Organizational Culture and Leadership Strategies

Question: Discuss about the Organizational Culture and Leadership Strategies. Answer: Introduction: The author of the paper, Mai Moua has described Culture as a concept and the associated factors and attributes in the papers along with its co-relation with the leadership. Culture has been defined as an amalgamation of tangible and intangible entities such as beliefs, assumptions and values that determine the behavior, actions and perspectives of the individual or a group of people in a system and has an impact on the way they think, act and feel. The cultural factors have a direct impact and relationship with various entities in the environment such as social, economical and many others. There are five different elements or ways in which a culture in a particular system may be analyzed or determined viz. learned, shared, dynamic, symbolic and systematic. The levels of culture such as individual, team, organizational, regional and national impact the socio-economic architecture directly. Value dimensions of culture such as identity, gender, time and many others along with its collab oration with leadership policies also have a direct impact on the socio-economic structure. The author has managed to identify the attributes of good and bad leadership on the basis of the analysis of culture along with the importance and influence of leadership in modification of existing culture and the establishment of new culture as well (Moua, 2012). The author describes various elements of culture which are broadly classified in five categories as learned, dynamic, shared, symbolic and systematic. Culture is learned as it has been seen at various levels such as at the organizational level in which the senior management and the leaders provide trainings to the junior level employees and an induction session is also arranged for new resources to explain them about the company policies, structure and likewise. Culture is shared as often seen in group discussions in which one individual gains an understanding of and shares the perspectives of others. Culture is also dynamic as the components of the same keep changing, for instance, at the national level, the policies and procedures along with the laws are updated at frequent intervals. Culture is systematic as there are events and patterns associated with it and is also symbolic in nature (Swidler, 2016). There are various levels of culture such as national level, regional level, organizational level, team level and individual level. The cultures that are present at each of the level determine the policies and procedures that are formed and followed at each level. For instance, the policies at the regional level are formed on the basis of the beliefs, traditions, values, people and perspectives of the residents of a particular region or community (Tharp, 2016). There are three broad roots of culture as values, assumptions and symbols. Values are the roots that are seen in the day to day life such as disregard shown by an individual towards family or friend creates emotions of anger and violence, act of help creates peace in mind along with gratitude and likewise. Culture is also formed on the basis of certain assumptions associated with the particular level, such as, the managers are generally assumed to be rude and harsh in an organization. Culture is also based on symbols that change with due course of time (Hodgkin, 2013). Culture and the analysis of the values that are associated with it also aid in the determination of the leadership attributes that are followed. For instance, the attributes such as rudeness, dominance, biasness, isolation and likewise are associated with negative leadership in any culture. On the other hand, the attributes such as motivation, support, polite and likewise are associated with positive leadership. The same can be verified at any of the cultural level (Schein, 2004). Mai Neng Moua is the author of the chapter which is titled as Understanding Culture and has been extracted from the book written by the same author covering the concepts of culture and culturally intelligent leadership. Mai Neng Moua was born on May 5, 1974 in Laos and is a Hmong-American writer. She is also the founder of Paj Ntaub Voice which is a Hmong literary magazine. In 1995, Moua graduated with B.A. in the subjects as Sociology and Anthropology from St. Olaf College in Northfield in the year 1995. Moua also attended Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs from 1997 to 1999 at the University of Minnesota. She started with her writing when she was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease and published her first piece of work as the first edition of Paj Ntaub Voice in 1994. She has more than 10 works of literature in various forms along with this book and the same have been published by eminent bodies (Herbaugh, 2004). The style of writing and the material covered by the author in the paper is engrossing and informative in nature. The most interesting section that was encountered while reading the paper was the one on Culture and Leadership as it covered the various value dimensions of culture in leadership and also cascaded the types of leadership and the attributes associated with the same. The elements of culture, levels of culture, roots of culture along with the value dimensions and their impact on the leadership are seen in the present world as well. Also, there are still stereotypes that exist on a large scale. The author could have also covered the influence of technology on culture as technology is something that has impacted each and every entity directly or directly. The same has not been covered by the author in the paper. With the changes brought out by technology, there have been some interesting variations seen in terms of culture as well. Conclusion Culture and the Cultural Systems are present in every level of the society and there are a number of value dimensions that associated with the same. It is essential to analyze all the attributes of the culture that is followed at one level or section and come up with the steps of action accordingly. There are also a number of external attributes such as technology, environment, social structure, and economic structure and likewise that impact the culture. References Herbaugh, H. (2004). Voices from the Gaps - Mai Neng Moua. Conservancy.umn.edu. Retrieved 9 November 2016, from https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/166282/Moua,%20Mai%20Neng.pdf?sequence=1isAllowed=y Hodgkin, R. (2013). The Roots of Culture. Retrieved 9 November 2016, from https://www.polanyisociety.org/TAD%20WEB%20ARCHIVE/TAD18-3/TAD18-3-fnl-pg30-32-pdf.pdf Moua, M. (2012). Understanding Culture. Retrieved 9 November 2016, from https://2012books.lardbucket.org/pdfs/cultural-intelligence-for-leaders/s04-understanding-culture.pdf Schein, E. (2004). Organizational Culture and Leadership. Retrieved 9 November 2016, from https://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/faith-work/documents/ScheinE.OrganizationalCultureandLeadership.pdf Swidler, A. (2016). Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies. Retrieved 9 November 2016, from https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/introtosociology/Documents/ASRSwidler1986.pdf Tharp, B. (2016). Defining Culture  and Organizational Culture : From Anthropology to the Office. Retrieved 9 November 2016, from https://www.thercfgroup.com/files/resources/Defining-Culture-and-Organizationa-Culture_5.pdf