HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Transcription

1 HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. PRELIMINARY NOTIONS AND KEY CONCEPTS... 3 CHAPTER 2. BASIC FUNCTIONS, VALUES AND SYSTEMS OF THE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE PUBLIC FIELD... 9 CHAPTER 3. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE CHAPTER 4. THE ACT OF LEADERSHIP CHAPTER 5. STAFF PLANNING CHAPTER 6. JOB DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS CHAPTER 7. STAFF RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION CHAPTER 8. EVALUATION OF INDIVIDUAL PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCES CHAPTER 9. PROFESSIONAL TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 10. STAFF MOTIVATION CHAPTER 11. INTRAORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION CHAPTER 12. COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND TRADE-UNION ORGANIZATION CHAPTER 13. TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT BIBLIOGRAPHY: GLOSSARY OF TERMS

3 CHAPTER 1. PRELIMINARY NOTIONS AND KEY CONCEPTS Public organizations, unlike profit based ones, have few available resources. Out of all of them, the human resource is the most precious as well as efficient. At this point we will introduce a distinction: we are concerned with human resource, not staff. The two expressions define a different philosophy and orientation; when we say staff, we think of the employees of our organization as a definite and finite, much like a type writer: everyone has their place and use and nothing more can be expected of them. Human resource refers to the fact that any individual, if given the right conditions, can grow and develop; stresses the fact that employees are not an investment like the fixed or mobile capital, but rather a profit source for the organization, if given the necessary opportunities. This very fact is the essence of human resources management: that managers learn how to create the proper conditions for their employees to produce more. Furthermore, in order to better explain the modern perspective on what we call human resource, let us also focus on the fundamental question: Which specific features of the human resource are essential to their professional activity? The answer is extremely difficult to give for all areas of interest of an organization, be it private or public. It is easier to give a simpler answer with a higher degree of generality, such as: competence and performance are the 2 generally relevant features of the human resource within an organization, or necessary to it. One of the most accessible frameworks for approaching the issue of competence of the human resource is the following: COMPETENCE = KNOWLEDGE + APTITUDES + SKILLS KNOWLEDGE (the theoretical kind) is the result of the educational system from which an individual benefits, sometimes limited to aspects such as professional training in a certain private field. Nevertheless, this amount of theoretical knowledge cannot be abusively limited to only one specific practice, as the actual situations encountered at the work place sometimes require the use of more general knowledge, acquired at the undergraduate level of education (non-specialized). Aptitudes are the native qualities of a certain individual. They cannot be created, only activated or developed, some of them being at times in a passive state, inactive, until the moment of their claim. Skills or abilities are the result of applying theoretical knowledge, with the contribution of aptitudes of course. They are usually referred to of indirectly, as the general or specialized professional experience in a certain professional field of activity is spoken of more often. In its turn, experience is directly linked to the concept of seniority of service, very important for the remuneration an employee benefits from. However, in order to have considerable professional results, competence alone is not enough for an individual. He/She needs something that would lead to performance, a fact reflected in the second framework: 3

4 PERFORMANCE = COMPETENCE + ATTITUDE Since we have determined so far that competence is the result of three types of human resource qualities coming together, and that performance is the professional result from the point of view of human resources management, what remains to be done is to clarify exactly what the conjunctive term between these two attitude actually represents. (Professional) attitude is an employee s intention to work, to make him/herself as useful as possible at the workplace, to make the most of his/her whole professional competence. Attitude is closely connected with the issue of motivation, which in turn is related on the one hand to an employee s strictly personal features, such as diligence or being aware that he/she has to give something in return of the various rewards received from his/her organization; on the other hand it is largely connected to elements outside the employee, which have a major influence on him/her, such as the leadership style of his/her close superior, as well as that the higher levels ones, the relationship with team mates, if he/she benefits from resources and authority adequate to the specifics of his/her work, culture and organizational climate etc. Once these 2 human resource issues are sorted out, they may later become very useful points of reference in the development of highly important activities in the management of human resources, as the first framework is very useful in the case of recruitment, selection and promotion activities, and the second especially in the case of evaluation of individual professional performance and employee motivation. Now that we have broadly settled the issue of the relevant features of human resources, let us see how we can exploit this profit at the level of managerial practices. Human resources management is the organizational activity which makes possible the most efficient use of personnel (employees) in achieving both the individual and the organizational goals. Human resources management (HRM) consists of various activities, which include the following: Design and analysis of job descriptions Staff planning Recruitment, selection and staff orientation Consultancy offered to staff for the future of personal career Performance evaluation Compensations and advantages specific to their workplace Health and insurance Workplace relationships 4

