Leading in the Workplace: Culture, Dimensions, and Actions Report

This report delves into the multifaceted aspects of leading in the workplace, commencing with a definition of workplace culture and an examination of its characteristics and functions within an organization. It explores how workplace culture influences employee behavior, brand image, and emotional attachment, while also acknowledging potential disadvantages. The report then analyzes key dimensions of organizational culture, drawing upon the Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner model to compare cultural orientations across various dimensions such as universalism versus particularism, individualism versus communitarianism, and sequential time versus synchronous time. Furthermore, the report provides practical insights into actions that can be taken by leaders to shape organizational culture, emphasizing leadership by example, training and development, and behavior modeling. Finally, it proposes cultural values like commitment and professionalism and suggests strategies for human resources to align new recruits with the organization's culture, ensuring a cohesive and productive work environment.

Running head: LEADING IN THE WORKPLACE 1
Leading in the workplace
Student’s Name
University

LEADING IN THE WORKPLACE 2
Leading in the workplace
Question one: Workplace culture and its impact on organizations
a) Definition of workplace culture and its characteristics
Workplace culture defines the personality and character of an organization that makes it unique
from others. Hofstede (1991) suggests that this encompasses values and behaviors that lead to a
unique social and psychological environment that enables it to meet its needs. Employees are
forced to develop a pattern of acceptable behavior that become the driving force of the business
and the way of life of everybody. Parker (2000) offers seven characteristics of organizational
culture that make it important to an organisation.
 Innovation
 Attention to detail
 Emphasis on outcome
 Emphasis on people
 Aggressiveness
 Rule orientation
 Teamwork
b) Five functions of workplace culture-example,
Workplace culture plays different functions in an organization. Schein (1992) suggests
that it offer an opportunity for internal integration of individuals and groups within the system.
Through use of language, group boundaries, distribution of power, development of friendship
and system rewards employees are integrated into the system to meet the needs of the
organization. For example, new employees esily fit if they are exposed to the culture.

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A strong organizational culture leads to commitment to the mission and strategy of the
organization. Since it is based on business needs workplace culture seeks to ensure that
individuals understand the requirements of the company by defines how each indivdiula fits in
the system. For example,when employees are aligned to the mission and strategy, there is
increased output due to reduced turf wars and respect for established processes.
Organizational culture also represents predefined policies and standards that the business
belives in. since culture is defined as a way of life, then it means that it defines the internal
processes that regulate operations and relations of people (Adkins & Caldwell, 2004). Policies
and standards are supposed to be followed y employees which is described as the business way
of doing things. For example,Toyota company is descried y its culture called the Toyota way
which defines the way operations are carried out.
Further, it builds brand image through defining how the organisation conducts itself,
meets its customer needs and deals with employee issues. all these elements lead to a way of
standing out among customers that is called branding (Taylor, 2010). Through an iron-clad
partnership between leadership, marketing and human resource a workplace culture is developed
which shapes the rand that is released. Organizations like FedEx have managed to achieve brand
image because there is a thin line between customers and the organization.
Workplace culture builds emotional attachment to the organization thus reducing
turnover and increasing production. Satisfied employees do not think of leaving the company
since they are emotionally attached and motivated to work (Denison, Haaland, & Goelzer, 2004).
Companies that welcome new employees well and allow them to integrate enjoy reduced turn
over and increased performance. This is because employees feel accommodated and part of the
system. Such individuals settle down quickly since the workplace culture defines the way

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relationships are established and a clearr cut connection between the individual and business
process. The Japanese leadership culture focuses on long-term employee commitment that is
more accommodative as compared to the US-based systems.
c) Instances where strong cultures are disadvantageous
Despite the known benefits of workplace culture, it leads to development of behavior
patterns which form the hard mentality attitude that may hinder innovativeness. Thus any
changes in the culture may lead to negativity influences on the institutional culture thus affecting
performance (Martin & Frost, 2012). Organizations established on rigid structures have
challenges in developing new strategies since the institutionalized norms are hard to change. For
example, in the case of organizational change, management faces resistance due to the need to
maintain status quo.
Further, Serpa (2016) argues that ssubcultures in the organization that arise from lack of
interaction between different employees may hinder synergies. The plurality of such cultures
leads to conflicting values that make it difficult to manage such employees and at the same time
reduces organizational effectiveness. For example, companies that have different sub units may
be characterized by different ways of doing work like what was witnessed in Toyota between the
mother ranch and the US branch which were defined by different cultural environments.
Question two: Key dimensions of organizational culture
Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner (1997), developed a model that established seven
dimensions of organizational culture with five orientations covering ways to deal with each
other, one which deals with time and one that deals with the environment.

