The Social Arrangements Made By Organisations Commerce Essay

An Organisation is social arrangements for achieving controlled performance in pursuit of collective goals (Buchanan & Huczynski 1997). The organization can also be defined as, social element developed by humans to serve some purpose. An organization usually consists of more than one people.

According to Rollinson, the organizations are goals directed i.e. they are created to serve some purpose. However, this does not mean that everyone in the particular organization has the common goals and neither does it follow that everybody is aware of the goals pursued by the organization. Achieving the purpose or the goals for the organisation normally requires that human activity be deliberately structured and coordinated in some way, thus there will be identifiable parts or activities (Rollinson, 2008).

For example, let us take our University as an organisation. The students, teaching staffs, non-teaching staffs, top management, workers, buildings and other resources available in the university form the organisation. The purpose of the university is to provide the quality education to the students. There is a culture being followed up in this organisation. The culture plays a major role in the organisation. But this culture is different from one organisation to another.

What is Organisational Behaviour?

It is the study of human behavior in organisational contexts, with a focus on individual and group processes and actions. Hence, it involves an exploration of organizational and managerial processes in the dynamic context of the organisation and is primarily concerned with the human implications of such activities (Brooks, 2009). So it is essential to understand the human behaviour and the organisational behaviour.

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Each and every person in their lives is inevitably involved in some sort of organizations. So it is important to analyse the organisation in which we are involved. The following are about the paradigms, organizational structure and the role of culture in the organisation.

2. PARADIGMS:

Paradigm is the name given to the conceptual frameworks within which the knowledge is produced. A paradigm is constituted, in part, by the rules which are generally accepted as necessary to follow in order to produce good knowledge (Jackson and carter, 2007). More significantly, a paradigm consists of the shared beliefs and assumptions of knowledge producers about what knowledge is, which shared beliefs and assumptions are institutionalised through support structure, such as universities, and through training (Corlett and Forster, 2004). The paradigm contains a model for solving the problems faced but it is not a real structure.

The concept of knowledge paradigm was introduced by Thomas Kuhn in the year 1962. The schemes are about how people view the reality, what school of thought these people belong to, what kind of scientific tolls their use to carry out the science and what kind of metaphors can describe their way of thinking.

In the year 1979, Burrell and Morgan developed this concept as ‘Social paradigm’ which has been widely accepted by most scientists. A paradigm can be used as a lens through which we can view the world. According to Burrell and Morgan there are four types of paradigm by which the organization can be viewed. They are

Functionalist paradigm

Interpretative paradigm

Radical Humanist paradigm

Radical structuralist paradigm.

They identified two fundamental core principles that divide researchers in two groups: the Objective dimension and the Subjective dimension.

According to Jackson and Carter, the functionalist are the ones which see the organisation in an objective way and beliefs on more a structural and control type in the organisation. Most conventional theories of organisational analysis and organisational behavior will fall under this paradigm. The functionalist beliefs the managerial interests as a hierarchy were the rules and regulations and power in an organisation is an important factor in their organisation. (Jackson and Carter, 2007)

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Radical structuralists are the ones which share the view of the functionalist were the organisational power and structure is the important factor where this paradigm concentrate in a structural relationship in an organisation (Jackson and Carter, 2007).

Radical humanists are the far opposite of the functionalist. According to Jackson and Carter, this paradigm shares the interpretivist view of organisations as social construction but also shares the radical structuralist view of the organisations as instruments of power and domination. Radical humanist believe in change and structural way of communication in an organisation and more subjective in decision making.

Interpretivist paradigms are the ones which are concerned with regulation but understand the real world situation. Interpretivist paradigms are more realistic and believe relationship within the organisation with some rules and regulation is the best work place to work referred from (Jackson and Carter, 2007).

I identified my paradigm as an Interpretivist by using the questionnaire model to understand the types of paradigm and their views in radical change and subjective or objective interpretation of an organisation.