5 Discipline, control and evaluation of staff functions etc. Obviously, this list is not exhaustive, but it includes most of the important actions of the HRM. As long as we are trying to describe what HRM does and includes, we have to go over three important characteristics of this activity. 1. HRM is action-oriented. It is not focused on filing, description or rules. HRM emphasizes and searches for solutions to the employees problems, in order to help achieving the organizational goals and to facilitate individual growth and satisfaction. 2. HRM is individual-oriented. As often as possible, HRM treats each employee as a distinct individual and offers services and programs meant to satisfy his/her individual needs. 3. HRM is future-oriented. It focuses on the objectives of the organization and assists their future achievement by offering competent, highly motivated employees. HRM can help and most of the times it does to increase the efficiency of an organization s activities. Let us analyze an example: we have two construction teams, A and B. They are equal form every point of view: equipment, crew members, training etc. Each team has an apartment building to construct. Team A finishes in 12 months, which is precisely the time frame stipulated in the contract. Team B finishes earlier, in 10 months (obviously, the example purely theoretical, or located in a different country, otherwise for the construction of a building we would be speaking of years, instead of months ). Which of the two teams would you say is more efficient? Let us go on with the example: after finishing the work, team A takes on a new contract. Yet team B no longer exists as a working unit; due to work related accidents and the hectic working pace, all the members resigned. Now, which of the two teams is more efficient? The example is meant to introduce two concepts that are of great importance in understanding the way in which HRM can help an organization. Team B is efficient, but team A is effective. The difference between efficiency and effectiveness is not does not get nearly enough attention in Romanian literature. Nevertheless, we deem the difference to be highly significant. Efficiency may be, in a way, equal to productivity and it can be measured according to the profit, to the money gained; however, effectiveness means productivity plus satisfaction at the workplace and is not always measurable in money. It is obvious that in the case of public administration organizations, we must talk about effectiveness. As seen, HRM is an essential factor in getting workplace satisfaction. Successful managers admit to this fact: it is the individuals who both put in practice the plans of an organization, as well as come up with ideas which lead to the organization s development. 5

6 The objectives of HRM in the attempt to increase of the organization s effectiveness are the following: 1. To help the organization achieve its goals 2. To efficiently use the abilities and skills of their manpower 3. To offer the organization well prepared and motivated employees 4. To increase the level of satisfaction of the employee at the workplace 5. To develop and maintain a certain quality of the working environment that can transform the employee status within the organization into a personal and socially satisfying situation 6. To communicate staff policies to all employees 7. To help maintain professional ethics 8. To help introduce changes favorable to individuals, groups, organization and the public. All of these objectives form a whole. At soon as they are achieved, the activity of the HRM can be considered efficient and useful to the organization within which it takes place. In what follows, we will say a few words about the role of the HRM specialist or manager. Unfortunately, we do not have valid data for Romania, so we will have to rely on comparisons. In the year 1981, there were people employed in the field of HRM in the USA. 60% of all of them were from the private sector, 30% from the public field and the rest of 10% from other fields (health, education, libraries, non-governmental organizations, etc.). The rate of growth in number of the staff we are referring to is of 5% a year. Let us focus on the public sector. While in the private field any company can come up with any kind of staff policy, in the field of public administration this sort of freedom is more restricted; there are laws, rules and regulations which rely mostly on standardization than on flexibility. Traditionally, the role of the department of personnel use to emphasize two functions: routine processing of administrative tasks regarding salaries, pensions and other benefits, as well as supervising the compliance with a growing number of laws, rules and regulations. What mattered was the abiding of laws and not the innovation of HRM activities. As a result, there was a rigid system of rules, which could not accomplish the above mentioned objectives (which were not included in the program anyway). This issue was present almost everywhere, in any administrative system. In the context in which public administration was going through a general process of reform with the purpose of humanization, growth of efficiency and flexibility, as results were below all expectations, three strategies were designed to bring about a reform in the field of HRM. 6

