Organisation Culture
Introduction
Social scientists and researchers delved into the idea of organisational culture as an important component of organisational theory in the past. Brown (1998) identified four different sources of organisational culture which stems from climate research, national cultures, human resources management, and from conviction approaches.
This piece of work critically evaluates organisational cultures in the Early Years settings. The first part looks at the theoretical background to the evolution of organisational culture its importance and types. The second part examines the link between leadership, organisation culture and change management with analysis from experience as an EYP. It also looks at key factors that influence change, problems with change and techniques for implementing change in Early Years settings.
The final part is a conclusion and a suggestion of possible measures to effect change in Early Years settings.
What is organisational Culture?
It is important for one to understand what culture means. The elementary definition is by (Martins and Martins 2003) who defined culture as ‘a system of shared meaning held by members, distinguishing the organisation from other organisations’ Again Arnold (2005, p 625) explains that ‘organisational culture is the distinctive norms, beliefs, principles and ways of behaving that combines to give each organisation its distinct character’.
From the above two definitions culture therefore refers to the underlying values, beliefs and codes of practice that makes an organisation what it is. The way of life of that organisation, the self-image of its members, the things that make it different from others, are its culture.
Importance of Organisational Culture
The main reason for organisational cultures is to stipulate the way of doing things in order to give meaning to organisational life (Arnold 2005).This is important because the staff members need to benefit from lessons of previous members.
Social scientists and researchers delved into the idea of organisational culture as an important component of organisational theory in the past. Brown (1998) identified four different sources of organisational culture which stems from climate research, national cultures, human resources management, and from conviction approaches.
This piece of work critically evaluates organisational cultures in the Early Years settings. The first part looks at the theoretical background to the evolution of organisational culture its importance and types. The second part examines the link between leadership, organisation culture and change management with analysis from experience as an EYP. It also looks at key factors that influence change, problems with change and techniques for implementing change in Early Years settings.
The final part is a conclusion and a suggestion of possible measures to effect change in Early Years settings.
What is organisational Culture?
It is important for one to understand what culture means. The elementary definition is by (Martins and Martins 2003) who defined culture as ‘a system of shared meaning held by members, distinguishing the organisation from other organisations’ Again Arnold (2005, p 625) explains that ‘organisational culture is the distinctive norms, beliefs, principles and ways of behaving that combines to give each organisation its distinct character’.
From the above two definitions culture therefore refers to the underlying values, beliefs and codes of practice that makes an organisation what it is. The way of life of that organisation, the self-image of its members, the things that make it different from others, are its culture.
Importance of Organisational Culture
The main reason for organisational cultures is to stipulate the way of doing things in order to give meaning to organisational life (Arnold 2005).This is important because the staff members need to benefit from lessons of previous members.