Every organization has a unique culture and can be mixed of cultures in large organization, different employees enjoy working in different types of organizational cultures. The employees will be happy and satisfied at work if their attributes and personalities are consistent with work place (Laurie, 2016). The HR team has invested many years in cultivating a culture that is strategically relevant, because it prioritizes behaviors that are essential to the success of strong organization and the employees believe it to be real and appreciate it. Such cultures help organizations attract and retain great people and contribute to bottom line performance (Jenny and Francesca, 2020).
The Covid-19 epidemic can weaken your organization's culture because people can’t meet in person and organization is operating mostly remotely. By exploring at the phase in figure 1 which the crisis has passed the global economy can give an indication of how deep the recession is and the crisis emphasizes the urgent need to mitigate the health and economic consequences of the epidemic, protect vulnerable populations, and established the phase for a permanent recovery (Worldbank, 2020).
According to research done by Jennifer and Charles, identified that even in contemporary corporate culture that is strategically aligned and strong, it will not generate the long lasting success if HR do not develop a culture of real - time adaptation (Jenny and Francesca, 2020). A study done by Jennifer found that strategically aligned, robust and dynamic environments generate 15% more annual revenue than other organization in the same industry with less adaptable (Jennifer et al, 2014).
Adaptive organizational culture means an organization is able to adapt quickly and effectively to internal and external influences for change and It is built on these principles and combines elements of culture that have a profound effect on trust, commitment, motivation, intimacy, concentration and social involvement (MAS, 2020).
Jenny and Francesca described the ability to culturally adapt is reflecting your organization's ability to take advantage of new opportunities, experiments quickly and especially important at this historic moment (Jenny and Francesca, 2020). Leaders need to cultivate their company culture even as they struggle with unprecedented challenges and the ever-changing conditions presented by the epidemic (Jenny and Francesca, 2020). Further as below mentioned practices by Jenny and Francesca (2020) which are described to ensure the culture becomes remains adaptable.
1. Hire and promote people who are resilient, adaptable, and exhibit grace under fire
They will use their skills to go deep to navigate the complex uncertainties presented by the plague and further these people are rebels and that show both curiosity and perspective, embrace the novel, the stimulus changes and keep their heads up even when the world is turned upside down (Jenny and Francesca, 2020). They make a positive difference and obviously, if corporate culture has not yet adapted, be honest when recruiting such people by telling them that you are looking to serve as a change agent (Jenny and Francesca, 2020).
2. Curate and communicate examples of how the organization is adhering to its cultural values through new practices
As things look so different in a Covid world, it is necessary to actively explore, heal, and highlight new examples of the desired culture as an example, leaders of a major company headquartered pharmaceutical company realized that the magnification meetings required by location orders would provide a higher level of playground for employees elsewhere, thereby making the company more inclusive and so the company set a new operating standard and if one person wanted to attend a meeting remotely, the meeting would be remote for everyone (Jenny and Francesca, 2020).
3. Model transcendent values
Transcendental values include pleasurable end grounds that transcend ethical principles and specific situations and further directly and indirectly influence ethical behavior and 'peaceful world' or 'unity with nature'(Christopher and Jasper, 2016). As an example, when the plague started, the leaders of &Pizza, a pizza chain based in Washington, D.C., decided that this was the perfect time to stimulate their culture and by doing good while being good by serving and reflecting on the communities where their stores are located (Jenny and Francesca, 2020). In March 2020, &Pizza leaders launched an initiative to provide free pies to health workers in hospitals dealing with Covid-19 patients for recognizing how the plague could disrupt their own “tribe” (i.e. its employees), they increased workers' hourly wages and increased their benefits such as they provided free access to Netflix and paid for their jobs and the company retains 90% of its employees, and the organization reduced the employee turnover into 10% who leave are primarily seeking to be fired for personal reasons (Its average turnover before the plague was 10%.) (Jenny and Francesca, 2020).
