Essay on Culture in Organizations and Leadership

Ever since huge firms emerged to become a prevalent phenomenon in our society and economy, researchers and professionals have tried conceptualize the optimal culture. Seminal twentieth centuries attempted to determine different kinds of cultures and structures that firms were using. These studies seemed to ensure that under X circumstances and conditions, establishing a culture like Y would be capable of leading to superior performance and efficiency. However, in the 21^st century, numerous contingencies being faced by companies make such type of proposition impossible to be sustained: more knowledgeable and sophisticated customers, shorter life-cycles of products, disruptive technologies, and international competition are just some factors that companies deal with at present. Add to this is the fact that key processes like innovations are taking place across the boundaries of organizations, with organizations seemingly aggregating input form the myriad contributors through international networks of communication (Suddaby & Foster, 2017).

            At present, not only the structure, priorities, but even cultures have changed within organizations. The set of beliefs and values of both leaders and management have changed. With the beginning of 20^th century, organizations started to focus more on workers and their part in organizational performance and success. This new found interest led to studies and detailed researches on how the satisfaction of employees contributes to the overall efficiency of a company. A new aspect was the role of a leader in the establishment of a culture that values its workers and involves them in different processes. And then came all the leadership styles which explained the approach of a leader towards his resources. Therefore, it can be said that today, leaders focus more on the utilization of workforce to achieve the goals of company while focusing on the requirements of customers (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015).

            There are several barriers that exist within organizations which prevent the establishment of a productive culture. The very first barrier is the strict policies of a company which serve to restrict the innovation and creativity of employees. A successful organization is the one which perceives its workers more as humans rather than as machines. However, when there are too many rules in the company, workers are not able to grow properly and it becomes a major obstacle to the establishment of an employee-oriented flexible culture. The second obstacle is the unwillingness of senior managers and other authorities to adjust to the change of new culture. They have some traditional sets of beliefs which they continue to stick to and it causes them to not be able to fully adjust to the new culture (Alvesson, 2012).

            These barriers can be overcome if the leader adopts a leadership style which is not only authoritative but also flexible and focuses more on different functions and processes of workers. When the leader is holding employees important together with their development then it allows him to change some of the rules which are hindering the development of skills of workers. In addition, when the leader is more communicative and approachable, it will allow the employees to be more direct with their ideas and innovations which can be quite useful for the company. This way, the leader can make the best use of workforce for achieving organizational objectives and ensuring that employees are also living their lives. If workers are satisfied then they will be engaged in their work. Meanwhile, the issue of senior management can be resolved with the creation of an open environment in which anyone can communicate. This way, ideas will be direct and problems will be easily identified (Zheng, et al., 2010).

            Overall, in the future, culture will continue to play an important role in shaping not only organizations but also leaders. Actually, a more intuitive and flexible yet high performance working culture can only be established if the leader of the company chooses the right approach. That is why, it can be said that for such a culture to be effective, the leader has to change himself first while the benefits of an effective organizational culture cannot be denied. For instance, it allows an organization to achieve not only its short-term but also long-term goals while retaining workers and increasing revenues. Though an inefficient culture is capable of doing the opposite as well.

References of Culture in Organizations and Leadership

Alvesson, M., 2012. Understanding organizational culture. s.l.:Sage.

Alvesson, M. & Sveningsson, S., 2015. Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress.. s.l.:Routledge.

Suddaby, R. & Foster, W. M., 2017. History and organizational change. pp. 19-38.

Zheng, W., Yang, B. & McLean, G. N., 2010. Linking organizational culture, structure, strategy, and organizational effectiveness: Mediating role of knowledge management. Journal of Business research , 63(7), pp. 763-771.