Organizational Culture Essay: Managing Cultural Diversity

Question

Task: If you select this option as your activity for EBW#2, you will have to complete the following two parts of EBW2.
Part One: Write your reflective answers to the case study questions (10%).
To complete this part please read the case study: Individual personality versus organisational culture (covered in week 5 workshop). Reflect and try to answer the questions given at the end of the case study (if you cannot attend the week 5 workshop, you can attempt it yourself and write your reflective answers).
Case Study: Individual personality versus organisational culture
After studying individual behaviour we understand that people have different personalities. When organisations bring in diverse individuals and socialise them into the culture, a paradox is created. Managers want the new employees to accept the organisation’s core cultural values so that they don’t have a difficult time fitting in or being accepted. At the same time, managers want to openly acknowledge, embrace and support the diverse perspectives and ideas that the new employees bring to the workplace.
Strong organisational cultures pressure employees to conform, and the range of acceptable values and behaviours is limited –hence the paradox. Organisations hire diverse individuals because of their unique personalities, yet their diverse behaviours and strengths are likely to diminish in strong cultures as people attempt to fit in.
A manager’s challenge is to balance two conflicting goals: to encourage employees to accept the organisation’s dominant values, and to encourage employees to accept differences. As the external environment changes and brings about change in an organisation, managers need to remember the importance of keeping diversity alive.
Reflect and answer the following questions:
• What ethical issues might arise under these circumstances for both employees and for managers?
• Diversity is appreciated by organisations, yet organisations want different people to ‘fit in’ the organisational culture. Reflect and comment on this paradox.
Part Two: Construct an evidence-based supporting argument (Mini essay-90%)
To accompany your case study answers, you must construct an evidence-based argument (miniessay) on the following question. Question: Is employee behaviour influenced more by his/her personality or the organisational culture?
To respond to this, you could argue for any of the following:
• Employee behaviour in the organisation is influenced more by his/her personality than the organisational culture.
• Employee behaviour in the organisation is influenced more by the organisational culture than his/her personality
• Employee behaviour is influenced by both the employee’s personality and the organisational culture.
• Please use a range of credible sources to support your claims. Your essay should be around 1000 words (+/- 10% of this total is acceptable as per Massey guidelines). The word count includes in-text citations.
• There is no minimum number of sources to be used but keep in mind that with academic essays you should support any assertions of fact with a source showing where the information comes from.
• A very good essay will probably use at least 5-6, with most of these being scholarly.
• Your argument should be written in essay format and followed by a reference list accurately formatted in APA 6th or 7th edition style. Please ensure that you remain consistent in using the style.

Answer

Part A
Cultural diversity in the workplace leverages people from different cultures to dive in. However, different people with different personalities create a paradox and major challenges for the managers. As per the scenario outlined in the organizational culture essay, managers and supervisors demand the workforce to accept organizational culture despite promoting cultural diversity. This is done so that they can reduce the implication of ethical issues over the work culture. In my opinion, embracing cultural diversity is an innovative idea that facilitates work growth. Different thoughts nurturing within the workplace is possible only with cultural diversification. However, ethical issues illustrated in the organizational culture essay are challenging at times for both employees and managers. I believe that ethical issues arise in the context of religious differences, gender issues, business practices, and hiring decisions. Since people from different religions are welcomed by most of the organizations, religious clashes are considered to be evident. I consider that managers need to stay aware of the ethical issues coming from the person with heterosexual beliefs. Improper understanding of the employee's belief creates clumsiness for both leaders and the workforce. Although, the study developed in the organizational culture essay signifies that psychologists have no accurate idea of the root cause of sexual orientation as per my view it may be due to the environmental and religious differences.

There is some organizational culture that equalizes the authority of men and women resulting in the indiscrimination of the workforce. Some regions people are coming from where women's authority is not acceptable by men. This gives rise to the ethical challenge for both employees and leaders. I believe that the male ego does not insist on them to work productively in those work cultures which in hand results in the failure of the managers to conduct a peaceful workplace. It is common that while hiring for the vacant position, an organization with cultural diversity must conduct advertisement allowing different people to apply or job position. However, as per my opinion, most of the organizations consider the business objectives as the prioritized goal. This results in tension between the maintenance of employment equality guidelines and the organization's diversity objectives. I believe that it gives rise to major ethical concerns for both the management and job seekers. As per the given study considered in the organizational culture essay, managers prioritize organizational culture and insist employees obey workplace culture over their individuality. This in hand affects the trust of both the individuals. While recruiting people from different cultures and beliefs, it is important to make the workforce familiar with the organizational guidelines. In my opinion, a poor understanding of the guidelines let employees act in their natural manner. For instance people believe that organizations leverage bribery when they make an extra payment for the approval of any extra tasks. This creates a wide trust and ethical gap between the manager and employees.

