Organizations are really microcosms of the
larger universe we live in. Hence they can be hot, cold, tropical or temperate.
They can also be dry, balmy, Mediterranean or equatorial. The combined energy
stemming from the top and flowing through all its elements makes them so.
Organizations are also carbon copies of the
people who inhabit these institutions. While a lot of emphasis is given to
well-designed buildings, defining looks in terms of the exterior and ergonomic
layouts within, what forms the core is the characteristics the organizations
imbibe from the organizational denizens. And by this analogy, organizations can
be ethical, temperamental, dictatorial, friendly & warm, manipulating &
politically charged and so on.
What Shapes Employee Behaviour?
Wikipedia defines organizational climate
thus – “Organizational climate (sometimes known as Corporate Climate) is
the process of quantifying the “culture” of an organization. It is a set of
properties of the work environment, perceived directly or indirectly by the
employees, that is assumed to be a major force in influencing employee behaviour.”
What must be added is that, the Climate is actually a derivative of the
employee bearing and actions intertwined with the Company brand philosophy. On
the other hand, well set organizational climate shapes up employee deportment
and impacts their efforts. It is, indeed, a complexly circular relationship
with one being the causing agent of another and vice versa.
Nationalities do play an important role in
defining organizational climate. So, there would be different organizational
cultures in America or Europe that would differ from what exists in Africa or
Asia. We have heard enough about how Americans or French or Japanese or Chinese
or Indians work in their own milieu. And several hand books have been written
on how to understand, perform and survive in these varying cultures. But then,
with decreased geographical distances by virtue of shorter time spans required
to travel around and increased virtual and technology thrusts, organizations
have fast become multicultural and multinational bodies that should and have
allowed thriving of people from different cultures, have respected the cultural
sensibilities while all the time ensuring that it all dovetails back into the
common vision and mission of the organization at large.
Organizational Culture as a Product
of the Nature of Business
Secondly, nature of business plays a key
role in defining the organizational culture. Therefore, government bodies
function and feel differently from private companies. Old world professions
like hospitals, hotels, banks etc. tend to be more formal than the relatively
new businesses such as software firms, advertising agencies, media organisations
or FMCG enterprises, where the culture is more informal, less starchy and more yuppy.
So, while all-week Friday dressing or addressing the boss by his first name or
grabbing a sandwich lunch while at one’s work station or engaging in informal
and impromptu discussions in the corridors are all part and parcel of working
in such organizations, all this would be simply sacrilege in the formal
establishments.
Organizational Culture – a sum of
different personality types and people traits
But what is single-handedly most important
in defining an organization is the set of soft qualities that the employees and
chiefly the top leadership bring into the organization. This, in fact, becomes one
of the major rationales for the reputation oscillating between - does the
organization manage to attract and retain good talent or is hiring, firing and
frequent resigning more the norm at this place. These parameters essentially
define whether the organization is known for its best practices and often comes
out on top of the most respected organizations’ surveys year after year or is
it a place where people may come for short gains and quick trials, where they end
up making as swift an exit as their entry.
A few years back, my young para-legal
expert and social activist niece came back one evening broken and shattered
from her work place that had not only formed the foundation but also helped
define her professional identity for the last three years. Her main set of
grouses were – there was a huge amount of incongruence between what she was
expected to do and was being asked to do; with no clear definition of her roles
and no proper direction from a supervising authority she was being made to run
around like a headless chicken, that the top boss was whimsical, highly temperamental
and given to loud & severe emotional outbursts that would end up sapping a
lot of positive energy and enthusiasm, that a lot of colleagues contributed to
and festered on malefic grapevine which ended up becoming fodder for the daily
news and basis for the existing, rotting climate within the organization. So
much so that double promotions in a year and increase in salary structure were
not proving to be strong retaining factors as against the severely damaging and
driving out forces that lurked within.
It has been a grave Human Resource issue when
bad organizational climate leads to absenteeism, increased number of sick
leaves, wastage of a multitude of man hours, loss in yield - both individual
and collective, and a sharp blow to the bottom line. On the other hand, a good
and healthy organizational climate is promoting, nurturing, encouraging and
leads to brilliance in work and success in business.
Given how much is invested into making
companies function as composite entities and how much is at stake to ensure
that they run as successful businesses, it is a matter of utter astonishment to
note how the people – at all levels really, from the visionaries and
strategists on top to the developers and managers in the middle down to the
ones who really make things happen at the shop floor – work at cross purposes
to the Organizational Vision and Mission.
Organizations need to realize and take into
account the huge amounts of time, energy and money they lose not only when
good, well-trained and high performing employees leave but also when they
continue to house under-performing, negative and poorly trained workforce that
is more of a drain on the company’s resources as against the miniscule nothings
that it ends up bringing to the table.
Organizational climate should feed off
Organizational culture which in turn should be laid on the foundation of trust,
respect, honesty, pleasantness, growth and excellence.
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Note 1 - Picture Courtesy - Google Images
Note 2 - This article has been featured on Hospitality Net - http://www.hospitalitynet.org/column/global/154000392/4072410.html
