Way The Organization's Self Actualizing Style example essay topic

OCI Paper applied the Organizational Cultural Inventory (OCI) with the intention that it is a fictional company, J Enterprises. It will be assumed that it is one of the largest financial services companies in the world. The main emphasis of the responses comes from the department in which I work. However, the results could be indicative of the entire company. The OCI Circumplex showed that the company has a culture with moderately strong Oppositional and Humanistic-Encouraging styles. It also significantly displays Avoidance and Self-Actualizing styles.

The two least prominent styles are Perfectionistic and Approval. At first glance, the organization may seem to be working against itself, since the styles are on opposite sides of the circumplex. This is not really the case though. This organization prides itself on being detail oriented. Because of this, members are encouraged to point out mistakes when mistakes are found.

That is a characteristic of an Oppositional style. However, this company focuses on a "Don't Ask Who, Ask Why" ideology. For example, when an error is discovered in the processing of a transaction, a person is expected to find out why it occurred more than who committed the error. In addition, that person feels comfortable communicating the issue to coworkers of all levels. This reflects a Humanistic-Encouraging style.

Even though this organization scored in the moderate range for Avoidance, by evaluating further, it has a specifically high characteristic that causes this. The main trait that exemplifies Avoidance is pushing decisions upwards. For example, when an associate researches and feels that a transaction needs to be adjusted, it takes two additional levels to make the final decision. Outside of this particular characteristic, this company scores low for an Avoidance style.

The Self-Actualizing style is fairly straightforward. The company encourages employees to further themselves and have a wide variety of experiences. One example of this is having a required 40 hours of training and learning classes each year for every employee. Also, a generous school reimbursement program promotes higher education for anyone who is interested. There are several Organizational Behavior factors that help shape the norms and expectations within this organization. Although work stress and leadership are among the contributing factors, I will focus on values and attitudes, strategy, and communication.

First of all, values and attitudes are significant factors. The company has a strong terminal value of supporting a long-term investment philosophy. Two of the instrumental values used to achieve this are being courageous, and exercising self-discipline. One instance that showed both of these values was during the late 1990's. At that time, investments in technology companies, and the technology sector of the financial markets had been increasing at a high rate of return. This organization did not spend disproportionate resources creating or maintaining products to "chase" the returns on technology investments.

That would be considered contrary to the company value of long-term investing. This showed both courage and self-discipline. A strong strategy is another factor that is prevalent in this organization. One of the strategies, directed towards institutional investors, is to position the company as the total retirement provider. This concept is a part of everyday dealings with the clients.

For example, when there are discussions with a company about that client's main retirement plan, the presentation is made to service other retirement vehicles that the company may have. However, this organization does not seek to provide non-retirement services, such as payroll, to their clients. This well defines strategy is important within the company. The other organizational behavior factor that is important at the company is communication. This is shown in all three types of organizational communication: downward, upward, and lateral.

This company values downward communication, particularly in the form of status updates on individual performance, and organizational progress. An example of this is the weekly team briefings, and monthly team meetings where there is an update on team, department, and company objectives for the year and longer time horizons. Upward communication is also common. This is shown in Skip Level meetings, required of all employees once a year. These are a time when one meets with the supervisor of your supervisor, thereby skipping one level of management.

The third type of communication, lateral, is seen, although it could be developed. For instance, there are many project teams in the organization. However, only 17 percent of these projects involve employees at the company's other two locations. The OCI styles affect all outcomes related to the norms and expectations of an organization.

These outcomes can be influenced both positively and negatively. My company is influenced by its styles particularly in three main areas. These are job satisfaction, teamwork, and learning. Of the three outcomes, job satisfaction is clearly the one most affected. Like I mentioned earlier, this is both positively and negatively. On the positive side, the Self-Actualizing style gives employees the experiences that create enjoyment.

For instance, every member is able to attend special guest presentations and participate in activities that are brought to our company. On the other hand, a style of Avoidance tends to impact job satisfaction negatively. This is because in the organization, pushing decisions upward takes ownership away from the employee. When that sense of ownership is removed, it leads to a loss of empowerment. That loss of empowerment often decreases job satisfaction.

Teamwork is influenced positively by this company's styles. Because the organization has a Humanistic-Encouraging style, there is a participatory nature to the company. This is shown in a recent project team that involved departments with varying objectives. The separate team members were able to share ideas freely in an encouraging atmosphere.

Therefore, teamwork helped to resolve the workflow issue they were addressing. Learning is the other outcome influenced positively by the organization's OCI styles. Like I mentioned earlier, this company has a significant Self-Actualizing style. This impacts learning in a very positive way. For example, since the company requires a mandatory 40 hours of training and classes each year, every employee gets the opportunity to learn.

In addition, many employees take advantage of the school reimbursement program. The program provides a way to finance both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and programs. This is another way the organization's Self-Actualizing style affects learning in a positive way. Now that the OCI styles have been evaluated in relation to this organization, I will address the results from the perspective of what should and should not be changed. The examples of the Humanistic-Encouraging and Self-Actualizing are acceptable right now. I feel that the company does well with those styles.

Mainly, I think that the organization needs to reduce the aspects that are associated with the Avoidance style. The practice of pushing decisions upward, as explained before, impacts job satisfaction in a negative way. If this were reduced, the employees would be far more empowered, and would in turn serve the customer more effectively. A happy customer usually makes a happy organization, and vise versa. Some of this could be accomplished, I feel, by eliminating one level of approval on adjustments. Workflows would be more efficient, and employees would experience higher job satisfaction.

It was worthwhile to review this organization, and determine the OCI styles it uses. Whether the styles, and resulting outcomes, seem positive or negative, it provides one measure of how the organization is functioning. That could lead to many more steps, and hopefully consistent improvement.