Organizational culture and its role within the modern company

Summary

It also treats the organizational culture as a set of paradigms, which are formed throughout the life of the organization as a result of the interactions between its members, of these with the structures, strategies, systems, processes, and of the organization with its environment, from which a set of references is formed, which will be valid to the extent that they guarantee the efficiency, effectiveness and effectiveness of the organization. It presents the relationship between culture and strategy.

Keywords: organizational culture, values, beliefs, norms, myths, behaviors, strategy, subculture.

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of different definitions of organizational culture that appear in the business literature. It identifies its common elements and addresses some of the least treated, but they are very important for the good performance of an organization. It presents the organizational culture as the set of values, norms, beliefs, myths, etc., that are developed in an organization and that make it different from the others, that allows unity among its members and identifies a way of doing. It also deals with organizational culture as a set of paradigms, which are formed throughout the life of the organization as a result of interactions between its members, of these with structures, strategies, systems, processes, and organization with its environment, from which is formed a set of references,which will be valid to the extent that guarantee the efficiency, effectiveness and effectiveness of the organization. It presents the relationship between culture and strategy.

Keywords: organizational culture, values, beliefs, norms / rules / policies, myths, behaviors, strategy, subculture.

Organizational culture and its role within the modern company

Generally, the Corporate Identity is usually defined, in a limited interpretation as a visual identification system: brand, logo, symbol, colors, typography, etc., compiled in the form of a manual where its application to the various visual communication supports is regulated: stationery, printed matter, signage, vehicles, uniforms, etc. However, corporate identity is somewhat more complex; It constitutes a set of manifestations where the past, present and future of the company are projected (history, culture, values, strategies, etc.) and consists of two parts: the graphic aspects and the organizational culture.

Every company has an internal logic, its own characteristics, personality, a specific character determined by its origin and evolution, manifested through an internal culture, values and a way of doing things (quality of service, management style, behaviors, language, model organization, technology, etc.) Through all this the very reason for being of the organization and its way of doing are projected, they are the signs of an identity, whose positive and coherent communication contributes to generating an image that is progressively installed in the mind of the clients, we can, therefore, define the identity as the visualization of the company's strategy.

For a company and its managers, it is very important to understand identity as a unique, differentiating asset, of great value, as a strategic resource and a key factor in competitiveness, generator of benefits, although there are really very few companies that demonstrate that they have reached understand this, since many limit themselves to seeing corporate identity as a graphic exercise (logo, signage, etc.) and there are very few who carry out a true management of their identity, oriented and measured in terms of competitive advantage, operating results and increase in value, since unfortunately not all managers recognize identity as a business resource, as a managerial function,beyond its simple instrumentation at the design and communication level, which is due, among other things, to the apparent difficulty of measuring its profitability and its impact on results, since many managers have not understood the strategic role or the implications of identity and the image, all of which in many cases has led to mistakes such as:

Adopt an attractive name or an attractive modern design, without thoroughly analyzing whether it communicates something specifically useful Simplify the identity to a graphic design theme, without properly analyzing the identity structure: company, brands, sub-brands, products Underestimating the importance of design to make tangible the changes or improvements to be achieved, without understanding that one of the main roles of identity is to "visualize" the strategy and culture of the organization. Do not consider the importance of everything that customers, employees, etc. they see when they deal with the organization, without taking into account that what is seen is much more than a logo and colors; what is seen is a style of doing things, that is,not understanding that a corporate identity program consists of clearly and coherently projecting the business strategy through an infinity of small details.Not understanding that the true importance of a corporate identity program is finding real differences that constitute competitive advantages and knowing how to project them properly, consistently to achieve the desired positioning.

We will not stop to analyze here what is related to the graphic aspects of corporate identity, but rather what is related to Organizational Culture (attitudes, management styles, customer service, quality of services provided, values, beliefs, etc.) All these elements do not constitute visual manifestations in the strict sense, but nobody can deny that we see them, that we touch them and that we suffer them, therefore, they constitute an essential part of the identity, so essential that when an organization tries to sell us a modern visual identity, dynamic, friendly, ecological, if it is not accompanied by a parallel behavior, it implies a negative result.

In general, when speaking of culture, the term is popularly associated, with certain artistic manifestations or in its most general sense, with what includes heritage wealth, identity and social participation in the spiritual life of people.

