Impact of Organizational Structure and Culture on Communication

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Contents

Introduction. 2

Impact of organizational culture on communication. 2

Impact of organizational structure on communication. 6

The best managerial strategy. 8

Conclusion. 10

References. 12

Introduction

Organizational structure and culture affects communication among different individuals who are in an organization in many ways. This essay discusses the ways in which a manager can ensure that there is effectiveness in communication in the workplace.

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            Organizational structure refers to the communication networks that exist in an organization and how they are patterned in order for employees who work together to be able to share ideas, opinions, advice and all other types of information. Different organizations have organizational structures that are rather unique in a way. However, some generalizations can be made on the nature of organizational structures in order to come up with a finite number of communication networks. Organizational structures define, in explicit terms, the subdivisions that exist in an organization based on authority, specialization of tasks and departmentalization.

Impact of organizational culture on communication

Organizational culture, according to Hatch (1993) refers to the norms that define how employees within an organization interact with each other, with the management and with the outside community in the course of realizing the set objectives. The functions that are being performed within an organization influence the organizational culture in very many ways depending on the shared expectations, elements of subculture and the perceptions that are inherent in al organizational communication processes. Organizational culture encompasses elements of norms, values and roles.

            Organizational structure affects communication between individuals in an organization in very many ways. According to Meek (1988) one effect of organizational structure is cognitive biases. Employees who occupy positions of authority tend to receive more communicational attention from their subordinates. Whenever subordinates are faced with a choice between lending an ear to their peers and their seniors, they choose their seniors. For this reason, peer-to-peer communication tends to be negatively affected by organizational structure in circumstances where both seniors and peers require the communicator’s attention.

            Organizational structures lead to the formation of groups that are based on past communication successes. Whenever communication fails in a certain structure, this failure is construed to imply failure in the future. Employees tend to keep away from communication channels that they perceive to be ineffective.

            Organizational culture affects communication simply by virtue of shared experiences that arise whenever people share a common organizational space for a long period of time (Denison & Mishra, 1995). The manner in which members of the organization are used to dealing with recurring problems ends up constituting a cultural fabric of sorts. Each organization has a unique organizational culture that is idiosyncratic to any other organization within the same sector.

            In many cases, says Marcoulides & Heck (1993) an organizational culture in a particular setting is a product of the communication structures that have become entrenched in an organization for a very long time. Managers find it difficult to bring about changes in organizational culture without carrying out a complete overhaul of organizational and communicational structures.

            One of the core responsibilities of strategic organizational leaders is to put in place organizational characteristics that facilitate, reward and encourage collective effort (Boeker, 1997). Many organizational leaders believe that influencing, building and nurturing a good organizational culture can improve communication among employees.

            An organizational culture develops in order to enable people who work in an organization to cope with the challenges of the immediate environment in the course of trying to accomplish organizational tasks. The success of a leader in communication endeavors depends on his understanding of and the influence that he exerts on the prevailing organizational culture.

            Organizational leaders are always confronted with the challenge of trying to understand, analyze and evaluate various organizational cultures (D’Aveni, 1990). Some leaders may decide to implement strategies that are not compatible with the existing organizational structure. Many CEOs and political appointees tend to fail to transform organizations whenever they try to institute sweeping changes with utter disregard to the existing organizational culture. Such leaders end up in failure and disappointment since it is possible to facilitate communication in the absence of a preexisting organizational culture.

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            Organizational culture affects social life in the organization, albeit in an implicit manner. When members of an organization interact with one another, the intentional and unintentional outcomes of the resulting social behaviors constitute an organizational culture (Porter & Lawler, 1995). This culture may take different forms such as language, ceremonies, methods of solving problems, design of work settings and use of technology and other organizational tools.

Schein (2004) says that there are three main levels through which organizational culture affects communication. These include behaviors and artifacts; values; and assumptions and believes. The most observable level of organizational culture is behaviors and artifacts (Vianen,2009). In this level, outward manifestations of culture are easy to discern through behavior patterns of employees. The main indicators of organizational culture include dress codes, perquisites provided by top executives, level of technology utilized and areas in which it is utilized. The manner in which workspaces are laid out also gives hints on the nature of the organizational culture in a corporate setting. Although these are obvious indicators of organizational culture, they may be difficult to interpret. Although behavior and artifact may indicate what the members of an organization, they may not indicate the rationale behind their actions.