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Universalism versus particularism
Universalism is the belief that all ideas applied need to be applicable everywhere without
modification while particularism is based on the belief that circumstances dictate how ideas and
practices should be applied (Sergiu & Ovidia, 2013). This differentiates relationships from rules
to define business processes. For example, Universalists see reality as subjective by placing more
emphasis relationships while particularism is based on rationalism and professionalism.
Individualism versus communitarianism
Individualism is a state where people regard themselves more than the group and cherish
freedom and initiative where they can make their own decisions and carry responsibility for the
outcome. On the other hand, communitarianism is a state where people regard themselves as part
of the group thus reaping benefits like safety and help when needed (House, Hanges, Javidan,
Dorfmann, & Gupta, 2004). In management contexts praise and reward is used in individual
contexts by giving them autonomy to develop personal initiatives through creativity such is
common in the US, Israel, Romania and Canada. Communitarianism focuses on group
performance by allowing room for collective decision making. Such cultures are seen in
countries like Egypt, Mexico and India.
Specific versus diffuse
Specific cultures allow large public space for sharing with others while small space is
only shared with close people while diffuse environments have private space guarded by the
individual. This approach looks at how individuals within a group protect and safeguard their
personal and public lives (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 2004). An example, is seen in the
way people change their status based on the circumstances that they find themselves in. Since
people personal and professional lives overlap thus creating different cultures in people.

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Neutral versus emotional
Neutral cultures hold people’s emotions in check by use of reason rather than personal
sentiments and feelings of others. Thus people manage their emotions by watching and
interpreting the reaction of others. On the other hand, emotional cultures allow spontaneous
expression of feelings and allow them to influence and control their decisions (Black, 2003). In
this scenario emotions determine the nature of communication and are the basis of decision
making. For example, emotional individuals are animated and boisterous while emotional
situations call for the use of feelings.
Achievement versus ascription
Achievement cultures focus on individual effort and performance thus gaining social and
professional status from personal accomplishments. This status requires to be proven every time
and then since the threshold keeps on changing. On the other hand, ascription status is derived
from elements like age, gender, wealth or birth. Such situations call for use titles to view people
and show respect to forms of authority. Achieved status can be characterized in academic
achievements and personal efforts that have made people prosper while ascribed status is based
on natural situations that make lead people to such status like the royal family and gender.
Sequential time versus synchronous time
A sequential time culture is based on events that happen in a chronological order. This
process allows assigning of different importance to events based on the past, the present and the
future. The order of events shapes decision making thus such cultures value punctuality,
planning and scheduling of tasks (Luthans & Doh Jonathan, 2012). This culture is evident in
countries like Germany, the UK and USA which forms the key to business relationships. On the
other hand, synchronous cultures believe in relations between different time periods and

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characteristics that interwove them. The key to meeting objectives in such cultures is defined by
punctuality and meeting of deadlines.
Internal direction versus outer direction
Internal direction focuses on controlling the internal environment where nature is
regarded as a complex mechanism controlled by experience and expertise. Skills and knowledge
are used to possess power that dominates nature. The way people approach issues in life and
work within the organization should be defined by established standards and procedures
(O'Donovan, 2006). Such systems exist in hierarchical organizations where there is an
established chain of command and procedure for carrying out tasks. Outer-directed cultures are
based on living in harmony between people and the environment through adapting to external
environments with others to achieve goals.
Question three:
a) Actions that can be taken by Sam to shape the culture of the
organization
Organizational culture can be influenced in several ways by Sam. One way through
which Sam can achieve this is through proper leadership through leading by example, Valentino
(2004) suggests that through leader followership, organizational culture can be developed since
members see the leader as a role model and will emulate organizational characteristics that form
a new culture. Since cultures are built and change over time,the role of management is to develop
required cultural traits that define what the organization needs. For example,Samsung culture
was established on leaderhip style that way adopted y the founder and still exists today.