7 The model based on client-oriented services. This model is focused on the way in which the department of personnel (DP) does its job. The model presupposes that the department will carry out the same functions as before only faster and better, being aware of the fact that the organization s manager and employees are the clients of the department and acting accordingly. The model based on organizational development or on consulting. This model is focused on what the department of personnel actually does. From this point of view, the members of the department of personnel should take on new functions within the organization, becoming internal consultants in a variety of fields. This model sometimes comes with suggestion that they relinquish some of the traditional prerogatives of the DP. The model based on strategic management of human resources. This model is focused on the DP s position within the organization, on its power and role within organizational policies. The model asserts that the members of the DP should be a part of the management team and act as such, serving as a bridge between the human resource and the aims and policies of the organization. This material is not meant to be a sort of panacea for all the issues of HRM, and so it will most often describe information without taking sides. At this time we would like to introduce other essential elements of HRM. Above, we have presented some of the objectives of the HRM activity. In what follows, we shall say a few words about the ways in which these objectives may be accomplished. First of all, it must be noted that all 8 objectives describe are somewhat general. Let us take, for example, the phrase to increase the level of satisfaction of the employee at the workplace. How do we make such an objective operational? Beforehand, we have to determine the factors within our organization that generate satisfaction at the workplace. Then, we may organize an investigation to find out whether our employees are satisfied and to what extent. Once we have the factors and we know where we stand in this area, we must see what we can do to improve the situation meaning create a plan. For all this we need policies and procedures/rules. The relationship between these elements is shown in figure 1. Policies are general provisions that serve as guidelines for the decision-making processes. They are created for fields and areas with past or possibly future problems. Because of the presence of these provisions, managers generally know what they have to do in certain situations. They ensure a certain consistency of behavior and allow managers to focus on those issues that represent their field of expertise. As we have already said, policies are general provisions that tell us how we should act and what we should do in certain fields. 7

8 OBJECTIVES POLICIES Guideline for decision making PROCEDURES/RULES Specific directives for taking and implementing decisions Figure 1. The relationship between objectives-policies-procedures It looks like we are still confronting an issue: we haven t got rid of generality. The plunge into the specific is made with the help of procedures or rules. They represent specific directions of action. They tell us how to undertake a certain activity. Within large organizations, the procedures are collected and gathered in manuals. For example, McDonald s has a 365 page manual in which employees can find everything they need to know: how full a juice glass should be, when the potato supply is to be made, how many French fries can be produced with a liter of oil etc. This level of standardization has not yet been reached within public administration yet, but the activity in this field is slightly different from the one in a fast-food restaurant. Here we have touched a sensitive issue: the more complex the activity of an organization is, the harder it gets to write a manual of rules/procedures that is useful in any situation. Considering the extremely high degree of complexity of the activity of public administration, we can safely say that it is virtually impossible to come up with this type of manual for its entire activity. For some departments and issues it is possible, for others not. 8

9 CHAPTER 2. BASIC FUNCTIONS, VALUES AND SYSTEMS OF THE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE PUBLIC FIELD If in the introductory chapter we spoke about the main activities of human resources management, may they be from the public or private field (we will emphasize the differences as they appear and if it is the case), let us see further on how we might offer a higher degree of coherence to the strategies concerned with staff policies, identifying the smallest possible number in a model that is as concise as it can be of basic functions, which can group all the activities with objectives specific to this field in as a logical and articulated form as possible. To put it in simpler and shorter terms, how to not complicate our activity when we want to produce an efficient strategy for human resources management. Relying on the concise model conceived by Donald Klingner and John Nalbandian in the paper Public Personnel Management, in which they achieved the performance of grouping a multitude of activities specific to HRM in 4 large categories corresponding to 4 functions (which we called basic), we propose the following layout: The basic function of human Corresponding activities resources management I. Planning - human resource budgeting - position management - actual planning of human resources II. Acquisition - recruitment - selection - promotion (partial) III. Development - professional performance evaluation - professional training - professional development - motivation - promotion IV. Sanctioning - drawing up and applying sanctioning rules - negotiating the collective labor agreement - conflict management None of the lists of activities corresponding to one of the basic functions of human resources management claims to be comprehensive, but merely tries to encompass the most important and obvious elements. 9

10 Nevertheless, we believe that a minimum of explaining is welcome, at least in the case of some functions or activities. In the case of planning, the activity of position management is based on other 3 complementary activities, which are job analysis, description and evaluation, in order to organize a hierarchy of employment positions according to their degree of importance and complexity. The final result will be the articulate structure of the organization (as a whole), represented by the organigramme. The function of acquisition is sufficiently clear when referring to the corresponding activities. Nevertheless, a particular point of view allows the insertion of promotion even if only partial which can be seen a form of acquisition from internal sources, of an employee with an inferior position, who wants to occupy a vacant or new higher position. The function of development is the one which encompasses the largest number of corresponding activities, the vast majority being alternative but complementary consequences of individual professional performance. Sanctioning, known as sanction in the initial concept of Klingner and Nalbandian, has the purpose of establishing and respecting the obligations and expectations that employees and employers have from one another. Consequently, the activities which correspond to it obviously impose. As we can plainly see, these 4 basic functions are found in the private field, also. The difference between this latter one and the public field is in the way in which the functions are executed and in the priority they are given. There is one other important difference, visible at the level of the degree of freedom of choice between one method or the other offered by the HRM, which is significantly more limited in the public field, especially (but not only) from a legal and financial point of view. The way in which the 4 public personnel systems identified by Kligner and Nalbandian succeed in collaborating on the basis of a compromise influences the way in which these functions and their corresponding activities are adopted in the public field. According to the American specialists, the public management of personnel can be seen as a permanent interaction between four often conflicting social fundamental values. Responsivity is the first fundamental value and, according to Klingner and Nalbandian, it refers to the conviction that the governing power (understood both as a central as well as a local public administration activity) must give forth to the will of the citizens, which is expressed through their elected officials. Meaning that institutions in the public field have to give as much support as possible to their leaders, which in turn, whether elected directly by the citizens, or nominated by other elected leaders, are the most able to understand and represent the interests of the majority of members of society at that time. This first value generates a specific human resources management 10