Values constitute the next level in which organizational culture is manifested. Values determine behavior to a very large extent. Unlike behaviors, they are not directly observable. New managers have to take time to learn about an organization’s values before he can be able to communicate meaningfully with the existing organization’s staff. A manager has to clearly analyze the difference between stated values and operating values. People tend to attribute their behavior to stated values, all other organizational communication processes notwithstanding.

The deepest level in an organizational culture manifests itself at the level of assumptions and beliefs. The underlying assumptions that are generated from stated and operating values are easily taken for granted and they finally drop out of conscious awareness. At this level, people become completely unaware of the basis of their beliefs and assumptions that constitute their organizational. The meaning of all forms of communication that are made presupposes these underlying assumptions and beliefs. A manager who does not understand these assumptions and beliefs cannot succeed in spearheading communication channels within an organization.

In order for a manager to claim to have understood the organizational culture of his workplace, he must understand not only the levels through which this culture is manifested, but also the varieties of cultures that subcultures that exist in every organization (Meek, 1988). These subcultures are the building blocks that constitute the general organizational culture. 

Organizational cultures are created by people; therefore, the same people can change them. For a manager, communication is a very important tool of achieving organizational culture change. Re-infusion of the ideology of an organization can best be spearheaded by the top leadership. For this top leadership, the trick is to be able to articulate various channels of communication in a manner that causes little or not resistance. Being a good communicator entails sensitivity in dealing with all sub-cultures that make the organizational culture. It is about being able to reconcile all levels through which organizational culture manifests in a manner that appears to be for the good of all members of the organization.

Organizational goals can be pursued in a culturally acceptable manner, even when the prevailing organizational culture is in itself an obstacle to the achievement of these goals. whenever leader formulate and establish parameters though which lines of communication are to be formed, the existing culture becomes the most readily available platform of putting new communication strategies in place. Formal interactions rules should not be in conflict with the existing organizational culture. If there is any form of incompatibility, resistance will surely be met. At the outset, it is important for the manager to draw the attention of members on the weaknesses of existing culture and the need to change it. This approach is better than confronting an established culture head-on and trying to overturn everything overnight.

Impact of organizational structure on communication

The organizational structure of a corporate setting is a very important factor in determining how information flows within the organization. Some scholars argue that very high levels of an audit team structure may end up encumbering communication within the various audit teams through impending activities relating to gathering of information. Other scholars are of the opinion that such a structure is beneficial to the communication process since it ensures that information flows are well controlled and coordinated.

Every organization must have an audit team in order for the communication process to be facilitated smoothly. An audit team simply refers to such as supervisors, seniors and managers who have been brought together in order a planned hierarchical assembly of different individuals to carry out an audit. Communication amongmembers of a team is very important if the set goals within an organization are to be achieved. Through proper set up of organizational structures, informative communication can be easily facilitated both within and between teams.

The quality and quantity of all the information that is shared within teams is contingent upon the organizational structure of teams as well as the entire organization, where the underlying organizational ideology is formulated (Ezewu, 1984). When there is a single reference point, a general pattern easily forms in all organizational structures that employees form. It is becomes easy to identify who holds which powers, who has the authority to do what and who should perform which duties.

            However, success in organizational teams and departments does not just occur; there has to be some form of leadership to standardize the programs, to concentrate the decision making processes in a way that they are in line with the directions set at higher levels and to impose restrictions on the ability by the members of the team to institute changes in the decisions made at higher levels of authority.

            When decision-making tasks are concentrated at the higher levels, the manager finds himself with a difficult task of being everywhere all the time in order to offer directions. This may seem like an ineffective way of managing people. Instead of such an approach, it would be better to offer guidelines and leave the task of concretizing decisions on the employees. The manager’s work becomes easy since all he has to do is to make rounds and inspect the decisions that have been made to ensure that they are compatible with the organization’s philosophy.

