Should Organizations Promote a Positive Culture or Is It Manipulative

Ryan Hays

ryankhays@hotmail.com

10/10/2013

Should Organizations Promote a Positive Culture or is it Manipulative

Point: Company or corporate culture is described as the actions or behaviors of individuals that work for an organization. Visions, values, and the way the company does things create either a positive or negative culture (as cited in Small Business Chronicle, 2013).  Positive culture starts at the top, executives within the company have to put the policies in place and then disseminate that the information down the organizational line.  Communication is one of the most important aspects of a appositive culture; without proper communications information will not be disseminated to all areas of the company.  When the executives of the company are able to share the vision of the company and express what is clearly expected of the employee in regard to their responsibilities, employees tend to be more productive (as cited in Entrepreneur, 2010).  

Respecting and valuing the most important asset of the company, employees, is extremely important as well.  By creating a culture that says you are an important part of the company, it makes the employee feel like the time they are spending at work is not in vain, but in fact valued.  When an employee feels valued they are more accountable, productive, efficient, and there overall performance increases (as cited in Fox Business, 2011).  If the employee is not treated this way, the opposite effect takes place.  Employees are late for work, get less done, and the highly skilled labor may become so disenchanted with the organization, they will leave the company.  

Lastly, values and morals that are set forth by example and actions in the upper management of the company are equally as important.  The way the leaders of a company act are typically expressed equally throughout the rest of the company; with positive actions come positive feelings and vise a versa and this will lead to the positive culture that a company needs.  

Counter point: Why the intent to build a positive culture within an organization can be manipulative. The values, ethics, and behaviors come from leadership of a company (as cited in the Ivy Business Journal, 2000.  The problem is, sometimes the vision portrayed and the ethics and values advertised are not the reality of the leaders themselves.  So, the sole purpose of portraying these noble qualities can be used to inspire by manipulation; however, eventually this image will eventually be shattered.  When the true intentions of the management come to bare and the employees see that leadership lacks virtue, what is said is not followed up with tangible actions, unachievable goals are put into place, and the results of the hard work of the employee is void, then the employees are not satisfied.  The act of creating culture change for the purpose of manipulating effort out the people that work for the company has failed.