YesterdaySep 23 at 4:30pm
Manage Discussion EntryHi everyone,
In order to assess organizational culture and ethical concerns that may occur, I believe that it is essential to be assessed by both internal and external analyses. As Schein identifies “The risks differ, depending on the purpose of the analysis, and they are often subtle and unknown. Therefore, the desire to go ahead and the organization’s permission to do so may not be sufficient to warrant processing. The outside profession, whether consultant or ethnographer, must make a separate assessment and sometimes limits his or her own interventions to protect the organization.” (Schein, 2016, pg. 263) When there are ethical dilemmas within an organization, the individuals who are involved, whether directly or indirectly, may not be fully aware of the issues at hand. Because of this, it may be effective for an outside person who does not hold stake within the organization to conceptualize the situation and provide honest feedback. Elliott Jaques described culture as “informal social structures” (Denison, 2012). When an organization is experiencing conflict or ethical dilemmas within their social structures, it makes it challenging to prompt change as there is already a personal and likely emotional investment. As a result of this, I believe that it is essential for organizations to have an internal group specifically aimed at auditing data and gaining insight into the company culture. From there, there can be themes identified to help guide change that may need to occur. Additionally, I believe that it is beneficial to have individuals form outside the organization to provide their review and insight into the culture of the organization as they can look at it with a set of “fresh eyes” and also remain objective. The combination of internal and external analyses of culture and ethical concerns can help provide suggestions for the organization to improve their overall employee satisfaction and also their success within the organization.
References
Denison, D. (2012). Diagnosing Culture 1 Diagnosing Organizational Cultures : A Conceptual and Empirical Review of Culture Effectiveness Surveys Short title : Diagnosing Organizational Cultures.
Schein, E. H. (2016).Organizational culture and leadership (5th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
YesterdaySep 23 at 5:38pm
Manage Discussion EntryHello class,
If an organization is to understand its own strengths and weaknesses, if it wants to learn from its own experience and make informed strategic choices based on realistic assessments of external and internal factors, it must, at some point, study and understand its own culture (Schein, 2016). However, there can be some ethical concerns with that internal study.
One issue is that the data/analysis is correct and those inside conducting the analysis may not be able to digest the information learned. There are personal connections in the culture of the company and pride can keep individuals from really ingesting the truth about outcomes that may be present in the data. Introspection is hard for individuals and is also hard for cultures. If the culture is such that failure is allowed, this may not be a difficult thing to accept, but if there is not psychological safety present to examine the information with an open mind to accept the results, this will be an issue.
Additionally, those collecting the data may begin to see information emerge and begin cleaning house and picking up as the mess is making itself known. Instant attempts to produce changes in the culture will not have gained buy-in nor appropriately planned rollout for any changes attempting to be implemented. These micro-changes will likely not solve the problem and have a chance of creating new issues.
Having a mix of both internal and external analysis will help to cross-check internal bias with external motivators and allow for some overlap in information emerging as clear objectives to work on, fix, change, or adjust. External sources have knowledge of many cultures and can recommend from a 'best practices' point of view and coach on internal analysis as items are discovered. A team of internal and external could be efficient and effective.
References
Schein, E. H. (2016). Organizational culture and leadership (5th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass:
Campbell, J. & Göritz, A. S. (2014). Culture Corrupts! A Qualitative Study of Organizational Culture in Corrupt Organizations.Journal of Business Ethics, 120(3), 291–311.