11 system called a political system of personnel. This first system is one imposed and supported by the elected or nominated officials who have certain political priorities to follow and achieve. That is why we can say the political system of personnel is characterized by a set of merit indicators, the first one being personal or political loyalty of the majority of employees to their leaders. To complete this first indicator loyalty, there is also much appreciation for those with very good professional training within the specialization and an extended experience in the field qualities which, in the opinion of supporters of this type of system, shape an extremely prestigious body of office workers, who can significantly increase the chances of a dignitary to carry out the promises made in the election campaign. The second fundamental value is efficiency, and it represents the tendency to maximize the relation between results and investments of any managing activity. The system generated around efficiency is called civil (or public) service system and it has two major objectives: improving the efficiency of administration and acknowledging the rights of employees. This system replaces the loyalty merit indicator with the competence, and especially the performance one. Those from the public environment who support it, both within the public institutions as well as outside them, are striving to remove the political from HRM practice in the public field, arguing that the public administration should function on the basis of principles similar to the ones in the private field, to the business environment that proves to be much more flexible, dynamic and more operative. The third fundamental value consists of the individual rights of citizens in general and of employees of public administration institutions in particular, to be protected against the unfair actions of dignitaries that occupy leading positions in this field. Here, the legislative framework, which must clarify the way in which public officers can protect themselves from authority abuse tendencies (in hierarchical order), or from political pressures to which they can be subject by their superiors, has a significant role. In order to carry out the support from a legal/legislative point of view, there is also the public system of employment that focuses on individual rights. It goes by the name of collective bargaining system, as it relies on the public workers right to organize and to join unions which better represent their interests and protect their rights, primarily through negotiations with the leadership representatives, but also through other types of activities. The fourth and final fundamental social value relevant in the HRM field of practice within the public sector is social equity, which is concerned with ensuring fairness to certain social categories (e.g. certain ethnic minorities, people with disabilities etc.) who tend to be disadvantaged and/or to be discriminated against, especially when it comes to hiring and/or promoting. As in the case of individual rights, social equity also is preoccupied with fairness, but in a different way than the third fundamental value, it is group- or social category- oriented. The system developed around social equity is called affirmative action system (of cutting down discrimination) and it is promoted both from inside the public institutions, as well as by the 11

12 society of individuals who support the principle according to which the effectiveness of a representative democracy depends on the existence of a representative bureaucracy. Similar to the 4 values around which they were formed, the 4 public employment systems are in a permanent competing battle for supremacy, often with conflicting inflections. To this point of view belongs the issue of identifying the best system, issue tackled by Donald Klingner and John Nalbandian in the sense of completeness, by comparing them according to the way in which they prioritize the four basic functions of human resources management. Syst. HRM Political S. Civil Service S. Collective Bargaining Affirmative Action S. S. Basic Fct. Function is underlined I. Planning II. Acquisition III. Development IV. Sanction The table illustrates the conclusions of the American specialists who consider that, generally, public systems of employment underline two out of the four basic functions. The exception is the civil service system, which prioritizes and gives equal importance to all the functions, consequently being the only complete system. An emphasis is also placed on the fact that the complexity of real situations encountered in the activity of public administration and services requires a combination of all four systems in a symbiotic relationship (of mutual completion), something that is encountered in practice, but coherently enough. In the American system at least, incomplete systems often function as subsystems of the complete system, especially the collective bargaining system and the affirmative action system. Of course, we do not expect our home made system to reflect the image of American system drawn above. However, we do believe that the values of systems and the issues raised by them in the public HRM presented in this chapter are to be found in any political regime, even if with slightly different relevance and weight, so that taking them into consideration for Romania s situation is an obvious gain. 12

