I have attached the four references and provided several websites. no plagiarize, spell check, and check your grammar. Please only use only the references I provided. Before conducting the interview, that explain organizational culture and leadership, in general. 2,100 word paper 6 pages, excluding title page and references page) should include a recap of your research findings, in addition to the results of your interview, and a discussion of how the leader’s answers conform to or depart from what you have learned from your research. The research portion of your paper should focus on the following components: Briefly review the concept of culture Share how the culture of an organization impacts people within the organization and the outcomes produced by the organization Summarize theories about a leader’s impact on culture Be sure to also provide details of the leader’s answers to your interview questions within your paper, and to analyze those answers in light of what you learned from your research. At a minimum, your interview should answer the following questions: How does this leader describe the culture of his or her team and organization? What specific steps does he take to ensure (or maintain) a strong culture? What are some of his most effective management and leadership practices? Brief Summary of the person in question The person I interviewed is the Executive Director of the non-profit organization women shelter which houses 120 employed women. She has worked with the organization for over twenty years she started as a residential aide, shift supervisor, case manager, Director of Social Services and now she is the Executive Director. There is 45 staff, the facility is 24 hours three shifts 8am to 4pm, 4pm to 12 am, and 12am to 8am and she is on call 24-hours. For what I see of her leadership style would be situational leadership References https://www.socialworkhelper.com/2014/06/16/organi… Raguž, I. V., & Zekan, S. B. (2017). ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP STYLE: KEY FACTORS IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL ADAPTATION PROCESS.Ekonomski Vjesnik, 30(1), 209-219. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/1917695618?accountid=32521 https://www.nysscsw.org/standards-and-ethics Morley, S. (2017). Practitioners on evidence. Family Matters, 99, 30. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=122953317&site=eds-live&scope=site Lynch, B. (2015). Partnering for performance in situational leadership: a person-centred leadership approach. International Practice Development Journal, 5, 1–10. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford…. https://www.naswnyc.org/general/custom.asp?page=233 Khan, A. (2013). Approaches in Leadership: Trait, Situational and Path-Goal Theory: A Critical Analysis. Pakistan Business Review, 14(4), 830–842. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/http://j…
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Ivona Vrdoljak Raguž, Senka Borovac Zekan: Organizational culture and leadership style: Key factors in the organizational adaptation
process
Ivona Vrdoljak Raguž
University of Dubrovnik
Department of Economics
and Business Economics
Lapadska obala 7,
20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia
[email protected]
Phone: +38520445729
UDK: 005.7
Senka Borovac Zekan
Review article
University of Split
Department of Professional Studies
Received: October 14, 2016
Livanjska 5/III,
Accepted for publishing: December 21, 2016
21000 Split, Croatia
[email protected]
Phone: +385981986050
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International License
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
AND LEADERSHIP STYLE: KEY
FACTORS IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL
ADAPTATION PROCESS
Abstract
This paper intends to theorize about how the specific leadership style affects the organizational adaptation
in terms of its external environment through fostering the desired organizational culture. Adaptation success, the dimensions of organizational culture and the executive leadership role in fostering the desired corporate culture conducive to the organizational adaptation process are discussed in this paper. The objective
of this paper is to highlight the top executive managers’ crucial role and their leadership style in creating
such an internal climate within an organization that, in turn, encourages and strengthens the implementation of changes and adaptation to its environment. The limitations of this paper lie in the consideration that
this subject matter is discussed only at a theoretical level and that its validity should be proved through
practical application.
Keywords: Organizational culture, leadership style, organizational adaptation
1. Introduction
The success of any business is closely linked to its
ability to adapt its purpose to a volatile environment. In order to adapt and, thus, remain resilient
in business, leaders must be continuously mindful
of the changes in the environment in which they
operate. This paper intends to theorize about how
a specific leadership style affects the organizational
adaptation to its external environment by building up an organizational culture that will support
changes. It also examines the dimensions of the organizational culture and executive leadership at the
top management level. Although this paper does
not provide any results of empirical research, it can
be considered as valuable in providing an initial direction and propositions for future research.
