motivated and shows symptoms of dissatisfaction with what it does and with everything that surrounds it, it will promote resistance to change and disqualify any attempt to improve, thereby preventing organizational development.
The participation of the staff of the organization, within the process of change is very important to obtain the desired success in the shortest possible time, such participation will depend directly on the motivation that has, which must be fostered and must be accompanied by policies of recognition to the staff.
Motivation in staff will facilitate the decision-making process. Making a decision is the result of choosing between several options.
Within companies it means acting to resolve problems or events that occur permanently.
Anyone can solve common problems in the organization without consulting their superiors. The lack of this principle is even more critical for those problems that eventually arise and that due to lack of knowledge to obtain the solution, it is essential to consult one or more people who, due to hierarchy, common sense or experience, can solve the problem.
The enrichment of the job is based on the levels of responsibility and importance that the personnel carry out within one or several processes and in the organization in general.
The importance of the position in relation to the tasks that are carried out and to the decision making that is free to carry out and solve administrative problems, fosters responsibility and commitment in the occupant of the position.
Therefore, the efficiency of the personnel is proportional to the importance that he considers to have for the organization.
The aforementioned indicates that the person who considers himself important due to the activities and functions he performs, will be more efficient in the face of the problems that he commonly or eventually has to face, thereby achieving efforts even more than necessary to solve them, satisfying his personal needs, needs of the company and above all the needs of its customers.
On the contrary, the person who, due to the company's policies, should only limit himself to perform the functions for which he has been hired, with little freedom and independence to go further, will not contribute more than expected.