13 CHAPTER 3. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE In order to understand the concept of organizational culture, we shall begin by defining the terms we will deal with. An important step in understanding culture is the ability to identify it at organizational level and to detail its major components. Organizational culture has a series of proportions and qualities according to which it is structured: outside environment, mission, strategy and strategic purposes. The change of an organization s culture is an efficient way to apply the terms cited when defining it. There are more ways to define organizational culture and, except for the contribution of Edgar Schein, there is no conclusive definition. One of the main issues is that it can be defined in terms of cause as easily as in terms of effect. The most common ways to define it are: 1. As results- culture is a manifest model of behavior: how we do things around here, meaning defining the consistent way in which people complete tasks, resolve issues, conflicts and treat their employees and clients. 2. As a process- culture owns a set of mechanisms which create a consistency that goes beyond individual behavior and consists of internal values, standards and beliefs, which control interactions between members of an organization and with the exterior (cf. Killman, R.H., Saxton, M.J. and Serpa, R., Issues in understanding and changing culture, California Management Review, 28, 1986, p. 87). According to Edgar Schein, who tried and succeeded in giving a coherent definition to the concept, organizational culture is the model of basic expectations, which a certain group has invented, discovered or developed during the process of learning to deal with issues of external adjustment and internal integration, and which has functioned well enough to be considered valid and, as a consequence, to be presented to new members as the correct way to understand, think and feel in relation with the respective issues (cf. Schein, Edgar H., Organizational Culture and Leadership, 1992, p ). The above mentioned definition is composed of more than one element. In order to clarify it, we will try to break it down into its constituent elements. Thus, culture refers to that set of values, beliefs and ways of understanding which are common to the members of a group. They are communicated to the new members of the organization, who are also shown how things are done around here - meaning the unwritten part, the feeling of the organization (Paraphrased from Schein, Edgar H., Organizational Culture and Leadership, 1992) In order for an organization to work, organizational culture has to be transmitted with passion to the new members and they in turn have to perceive it as valid. If each generation which enters the organization would bring new values and perceptions, the culture would not be stabilizing 13

14 for the organization. This process of transmitting the organizational culture to the new members allows testing, approving and validating it. The sum of philosophies, values, expectations, attitudes and standards is the binder of the organization. Organizational culture can thus be regarded as the way in which the organization resolves certain issues, in order to achieve specific goals and survive in the long run. It is a holistic, historically determined, socially constructed and difficult to change organism (cf. Hofstede et al, 1990 in School Culture and Performance: Testing the Invariance of an Organizational Model. SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT. Vol. 7, Nr. 1, p. 77), as we shall see below. Organizational culture improves the stability of the organization, and offers to its members the type of understanding they need in order to discover the sense of events and activities that take place within the organization (during everyday activity). Thus, Hofstede, Neuijen, Ohayo and Sanders have shown that the essence of organizational culture seems to lie more in the daily practices than in shared values. This conclusion has been attained after a study was conducted in 20 organizations from Denmark and The Nederlands, which has shown that the values of employees differ more according to demographics like nationality, age or education, rather then according to the organization. It is also Hofstede that has identified certain types of general orientation of culture within an organization the so-called cultural diversity. These types classify culture according to the place it occupies on five continuums: 1. Individual versus collective orientation The level at which behavior is correctly controlled; the stress is placed on (collective) equity or title, symbols of status and attributing (individual) recognition 2. Orientation of distance of power The degree to which less strong parties accept the current distribution of power and the degrees to which adhesion to formal channels is kept; the degree of compliance with authority, the rigidity of the levels of command and the formality of interactions between organization members 3. Uncertainty/Detour orientation The degree to which employees are threatened by ambiguity, and the relative importance of rules, long term hiring and continuous promotion of the employees on clearly defined ladders 4. Orientation of dominant values The nature of dominant values i.e. self-promoting, money hunger, well defined roles of the two genders, formal structure versus interest for peers, concern with the quality of relationships, satisfaction with the position and flexibility (similar to the collective/individual orientation) 14