Leadership styles have strong effects on corporate
culture because employees tend to act in ways that
mirror their leaders. There are many definitions of
organizational culture. The most widely used is the
one from Schein (1992). According to him, an organizational culture is defined as a pattern of the
shared basic assumptions that the group learns as
it solves its problems of the external adaptation
and the internal integration. The acquired assumptions are proved valid enough to be taught to the
new members as the correct way to think, perceive,
and feel in relation to those problems. Moreover,
he defines organizational culture by dividing it into
three levels (Schein, 1985). The elements of the
culture from the first level are easily discerned but
hard to understand. The second level values are the
espoused values. The third and the deepest level in-
God. XXX, BR. 1/2017. str. 209-219
209
Ivona Vrdoljak Raguž, Senka Borovac Zekan: Organizational culture and leadership style: Key factors in the organizational adaptation
process
volves the elements of culture that are invisible and
not cognitively identified between the organizational members. Furthermore, these are the elements of
organizational culture which are accepted as they
are and are not subject to public scrutiny. Many of
these unspoken rules exist without membership
awareness. Schein’s organizational culture model
also provides the frames of reference for creating
cultural changes. According to Schein, it is sensible to have discussions with as many employees
as possible to discover the underlying backgrounds
and aspects of organizational culture. These could
serve as a basis for initiating cultural changes.
Changes have always been and will remain the only
constant that never changes in organizational life.
Authors like Kin and Kareem (2015) emphasize that
the change is a site thread running through all organizations, regardless of their type, size, location,
age or activity that they practice. Theorizing about
what organizations should do, not only to survive,
but also to be able to prosper in a socio-economic
environment that is constantly changing, started after the publication of The Adaptive Corporation by
Alvin and Heidi Toffler in 1985. In their discussion
of different organizations, including their own, they
identify several attributes that seem to enable them
to adapt to the economic, social, and other shifts
that routinely occur around them. Empirical studies
(Entin, 1999) have confirmed what the contingency theorists authors argued (Burton, Obel, 1998),
namely, that the effectiveness of an organization is
influenced by the degree of fit between the requirements of the environment and the characteristics of
an organization. Some authors, like Mackenzie et al.
(1996), emphasize the dynamic advantage as a crucial advantage in the face of changing environments.
Organizations are like organisms: they have to keep
evolving if they are to survive. Managing and leading the organization, that is capable of both fast and
successful adaptation, certainly requires some new
skills. The challenge that all managers face today is
the effort that they need to make in order to learn
new skills and techniques, particularly in terms of
creating and communicating a shared vision and
implementing processes that engage their employees in programmes of continuous organizational
internal culture development.
The paper is structured as follows: the first part is
the introduction, which is, then, followed by the
review of a number of references relevant to the
concept of the organizational culture and leader210
ship style necessary for leading the organizational
adaptation. The paper also describes the propositions on the relationships between the leadership
roles in creating the organizational culture, which
would contribute to the success of the organizational adaptation process. The discussion, the study
limitations and the conclusion are presented in the
last part of the paper.
2. The review of references on leadership,
organizational culture and organizational
adaptation
Among the majority of authors (e.g. Schein, 1985,
1992, 1996, 2004; Block, 2003) there is a strong belief that organizational culture can be consciously
designed and manipulated and that leadership is a
crucial factor in this process (Senge, 1990; Waldman
et al., 2001; Vera, Crossan, 2004). It is frequently
highlighted by research into leadership and organizations that organizations operate in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment. The previous
research into organizational adaptation clearly identified the key role played by organizational culture
in the organizational adaptation process (Kets de
Vries et al., 2009). Authors like McMillan and Gilley
(2009), point out that transformations are increasingly perceived as a critical driver of organizational
success as well as an essential factor in creating the
organizational competitive advantage. Transformations require leadership. Leaders are frequently expected to take responsibility for the organizational
transformation. The conducted empirical research
has shown that the role of leaders in the change process has a strong impact on the outcome of the effort invested in change (Higgs, Rowland, 2005). It is
necessary to build a corporate culture that both encourages and stimulates changes. The culture can be
changed but it is a timely process and, sometimes, a
change in leadership is needed. Since managers are
drivers of change, they should also possess qualities
of true leaders to be able to effect changes. In other
words, the top executive task is to create an internal
organizational climate that supports their efforts. It
