Organizational Culture
In workplaces, culture remains to be a powerful force in the overall progression of strategic implementation due to its large influence on organizational communication and overall performance. Peters and Waterman (1999) insisted the significance of culture within organizations premising that without the critical element of eccentricity, the coherence and dominance of culture seeks to be a quality of necessity among outstanding companies. Thus, organizational culture is an influential force and dictates primary options within corporations through affecting employee objectives; both professional and personal and the execution of duties to maintain these attributes. The impact of culture goes beyond company objectivity since it influences the way in which individuals think both consciously and subconsciously, the way they make decisions and ultimately, their perceptions, emotions, and actions through communication. Not only is it by culture that various organizations are able to influence the realization of tasks objectivity, but also communication as the fundamental ingredient that produces this objectivity, predominantly, between organizations that present a notable difference in cultures such as the military and government civilians.
The culture within organizations has the definition of being a proportionally secure belief set coupled with values and behaviors frequently practiced by communities, and obtained from primarily social anthropology, which represents a structure that interprets and understand primitive communities. Major attributes of culture come from the division of learning process built on inherently standard resource distributions. Other definitions describe culture as a set of pertinent beliefs that are complete in mannerisms and attitudes, and which facilitate the accomplishments of fetes in a sensible and homologous way. Therefore, as a set of impressions, behaviors, essential values and wants to be emulated by community members, culture influences corporate communication immensely. To refine management activities, organizational culture, which represents the values and beliefs of a company, drives employee character and subsequently, their communication. Dasanayake and Mahakalanda (2008), continue to contend that the culture of organizations configures an answer to the requirement for external revamping and overall company endurance as well and inner consolidation. This makes organizational culture an efficient management tool for the achievement of proper communication and efficiency, success, ample work ethics, high outputs among other positive attributes.
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Organizational Communication
Communication within organizations refers to the exploration and deliberation of communication’s role within the context of institutions. Further, organizational communication represents effective management components within workplace environs. Therefore, having the inherent ability and character to work with diverse groups and individuals; the understanding of the creation and information exchange process within complex and highly dynamic environments; and the motivation or ability to communicate appropriately comprises effective organizational communication (Jiony, Tanakinjal, Gom & Siganul, 2015). Simply put, communication within organizations is the receiving and sending of messages among individuals who are interrelated and are within particular settings or environments in order to result in the achievement of common and individual goals. In essence, organizational communication is exceedingly culturally dependent and contextual. Within institutions, individuals transmit messages through various channels such as face-to-face meetings, written agreements, and mediated options among others. Just like defining studies within the spheres of communication, definitions of organizational communication exist in plenty; however, for individuals to enlighten their understanding of this type of communication, the comparison of different approaches is crucial.
Through organizational communication, institutions are able to realize tremendous attributes and achievements. Such attributes are transferable and apply immensely on the objectives of most military and government civilian institutions. Organizational communication results in the achievement of tasks that related to specified responsibilities and roles within dockets such as services, sales, production among others. Such task accomplishments are integral, in that, through proper cultures, apposite communication becomes intense, and this leads to the achievement of objectivity. Moreover, communication leads to the proper acclimatization of changes using organizational and individual creativity, as well as adaptation. Other organizational communication attributes include the completion of tasks through policy, regulations, and procedure maintenance, which in turn affects and supports unremitting operations; the development of relationships; and the coordination of plans that control operations within organizations through the effective employment of management. Overall, through organizational communication, a focus on relationship building and interaction among organizational members within companies is facilitated by organizational culture. In addition, organizational communication represents the presentation and substance of organizational culture and climate, which represents company values, attitudes and goals.
The general focus of organizational communication rests on the building of relationships that interact with members of organizations interested in external influences. Normally, there are two ways of comprehending organizational communication. Most conventional approaches have the view that such communication channels typically focus on communication within organizations. The second approach delineates the first premise, in that; it represents communication as organizations, which means that organizations develop because of communications among those within them. As such, communication does not merely represent the transmission of messages between receivers and senders, but it constitutes not only our social world but also the integrity of corporations as exemplified in their cultures. While communication entails the acting on information and the receiving and sending of problematic messages on a basic sense, at other times, situations become more problematic such as the resolution of conflicts among close friends or family members. This complexity in communication normally brings about intricate processes of meaning and rule definition among involved parties. Therefore, for the success of organizations, competent communicators natured by organizational culture are essential.
