Organizational Culture
Organizational culture encompasses the behaviors and values of an organization that lead to a unique psychological and social environment (Alvesson, 2013, p.51). It includes the organization's values, beliefs, language, architecture, stories, heroes, expectations and artefacts. Moreover, a company's organizational culture is expressed in the inner workings, self-image, future expectations and its outside world interactions. This kind of culture may take three forms; people-oriented, stable, and outcome-oriented cultures. The Ford Motor Company is one of the American companies that have clear and well-established organizational cultures. It is the 5th biggest car producer in the world. The founder of the company is Henry Ford who began it in 1903. The company's organizational culture has broadly been discussed below.
The Ford Company Culture
The core values and beliefs of a company are key in helping it achieve its short-term and long-term goals. The Ford Motor Company has three primary core values. Firstly, it's the people. The company considers the people as the source of its strength. They are the determinants of the company's reputation and vitality. Ford uses teamwork and involvement in ensuring that the people needs are met. The second core value is the profits. They indicate how customers are supplied with the best products to cater to their needs (Daft, 2015). They are also vital to ensuring that the company grows and survives. Lastly, the products are of concern in the organization. Ford strives to supply its customers with the best products in the world. The company operates under the belief that leadership should always provide means of interacting with employees. The executives should provide an enabling environment that enables the workers to possess a positive influence and attitude towards work.
The Former CEO - Alan Mulally
The former CEO of the Ford company, Alan Mulally, is its hero. He took the company at a time when it had lost a significant market share. Its products then were comparatively doing poorly in the industry, and it had lost its leadership position. Either, Mullaly created a plan which he named the 'One Ford Plan.' This strategy was laid as the organization's vision and mission. It brought unity to the company and motivated the employees and executives into working collaboratively to revive the company. Successfully, the company was able to awaken and command a significant market share in the motor industry (Schermerhorn, 2011, p.264). He was also known for his availability to employees and passion for work.
Rituals and Artefacts
Rituals in an organization establish teamwork and unity and make the experiences of the workplace enjoyable. In the Ford Company, business meetings happen every day. In the meetings, casual dressing is prohibited. It is believed that what you wear directly affects your productivity and mood of working. The company uses a standard language. It was introduced in 1990 to describe the process of assembling vehicles. Its prime function is to develop a consistent and transparent communication process between different engineering functions. Moreover, the company has thousands of artefacts in their digital collections, museums, and the Ford's Innovation Nation. Some include the 1931 Bugatti, Presidential Limousine, and the Rosa Parks Bus.
Participative Leadership
Ford Motor Company uses a form of leadership known as participative leadership. It also has a leadership plan known as the Quantum Idea Project (QIP) which involves identifying ideas that can transform the company into the leading seller of automotive (Gilliam et al., 2011, p.158). The participative mode of leadership ensures that customers' and employees' ideas are considered in the process of decision making. Participation and contributions of group members are taken or declined by group leaders and combined comparatively to reach a final decision. This is done by functional teams which ideally test the collected ideas. Lastly, within three months, the project or the made decisions are put into practice. This type of leadership promotes Ford's organizational culture. It ensures that its core values such as the people are put into consideration in making decisions. This provides customer satisfaction since their needs and opinions are put into practice in the organization leading to the production of quality products that suit their expectations.
The Success of Ford Motor Company
The Ford Motors culture has made the company a success symbol not only in America but also in the World. It has maintained a top rank in the motor industry for a long time and in the production of the best quality motor vehicles and machines (Daft, 2015). Also, Ford has contributed most to the discovery of more luxury auto-makings. The company's form of leadership has imparted excellent management skills to individuals leading the development of leaders. Moreover, its culture has enabled Ford Company to gain from mass production of automobiles successfully.
New Employees in the Organization
New employees in the organization should adopt team-working skills. They should also be ready and willing to learn from others. Also, they should seek information from existing workers on the day-to-day activities and what is expected of them. A new employee should learn the history of the Ford Motor Company and internalize its mission and vision. This will enable him or her to move in the same direction with the other existing employees towards the achievement of the organization's goals.
Conclusion
In conclusion, an organization's culture strongly affects the performance and productivity of a company. Each organization should ensure that it adopts a more participative, inclusive, and a unique culture that aims at serving the customers sufficiently and adequately. Ford Company has a culture that is imperative to its success. Every worker is always committed to high productivity. The sustained and future success of this company is significantly related to its culture. Therefore, companies should strive to develop cultures that will ensure continued growth in the future.
References
Alvesson, M. (2013). Understanding organizational culture. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: SAGE, p.51.
Daft, R. (2015). Organization theory " design. 12th ed. New York: Cengage Learning.
Gilliam, D., Taylor-Jones, S., Costanza, J. and Ptak, C. (2011). The quantum leap. 1st ed. Boca Raton (Fla.): J. Ross Pub., p.158.
Schermerhorn, J. (2011). Introduction to management. 11th ed. Hoboken, NJ.: John Wiley " Sons, p.264.
