Rule Enforcement by Managers

Duncan (2014) stated rules and procedures as written rules, like how to sign up for company savings plan or what is the process when one is called for jury duty but there are unwritten rules which underscores the workplace culture. These unwritten rules encompass how people work together and generate results. Some of the examples of workplace culture are:

1. Although employee safety is touted as top priority but schedule and budget gets the most emphasis.

2. Respect everyone is cited as core organizational value, but tolerance to jokes and comments to demean and degrade is tolerated often.

3. Open door policy is advertised to reach leaders, but mostly leaders are seldom available (Duncan, 2014).

In one of the example, informal interview of 15 employees of public utility company was conducted to highlight an example of relationship between senior management and workforce (Duncan, 2014). Twelve out of 15 employees shared the same decade old story where one of the executive demean an employee for asking a question about something he presented during his long boring presentation slides. Interestingly, only four employees worked with company back then but story continue to make rounds among the workforce ever since (Duncan, 2014).

Heathfield (2019) identifies executive support and training as two ways to change the organizational culture. Executives need to act beyond words and support change while mentoring and training can train employees regarding expectations and behaviors. Since organizational culture require continuous engagement, which is why belief statements, effective communication, organizational restructuring, rewards and recognition, and review of work systems are some of the key steps to change and improve the organizational culture (Healthfield, 2019). Bloom (2015) highlighted transparency, time to disconnect from work, employee empowerment, physical workspace, effective communication with employees and customers, and organizational design as six key steps for a strong company culture. In summary, manager’s job responsibility include promoting and protecting the organizational culture.

References:

Bloom, J. (2015). 6 steps for creating a strong company culture. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244309

Heathfield, S. (2019). You can consciously change your corporate culture. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-change-your-culture-1918810

Duncan, R. (2014). Culture at work: the tyranny of ‘unwritten rules’ Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/rodgerdeanduncan/2014/02/13/culture-at-work-the-tyranny-of-unwritten-rules/#576c27424c07