Impacts of Culture on Communication
Participation, Support Building, and Commitment
Proper organizational cultures, crowned by good communication leads to appropriate participation, support building and commitment especially among dissimilar cultures such as military and civil organizations. In organizations, most maintenance, participation and commitment attributes are typically developed through having the right organizational cultures and consequently communication strategies (Sabir, Razzaq & Yameen, 2010). Culture influences how organizations handle their work whether it is a strong or weak one, and it does this using dissimilar angles such as the focusing on a workforce that is dedicated to building support and a strong participation base. Presently, competition among companies is intense and as such, various companies nowadays employ the use of applicable cultures to increase employee commitment through effective communication. Therefore, the presence of ample participation, support building and commitment between dissimilar organizational cultures such as the military and civilian life shows the influence of culture on communication, which subsequently translates to effectiveness (Sabir, Razzaq & Yameen, 2010). Culture is highly pivotal and significant now than it was in the past, and organizations keep on stressing on their implication on the development of a worthwhile working force. Through productive cultures, communication becomes efficient, and the result is ample commitment, which translates to proper participation and the building of a support base.
The military and civil organizations present a distinct culture within their organizations. As such, while analyzing the incorporation of these two organizational cultures that are dissimilar, inherently pertinent questions remain concerning their expectations of organizational cultures. Nonetheless, both these organizational structures have the support that most cultures within companies follow; a universal business-like trend comprised of various levels of organizational structure. Towards organizational commitment, as a surface level of the effect of organizational culture on organizational communication, the inclusion of the physical environment such as language, symbols, and other tangible products becomes imperative. Through having this surface level, organizational culture is able to influence the physical environment that results in employee interactions, which are fundamentally communications, consequently leading to proper commitment, participation and support building (Sabir, Razzaq & Yameen, 2010). Especially in the case of divergent cultures, organization behaviors affect communication, which in turn brings about the effects of participation, inclusion, and support in the case of efficient and objective cultures. Through having surface level cultures, an effective environment ensues whereby employee satisfaction is guaranteed through effective environments that increase emotional attachments within the organization. Overall, organizational commitment, which is effective, increases while providing environments that result in the betterment of employees and their interaction within a pleasant environment.
Development of Positive Relationships
As mentioned above, organizational communication is fundamentally concerned with the development of relationships that are worthwhile not only for corporate development but also for personal career development. It is clear that culture affects communication, and this communication affects the creation of worthwhile relationships especially between the military and the government. While organizations may certainly have cultures that are retrogressive and may present themselves as a crucial setback for companies, applicable cultures continue to play an important role in communication and subsequently, relationships. Therefore, effective rules, ideologies, and policies combined with operational communication are essential and mandatory for the development of positive cultures within the workplace. In communication, transparency is mandatory for a better comprehension of duty at all levels and more bonding among persons. Therefore, in some cases, culture presents itself as simply an interaction among employees fostered by considerable periods working in an organization. Conducive cultures present positive communications, which affect relationships among employees, whereas disagreements often form because of improper organizational cultures transferred to organizational communication ("Role of Communication and Relationship for a Healthy Organization Culture," 2017).
Fair Change Implementation and Acceptance
As an impact, change within organizations is integral to their overall progress and development in a highly dynamic world. In an era of increasing fluidity in business and overall management, the flow of employees within a company brings about fluctuations in company culture, which translates to employee communication and commensurately, begs the need for change implementation and acceptance. Change often begins with proper communication, backed up by purpose as represented in the company culture. In recent years, the military and government organizations have had to contend with the ever-increasing diversity of the political, economic and social spheres. As such, members of each sector have had to work with each other in order to realize the inclusivity of pertinent policies that affect millions of lives. In actualizing this, progressive organizational cultures are at the frontline of effecting proper communication leading to an in-depth comprehension of the organization, thereby, influencing communication, which results in notable change implementation and acceptance. Moreover, companies that practice fair changes and the willingness to commit to change as an inherent culture, actually experience effective communication among its workforce, which in turn results in productivity and overall success.
