Leaders influence on organizational culture
Introduction
In the business world today, many businesses are incorporating organizational culture into their companies for the tremendous benefit they have to the success of an organization. Corporate culture involves shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, and these govern how people behave in an organization (Meek, 1998). These shared values have a strong influence on the people in an organization and dictates how they perform their jobs. In every organization, leaders are the co-drivers of the organizational culture, and they have a significant influence on how people behave inside and outside an organization. This essay will critically examine leaders’ impact on corporate culture.
Discussion
Leaders are very crucial people in an organization, and they have a powerful influence on the organization’s culture, where they set a tone for how employees perceive their work experience. Leadership and culture are two strategies that work hand in hand, and the success of leaders in an organization depends on their ability to help shape and uphold the culture of an organization (Argyris, 2010). Leaders influence organizational culture in different ways, for instance, through appreciation of employees where the leaders celebrate employees’ achievements and also career milestones. Through the appreciation, employees will get motivated, and this will positively influence their behavior in the company since this personal recognition makes them feel valued by the leaders and also their families (Jerome, 2013). Through this, talents among the employees will be retained, and they will be motivated even to work better, and through this appreciation strategy of leaders, the organizational culture of the company will be influenced. Leaders influence organization culture by fully helping employees understand their roles in an organization where they focus more on the company’s values and the mission that drives the company. Through this, employees will be in a position of knowing their roles in the company and work hard upholding the values of the company and, through this organizational behavior of the company, will have been influenced.
Leaders influence organizational culture by acting as role models where they walk the talk and lead by example. This is because those you lead first look at you since you are the leader and what you do is what they follow. Being a good role model influences how your team will behave since they will follow your steps. For instance, if there is any change done on the company, you, as the leader, should be the first to change the behavior and give your employees the direction you want them to follow. Still, you can’t expect them to change their behavior when you, as the leader, you are not willing to change (Sims and Brinkman, 2002). The leader should always take the lead, and the team will automatically follow. Leaders act by example, and this makes members follow their steps since they set a pace for them, and they are in the first line ensuring that what they want to be done, they can do it themselves by giving a demonstration. Every individual desires a leader who leads with actions and not just words. Acting as a role model gives the members something that they can see, and this gives them a challenge even to work better than their leaders. Taking the lead by the leaders in an organization influences how the team you are leading behaves if the leadership of the leader is perfect, his members will automatically imitate his behavior, and this will have a positive impact on the behavior of your members. Through the strategy employed by leaders of being the role model influences the culture of an organization and dictates how your team will behave in the organization.
They also influence the organization’s culture by establishing a purpose for the employees and the staff to believe in. This is achieved where leaders communicate with the team and employees to know what is expected of them and how their roles impact the organization. Through this establishment of purpose, your employees will have an emotional connection with you and will help you in your journey of meeting the goal of your organization (Ofori, 2009). For example, if your company’s purpose is to provide exceptional customer service, as a leader should ensure that each person working in the organization, either a cleaner or any other subordinate staff should know what to do in supporting the purpose of the organization when performing their roles. Through the establishment of the purpose, all the members in an organization will all work together playing different roles but with a common purpose, which is the crucial driver for the organization. As a result of the leaders establishing the purpose and being known to all influences, how the members will behave in the organization, thus influencing the organization’s culture of the company.
Leaders influence organizational culture by setting expectations and helping people build the required skills for running the organization. They achieve this by providing members with tools, resources and also opportunities that allow them to grow and gain confidence in their ability to meet expectations and this makes them fit in your vision for organizational culture (Chang and Lee, 2007)Leaders achieve this also by offering coaching and training programs that help reinforce the mission and vision of the company. They also set personal objectives each year, and this makes the members work more hard in developing the required skills, and the leaders also give support to them. In doing this, the leaders ensure that their team is aware that they are part of the culture being created, and this influences their behavior in an organization. Through the setting of expectations by leaders in an organization affects the organization culture of that organization since each individual will work towards meeting the required expectations of the organization and this will be of great importance to the company since its members will have been equipped with necessary skills that help the company meet its objectives.
