Workplace Culture Paper

Workplace Culture

Establishing culture in the workplace can have positive results on employees in the organization, but has also been perceived as being manipulative. As I cover both topics and what your organization’s true intensions of creating a positive culture for you to come to work you may begin to see things in a different light.

So, what does workplace culture really mean to the many Americans busting theirs to succeed at home and at work? Culture means, the unique personality of the organization as a whole, what is making the company unique, what is their values, traditions, attitudes and beliefs. Most companies strive to create a positive culture because it can either undermine or strengthen the overall goals and objectives the

company is trying to achieve. Creating a positive culture and clearly defining it is significant because of the potential it can have on attracting future candidates who are clothed with talent and good morals. This positive environment can also light a fire in your existing employees driving them to engagement in their work and set a desire for long time commitment with the company. Satisfaction in employees affects performance that will allow the company to exceed production expectations making it difficult for competitors to keep up.
Some specific ways that employers are installing workplace culture is by offering workout facilities in their offices, free to employees.

In a recent article I read, “78% of global employees committed to healthy workplace culture”, it released the information that more than three-quarters or 78% of respondents are strongly committed to creating a workplace culture of health to boost employee’s engagement and organizational performance, according to research by Buck Consultant at Xerox. (Paterson, Jenifer. "Texas A&M University-Commerce Libraries Website." Texas A&M University-Commerce Libraries. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.) The company I currently work for is very serious about the health of their employees that they have a workout facility as well as placing healthy vending machines instead of “junk” vending machines, that is accessible to all employees. The vending machine includes snacks such as dried fruit, almonds, kale, baked chips, water, Gatorade, fruit shakes and

more!
There are a multitude of different factors that can affect workplace culture such as management and leadership, coworkers, mission and values, policies and procedures, communication and work environment. Beginning with leadership and management, they set the tone of how your employees are going to be treated. In a recent study, it was found that the collaborative conflict management culture has positivity on job satisfaction due to discussion of ideas and coordination. They feel that it helps with employees getting burned out when they are working in a group. On the opposite side, the dominant conflict management culture has a negative effect on job satisfaction. The dominant conflict leads to employees feeling strained and burned out because group members disagree with each other and there is a constant strain to outdo the other. (Choi, Younyoung. "Texas A&M University-Commerce Libraries Website." Texas A&M University-Commerce Libraries. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.) Management determines how the organization is going to function, they control the goals and objectives of the employee empowering them to make decisions that will support the company’s mission. Leadership can choose what to acknowledge, to celebrate the achievements of the employee, the attitude of the team begins with management. Management also chooses the talent in which the employees will be working closely with. It is extremely important to find employees who match the company’s culture, failing to do so can result with miserable employees who question the culture of the company as a whole. In order to maintain confidence in your employees management needs to clarify the values, vision and mission and if they honestly reflect the beliefs of the organization. To create this stability, the company must communicate their goals often emphasizing what they are trying to achieve this will keep all existing employees up to date and allows for new employees to familiarize the expectations of them.
Overall, the key points to creating a positive workplace culture is to teach your leadership team how to promote a healthy work environment for their employees, encouraging them to think outside the box. Hire talented employees who portray the same culture that your company has created and encourage employees to utilize resources in the workplace that allows them to be healthy and happy creating satisfaction in all areas of their lives.
After discussing how a positive culture in the workplace can be healthy for employees and can allow the organization to be “rich” in more ways than one, some feel that creating a positive culture is manipulative to employees. Some key things you may not have thought about before now.
Though employees enjoy working for a positive cultured company which includes free access to work out facilities, it may not ever occur to them that the organization is creating such a great atmosphere for them to work in so that they will spend a majority of their time at work. I firmly believe that it takes every single person in the organization for the company to be successful, but today many individuals struggle with the work, life balance. Employers set up workout facilities, as I mentioned previously in my paper, so that the employee can get to work earlier, work out and even take a shower there! Any time spent at the office is one less minute with your spouse and children. Companies even go as far as putting in cafeterias so that you do not have to leave your work location to grab something to eat. Many employees mosey on down to the cafeteria, grab something quick, and take their meal right back to their desks. When do employees have the opportunity to take a breather? Having all of these great amenities have manipulated employees into staying at the office later and through their lunch periods that they do not have time to even take a momentary break. (Waring, Peter. "The Manipulation of Corporate Culture." The Paradox of Prerogative in Participation Organisations. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.)
Due to employers trying to create a workplace culture, one article reads that the department of Information Technology has decreased its female leadership due to poor advancement opportunities for women in Information Technology due to corporate culture issues. This also includes gender socialization. IT has also been described as having characteristics that are unique to the white male culture as well as to the industry. This article has opened my ideas to the question of “what really is a good workplace culture”. Every individual has been raised differently that shapes them. What if one CEO believes that he has a great company culture, but it is mainly focused on male leadership? This would limit the opportunities for women in the workplace. (Thomas, Steven, and Rose Mary Wentling. "Texas A&M University-Commerce Libraries Website." Texas A&M University-Commerce Libraries. N.p., 09. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.)
After addressing both sides of a positive culture and how companies can manipulate you in to thinking work is so great, there are key points that go into creating a positive culture and those are the four functions of management. Planning, organizing, leading and controlling must all be thought of when establishing your company culture. (2014). The contemporary concepts of business performance measurement. Ekonomika, (2), 169.)
Beginning with the planning aspect, it is important to sit down and think about what you are wanting to create, what kind of culture you are wanting your employees to invest in. Planning is the building block to the entire project, this takes a lot of time and thought. In this step the manager will begin to create a detailed plan of action that focuses on the organizational goals. The manager will then need to provide specifics based off of the companies goals, department goals, and team goals.
The second piece of managerial functions is the organizing.

The manager will determine how he/she will distribute all of the resources and delegate specific workloads to each of the employees to accomplish the job. The manager will follow up and provide direction to make sure employee is understanding what is expected of them. Then the manager must lead his/her team spending time with the employee connecting with them on an interpersonal level. The leader will encourage their employees to produce their best work by inspiring them. Once the employee feels appreciated and knowledgeable they will soon become a leader themselves and shine the company’s culture to other coworkers. The final piece is the controlling portion where managers evaluates the results and makes adjustments if necessary and determining why the employee did not meet the

expectations.
If all of these functions of management are continuously in practice, the employer should have no issue creating a company culture that employees appreciate. Your employees will appreciate structure and guidance as well as positivity and encouragement while producing work. ("Texas A&M University-Commerce Libraries Website." Texas A&M University-Commerce Libraries. Ekonomika, 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.)