Culture usually represents a change in diverse ways. First, almost all organizations need to adjust to a multicultural environment, immigration issues, outsourcing, and demography. Secondly, companies work to keep up with latest technologies and the changing job roles within organizations. These dynamic changes within organizations form the backbone of culture and often influence communication depending on the implementation of change. With the present trends, it will be normal in the near future to forget about the office. Such change requires efficient communication among organizational departments, and in the case of divergent cultures such as the government and the military, communication is vital in assuring proper integration and inclusivity. The third fundamental change, which is represented by shocks within the economic structure, affects organizations profoundly. Such changes have the potential to either bankrupt or eliminate a company, and in worst cases may lead to an all-out acquisition. Some of the best companies in the United States of America have undergone economic troubles that have led to their downsizing or demise such as Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual, and Lehman Brothers. In all these cases, there was the loss of tens of thousands of jobs within a minor period. Hence, as an effect of organizational culture on communication among diverse cultures, change plays a significant role in employee communication
Manipulation Coercion and Cooptation
Company cultures attuned to change strategies often take various approaches that affect organizational communications, often dictating modes of proper communiques and the channels that ultimately dictate their safe and effective delivery. Similarly, company cultures often have their cooptation strategies that involve coercing highly skilled individuals through various manipulations. This disposition dictates employee communication especially while dealing with military and civilian government workers. An organizational culture that fosters cooptation through coercion and manipulation often has profound impacts on employee communication. Depending on organizational interests, communication in this setting is characteristically divergent and specific to different situations. In addition, as effective change strategies, organizational cultures that implement manipulation and coercion policies need to augment their communications among involved parties especially between the government and the military.
Organizational culture and effective communication play a significant role in supplementing the well-being factor among employees and ultimately an advantageous culture within the workplace. Conducive cultures within organizations often lead to great impacts within their employee communication structures. Such impacts often lead to better communications between the higher management structures and the employees; the liberty of information and ideas sharing among employees through coming up with innovative solutions befitting to all; consistent performance in strategy design and implementation; among others. While it is true and empirically evident that organizational cultures affect communication positively or negatively, it is also applicable that communication often forms the fundamental basis of company culture. It is also imperative to note that while cultures dictate productivity, the drawbacks of organizational culture are that they are not formed in a day and may take time to reflect in notable organizational communication. In addition, the formulation of strict policies and harsh rules sometimes practiced in military organizations often hinder company progress and do not result in employee retention ("Setbacks of Organization Culture," 2017). In other cases, the implementation of change in organizations becomes difficult due to the development of fixed habits and mindsets that are difficult to overcome ("Setbacks of Organization Culture," 2017). Largely, in both negative and positive respects, intrinsic organizational culture affects company communication profoundly, particularly among divergent organizations.
References
Dasanayake, S., & Mahakalanda, I. (2008). A Literature survey on organizational culture and innovation. Global Business and Management Research , 539-550.
Hofstede, G., Neuijen, B., Ohayv, D., & Sanders, G. (1990). Measuring organizational cultures: A qualitative and quantitative study across twenty cases. Administrative Science Quarterly , 35 (2), 218-316.
Jiony, M., Tanakinjal, G., Gom, D., & Siganul, R. (2015). Understanding the Effect of Organizational Culture and Employee Engagement on Organizational Performance Using Organizational Communication as Mediator: A Conceptual Framework. American Journal of Economics , 5 (2), 128-134.
Odhiambo, L. (2016). Influence of Organizational Culture on Employee Performance at NIC Bank Limited, Kenya (Master of Business Administration). University of Nairobi.
Peters, T., & Waterman, R. (1999). In Search of Excellence . Sydney: Harper & Row.
Role of Communication and Relationship for a Healthy Organization Culture . (2017). Managementstudyguide.com . Retrieved 16 October 2017, from http://managementstudyguide.com/setbacks-of-organization-culture.htm
Sabir, M., Razzaq, A., & Yameen, M. (2010). Impact of Organizational Culture on the Employees’ Commitment: Relationship between Levels of Organizational Culture with Commitment. KASBIT Business Journal , 3 (1), 88-95.
Setbacks of Organization Culture . (2017). Managementstudyguide.com . Retrieved 16 October 2017, from http://managementstudyguide.com/setbacks-of-organization-culture.htm
