Essay Sample on Organizational Design & Corporate Culture: The Invisible Codebook at Work

Introduction

The organizational design relates to the organization's invisible codebook in the work process. An adequately designed organization facilitates effective performance by the employees within the organization (Driskill, 2018). On the other hand, corporate culture refers to the acceptable code of behaviors, actions, values, and beliefs that often inspire the employees at the workplace, thus enabling them to perform (Janicijevic, 2013). They are usually developed or adopted from the mutual interactions and experiences with other members, thus allowing them to understand or get the meaning of the world around them (Driskill, 2018). The paper shall critically assess the interrelationship between organizational design and the culture of an organization regarding particular case studies.

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Rationale for Assessment

The organizational design and culture often belong to some of the most significant predictive powers in understanding the performance of various employees within the organization (O'Neill, Beauvais & Scholl, 2016). The research on the corporate culture and design has always been conducted separately or independently of each other (Driskill, 2018). The exploration of the relationship between the two concepts would be appropriate since they both play significant roles in the behavior and performance of the members within the organization. However, the two concepts of organizational structure and culture interrelate and should function mutually to achieve the desired organizational outcomes (Janicijevic, 2013). Their impacts on each other could be so extreme that they hinder the achievement of the organizational goals and objectives.

Unlike the organizational design, organizational culture is an intrinsic factor of the behaviors of various employees within the organization. Corporate culture, on the other hand, is an extrinsic factor which influences the action of the employees from outside (Driskill, 2018). Therefore, both organizational design and culture play a significant role in determining the practices within the organization (O'Neill, Beauvais & Scholl, 2016). Thus a study of the mutual relationships between the organizational design and corporate culture would be critical in having a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the behaviors and performance of various members of the organization (Janicijevic, 2013).

Mutual Impacts of Organizational Design and Organizational Culture

Organizational culture realizes its influence on shaping the design of the organization by the formation of the interpretative schemes for the top management. The senior management uses such programs in the development of the organizational model (O'Neill, Beauvais & Scholl, 2016). It is through the culture of the organization that the senior management creates the frame of reference for considerations and implementation of various structures in the company aimed at meeting the best practices.

In other words, organizational design is one of the essential tools used to realize the goals of the firm. The appearance of such a device, to a great extent, is determined by the manager's ideas regarding what is expected (O'Neill, Beauvais & Scholl, 2016). Such expected ideas emanate from the culture of the organization. Therefore, culture imposes on the manager some particular views about the organization, its purpose, and meaning, which then determines the mode of design or structuring of the organization (Driskill, 2018).

Therefore, the conscious shaping and sanctioning of various relations between the workers would be strongly influenced by the meaning which the top management assigns to such associations, and this is actively imposed on them by the culture of the organization. Thus the organizational culture helps in the creation of the frame of references upon which the structure of the firm is designed. The fabric or design of the organization must conform to the existing cultural values and norms. For example, if the culture of the organization is that power often concentrates at the top, then the centralized organizational design would be embraced where the corporate command emanates from the top authority.

Furthermore, the organizational culture does not only influence the selection of the corporate model during design but also plays a significant role in the implementation of such models (Janicijevic, 2013). However, this impact could either be positive or negative, depending on the new organizational structure and the existing culture of the firm (Driskill, 2018). In case the new structure is compatible with the current culture, then the corporate culture would impact the implementation of the new structure more positively.

On the other hand, if the existing organizational culture is not in conformity with the new structure, then the implementation of such arrangements would be impacted negatively. The structure of the organization immensely influences the behaviors of various employees in the everyday operations of the firm (Driskill, 2018). For instance, it determines the methods in which the employees conduct tasks, interact with each other as well as make informed decisions within the workplace. Most importantly, each organizational structure model has different behavior implications for the members (Janicijevic, 2013).

If the behaviors that are induced by the structure of the organization are compatible with the current cultural value of the firm, then it would undoubtedly legitimize the fabric in the face of the organizational members which in turn would encourage the achievement of individual and the company interests (Driskill, 2018). In such an instance, the values, assumptions, and norms of the culture designate the selected cultural model as of right, desirable, or good, thereby encouraging legitimacy viewpoint in the eyes of the organization members (Janicijevic, 2013).

This concept implies that employees, in most cases, accept the organizational designs or structures that comply with the various cultural norms, assumptions, and values (Janicijevic, 2013). In this instance, the culture of the organization would bear a positive impact on the implementation of the particular organizational model.

On the other hand, if the newly selected structure is not in conformity with the cultural norms, values, and assumptions of the organization, it would lack legitimacy on the face of the members of the organization (Driskill, 2018). Such incompatibility of the organizational structure and culture would ignite a situation of cognitive dissonance during implementation. The condition is often frustrating for the implementers of the new organizational structure since people always wish to operate according to their own beliefs, which emanate from the cultural values, norms, and assumptions (Janicijevic, 2013).

Organizational culture, therefore, could be a robust tool in delegitimizing the new organizational structure by making it seem wrong and inefficient, particularly in the eyes of the corporate members (Driskill, 2018). In this case, the culture of the firm could contribute to insurmountable barriers to the implementation of the newly selected structure of the organization.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is noted that there is a mutual relationship between organizational culture and organizational design or structure. It implies that the corporate culture has an influence on the structure, and the structure also has immense impacts on the culture. For instance, organizational culture influences the design and implementation of the structure. The culture legitimizes the decisions and behaviors imposed on the employees and management by the arrangement or layout of the organization. Thus there should be a mutually thought out relations between culture and structure to improve the legitimacy and performance of the organization.

References

Driskill, G. W. (2018). Organizational culture in action: A cultural analysis workbook. Routledge.

Janicijevic, N. (2013). The mutual impact of organizational culture and structure. Ekonomski Anali/Economic Annals, 58(198). http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0013-3264/2013/0013-32641398035J.pdf

O'Neill, J. W., Beauvais, L. L., & Scholl, R. W. (2016). The use of organizational culture and structure to guide strategic behavior: an information processing perspective. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 2(2), 816.