For a smaller group, culture as a category in its broadest field has another significance; it constitutes a set of material and spiritual values created by humanity in the course of its history. Thus, culture can be understood as the level of

development reached by society in education, science, art, morality, philosophy, etc. and the corresponding institutions.

Among the most important indices that measure the cultural level understood in this way are the degree of use of technical improvement and scientific discoveries in social production, the cultural and technical level of the producers of goods and services, as well as the degree of diffusion of the instruction, literature and the arts among the population. But culture also encompasses business.

For a company to exhibit its own culture, it allows to acquire an identity, a well-drawn profile, by which it is distinguished from the others, an element that is of the utmost importance in such a competitive world, where having a logo or distinctive signs does not it is enough if behind there is no true culture that corresponds to them and expresses their true essence.

Organizations are complex social systems that interact with the environment, with their environment. Today, many of the problems of organizations come from the rapid changes in the demands of the environment, threats and opportunities.

As the environment changes, the organization must adapt, this is becoming more and more necessary, which implies the need to develop a culture in companies that responds to these demands.

The idea of viewing organizations as cultures - where there is a system of shared meanings among their members - is a relatively new phenomenon. Like individuals, organizations also have personality. They can be rigid or flexible, innovative or conservative. Each company prints a unique feel and character beyond its structural characteristics. Today, the role that culture plays in the lives of the members of organizations has begun to be recognized.

What is the organizational culture?

From the studies of Mayo and Barnard (1930), Peters, Waterman (1982) and Scheín (1985), the insufficiency of the traditional paradigms of understanding organizations becomes evident and at the same time it became necessary to distinguish in this field the explanatory variables of the difference between excellence and mediocrity, it is in this context that the concept of Organizational Culture arises.

At present, there is a considerable number of authors who have proposed definitions of the Organizational Culture concept, but they all revolve around the same terms. To make an analysis of the main concepts, they recognize the organizational culture as:

According to E. Schein, some interpret it as behaviors observed on a regular basis, others as norms that are developed in work groups, others as dominant values in a company, others as a philosophy that guides business policy, for others they are rules of the game to progress, others the environment or climate that is established and breathes in the company; for others some of these initiatives are combined. For him it is «A set of basic assumptions - invented, discovered or developed by a given group as they learn to cope with the problems of external adaptation and internal integration - which have exerted sufficient influence to be considered valid and, consequently, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive,think and feel those problems (…) which operate unconsciously and define, as a basic interpretation, the vision that the company has of itself and its environment »¨ (Schein, p. 25, 26) This author proposes that the Understanding the organizational culture is an integral part of the management process itself.

Igor Ansoff defines it as “a set of norms and values of a social group that determine its preference for a type of strategic behavior.” (Ansoff, p. 123)

In turn, culture is an active and mobilizing component, it may or may not be formalized and it is a system that is in interaction with a broader system of which it is a part: society. (Jorge Etkin and Leonardo Schvarstein, 2007).

In our opinion, organizational culture is the set of values, norms, beliefs, myths, etc., that are developed in an organization and that make it different from the others, that allows unity among its members and identifies a way of doing it. It constitutes a shared frame of reference for everything that is done and thought in an organization.

For management theory and practice, Organizational Culture is commonly defined as a set of values and beliefs shared by the members of an organization, operating consciously and unconsciously. This set of values and beliefs conditions the responses that the organization has learned to solve its own problems.

On the other hand, culture in its development as a set of norms, beliefs, virtues, etc. it manifests a reciprocal influence, both among the masses and among individuals.

In the analysis of companies that adopt certain values as a guide for their behavior, both within the company and in their relationship with the environment, it is observed that they are the ones that best survive strong competition, among these values it deserves the It is worth noting: the sense of belonging to the work team, the organization and the community, the trust of creditors, suppliers, distributors and customers, as it is a company that behaves socially responsible.

Culture can also be understood as internal strategic design, when it is constituted as a basic element of management orientation.

Beliefs, Values and Hypotheses

Belief: It is a proposition about how the world works, which the individual accepts as true, it is a cognitive fact for the person.

Values: Beliefs about what is desirable, something good, and what is undesirable or bad. They serve as a guide to human behavior. It can be said that the values create a sense of identity of the staff with the organization to which they belong. They must be accepted and shared by all members of the organization.

Hypotheses: These are beliefs that are considered to be so valuable and obviously correct that they are taken for granted and rarely examined or questioned.