is harder to change a culture when there is a perception of things going well. The role of leadership in instituting change and aligning culture with strategy
is a key element in organizational adaptation. Many
authors have described the traits that are necessary
for driving the change within organizations (Collins,
Hansen, 2011), (Heifetz et al., 2009), (Kotter, 1996),
(Kouzes, Posner, 2002). The need for change is ex-
God. XXX, BR. 1/2017. str. 209-219
UDK: 005.7 / Review article
tremely important and provides a balance between
innovation and discipline in order to take risks (Collins, Hansen, 2011). Collins and Porter (1996) go
even further and introduce into the discussion the
role of core ideology and vision as an integral part
of any successful organization. From their discussions emerged the conclusion about the importance
of harmonizing leadership, strategy, vision, culture,
processes and outcomes. The role of mid- and senior-level leaders in driving change is critical according to Dinwoodie et al. (2015)1. The same claims are
made by Romanelli and Tushman (1985), who argue that the most extreme forms of organizational
change require top management involvement: Only
executive leadership can initiate and implement
the set of discontinuous changes required to affect a
strategic reorientation. Leaders need to adopt these
mental models so they could help them understand
the consequences of their behaviour in order to
achieve higher goals and effects of their behaviours
on multiple objectives and the importance of balancing competing values. Peter Senge (1990), in his
book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of
the Learning Organization, finds mental models can
help us understand why miscommunication happens. According to Johnson-Laird (1983), mental
models are representations of reality that people use
to understand specific phenomena. They represent
deeply ingrained assumptions or generalizations
that influence our understanding of the world and,
consequently, the manner in which we take action.
Since mental models represent assumptions held
by organizations and individuals, which determine
how an organization thinks and acts, they can be a
barrier for organizational learning (Magzan, 2012).
Leaders should therefore emphasize the importance
of teamwork and collaboration as a primary value
in the organization and communication plays a crucial role in these efforts.
3. Types and causes of changes in an
organization
Change is a process of modification of an existing
organization or its transformation into something
new. According to Nadler (1988) change is a transition state from the current state of the organization to its future desired state. Changes in terms of
organization represent an extraordinary challenge
for managers because of the strong interdependence of the many parts or elements of the system.
System elements are interconnected and cannot be
individually moved and, because of this, change is
complex, challenging and attainable only with the
help of many people and thus there is an occurrence
of many effects of resistance (Kotter, 2009). Bouchikhi and Kimberly (2003) list three organizational
levels or layers in which changes occur: operational,
strategic and identity. The operating layer includes
changes in organizational structures and processes.
The strategic layer includes the change of strategy,
mission and vision and the identity layer includes
changes in the organizational culture. The causes
of change are divided into two categories, namely
external and internal sources. An organization can
manage its internal resources, but it has to pay attention also to the analysis of external sources on
which it has a limited impact. Managers in business
organizations are daily faced with numerous challenges of the environment: globalization, internationalization, social responsibility, environmental
awareness, technology development, standardization, quality control and others. Some of the challenges create opportunities and others threaten the
survival and development of the organization. Such
an environment requires the ability to coordinate the
organizational elements (identity, culture, strategy,
structure, processes, systems, people, technology)
both mutually and with the developmental trends
of the environment through organizational changes
aimed at improving the competitiveness. Furthermore, Judge and Blocker (2008) state that the more
resourceful businesses are in a rapidly changing environment, the more able they are to adapt faster
and to be more cautious towards changes in their
competitive environment. They will be able to adapt
more quickly to changing market conditions compared to their competitors and thus achieve competitive advantage. Classification of organizational
change can be seen from three viewpoints: causes,
processes and content, thus according to causes
of organizational change it is divided into adaptation and organizational development. Adaptation
is a change triggered by the interaction of the organization and the external environment while the
organizational development promotes growth and
development within the organization. Organizational change is a process of transition from old, inappropriate organizational solutions, towards new
solutions, compatible with the requirements of the
business environment. Advances in technology and
globalization are making organizations face changes
more than ever before and the key contribution to
the discipline is to strengthen the importance of hu-
God. XXX, BR. 1/2017. str. 209-219
211
Ivona Vrdoljak Raguž, Senka Borovac Zekan: Organizational culture and leadership style: Key factors in the organizational adaptation
process
man change management to support projects and
initiatives.