15 5. Short term orientation versus long term orientation Time span: short term (it refers to the tendency towards consumerism, as well as towards maintaining one s image through maintaining performance) versus long term (it refers to maintaining relationships based on status, material growth, delaying gratification) Another dimension of Schein s definition is continuing to format and change organizational culture (cf Schein, Edgar H., Organizational Culture and Leadership, 1992). Culture is not static, it is not formed at once in order to remain unchangeable and determine all the activities within an organization. On the contrary, all the aspects of the functioning of the organization and its members have an influence over organizational culture, as it has to include them continuously. As has already been stated, organizational culture is centered on notions of external adjustment and internal integration. Like with any other organization, culture has to be adapted to the environment in which the organization exists, in order to survive and to be successful. Internal integration, on the other hand, refers to the existence, within one organization, of more sets of sub cultures, which become part of the dominant culture, the look presented to the world by the organization in question. These sub cultures can aggregate around occupational specializations, subunits, hierarchical levels, syndicates or rebel groups. Obviously, the large differences between cultures and subcultures can give rise to some significant complications regarding reaching a consensus and establishing the priorities of the organization. Another source of diversity is represented by the role and influence of societies within which the organization functions; even if there is not a lot of accurate data about this aspect, the development of management cultures (like the Japanese one) indicates the existence of meaningful relationships between the two factors. Another way to define the culture of an organization is based on understanding the concept of organizational climate, which precedes the existence of a so-called group culture (cf. Schein, Edgar H., Organizational Culture and Leadership, 1992). In brief, climate refers to the psychological environment in which individual behavior appears (Trice and Beyer, 1993, p. 19 in Condrey, Stephen E., Handbook of The management of human resources in Government (editor), Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1998); a descriptive rather than evaluative perception of the working environment of the organization (Joyce and Slocum, 1984, p. 721, ibidem) and the internal environment of the organization which a) is felt by its members, b) influences their behavior, c) can be described in terms of values of a certain set of characteristics (or attributes) of the organization (Tagiuri, 1968, p. 27, ibidem). There is no conclusive definition, because we are speaking about a social convention which once created [ ] regains its own power and acts as a strongly restrictive element of the individual behavior (Fink and Chen, 1995, p. 494, ibidem). 15

16 Unlike climate, culture is a constituent part of the organization, difficult to manipulate, a combination of convictions, values, professional traditions, standards, methods of thinking, as well as a certain language or colloquialism which members of the organization share. Similar to climate, culture is a social convention, which, amongst others, has determined various points of view regarding its definition. The only points on which most authors agree upon can be grouped, according to Ott, as follows: A phenomenon composed of aspects such as values, convictions, perceptions, behavior standards, material evidence and behavior patterns; The culture from an organization, similar to the one from a society, but at an organizational scale; A socially constructed force, unseen and unnoticed, which is found behind organizational activities; A social energy which leads to action; A unifying theme which offers meaning, direction and mobility to the members of the organization; A mechanism of organizational control, which approves or inhibits behavior unofficially. All of these (rituals, forces, climate, values and behavior patterns) are tied together in a coherent whole this very process of modeling and integrating being the essence of what we understand by culture (cf. Schein, Edgar H., Organizational Culture and Leadership, 1992). The next step in understanding organizational culture is visualizing it on several levels, from which, the most important are: - visible culture - shared values - common beliefs (cf. Schein, Edgar H., Organizational Culture and Leadership, 1992). Visible culture refers to the visible products at the organization s surface, which are easy to notice, but difficult to interpret because the symbols are nothing more than symbols, that is ambiguous. The physical headquarters of the organization or its archives are part of the visible culture, which cannot be used but as a confirmation of other information connected to organizational culture, obtained in other ways. We cannot have a complete image of the organization, or at least of some cultural models, based on visible culture alone. Among the ways of identifying physical evidence there is listening to daily language, idioms, humor and metaphors used at the work place, as well as myths, stories and legends told during rituals and celebrations within the organization. Shared values have more dimensions: the values of the organization and the behavior patterns. Behavior patterns obviously refer to the standards imposed by the organization. They have certain limitations when describing organizational culture, because certain standards are nothing but 16