Leaders influence organizational culture by reinforcing a culture of accountability where they hold people accountable for all the things they do. They ensure responsibility is in place since, without this measure in place, they are aware that their influence and words will not be implemented, and so to prevent their names from falling on deaf ears, being accountable for everything they do makes your team more responsible (Firestone, 2009). Leaders achieve this by having detailed job descriptions with clearly established measures like, for instance, an increase in sales. This will help the members have a bright look at what the company needs to achieve by a certain period, and this helps them become more accountable for their actions. The leaders ensure that these measures are further defined after every year after keen consideration of the past performance. This accountability of culture leaders ensures that it is done transparently, and this installs accountability among your members. Thus organizational culture is influenced through the leader’s role in ensuring accountability in its members.
Another way through which leaders influence organizational culture is by making it personal between them and the team they lead in an organization. They achieve this by having an emotional connection with their teams where they understand what personally motivates your team and creating a favorable environment for them to work. Leaders work so hard in engaging their team on an emotional level where they share in their grievances, and this makes your team not resist even in a case where you want to make some changes that benefit not only the organization but also them at a personal level (Kavanagh and Ashkanasy, 2006). Leaders always ensure that they understand their members by making it private between them, and this influences how they behave in the organization since the behavior of your team as a leader dictates the success of the organization. These leaders always influence the organizational culture of an organization by engaging its members at a personal level and have an emotional connection with the members. Leaders still believe that creating any change requires more of an emotional relationship between the leaders themselves and their team since this influences how your members behave and what they believe in.
Leaders influence the organizational culture of an organization by sharing their strong visions with members since they believe that the vision of its leaders establishes the foundation of any organization. They achieve this by sharing the values and views on work with their staff members that this acts as a compass that directs them on what to do to make the success of the company (Tsai, 2011). Through the sharing of the values with your members, assures them that their actions are for the good of the company, and the leader incorporates a sense of integrity into their habits. The integrity of the leader is what connects the members more with the leader, and this makes the members have an emotional connection with you, and this makes them support your journey of a strong vision for the organization. Through the strong vision and shared values that direct members on how to act to meet the vision of the company, this helps promote the behavior of your members, and this, in turn, influences the organizational culture of such an organization (Tsui et al., 2006). The set vision of the company is what dictates how people in an organization will handle themselves, for instance, if the vision of the company is to ensure customer satisfaction, all the members of the organization will work towards ensuring that their customers are satisfied and their behavior, values will all be dedicated to achieving the vision of the organization. Through the strategy of leaders sharing the vision of the organization, the organizational culture of such an organization is influenced.
Leaders influence the organizational culture by being observant. This is achieved where most leaders employ the idea of listening too much and talking little. Through this idea, leaders become more alert to take into account even tiny details about their work environment and also take more time considering the behavior of their employees. Through the idea of being observant leaders makes sure that they have even the minor details and information about the progress of the organization, and this makes them identify the slightest weaknesses among its members (Warrick, 2017). This observation helps them much in establishing changes in the organization that will gear it towards achieving its objectives. Through this, leaders can engage their employees adequately in the organization’s activities, and this helps leaders carefully monitor the behavior of their employees. Through the observant strategy of the leaders, they can evaluate the behavior of their members. They are in a good position in making appropriate and helpful changes that can help the company achieve its objectives. An observant leader always acquires information from himself or herself first even before any other person provides him or her with the same information. Through leaders being alert, they easily influence the organizational culture of the organization by making makes necessary changes.
Conclusion
Leaders play crucial roles in any organization and particularly influencing the organizational culture of an organization. They influence this culture by appreciating and motivating their employees where they can offer some gifts to them. They also influence the organizational culture by acting as role models and leading by example. They also establish the purpose of an organization and make it known to all its members, and this influences the organizational culture of the company. They also set up expectations where the members are required to develop their skills after a certain period to make sure that their skills are in line with the company’s expectations. Leaders also influence organizational culture by promoting accountability culture where all members are accountable for their actions, and this installs responsibility among the members. Making it personal is also another way leaders use in influencing organizational culture among other ways like sharing the vision of the organization with members where they ensure an emotional connection between them and their members and this reduces resistance which the leaders can face from the members and these ways leaders influence organizational culture of an organization.
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References
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