Importance of Organizational Culture in Companies

Today, companies are determined to establish a strong organizational culture, as it is considered to be a key factor, leading to success.

In general, the organizational culture begins with the leadership, as managers and directors establish it. Tsai (2011) marks: “Administrators usually adjust their leadership behavior to accomplish the mission of the organization” (para. 1). When precise and appropriate beliefs, practices, and rules are promoted by companies’ leaders, a healthy and strong working environment is established (Schedlitzki and Edwards, 2018; Mohelska and Sokolova, 2015). Moreover, employees tend to follow the example, which is advanced by their administrators and managers (Muls et al., 2015). Therefore, there is a direct link between organizational culture and leadership.

These days, it is possible to define two approaches to research based on the author’s perspective. The first one is an etic view, which implies a position of an outsider, attempting to explore an issue (Qualitative Methods). The second one is an emic view, which is opposite to the first approach. It includes adhering to an insider’s perspective on the researched issue and concentrating on intrinsic distinctions, which are important to a particular community (Two Views of Culture: Etic & Emic). I am convinced that both methods have their benefits. While an inside view allows exploring an issue profoundly, the outside one may be helpful to notice other unique features, which are habitual for insiders, and generalize the information.

Therefore, to achieve an in-depth comprehension and collect comprehensive information about the researched issue, it is possible to use both approaches on conjunctions. An example could be a study, which explored the perceptions of organizational culture changes. Gover et al. (2015) applied both etic and emic views, namely using a survey and conducting an interview. Thus, they managed to receive a comprehensive picture of the question.

Reference List

Gover et al. (2015) ‘Is it just me? Exploring perceptions of organizational culture change’, British Journal of Management, 27(3), pp. 567-582. Web.

Mohelska, H. and Sokolova, M. (2015) ‘Organisational culture and leadership – Joint vessels?’, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 171, pp. 1011-1016, Web.

Muls et al. (2015) ‘Influencing organizational culture: A leadership challenge’, British Journal of Nursing, 24(12). Web.

Schedlitzki, D.& Edwards, G. (2018) Studying leadership, 2nd edition. London: Routledge.

Tsai, Y. (2011) ‘Relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job satisfaction, BMC Health Services Research 11, (98). Web.

Two Views of Culture: Etic & Emic (no date).

Qualitative Methods in Monitoring and Evaluation: The Emic and the Etic: Their Importance to Qualitative Evaluators (no date).