Part B
It is evident herein organizational culture essay that though diversity is promoted by an organization but the maintenance of organizational culture is not compromised by the managers or leaders. I believe that the scenario can be explained by the concept of individualistic and collectivistic cultures. As per the scenario, managers facilitate the adoption of organizational culture to reduce the complexities and differences in beliefs. I consider that collectivism is the only way to bring diversified culture under one roof. However supporting diversified culture allows the manager to stay innovative with diverse knowledge and work process. The paradox is created when both factors do not get blended in equal proportion. Positive work culture is possible through collaboration. If employees continue working on their terms, it will not be possible to promote productivity. I believe that maintaining positivity is the most important criteria. There needs to be a balanced and mutual understanding between employers, managers, and employees. In my view, a leer always demands tea or tea. In the absence of team collaboration, the leader will have no authority in the work process. It is further required that professionalism is the most important way to solve the paradox of cultural diversity. Besides the consideration of cultural diversity, the main goal of the workforce is to attain business objectives and that requires collaboration and cooperation from the team members. I consider that conflicting personalities will not facilitate team collaboration until the employees are bonded with a similar string. It is discussed in this part of organizational culture essay that organizational culture acts as the string for which employees stay dedicated to their managers and leaders. However, several employees contradict and prioritize their personal beliefs and thoughts over the organizational culture. This in hand gives it to the professional conflicts. As per my viewpoint, managers must let the employees understand the significance of collectivism and individuals. There is no strict rule to stay inclined towards a particular belief. It is the situation that demands the importance. If the situation demands a team formation, collectivism is prioritized to promote positivity, integrity, and unity. However, prioritizing personal beliefs facilitate neutrality and independence with the workplace.

Part two: Mini organizational culture essay
Introduction
Culture is referred to as the collective programming of the belief that differentiates one category of individuals from others. On a similar note, the discussion highlights an argumentative elaboration of the influence of employee behavior either by organizational culture or by their personality. As per the scenario, managers promote diversified culture by gradually start prioritizing organizational culture and put in effect for the world collaboration and binding every employee with a similar bond. This gives rise to a major paradox resulting in poor communication between the employees and the management department. As stated by Gagné (2018), it is evident that employees' behavior is transformed with the alignment of organizational culture. 

Main content
Possession of a particular work culture results in the maintenance of cohesion and solidarity. It further stimulates creativity and employee’s enthusiasm. As opined by John et al. (2019), organizational cultures are unique and complex. It is framed based on the business goal or objectives. Though some of the organizations promote diversification the main goal is the attainment of the organizational objectives. This illustrates that an employee's behavior is directly influenced by a specific work culture. Strong culture insists staff conform to the organizational culture and thus leads to the limitation of acceptable behaviors and values. The pressurization of employees by the managers is the only way to improve the management and let the consistent flow of the work culture. However, Obiekwe (2018) commented that the diversified belief of employees restricts getting accustomed with the workplace culture. Corporate culture empowers employees to work towards neither specific direction nor goal. It also induces a feeling of responsibility and commitment. This is because organizational culture has a major impact on the transformation of workforce behavior. As opined by Legault (2017) within this organizational culture essay, the advantages of positive work culture are self-evident. Behavior is evident to be transformed in the context of performance appraisal. If a person is motivated with an incentive, the person will likely dedicate and stay committed to the workplace culture. 

The science of getting valued and respected transforms the mindset of an employee irrespective of their beliefs and thought process. As commented by Zmigrod et al. (2019), individuals strive for the feeling of worth. In this context, if a manager puts in the effort, they will be able to promote organizational culture despite the presence of cultural diversification. On the other hand, Furr & Funder (2018) opined that people with a different religion tend to restore their beliefs and traditions. This in hand increases the possibility of conflict. It is required that workflow is maintained with the technique of team collaboration. In the absence of unity, collaboration cannot be formed. Thus managers adopt different measures to influence the behavior of the workforce. In this organizational culture essay, the possible measures are providing salary perks, incentives, promotional criteria, and training and development. Although the formation of string culture is the main goal yet maintaining consistency is the challenging aspect. On the job, training sessions make the employees familiar with the operational activities, organizational objectives, and certain specific guidelines. This facilitates proper knowledge with the minds making the employees work towards a proper goal. However, it is contradicting to consider the situation and personality dispositions affecting the personality. The inappropriate selection of the influence results in a poor understanding of the personality impacting components. As opined by Baird, Lucas & Donnellan (2017), situations and dispositions push the personality from different directions. It is the outsider influence that makes an individual overlook the internal instinct. On the contrary, Rauthmann (2017) reported in regards to the scenario of organizational culture essay that personality dispositions push the personality from the inside. It is when their beliefs and personal thought process overshadow the organizational culture.