17 superficial or deceitful descriptions of the deeper levels of organizational culture (which are described by common beliefs). Behavior patterns alone do not represent organizational culture, but only one of its levels. Like in the case of powerful individuals, the organization s values are represented by direction and goal. These values penetrate the organization, and if followed, the loyalty of its members can be acknowledged. Organizations with strong cultures reflect their values according to which they are organized and run themselves. The leaders of these organizations pay attention to communication and strengthening these values at all levels of the organization. In order for the values taken upon the organization to bring benefits, it is necessary that they formulate their activities, really taking into account the values they declare. These values are reflected in most cases in slogans of the organization. However, they have to be supported by conclusive and coherent activities at all levels of the organization, so that they do not remain at the level of slogan, but can represent the basic values of the organization. Organizations with a solid organizational culture are very fond of keeping and strengthening values, even if in some cases this leads to a conflicting situation with financial objectives. Thus, the adherence to the declared values makes some organizations sacrifice certain short-term financial advantages, for the long term purpose of preservation of their organizational culture. Last but not least, common beliefs evolve as solutions of a repeatedly used issue, at the time when the hypothesis of the issue becomes reality. Learning something new is a way of change which has to go through all the predetermined steps of change (rejection, reexamination of the attitudes which lead to rejection, change of rules). The basic beliefs reflect the way in which people who need cognitive stability end up learning and accepting what is expected of them. Organizational culture defines the employee in light of the elements for which he is considered, their meaning, his/her decision to take or perform actions, and even his/her emotional reactions. Thus, through culture, if employees are treated consistently according to certain basic expectations, they end up acting according to them, in order to give stability and predictability to the world they live in (McGregor in Schein, Edgar H., Organizational Culture and Leadership, 1993). Each organizational culture has its own basic beliefs, but each employee comes with his/her own amount of beliefs, which later have to be adjusted or made disappear when he/she integrated in the organizational culture. The basic beliefs of culture have clear precedence over the individual ones. The power and importance of basic beliefs come precisely from their origin, outside consciousness. They are so deeply rooted in the human subconscious that a person or a type of behavior that does not abide them is automatically seen as deviant, and the group does not take it seriously. Members of a group who share basic beliefs consider any behavior based on other values 17

18 as being slightly weird, if not unconceivable. Due to such a power, these beliefs form the essence of organizational culture. A different aspect of organizational culture that is worth mentioning is the way in which it was formed. At the basis of the formation of a culture is the vision and philosophy of the organization s founder only on the basis of his values can the organism be organized as a whole. But these pass through certain criteria of validity appreciation and selection environment adaptability, culture orientation, receptiveness to change, the ability to transform and include new elements until the founder transmits them to the superior manager, who takes part in the selection process of those elements of culture which make sense, meaning they can form a whole in the given situation. A lot of theoreticians of organizations have considered the leaders ability to elaborate, maintain and change organizational cultures as one of their key roles. For example, studying organizational culture can offer a more accurate perception of realities than most analysis techniques (Ott, 1989). Even so, the methods of socializing, or transmitting values, behaviors and common beliefs throughout the organization has a crucial role in forming organizational culture. The next pertinent question at this time is: how exactly can organizational culture be learned or passed on? There are different ways and means of passing on information about fundamental values and beliefs: - the staff of organizations often repeats stories, legends, events, myths which are clustered with information about the history and dominant values of the organization - practices and events special practices and events (rituals and ceremonies, from graduation ceremonies to annual banquets) can pass on and put forth values of the organization - material symbols (objects, roles, symbolic arrangements, etc); uniforms, flags, hymns, furniture arrangements- all these and many more elements are capable of having meaningful effects - language - jargon, jokes, songs, etc. can become messengers of organizational culture. (Schein, Edgar H., Organizational Culture and Leadership, 1992) The most important functions fulfilled by correctly passing on culture, in such a way that it functions within the organization, are the following, not necessarily in this order: 1. behavior control (necessary in order for the organization to function as a whole, not as a sum of several pieces); 2. encouraging stability (necessary for formulating a coherent vision and strategy); 3. the existence of a source of identity (that would strengthen the feeling of belonging to the organization and to its purposes, a source of the employees loyalty) (Killman, R.H., Saxton, M.J. and Serpa, R., Issues in understanding and changing culture, California Management Review, 28, 1986, p. 87). 18

19 At the same time, these functions can indirectly become the main obstacles in the path of a healthy functioning of the organization, at which time the need to change the culture appears. A culture which has become a barrier in the way of change or improvement (exactly through nourishing the above mentioned stability), in the path of diversity (placing too much of an emphasis on the identity of the members of the organization), and, for the same reason, a barrier in the way of department and organization levels intra cooperation, has become counter productive. In order to avoid stagnation and even extinction, the organization has one possibility: change, which we shall discuss below. We have already seen the importance of passing on a correct and coherent culture in organizations. According to the success or failure of communication, we can talk about powerful and weak cultures, without describing a classification of organizational culture, but a measurement of the success of communication within the organization. The central values of strong organizations are at the same time intensely felt, and shared at a broader level. They have a powerful influence on the behavior of the organization s members precisely because the high level of intensity and the fact that they are widely shared creates a high level of control over behavior. As may be expected, this fact represents a positive force when it is used to support the organization s strategy (the alignment of culture and strategy being one of the tasks of the organization s leader), but it becomes negative when the organization goes through a trauma or a change (as we have shown above). Examples of powerful cultures which can go through the situations described above are the penal system, or the army, both very rigidly structured, with a high level of behavior control. A strong organizational culture cannot develop without a group to set it up. Schein identifies this group as being composed of several people who have been together for a long time and have dealt with important common issues, have had the possibility to resolve these issues and to observe the effects of their decisions and have also received new members in the organization. Stable groups, with a long, varied and intense history, will have a very strong and differentiated culture. Organizations with a strong culture, where there is a dominant coalition or whose leadership is stabile, will survive any crisis, because new members can be quickly integrated in the organization. Deal and Kennedy show that within organizations with a strong culture, leaders know that the ones who make the activity develop at an optimum level are the individuals, and that the environment in the organization has a strong impact on them. Unlike the organizations described above, the ones with a weak organization culture are focused on products and services created, and not on the people whose activity makes these products emerge. Groups whose members change within short periods of time, or are just at the beginning (newly formed) and have not yet experienced a difficult time or situation, have, by definition, a weak organization culture. 19