Conclusion
Corporate culture is made up of shared beliefs and values established by company leaders that ultimately shape the feelings, behaviors, and understanding of employees (Charles, 2001). Corporate culture sets the tone for everything an enterprise does and culture played a major role in how companies responded to the COVID-19 epidemic. The way of work has changed considerably and will lead to better performance (SHRM, 2020). Organizational culture adapts more quickly and effectively than ever before in an epidemic, make that progress by communicating that success to your employees and establishing the practices described (Jenny and Francesca, 2020). Doing so will definitely strengthen organization culture -helping your organization to better fight with anything in the future.
References
Charles, R.G. (2001) Strategic Human Resource Management. 2nd edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education Limited.
HBR (2020) ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: Don’t Let the Pandemic Sink Your Company Culture. [online]: HBR. Available from https://hbr.org/2020/08/dont-let-the-pandemic-sink-your-company-culture?autocomplete=true [Accessed 2 Dec 2020].
Jennifer, A.C., David, F.C., Charles, A.O. (2014) Parsing organizational culture: How the norm for adaptability influences the relationship between culture consensus and financial performance in high-technology firms. [in press] Journal of Organizational Behavior. Available from http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/chatman/papers/Chatman-2014-JOB.pdf [Accessed 2 Dec 2020].
Laurie, J.M. (2016) Management and Organizational Behavior. 11th edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
MAS (2020) Adaptive Corporate Culture: A Changed World. [online]: Management Advisory Service. Available from http://www.mas.org.uk/wellbeing-performance/adaptive_corporate_culture.html [Accessed 2 Dec 2020].
ResearchGate (2020) Transcendental values and the valuation and management of ecosystem services. [online]: ResearchGate. Available from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310572347_Transcendental_values_and_the_valuation_and_management_of_ecosystem_services [Accessed 2 Dec 2020].
SHRM (2020) COVID-19 and Organizational Culture. [online]: SHRM. Available from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/quiz/pages/quiz-covid-19-and-organizational-culture.aspx [Accessed 2 Dec 2020].
Worldbank (2020) The Global Economic Outlook During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Changed World. [online]: Worldbank. Available from https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2020/06/08/the-global-economic-outlook-during-the-covid-19-pandemic-a-changed-world# [Accessed 2 Dec 2020].
Changes to the operating guidelines and culture of the organization is very essential in addressing a pandemic situation and same requires the acceptance and negotiation with the organization’s members for smooth operations going forward (Slump, 2004).
ReplyDeleteAdding more to your comment, leaders now have a unique opportunity to shape, cement and stimulate their company cultures to make the greatest impact on their organizations. People work from home and never come back to the office as they once knew and that means they do not receive the same guidance, guidance or training from leaders (Brower, 2020). Leaders can communicate the importance of discipline and limitations and people who work alone tend to be less productive over time, even if they work longer hours than they did in the office (Thomas, 2020).
DeleteThis pandemic and the economic fallout is stress testing organizational cultures, however, there are several steps that can be taken to adapt and even strengthen your culture. Can you define
ReplyDeleteMany HR professionals have worked hard in the past, and the global spread of the Corona virus novel has caused a disturbing new turn. “The COVID-19 pandemic presents a different challenge – and highlights the role of another corporate function, often unfairly dismissed as soft. Never before have more firms needed a hard-headed HR boss.The duties of chief people officers, as human-resources heads are sometimes called, look critical right now. They must keep employees healthy; maintain their morale; oversee a vast remote-working experiment; and, as firms retrench, consider whether, when and how to lay workers off. Their in-trays are bulging.” (Economist, 2020).
DeleteDuring time of a crisis the employees trust against the organization and the leader is an important issue, because when a crisis hits the organization employees needs to believe in the organization's ability to handle the crisis. Generally, in any kind of crisis, leaders should make sure that the communication with their employees goes well, and not only employees but all their stakeholders. Open, honest, clear, and timely communication is important to ensure so that the stakeholders and mainly employees can keep the trust against the organization (Parfet and Solomon, 2020).
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