MBA630 Organisational Change and Development : Free Samples

Answer Question in context to organisational change and development.

Answer:

Maintaining Organizational Culture During Rapid Growth

Clothing Company Pty. Limited has witnessed a rapid growth in terms of business operations and a number of employees associated with the organization. It is important for the organization to maintain the organizational culture promoted by the founders of the organization. From the very beginning, the organization has been associated with leisure and surfing. Sportspersons have been an integral part of the company’s marketing campaigns. The organization has always encouraged a casual approach towards work without compromising with the deadlines. Outdoors has been an integral part of the organizational culture which is also evident from the official website. The organizational culture of Clothing Company Pty. Limited focuses on maintaining work-life balance for its employees. The employees have the facility of working in flexible schedules provided the consumer demands are satisfied (Reneé and Malan, 2011). The company has always promoted leisure activities and sports especially surfing. But with rapid organizational growth and highly competitive nature of fashion industry, maintaining this culture has become a challenge. While making a transition from a small organization to a large organization, several policies and practices have changed. For example, the financial reporting standards have changed over the past few decades. The complexity of work for different departments like finance, IT, marketing, retail, HR, operations, distribution etc. has increased considerably. Now, the finance department has to ensure compliance with USA standards (Lieber, 2010). The competition in the market has intensified. The work pressure has increased because the shelf-life of fashion garments is limited. With rapid growth, the organization has to develop innovative designs for every season. With changing demands, the production activities have to be aligned with consumer demands. It is important to maintain an organizational culture where the employees make informed decisions and they are accountable for their actions (Reneé and Malan, 2011).

As an organization grows, it is obvious that its culture will evolve. But it is important for the organization to identify the elements of organizational culture that need to be preserved. Organizational culture can be maintained by managing the human resources in an effective manner. It is important to identify the characteristics of culture that contributed to the success of the organization (Holyoak, 2002). The organizational values should be communicated to all the stakeholders. All the norms, policies, procedures and management style should be understood by the employees. Internal communication plays an important role in connecting the internal stakeholders. It is important to identify the core values that define the organization (Holyoak, 2002). The organization should maintain high standards of organizational values- integrity, transparency, excellence, accountability etc. The organization should continue to have a flexible work environment. Organizational culture can be maintained by increasing employee involvement. Their involvement in business decisions should be encouraged (Holyoak, 2002).

The organization should have efficient recruitment and retention strategies. Organizational growth requires recruitment of a large number of employees. For ensuring the quality of products, the organization should recruit talented and competent staff. Hiring standards should be maintained for ensuring high productivity. Only those candidates should be hired that fit the organizational culture (Iljins, Skvarciany and Gaile-Sarkane, 2015). The organization should continue to maintain a diverse workforce by hiring both men and women belonging to different age groups. During the training period, the employees should be made familiar with organizational mission, values, policies, practices etc. All the important events and milestones should be shared with the employees. This helps the employees in getting aligned with organizational culture. The employees should have clarity about expected behaviors at workplace. The team leaders should share the expected performance and analyze the performance on the basis of pre-determined criteria (Iljins, Skvarciany and Gaile-Sarkane, 2015). It is important to recognize the efforts made by employees towards the success of the organization. Employees should be promoted on the basis of their performance.

Rewards and recognition encourage the employees to perform well and work according to given guidelines. The organizational traditions should be preserved. For example, the organization should continue holding its board meetings at lovely resorts. The marketing strategies should continue promoting beach activities and surfing. Celebrity sportspersons should be selected as brand ambassadors. Products should be designed while focusing on the casual lifestyle of carefree people. Quality checks should be conducted on a regular basis. Maintaining an organizational culture is possible through effective internal communication (Gonzalez et al., 2015). There should be healthy communication between the upper management and staff members. The open-door policy should be encouraged. The employees of the organization should be given freedom to express their ideas and opinions. Creative inputs from employees should be encouraged. This will increase employee involvement and improve commitment level towards business activities. Healthy discussions should be promoted through meetings and brainstorming sessions. The “best business practices” should be discussed in meetings. The desirable behaviors should be encouraged by motivating the employees.

References

Gonzalez, J., Wolf, G., Dudjak, L. and Jordan, B. (2015). Impact of Magnet Culture in Maintaining Quality Outcomes During Periods of Organizational Transition. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 30(4), pp.323-330.

Holyoak, L. (2002). Organisational Culture: Organisational Change?20024Peter Elsmore. Organisational Culture: Organisational Change?. Gower, 262 pp., ISBN: 0?7546?1230?9 £42.50. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 23(6), pp.354-355.

Iljins, J., Skvarciany, V. and Gaile-Sarkane, E. (2015). Impact of Organizational Culture on Organizational Climate During the Process of Change. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 213, pp.944-950.

Lieber, L. (2010). HR's role in creating and maintaining a code of conduct to promote an ethical organizational culture. Employment Relations Today, 37(1), pp.99-106.

Reneé, N. and Malan, N. (2011). Exploring the interconnectedness among strategy development, shared mental models, organisational learning and organisational change. International Journal of Learning and Change, 5(3/4), p.227.