The effect of shared values among all stakeholders to the performance of an organization.
Organizational culture describes the psychology, attitudes, experience, beliefs and values (cultural and personal) of an organization. The definition of organizational culture is the collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization. The organizational culture is a set of shared mental assumptions that guide interpretational and action in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations.
“Although it’s difficult to get consensus about the definition of organizational culture, several constructs are commonly agreed upon – that organizational culture is holistic, historically determined, related to anthropological concepts, socially constructed, soft, and difficult to change.
This definition continues to explain organizational values, described as "beliefs and ideas about what kinds of goals members of an organization should pursue and ideas about the appropriate kinds or standards of behavior organizational members should use to achieve these goals. From organizational values develop organizational norms, guidelines, or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behavior by employees in particular situations and control the behavior of organizational members towards one another. (Organizational culture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_culture, retrieved 8 April, 2011.) “
Organizations strive for “healthy organizational culture” to increase their productivity, growth, efficiency and reduce employee turnover and other counterproductive behavior. Healthy cultures include the following characteristics:
1. Acceptance and appreciation for diversity
2. Regard for and fair treatment of each employee and respect for each employee’s contribution to the company
3. Employee pride and passion for the organization and the work performed
4. Equal opportunity for each employee to realize their full potential and company issues
5. Strong company leaders with a firm sense of direction and purpose
6. Ability to compete in industry advancement, customer service, and price
7. Lower than average turnover rates (perpetuated by a healthy culture)
8. Investment in learning, training, and employee knowledge
Strong cultures exist where the company employees respond to stimulus because of their association to the organizational values. These values help strong cultures operate fluidly with only minor changes to existing procedures here and there. Whereas weak cultures have little or no alignment with the organizational values and control must be implemented through extensive measures and bureaucracy.
A strong and productive culture help the company achieve its vision, mission and goals, maintains high employee motivation and loyalty, increases the team amalgamation in various departments and divisions, promotes consistency and encourages coordination and control within the company, helps in shaping the employee behavior at work which enables the company to be more efficient.
The Black Swan theory was coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007 book, the Black Swan. He states in the New York Times, “What we call here a Black Swan…is an event with the following three attributes. First it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past cans convincgly point to its possibility. Second, it carries an extreme impact. Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable….A small number of Black Swans explains almost everything in our world, from the success of ideas and religions, to the dynamics of historical events, to elements of our personal lives. (Black Swan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed, retrieved 8 April, 2011.)”
Outliers can be useful for an organization via motivational seminars. The motivational speakers can use these examples to set a point with conviction. “Sometimes, a team may just lose its momentum altogether, not knowing how to regain it and from where. There is an impending gloom that pervades the team environment, possibly as a result of subsequent episodes of failure. In the given situation, an able orator could pick up instances from the lives of outliers and show them how he picked himself up from similar situations.
Alternatively, successful teams might stagnate quite often. They get entrapped into a feeling of complacency and end up with the same achievement levels each year. A professional speaker can actually motivate them to scale newer heights and help them to become the actual "outliers" in the organization. He should delve into the minds of successful business professionals and unravel their thinking process before his audience. This could be a highly interesting and informative analysis for them.
A motivational talk is the ideal way to introduce fresh and creative ideas into the organization. Sometimes an entrepreneur would be strongly convinced about introducing a new idea into the system, which would be able to help him attain newer heights of success. Convincing the workforce about it could be difficult. Motivational speakers can provide excellent case studies referring to stalwarts like Bill Gates, who have built their organizations on their own terms successfully and efficiently. (The Outliers. How Motivational Speakers Promote the Story of Success. http://www.articlesbase.com/motivational-articles/the-outliers-how-motivational-speakers-promote-the-story-of-success-3192515.html, retrieved 9 April, 2011.)”
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