Organizational Design and Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Organizational Design and Culture - Essay Example Culture tends to be presented in the change literature as a variable, which is susceptible to control and available to management for manipulation. Yet sociologists and anthropologists of various persuasions have long argued for a more organic, processual and dynamic approach to questions of culture than the rather narrow materialist view would suggest. Organizational cultures are continuously constructed and reconstructed through interaction and intervention at the everyday level: they are constantly in process and tend largely to resist central control. This is reflected in the poor track record of many planned corporate culture programmes: while a few mission statements and indoctrination sessions might change senior management' s perspective.Culture assumes significance usually because the strategy of the organization, the type of people in power and its structure and systems reflect the dominant managerial ideology or culture. Furthermore, such managerial ideologies may be more important than environmental factors in guiding organizational response. Managerial ideology, in recent years, has focused on the core characteristics associated with the "best run", "achievement-oriented", "excellent" organizations. Core dimensions include an action focus, high customer awareness; entrepreneurship; and autonomy. Therefore by implication, it is being suggested that a model which assumes low employee commitment simply cannot match the standards of excellence set by world-class manufacturers.