4. Change management
Change management is a structured approach
to changes in the organization, management and
people that occur as a result of changes in the environment and the company over time. The need
for recognizing changes as a constant factor further emphasizes the notion that people are afraid
of changes regardless of whether they are managers
or employees (Belak, 2014). Change management,
according to Potss and La Marsh (2004), is “a systematic process of applying knowledge, procedures
and resources necessary to reflect the change in the
people who will be under its influence”. The goal is
the successful, organized and methodical implementation of desired business solutions, controlling
the influence of change on key people. Change management attaches importance to the management
in order to avoid resistance to change by employees
and mistakes in leadership created by the belief that
change management and leadership ignore the human side of change. From all the aforementioned,
we see that the right leadership style of high management is a decisive factor in managing change in
the organization.
4.1 Leadership styles in change management
Literature in the field of management usually treats
the topic of leadership as one of the basic functions of management. An interesting comparison
of management and leadership is given by Northouse (2010) who states that the basic determinant
of management is the establishment of order and
consistency, while the goal of leadership is to cause
change and movement through the creation of a vision, determining strategy, directing and motivating people. From this comparison, we can see the
importance of leadership in an organization as the
leader is the one who drives the employees, shares
with them a common vision and motivates them.
This is confirmed by Yukl (2008: 2) who states that
“most definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that leadership includes the process by which
a person deliberately acts on other people in order
to direct, structure and facilitate activities and relationships in a group or organization.” Every leader
has his/her unique style of leadership and way of
dealing with co-workers and accordingly various
212
theories of leadership and behaviour of the leader
have been developed. Among the first, the most frequently mentioned is the autocratic and democratic
leadership, laissez-faire style of leadership, Likert’s
systems of leadership, transactional leadership, and
as contemporary styles we have transformational
leadership, charismatic leadership and transcendental leadership (Sikavica et al., 2008: 486-514;
Cardona, Rey, 2009: 146-150). Charismatic leadership is actually considered a part of the transformational leadership (Robbins, Judge, 2009: 440). In
the research literature, transformational leadership
is most often compared to transactional leadership
and below the comparison of these two styles of
leadership is shown.
4.1.1 Transactional versus transformational leadership style
By the 1980s, according to Howell and Avolio
(1993), the so-called transactional leadership had
been primarily investigated. That style of leadership is based primarily on the legitimate power and
the power of punishment and reward. In order to
spread the earlier knowledge about the theories of
leadership, Bass (1985, according to Howell, Avolio,
1993) proposed a theory of transformational leadership relying on Burns’s classification of transactional and transformational political leaders from
1978. By introducing readers to the theme of leadership styles, Bass (1990) explains that in recent
years very few managers have been relying solely
on their legitimate power or the power of punishment that is manifested through the commands
and one-way communication, but instead they are
in a particular interrelationship (transaction) with
their subordinates. The transaction is carried out
so that the manager explains to the employees what
is expected of them in terms of work, and for the
performed work, the employees receive compensation in the form of a bonus for good and penalties
for poor performance. However, as further stated
by Bass (1990), this style of leadership has proved
to be mediocre, especially when it comes to passive
management of punishment. Specifically, there are
two factors of transactional leadership that differ
with respect to the leader’s activities and the nature
of relations with subordinates: contingent reward
leadership and management by exception. Contingent reward leadership, as explained by Bass (according to Howell, Avolio, 1993), is considered to be
an active and positive way of communication where
God. XXX, BR. 1/2017. str. 209-219
UDK: 005.7 / Review article
employees are rewarded for meeting agreed targets.
The difference between active and passive management of penalties is in the manager’s response time.
An active manager continuously monitors subordinates to predict the possible errors and, if necessary, immediately takes corrective actions, while a
passive manager criticizes and scolds or reproaches
when the errors have already been committed by
waiting until the task is executed in order to establish that there is a problem. The problem that occurs
in the transactional style of leadership, according to
Bass (1990) is that it is questionable whether the reward and punishment will motivate the employees,
which ultimately depends on whether the manager
has power to award them as well if whether employees want the prizes and whether they fear punishment. Raza (2011)2 explains how a system based on
rewards and punishments does not motivate employees to strive more than is necessary. Employees
will work just enough to meet the minimum expectations and avoid penalties, but will be in constant
fear of losing their jobs, which makes them ineffective because they waste time worrying about the
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