Management and Organisation

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I hereby declare that this essay is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it reproduces no material previously published or written nor material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text.

Introduction

Organisational development is dependent on continuous analysis and identification of the factors that impact the effectiveness of the organisation. In today's society, high employee commitment levels are continuously desired by organisations and its managers in order for improvement in productivity. Thus, management must introduce norms, values and behaviours that align with organisation goals and objectives. It is the responsibility of management to introduce an organisational culture that new employees are encouraged to adapt to in order to assist them in getting familiar with the system of organisation. Proper understanding of organisational culture leads towards increase of workplace efficiency and improved performance.

Organisational culture

Successful firms, in terms of organisational functioning are able to distinguish themselves from the lesser through clearly articulated and shared norms, values and beliefs (Deal and Kennedy 1982). It is perceived to be highly important to create a strong organisational culture as it poses as a powerful tool that has the potential to influence employees' behaviour and enhance performance. The informal rules may govern how the business operates and help employees to better understand what is expected of them and as such a culture may also assist employees to feel a sense of achievement for their efforts and responsibility on behalf of the organisation (Den Hartog & Verburg, 2004).

Various definitions of culture have been proposed over the years, though, culture can be broadly defined as a "set of core values, behavioural norms, artefacts and behavioural patterns which govern the way people in organisation interact with each other and invest energy in their jobs and the organisation at large" (Van Muijen , 1999). Within this definition, two layers of culture can be distinguished. The more visible top layer constitutes the behavioural component of organisational culture in which culture manifests itself. The deeper, less visible layer of culture is made up by invisible norms and values, thus creating the underlying causes of behaviour (Den Hartog & Vergburg, 2004).

The strength of organisational culture and performance

In the past two decades, interest in the concept of organisational culture has increased rapidly. Though some researchers and practitioners perceive attempts to measure organisational cultures and its impacts on organisations as highly problematic, a large body of research has erected on the basis that culture is a measurable characteristic of organisation and can be used as a tool to improve performance (Sørensen, 2002).

As stated above, successful and less successful firms are differentiated by the strength of corporate culture within an organisation. A consistent characteristic that defines a strong culture are those that have norms and values which are deeply embedded and widely shared throughout the organisation. As a consequence, strong corporate culture has the potential to increase behavioural consistency across individuals in a firm. In this regard, organisational culture can be described as a social control mechanism (Sørensen, 2002). Simultaneously, organisational cultures have the ability to frame employee's perceptions of organisational events and their basic assumptions about organisational processes. As proposed by Schein (1991), organisational cultures provide its members with guidance and rules for how to behave, giving meaning to their daily work lives and most important, reducing anxiety caused by an unpredictable and uncertain environment. Hence, a work environment consisting of widespread agreement about basic assumptions, values and belief in an organisation should increase behavioural consistency and overall performance improvements.  Strong corporate culture can be exemplified through the success of Apple, Inc. A company's organisational culture can be used as a tool to determine its capabilities in supporting changes and implementation of new strategies and policies. In the case of Apple, the company heavily invests into developing and integrating its organisational culture to facilitate rapid innovation (Meyer, 2016).