Abstract
Organizational culture is defined as the behavior of individuals at work, which determines the success of the organization. It entails all the major values that an organization drafts, the mission and vision statements, and the systems. In this paper, the organizational culture of Chrysler will be analyzed in various aspects.
Organizational Culture
Changing an organization’s culture has never been an easy task since it entails behavior transformation. The organization has to involve each person in the process, meaning that it calls for commitment and loyalty from employees, the management, and other stakeholders. Organizational culture is a complex pattern of assumptions as regards the group’s roles. In this case, it is expected that all values that guide behavior should be learned, but the process has to follow the established procedure to prevent the emergence of conflicts.
One of the challenges that an organization is likely to face is an adaptation to external change. Organizational members have never wanted to adopt the new ways of doing things, especially the old, since they view this as an interruption to the normal work schedule. Another difficulty that an organization is likely to face is establishing a survival mechanism, which calls for the development and sustenance of an integrated, firm, and internal distinctiveness.
In my current employment, organizational change is pursued through homeostasis, whereby individual values and rituals are believed to be group efforts that allow various individuals to survive and thrive in a tough environment. Once an employee joins the organization, the new values are introduced to him or her, which paves the way for behavior adjustment in the way people think, feel, and act.
Employee Resistance
The prevailing culture is the country takes the form of adhocracy or developmental culture whereby organizations are concerned with the adaptation of new structures that allow them to take advantage of the available opportunities in the market. In this regard, the decision-making process was never done at the headquarters, but instead, each branch has its own mechanisms. However, information is supposed to flow from the top to the bottom, but an idea could emerge from anywhere, irrespective of the position of the employee. Formation of groups and teams is highly encouraged under the system, and this encourages the accomplishment of projects. The management appreciates the role of risk-taking, innovation, and teamwork in realizing organizational objectives.
The main challenge that any organization faces when it comes to adjustment to the foreign culture is employee resistance since many would want the organization to adapt to their ways of doing things, which is never possible. The locals are often comfortable with their culture, and they never expect the organization to dictate new terms that will radically change their values and beliefs. Employees are likely to be upset by the new terms. Another challenge is the lack of consensus since organizations might fail to bring each person onboard through comprehensive consultation.
Observable Artifacts, Values, and Assumptions
From the case provided, it is evident that Chrysler Company suffers from the drawbacks of the traditional organizational culture given the fact that senior managers are reluctant to adopt change even though things are moving at an unprecedented pace. Many companies preferred producing products without considering the new ways of marketing, manufacturing, and relating to the public. Unfortunately, the dynamics of modern society calls for the adoption of better ways of dealing with issues in case an organization intends to achieve its objectives. At Chrysler, the management produced similar results in the same way as machines without taking into consideration the fact that many things have changed, and it was high time the management employed a new strategy.
Machines are not designed to be adaptable, flexible, and subjective, but human beings are expected to employ all these values in case they want to be successful at work. At Chrysler, the management was slow in responding to external and internal changes since the system in place was meant to ensure stability. Any change was interpreted to mean interference with work, and employees resisted it.
The company failed to realize that many firms had ventured into the business, and the quality of products supplied in the market was the same as the one that the company. Additionally, the company emphasized structural layers without noticing that this was the cause of ineffective communication. For instance, the new CEO had to subordinate some of the managers to facilitate productivity (Kreitner, & Kinicki, 2013).
Improving the PE
Mr. Marchionne is a committed employee with the aim of improving the performance of the organization, which is collapsing, having been beaten by all competitors both at the local and global level. In many organizations, such as Detroit, the CEO claimed that employees were being motivated to achieve the organizational objectives, but he was quick to mention that this would not guarantee success, something that forced him to embark on strengthening the organizational culture.
Many managers would prefer scheduling a team-building exercise in their organizations to bolster productivity while others would undertake programs to introduce new employee benefits, but this strategy will not work when compared to changing the culture of the people. The CEO aspired to design and implement the three strategies that will ensure the culture of organizational members is focused on achieving the results (Brown, 2010).
First, he identified the people who were damaging the culture of the firm and decided to work with them since this would facilitate coaching and training. Since the senor, the executive officer, believes that he is a performer, working with underperformers was the best way of identifying their weakness. He identified these people by names and developed a plan of action that focused on improving communication. Studies show that talking to the people damaging the reputation of the organization improves the organizational culture right away.
Just like in other organizations, the CEO developed a plan that would be rewarding the best performing employees, as this is known to improve organizational culture. The reward system should be rigorous in such a way that only those promoting the interests of the organization are identified for rewarding accordingly.
Diagnosis of Chrysler’s Problem using the Competing Values Framework
The framework tries to understand the relationships of the organization, both internally and externally. Moreover, the framework helps in contrasting the company’s stability and its flexibility to change. In the case of Chrysler, the management is reluctant to adopt the new ways of doing things, but this changed with the incoming of the new CEO. Internally, the organization was stable in the sense that it insisted on the pecking order, evaluation, certification, and information management.
Research shows that these processes facilitate stability and control of the organization. Unfortunately, the application of the internal model framework was unsuitable because the system works well only in situations where employees understand their roles. Again, the application of hierarchy impedes change because it does not consider time as an important factor. The management emphasized hierarchy, yet things had changed greatly in the market because competitors were adopting technology and modern leadership styles whereby junior employees are allowed to come up with new ideas.
The role of the organization in the manufacturing industry is simply to nurture talent by encouraging innovation and invention (Kreitner, & Kinicki, 2013). The second framework, which is the open systems model, calls on organizations to be ready for any change, as this would facilitate resource acquisition. Chrysler never considered this an important aspect because the management never sought support from external forces, which interfered with innovation and creativity.
Correlation between Missions, Visions, and Culture
The original company vision was to design with purpose, meaning that the products that the company aimed at producing were meant to satisfy the market. However, this was readjusted in 2008 following an economic recession that affected many companies in the country. The new vision reads, “Our vision is to build cars and trucks people want to buy, will enjoy driving, and will want to buy again.” The mission of the company reads, “To create the type of exciting, efficient, safe vehicles you expect and deserve.” Before readjustment, the organizational culture at Chrysler could not allow the extension of the business to global markets, expansion of the company to new markets, and enhancement of the core values (Guilmartin, 2010).
Mechanisms Employed by the CEO
Upon taking over as the new CEO, Marchionnere readjusted the company mission and vision to reflect what he wanted. Studies show that any official should understand the core values before community them to the junior employees. For instance, he changed the way the company deals with clients, as well as the way in which performance is measured. Communication has always played a critical role in improving the performance of any organization, but many top executives are unaware of the ways in which it can be applied successfully to realize high results.
References
Brown, P. (2010). Having their backs: improving managers’ skills in developing others. T+D, 64(4), 60-64.
Guilmartin, N. (2010). Giving one pause: learn how cultivating humility can drive success, even in the most time, budget, and attention stressed workplaces. T+D, 64(3), 72-73.
Kreitner, R., & Kinicki, A. (2013). Organizational behavior. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.