Organizational Culture Types

Types of Organizational Cultures

Organizational culture is a way in which organizational members relate to each other, their work and the external environment in comparison to other organizations. The strategy of an organization can be enabled or hindered by its cultures (Hofstede). In explaining the types of cultures, Hofstede starts with the means-oriented and goal oriented cultures. The means oriented culture is characterized by the way the work is done in an organization. In this culture, individuals consider themselves as avoiding risks and make less effort in the jobs they do although the workdays are the same. The goal-oriented culture involves organizational workers achieving particular internal goals irrespective of the level of risks associated with such goals (Hofstede).

The other type is the internally driven and externally driven culture. The internally driven culture involve employees perceiving their tasks towards the external environment as totally given. This crops from the concept that business ethics are very vital and that the business knows what is good for customers and the world. The externally driven culture majorly focuses on meeting the customers' needs (Hofstede).

Hofstede talks of the easygoing and strict cultures. The easygoing culture is an indication of loose internal structures in which there is very little control. The strict culture, on the other hand, indicates a culture where employees are cost and time conscious. Another culture is the local and professional type. For the local culture, the workers identify with the organizational head in their organizations. For the professional type, employees’ identity is characterized by their professions and the job content. Hofstede talks of the open and closed type of culture whereby for the open type, the organization believes that everyone can fit into the organization, which the closed type does not advocate for. The last cultures that Hofstede talks of are the employee and work oriented cultures. For the employee-oriented culture, the workers feel that the organization cares for their welfare although this is not the case for the work-oriented culture in which they feel they are pressurized to work (Hofstede).

Some countries are more likely to have some of the specific organizational cultures than others. The resource distribution is different across countries; some countries are richer of resources than others (Cray 56). When there are resources in plenty, the individuals tend to engage in riskier ventures than in those countries with fewer resources where individuals avoid risky engagements as they aim to protect the fewer resources they have. Therefore, in countries rich or resources, their organizations are likely to have goal-oriented cultures while those less fortunate with resources have means-oriented culture (Schein 81).

Employee motivation is vital for the success of any organization and focus should be taken to motivate employees in different types of organizational cultures. To motivate employees in the means-oriented and goal-oriented culture, organizations should give room for risk taking; employees should not be penalized for doing innovative things that could have benefited organizations. In the case of failure, employees should be appreciated for the effort tried. For the internally driven and externally driven culture, the focus should be paid on creating a platform that could allow employees to meet customer needs. Departments can be created that can implement new ideas brought by employees that could help to meet what customers require. This will help to motivate them to generate more ideas to serve customers better (Lauby 76).

Controlling employees is essential, however, it should not be as strict to the extent that employees feel they have no freedom of performing the assigned tasks. Avoiding over-controlling of employees can help to motivate them in the case of organizations with easygoing and strict cultures.

For the local and professional, the work should be assigned as per the skills of the employees. They should not be pressurized for inability to perform some tasks outside their professions and skills. The newly recruited employees should be taught what it takes to work in new organizations. This will make them feel appreciated and believe that they can fit any organization. In this way, they will be motivated and become productive within a short time. This idea will help to motivate employees in the open and closed type of culture (Lauby 33). For the employee and work oriented cultures, organizations should care and appreciate the employees. Welfare departments can be created that take care of the welfare and welfare-related matters affecting employees. They should not be penalized for not meeting the targets since the working capacities and speeds vary across employees. For anything done, no matter little, should be appreciated. This could motivate them to work more by making them feel that they are not pressurized to work (Schein 21).