The disposition of personality-situation prevails since there has been no accurate choice of the personality influencing factors. As commented by Davydenko et al. (2020), issues of person-situation interaction are crucial to understanding the pattern of an individual's behavior. Given a situation, the discussion helps the manager understand whether it is the organizational culture or their internal instinct that is influencing. As per the given scenario of organizational culture essay, managers leverage new staff to ‘fit in’ the work culture so that they don’t face complexities in dealing with business operations. This also reduces the possibility of conflict. However, organizations tend to employ individuals from diverse cultures due to their unique personalities. This uniqueness starts diminishing under the influence of a strong work culture. The change in influencing factors depends on the situational roots and dispositional roots. Dispositional roots make a person enact following the personality of the person. As opined by Furr & Funder (2018), extraversion is the trait that makes a person act in an outgoing manner. It demonstrates the energetic site to approach the material and social world. There are some personality traits mentioned in the organizational culture essay like conscientiousness which let the individual show socially prescribed- impulse control. Considering the fact, it is estimated that personality traits have a particular influence on the change in behavior. On the other hand, Rauthmann (2017) contradicted that situational roots influence the personality of an individual. People are likely to get accustomed to the situation and there is something about the circumstances that trigger that behavior. Moreover, if a person is provided with a calm and composed situation, they are likely to act in a relaxed and independent manner. If that person is pushed in structured and restricted work culture, despite their instinct, they are likely to get inclined towards the strict culture. People tend to come in a state of equilibrium. This illustrates that organizational influence has more impact on changing employee's behavior.

Conclusion
The discussion on organizational culture essay highlights the significance of work culture in influencing the workforce's behavior. It states the contradicting idea between the situation and dispositional-personality roots. On average work, culture gets valued or compared to personality traits. Though managers support cultural diversification in the given scenario yet they ask the employees to stay accustomed to the work culture it becomes difficult to maintain collaboration when employees behave on their terms. Thus it requires that they are bonded with the same string which is organizational culture. It is a conflicting factor for the manager to collaborate all under the same thought process. Eventually it is the organizational culture that has more say that the employee's personality. 

Reference list
Baird, B. M., Lucas, R. E., & Donnellan, M. B. (2017). The role of response styles in the assessment of intraindividual personality variability. Organizational culture essay Journal of research in personality, 69, 170-179. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5662109/

Davydenko, M., Zelenski, J. M., Gonzalez, A., & Whelan, D. (2020). Does acting extraverted evoke positive social feedback?. Personality and Individual Differences, 159, 109883. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mariya_Davydenko/publication/339077394_Does_Acting_Extraverted_Evoke_Positive_Social_Feedback/links/5e3c36b0458515072d85ff5d/Does-Acting-Extraverted-Evoke-Positive-Social-Feedback

Furr, R. M., & Funder, D. C. (2018). Persons, situations, and person-situation interactions. Handbook of personality: Theory and research. Retrieved from: http://rap.ucr.edu/pub26.pdf

Gagné, M. (2018). From strategy to action: transforming organizational goals into organizational behavior. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20, S83-S104. Retrieved from: https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2018_Gagne_JOMR.pdf

John, A., Qadeer, F., Shahzadi, G., & Jia, F. (2019). Getting paid to be good: How and when employees respond to corporate social responsibility?. Organizational culture essay Journal of cleaner production, 215, 784-795. Retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/download/58430849/Getting_paid_to_be_good-_How_and_when_employees_respond_to_corporate_social_responsibility.pdf

Legault, L. (2017). Self-determination theory. Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences, 1-9. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lisa_Legault/publication/317690916_Self-Determination_Theory/links/59d686e7458515db19c4fd0d/Self-Determination-Theory.pdf

Obiekwe, O. (2018). Organizational family culture: theoretical concept definition, dimensions and implication to business organizations. International Journal of Economics and Business Management, 4(1), 11-21. Retrieved from: http://iiard.com/index.php/IJEBM/article/download/241/234

Rauthmann, J. F. (2017). Person-Situation-Interactions. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, 2. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Rauthmann/publication/317591014_Person-Situation_Interactions/links/5941f6db458515a36b573bab/Person-Situation-Interactions.pdf

Zmigrod, L., Rentfrow, P. J., Zmigrod, S., & Robbins, T. W. (2019). Cognitive flexibility and religious disbelief. Psychological research, 83(8), 1749-1759. Organizational culture essay Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00426-018-1034-3