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Training and development is another organizational area that businesses can use to solve
existing problems and develop a new organizational culture. This focuses on key areas that
determine the challenges bing faced by the company (Trevino & Nelson, 1999). In the case of
Sam these areas are customer focus, employee collaboration and business culture as areas that
need training. This strategy empowers employees with required skills to develop organizational
competitiveness.
Aligning employees with organizational goals as a strategic approach of meeting business
objectives. In the modern business environment, there is a strong connection between the
business strategy and employee performance thus the need to align employees with the business
strategy. This enures collaboration between different areas in the business and focusing on the
result which is benefiting the customer (Yang, 2007). Customer oriented organizations align their
employees with the business strategy through strategic management approaches. For
example,Sam needs to ensure that all departments are linked to the needs of the business.
Lastly, behavior modeling can be used to shape the culture of an organization through
developing the required behavioral characteristics. This strategy ensures that employees develop
uniform behavior in the business environment based on relationships between each other and
also the outside (Perra, 2001). For example, communication strategies can be used to model
employee behavior through establishing desired behavior outcomes.
b) Two norms that can be proposed by Sam for adoption
Commitment is one cultural value that is required in every organization. It is defined
as state of dedication to a cause or activity. In a business environment, employees have to
learn and master different aspects of culture that are required (Perra, 2001). This process

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calls for individual efforts to fit in the team and organizational processes. Socialization
requires individuals to master the required norms and ensure that they develop the required
competencies.
In addition to that professionalism is a value of organizational culture that requires
every employee to observe. Despite the fact that employees need to align themselves to the
cultural aspect of the organization, they need to observe the professional requirements that
define how they approach situations (Black, 2003). Therefore, they have to balance between
the dictates of their profession and the cultural traits that they seek to develop.
c) Actions that can be adopted by the human resource to align recruits with the
organization
New employees need to be guided and assisted to settle down in the organization to
improve their adjusting rate. One way of aligning such employees is through proper orientation
and induction (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfmann, & Gupta, 2004). This process ensures that
employees understand the requirements of the business and how individual expectations can be
met. The process allows employees to understand business processes and perform their roles.
Training and development is also used to empower employees with the required skills
that lead to development of key competencies. This process focuses in areas like job
responsibilities, allocation and how to improve individual performance (Yang, 2007). Employees
become empowered to understand their role and how their work relates to the overall
organization.
Job shadowing and modeling is also used to ensure that new employees are aligned to the
overall goal of the organization. Since older and informed employee understand business

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processes, they can coach, mentor and act as role models thus assisting the new employees to
align with the organization.
4. (a) Benefits of innovation and risk-taking behavior by employees
Innovation leads to business competitiveness as a result of developing new ideas that
make the business better. Through developing new products employees improve the organization
through creating new brands that increase value (Schneider W., 1995). This strategy is a quality
management initiative that focuses on continuous improvement of business process for better
value.
Innovative and risk-taking behavior creates freedom in employees that allows exploration
of all available business options to solve organizational processes. Individuals who have freedom
in the organization are more creative and productive due to the ability to explore different
options for solving problems. Management benefits through increased outputs that meet
organizational needs.
Lastly, such behaviors lead to increased customer satisfaction since employees explore
every available to option to meet the needs of the client. Business environments that allow
innovation and risk-taking report satisfied customer levels and increased outputs.
Question 4. (b) Actions that can be taken to promote innovation and risk-taking behavior
in an organization
One way to encourage innovation and risk-taking behavior is through ensuring that
employees access all available resources within the work environment (Valentino, 2004). Since
innovation requires resources, management can avail all the required tools to enable individuals
explore all the available options in a business situation.

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Rewards and recognition can be used to promote such behaviors by giving people the
need to try. Employees require recognition in every effort that they make through both material
and immaterial elements that satisfy their needs. Rewards can be used to meet the material needs
of the employee thus eliciting innovative and risk-taking attitudes.
On the other hand, management can put strategies in place that create an innovative and
risk-taking environment. The business environment that the employee operates in can be
motivating or demotivating (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, Managing People Across
Cultures, 2004). Leaders can lead by example, to allow employees explore every option that
exists in the organization. This method creates a “try it out” atmosphere that pushes employees
beyond their limits.
Lastly, sharing success and mistakes with employees can encourage innovative and risk-
taking behavior. Individuals feel encouraged if others can participate in analyzing the work they
have done and at the same time listening to ideas and testimonies of others can encourage new
innovative behavior patterns.

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