20 As already mentioned above, there is a certain link between leading an organization and organization culture. In this respect, we wish to point out just two important elements. The first is the fact that organizations are partially created by the leader in fact, one of his most important functions is creating, managing and sometimes even destroying a culture which has become bankrupt (when over stability or identifying with an obsolete strategy causes stagnation of the organization s growth). The second element is the fact that leaders should pass on the values of the organization through their behavior in daily activities. They can directly and explicitly pass on to the organization members the type of behavior that is required from them, but at the same time they have to develop ways strengthening and supporting the required behavior through a system of rewards and punishments. In order to achieve this objective, the leaders have to understand the role of internal communication and the use of ceremonies, rituals and staff meetings as symbolic activities, through which they may create and pass on certain meanings, represented by the values of the organization. The use of the term leader and not that of manager is to be kept in mind. The leader is the one who creates and changes culture, while the manager lives within it (Trice and Beyer, 1993, p. 19 in Condrey, Stephen E., Handbook of The management of human resources in Government (editor), Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, 1998). Four types of cultural leaders or presidents have been identified (Alger, Jonathan R., The Educational Value of Diversity, ACADEME, (1997), Vol. 83, No. 1, p. 21): 1. the leader who creates (entrepreneur) 2. the leader who identifies with (either strong, or weak leadership) 3. the leader who changes things (because either the environment, or the context has changed) 4. the leader who integrates (the organization is new or the change has already happened) the culture of his organization. Once the culture is formed, it is time for the criteria according to which the leadership is chosen to be determined meaning who can and who cannot become a leader, given that the values according to which a behavior is acknowledged and encouraged or rejected are already understood and applied by the members of the organization. To quote Schein again: the leader who is not aware of the culture from his organization will be dominated by it, because, once in the subconscious of the organization members, the basic beliefs are very hard, if not impossible to change. Before moving on to classifying the types of organization culture, we wish to mention a few common features of all organization cultures, as well as the main attributes of any organization culture. According to O Reilly (1996), there are seven characteristics of organization culture, each of them on a continuum from high to low: 1. innovation and risk taking 2. orientation towards results 3. orientation towards people 20

21 4. orientation towards team 5. aggressiveness (aggressive and competitive attitudes of the employees or at the other end, bashfulness of the staff) 6. stability (the accent is placed on maintaining the existing situation) According to other authors (Goffee and Stones, 1998), there are two dimensions of organizational culture: 1. Sociability: measuring the degree of friendship of the culture. If sociability is high, people do favors for each other without expecting rewards, and the organization shows a great orientation towards people. 2. Solidarity: measuring the degree to which culture is task-oriented. If solidarity is high, people rally behind goals and common interests, irrespective of the personal relationships between them the organization proves efficient in achieving tasks. According to these two dimensions, organization culture becomes: CULTURE On networks Communal BIG SOCIABILITY SMALL Fragmented BIG Mercenary SMALL SOLIDARITY Notwithstanding the presence of all these characteristics, organization culture has three main attributes (Killman, R.H., Saxton, M.J. and Serpa, R., Issues in understanding and changing culture, California ): direction of impact, meaning the direction in which the culture leads the organization the influence on behavior, either in favor of achieving the goals defined by the organization strategy, or against the mission and goals formulated formally; the level of depth of the impact how spread or diffused the culture between the members of the organization is; the power of the impact, meaning the level of pressure placed by culture on the organization members, no matter its direction. As for the exact classification of organization culture, there are many variations in what concerns naming the type of culture, but the most complex classification belongs to the authors Deal and Kennedy. They propose 4 types of organization culture, according to two factors: the degree of risk linked with the decision making process within the organization, and the speed at which the organization gets feedback regarding the success of the decisions made. 21