            Delegating some decision-making processes also makes junior workers seek the guidance of the manager more often. This way, the manager can under the informational needs of everyone in the organization better. However, researchers tend to arrive at different opinions on the matter of standardizing the frames within which information is shared. Some researchers argue that this provides members of the organization with a common ground through which information is shared. Others say formalizing and standardizing structured environments reduces the information processing capacity by members of the team. As a manager, discretion is needed when evaluating the benefits of standardizing and formalizing organizational structures.

The best managerial strategy        

            Daft & Lengel (1983) observe that strategic managers should create means and strategies of infusing all the members of the organization with completely new ways of looking at themselves in order to realize their capabilities. A manager should communicate his ideologies and values effectively. The ideologies and values should be articulated in such a way that they trigger debated among peers.

            Transforming an organizational culture within existing communication networks and organizational is not as easy as it may sound. The best communication strategy for managers to use is one that motivates employees to question their managers on the future of the company or organization’s level of achievement. In other words, employees need to be stimulated by managers into thinking about the productive aspects of the new ideology and how the concepts contained in the new ideals can be used in the production process. Through this type of thinking, layers of the old organizational culture slowly start peeling off and their place starts being taken by the new organizational dispensation.

            Changing the organizational structure is best done using simple strategies that are conceived at the lowest hierarchies before being applied at higher levels. Human resource managers should encourage organizations to apply only those strategies that lead to employee commitment and cost-effectiveness.  In this case, human resource managers may have to take an objective approach and try out a blend of various types of organizational structures, that is, functional, matrix, federation and network-based structures.

            Conventionally, installation of new communication systems necessitates a shift from the traditional functional structure that is characterized by departmentalization to network-based structures that require all departments to function in a highly integrated fashion. In between these two extreme structural designs, elements of matrix and federation may be added as part of the transition.

Conclusion

            Both the organizational structure and culture have a profound influence on communication between individuals within any organization. The organizational structure may open new frontiers of communication. At the same time, it may close others. At the same time, the organizational culture determines the ease with which new frontiers of communication and relationships are opened within and among teams; between peers and between junior and senior members of staff in the organization.

            A good manager should desist from carrying out drastic changes in the cultural framework that exists in an organization. Alternatively, he should first communicate his ideals, values and ideologies and leave the employees to themselves to ponder about them. With time, the employees start becoming receptive to the manager’s ideologies. When this happens, the manager can start transforming the organizational structure in readiness for infusion of a new organizational culture. The manager should not tamper with an organizational culture unless he is sure of securing the support of a significant proportion of the organization’s workforce

References

Boeker, W. (1997). Strategic Change: The Influence of Managerial Characteristics and Organizational Growth, The Academy of Management Journal, 40(1) 152-170.

Daft, R. & Lengel, R. (1983).Information Richness. A New Approach to Managerial Behavior and Organization Design, London: Routledge.

D’Aveni,  R. (1990). Crisis and the Content of Managerial Communications: A Study of the Focus of Attention of Top Managers in Surviving and Failing Firms, Administrative Science Quarterly,. 35(1) 143-187.

Denison, D. & and Mishra, A. (1995). Toward a Theory of Organizational Culture and Effectiveness, Organization Science, 6(2) 204-223.

Ezewu, E. (1984). The Effects of Organizational Structure on Staffing, Communicating and Performing: a Case Analysis of an Educational Organization, School Leadership & Management, 4(3) 235 – 244.

Hatch, M. (1993). The Dynamics of Organizational Culture, The Academy of Management Review, 18(4) 657-693.

Marcoulides, G. & Heck, R. (1993). Organizational Culture and Performance: Proposing and Testing a Model, Organization Science, 4(2) 209-225.

Meek, V. (1988). Organizational Culture: Origins and Weaknesses, Organization Studies, 9(4) 453-473.

Porter, L. & Lawler, E. (1995). Properties of Organization Structure In Relation To Job Attitudes and Job Behavior, Psychological Bulletin. 64(1), 23-51.

Schein, E. (2004). Organizational Culture and Leadership. London: Wiley Publishers.

Vianen,A. (2009). Newcomers and Recruiters Preferences for Organizational Personnel, Psychology56(2) 243-284.

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