Values tend to be humanistic and optimistic. Humanists proclaim the importance of the individual, respect the whole person, treat people with respect and dignity, assume that all have intrinsic worth, and that all have the same potential for growth and development. Optimists postulate that people are basically good, that progress is possible and desirable in human affairs, and that rationality and reason are instruments for progress.

The development of a solid organizational culture adds value to the product or service, becoming a source of sustainable competitive advantage, since at this time when standards have been achieved in production, quality, cost, technology, etc. exhibiting your own culture allows you to find an identity, a difference that leads to the desired positioning in the mind of the client and of society as a whole.

It is very interesting in the previous definitions of organizational culture the possibility of it being influenced by the conscious decision of man, in a dialectical interaction, which gives a high methodological value for the consequent action of man.

Research on organizational culture has tried to measure the way in which employees view their organization: does it stimulate teamwork?

Does it reward innovation? Does it stifle initiative? Etc., hence culture must also be understood as a self-image, as the global perception that the staff of a company has of it.

In the business literature, it seems that there is broad agreement that organizational culture refers to a system of meanings shared among its members, and that distinguishes one organization from others.

A dominant culture expresses the core values shared by most members of the organization. When we talk about the culture of an organization, we mean its dominant culture. This macro vision of culture is what gives the organization its distinctive personality, the more shared the values, beliefs, etc., the stronger the corporate culture.

According to this definition, a strong culture will have a great influence on the behavior of its members because the intensity and the high degree of sharing creates an internal climate of much behavioral control.

A specific result of a strong culture should be lower employee turnover. A strong culture shows a high degree of agreement among members about what the organization stands for. Such unanimity of purpose fosters organizational cohesion, loyalty, and commitment. In turn, these qualities decrease the propensity of employees to leave the organization.

The stronger the culture of an organization, the less need management has to worry about formulating formal rules and regulations to direct employee behavior. These guidelines are incorporated into employees when they accept the culture.

Therefore, culture performs various functions within an organization, including the following:

It creates differentiation between an organization and the others. It develops a sense of identity for its members. It facilitates the generation of commitment to something greater than the personal interest of the individual.

Culture can be assumed to be the social glue that helps hold the organization together, by providing appropriate standards for what employees should do. Finally, it serves as a control mechanism that guides and models the attitudes and behavior of employees, that is, culture defines the rules of the game.

Culture favors consensus regarding the mission of the company and the procedures to put it into practice, it is what differentiates a simple statement of intent from the most important reference to guide the collective and individual behavior of the company in its environment and within herself. The sense of belonging to the group and the company is perhaps the most genuine manifestation of the organizational culture.

However, in the definitions referred to in the literature and analyzed, it has shown, at least explicitly, the relationship between the variables recognized by most of the authors that make up culture (values, beliefs, attitudes, paradigms) those that currently From now on we will call soft variables (soft) and hard variables (structures, strategies, systems, processes, trade, others) and that are linked to Business Management and that of both variables with the environment. For such purposes Alabart and Portuondo (2001) formulate the following definition:

Organizational culture is a set of paradigms, which are formed throughout the life of the organization as a result of the interactions between its members, of these with the structures, strategies, systems, processes, and of the organization with its environment, From which a set of references is formed, which will be valid to the extent that they guarantee the efficiency, effectiveness and effectiveness of the organization.

This concept recognizes the variables:

cultural (soft) of the management systems (hard) of the environment associated with the final result (efficiency, efficacy, effectiveness).

The concept outlined here by these authors does not deny the basic premises necessary for culture to emerge as a phenomenon, which are:

existence of a group. it has a history. shared view of the world.

It also recognizes that culture is formed from the interactions between:

the group members, the group, and the hard variables, the organization with its environment.

Schein, referring to the assumptions related to nature and the environment, states: Business health can be understood as the ability of the company to accurately judge its initial assumptions about its relationship with the environment in order to know if they continue according to the environment and if it evolves. (Schein, 1985).

According to this author, these assumptions determine the existence or not of a strategic orientation, which influences the business situation, allowing us to determine whether the organization is in a state of decline, stagnation or, on the contrary, in a flourishing stage.

However, every day it is more frequent to find more subtle concepts in the vocabulary of those who participate in these operations. It is said that success and organizational vitality depend on appropriate cultures and values.

For these authors, culture constitutes the basis of organizational functioning, it is the invisible source where strategy, structure and systems acquire their energy. The success of transformation projects depends on the talent and aptitude of the management to change the driving culture of the company in time and in accordance with the strategies, structures and formal management systems.