According to Collins understanding a person’s paradigm from a questionnaire cannot give the person the right view of which paradigm we fall in as it is just simple exercise and the mood of the person gives a huge impact when he answers the questionnaire. So, it is subjected to change from one organisation to another. (Collins, 1996)

3. METHODOLOGY OF DATA GATHERING:

The name of the organization which we are going to see in this study is Santha Textiles. I have chosen this organization because it is my father’s company. So, it will easy for me to gather the information and analyse the organization to the core. And another reason for choosing this organization is that I will be in the company every weekend while doing my undergraduate studies in India. So, I know what is the culture and the structure followed up in the company. I mainly visit the company to know how well the business is going, what are the techniques involved and to develop my managerial capabilities. These previous experiences will be helpful to bring out my thoughts regarding culture at Santha Textiles when we proceed further.

4. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION:

Santha Textiles is a textile fabric manufacturing company situated in South India. The company is manufacturing the textile products for more than 30 years. During the years the company has grown steadily and started marketing its product throughout India. The company has a strong reputation in its field. This strong reputation and market share is only due to its quality products.

The company employs more than 350 employees and uses latest machines in its state of art factories to manufacture its product right away from raw materials to the finished goods. The company mainly manufactures cotton fabrics which are used for shirts, bed spreads and some Indian traditional wears. The company follows all the rules and regulations which are stated by the Indian Government.

The following is my assessment of the structure and the culture in Santha textiles. This mainly elaborates about the structure and the culture followed in the company throughout their business periods.

5. ANALYSING DATA WITH LITERATURE REVIEW:

5.1. DEFINITION OF CULTURE AND CULTURE IN SANTHA TEXTILES:

Organisational culture remains a controversial concept. The concept of culture is in itself a social concept. Therefore it follows that the concept of organizational culture should be viewed as the social concept of an organization and is an interpretation of the way how the organization behaves. Basically culture is a very diverse subject as it varies from country to country and from organisation to organisation. Organisational culture is defined as the collection of relatively uniform and enduring values, beliefs, customs, traditions and practices that are shared by an organisation’s member, learned by new recruits, and transmitted from one generation of employees to the next (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2004). According to this definition culture in one organisation is different from other organisation. Each and every organisation has their own tradition, beliefs, values and practices in them. However, “organizational culture” is a scientifically accepted concept used to define and describe the collective individual behavior within the organisation. The culture has a significant impact to achieve the organisation’s aims and on the development of the organisation.

Lundberg’s seven points make it clear that culture is a soft aspect of an organisation, in which the details are carried in people’s mind, even though these people may not be aware of doing so they use this information to interpret what surrounds them, for example to judge whether something is right or wrong, suitable or unsuitable (Rollinson, 2008). So, people use this information to judge the decision whether it will go right or wrong in the organisation.

Each and every organisation has their own unique culture even though they have not tried to create consciously. These cultures would have been created by the top management or by the founders who build that organisation. But in some organisation the top level management tries to change the culture of the organisation based on the location and condition in which the organisation is located.

This change of culture will be more useful in decision making, managing and to bring out the success of their organisation. Culture allows for similarity and agreement on some matters but also rely upon differences and in some cases make it safe to disagree (Hatch, 2006).

Organisational cultures have complex relationships with the environments in which they operate and from which they recruit their members. When an organisation is created it becomes its own world and the culture in the organisation becomes its foundation. People’s actions and the work in the organisation are not always their own but are largely influenced by the socialization processes of specific culture to which they belong. According to Schein, organizational culture is the key to organizational excellence and the function of leadership is the creation and management of culture. Hence culture is very difficult to change unless one changes the people in the group.

There are many theorists who describes about the culture in the organisation. We are going to see about the Schein’s theory of oranisational culture in this assessment. Relating with the Schein’s theory we can compare the culture in Santha textiles.

5.2. RELATING SCHEIN’S MODEL WITH THE ORGANISATION:

Edgar Schein’s model of culture is among most widely discussed. According to Buchanan and Huczynski, it considers organizational culture in terms of three levels, each distinguished by its visibility to and accessibility by individuals. Organisational culture is the pattern of basic assumption which a group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and integration, which have worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to the problems (Schein, 1985).

Schein’s fundamental view is that culture is the sharing of meaning and the sharing of basic assumptions among organisational employees (Buchanan and Huczynski, 1997). According to Schein’s theory of organisational culture there are three levels of culture described. The three levels of cultures are Artifacts, Values and Basic assumptions.