The theoretical development of the Science of Management collects, with increasing force, the perception of Organizational Culture as an integral part of the management process, finding, frequently, authors who in their approaches on the need and importance of knowledge of Organizational culture is presented as a strategic and efficient way of acting within an organization. Schein (1984).

Formation of culture in an organization

In any organization, culture is gradually formed with the development of interpersonal relationships, whether internal or external to the company. It can be ensured that a company with a high level of turnover of its staff and specifically of its managers, fails to consolidate a culture that identifies it and guides the behavior of its members. At the same time, a solid culture can undoubtedly contribute to the permanence of its members.

The founders of the company exert a strong influence on the formation of its culture. They are the ones who define the way of acting before any problem. Hence, E. Schein considers them a key element in the process of culture formation. However, this does not mean that the culture of an organization is something immovable, since the very learning process of its members, the changes that occur in the environment and the need for companies to be increasingly competitive, reinforce the need to unlearn some things and incorporate new ones.

The speed of technological change also promotes innovation, product life cycles have passed from years to months and the time to develop new products and introduce them has also decreased, all of which demands a new way of doing things that leads to change of the culture developed by each group within the organization.

To this end, García, S. and Dolan, SM, 1996 state: “A company culture that becomes stagnant means that it insists on maintaining a good way of thinking and doing the things that it could have served in the past but that is proving ineffective in the present".

These authors limit that the beliefs and values that sustain the structures and processes of companies, must also be continuously transformed if they are to remain alive, that is, if they are to have adaptive success in their struggle for survival. In other words, the organizations most capable of facing the future do not believe in themselves for what they are, but rather for their ability to stop being what they are: they do not feel strong because of their structures, but because of their ability to get hold of others. whenever necessary.

In turn, culture, structure, strategy and environment must also achieve an adaptation relationship, if there is a change in one of these four systems and a change strategy is not drawn for the rest according to that change, the relationships between them become dissonant and desynchronize, which brings with it a loss of efficiency and effectiveness of the organization making it impossible for its ability to survive, adapt, maintain and grow.

Culture - Strategy Relationship

The culture of the organization can affect or favor the implementation of the strategy by influencing the behavior of its workers and / or by motivating them or not to achieve or exceed organizational objectives.

Generally, past or present leaders of an organization have a definite influence on the culture. In addition, it is frequent that several subcultures coexist between the particular departments of the organization, which in turn are influenced by the leaders of those levels.

The relationships established between the members of the groups in the functional areas or departments that, sometimes may be established by norms and values that may contradict or simply be different from the general ones of the company, may or may not be positive when it comes to implementing a strategy, especially in the case of informal subcultures that facilitate, or disrupt, collaboration between individuals, offering or subtracting an important help fundamentally to the phase of the strategy development process.

As long as the subcultures have been created according to the basic foundations of General Culture, and as long as there are no conflicts between them, there will be no problem; But from the moment that the subculture of one subsystem prevents the implementation of the strategy of another subsystem, this fact will require extreme caution.E.g. a commercial strategy of competitive prices may not be viable if there is a subculture in the area. of production that favors quality above all else, even if this implies an increase in costs.

The organization develops and reinforces cultures in different ways. The five primary mechanisms are:

What leaders pay attention to, measure and control: Leaders can communicate their vision of the organization and what they want to see done most effectively by continually emphasizing the same topics in meetings, in comments and spontaneous responses, and in discussions about strategies, leaders' reactions to critical incidents, and internal crises: The methods leaders employ to resolve crises can give rise to new beliefs and values and reveal underlying assumptions in the organization. Roles, teaching and training: Leaders' behavior, in both formal and informal contexts, has significant effects on employee beliefs, values and behaviors. Criteria for the allocation of compensation and status:Leaders can quickly communicate their priorities and values by consistently linking rewards and punishments to desirable behaviors Criteria for Recruitment, Selection, Promotion, and Retirement: The kinds of people who are hired and successful in an organization are those that accept the values of the organization and behave accordingly.

In the formulation phase of the business strategy, the strategic management, the modes of behavior, the values and the philosophy that permeates the management of the workforce will determine the elements to take into account for decision-making, channeling it or diverting it from the business objective, making it difficult or facilitating its implementation, which expresses the essential importance of harmony between the Business Culture and the strategies adopted in all the subsystems.

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