6. LEVELS OF CULTURE:

6.1. Artefacts:

This is the first level of culture. Artefacts are considered to be the only visible factor in a culture. Artefacts are manifestations or expressions of the same culture core that produces and maintains the values and norms however, their future distance from the core can make it even more difficult to interpret their cultural significance unambiguously (Hatch, 2006).

One of the main Artefact of Santha textiles is, the way in which the production is set up in the factories. The logo of the company can also be considered as an artifact because the logo remains the same from the starting of the company till now and it is a visible factor. The artefacts in the company can be easily visualized and seen. The symbols and the captions used in the company can also be considered as artefacts. The caption used by Santha textiles influences the culture and the type of product they produce. There have been many ritual ceremonies which are being held in Santha textiles. These ritual ceremonies show the culture in the company and how well the company gives importance to the culture that is followed. In Santha textiles, it is believed to act as a positive force in the working of the company. Language is also considered to be one artefact. In Santha textiles, the local language called ‘Tamil’ is spoken in all the departments and by all the employees. We can see that there is a respect shown from one employee to another inside the company. The older employees share their knowledge and experiences with the new comer and they are treated well. The history of an organisation inevitably has a huge impact on its culture and that some cultural elements can be traced back to the values and ideologies of the firm’s founder. Most of the ideologies followed in Santha textiles are formed by the founder of the company.

6.2. Values:

The next level in Schein’s layered conceptualization of culture is the values and beliefs. Values are the social principles, goals and standards that cultural members believe have intrinsic worth (Hatch, 2006). Organisational values are those things that have personal or organizational worth or meaning to the founders or senior management. Values are typically based on moral, societal or religious precepts that are learned in childhood and modified through experience (Buchanan and Huczynski, 1997). Where do these values come from? Values are the views of the original founder, as modified by the company’s current management (Schein, 2004).

The culture in Santha textiles is influenced only by the founder of the company The company is working towards its goal which is the predominant factor in the business. Mostly all the employees in the company were honest and trustworthy. But some of the employees were not honest to their job. This affects the company’s production. So, the trust on these employees fails in this condition in the company. Effort is also one of the prevailing factors which influenced the company to grow such an extent for years. Mostly all the employees put their full effort to make the company to reach its goal. So, for their efforts Santha textiles gives a good salary and seasonal bonus. Some tours have also been arranged for the employees twice in a year to relax themselves. The founder feels that this will encourage the employees and it will be better for the company.

6.3. Basic assumptions:

Basic Assumption is the third level in Schein’s layered conceptualization of culture. In Schein’s view they are ‘fundamental beliefs that are so taken for granted that most people in a cultural unit subscribe to them but not in a conscious way (Rollinson, 2008). These assumptions are formed inside the company when it is created. Assumptions which are formed in the beginning don’t change often. These assumptions are not seen when the oraganisation is viewed as such. In Santha textiles, we can see a sense of mutual respect between the employees, no matter in what positions are and in what department they are in. As everyone know that the textile market is a competitive one in India. So, there is always a feel of competition between the firms. Santha textile takes more interest in protecting the society around which it operates. They ensure that their factories do not harm the environment and the atmosphere. There has never been an employee’s strike since beginning of the company as the relationship between the employees and the management is good in the company. This indicates that all the employees are satisfied with their work and the salary they get. Employee welfare is a factor that has been prevailing in Santha textiles since it started its operation in the late 1970’s.

7. CONCLUSION:

This is all about the culture that is prevailing in Santha textiles relating with Schein’s layered conceptualization of culture. It was a challenge for me to analyse the culture of Santha textiles relating with the literature review and Schein’s layered conceptualization of culture. However, comparing my experiences with Santha textiles and the literatures has brought so much sense. Me being an Interpretivist, I shared the views of both the intrepretivist paradigm and the Radical humanist paradigm. Both these paradigm care for the human values but understands the real world situations. Based on this study I understood that culture in Santha textile is a mixture of value, human welfare, environmental care and local culture in which the company is held. Finally, these analyses tell me that I very much fall in Interpretivist paradigm but also share the views of radical humanist paradigm.