ORGANIZATIONAL WORK-CULTURE AND EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF UNIVERSITIES

- Virender Kumar
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The successful management of Universities and similar academic institutions requires a detailed planning, timely and appropriate decision making and skillful coordination of activities. The organizational structure of the institution, the model of governance it follows, and the work culture is the determinative factors in the successful management of academic institutions including Universities. An efficient management system, good inter-personal relationship and financial stability are pre-requisites. Broadly speaking, the term management of University per se is the art of guiding actions and controlling situations in a manner that yields results that best meet the objectives of the Universities. The manager tries to improve situations which are seen to be problematical – or at least less than perfect – and the job is never done … because as the situation develops new aspects calling for attention emerge, and yesterday’s solution may be seen as today’s problems.

The effective managerial performance depends upon the successful interplay of a number of factors including the personal competence (in terms of skills, knowledge and aptitude) of the Chief-Executive and his senior colleagues and the existence of a stable institutional frame-work in the form of policies, rules, guidelines, conventions and information. This can be enhanced by provision of opportunities and extension of support of subordinate.

The leadership provided to the University administration is a crucial factor in its management. The Executives Including the Chief-Executive needs to have, among other things, a clear perspective about the goals and objectives of the University, a yearning for success along with the willingness to accept set-backs, a confidence in colleagues and subordinates but not over dependence on them, equanimity coupled with a sensitivity to the feelings of co-workers and understanding of strengths and weaknesses of the University system, full knowledge of the functioning of all sections and units in the University, the capability of having a holistic over-view, the ability to take timely (sometimes un-pleasant) decisions and appreciation of the need to change and with it the willingness to adopt new and innovative strategies, a commitment towards quality and finally the ability to listen patiently and communicate effectively. The Chief-Executive has to be not only a leader but also a motivator, coordinator and facilitator.
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• Joint Controller of Examinations, Panjab University, Chandigarh.


“For the betterment of any institute of higher level good work culture is needed which enhances healthy quality, quantity, Productivity, values of hard work, success and performance etc.”

Good Work Culture-
- ensures utilization of resources effectively;
- proper work environment and workers development; and
- is essential for development of organizational work, Human values, Ethics, Skills, Education and Intellectual pursuits which enhances reputation, goodwill and image of the organization. This in turns improves the working, total perfection and specialization in the field of operation of the organization.

India is known for cultural diversity on account of variety of factors that affect attitudes towards taught and the beneficiaries of the society, define vertical and lateral interaction patterns within the institutions of higher education and incorporate concerns of various ethnic and pressure groups. Viewed in this context, it is imperative that institutions of higher education in India consciously develop a culture of excellence for their survivors and sustained growth in an increasingly turbulent and boundary-less global economic order, competitive as a result oriented research beneficial to the Indian Society free from clenches from the Western Developed World. Cultural reorganization will necessitate a paradigmatic shift in the basic assumptions governing the response pattern of the Indian organizations of higher learning. The focus in the direction of such a shift at individual and collective levels in the organizations of higher education of India will thus need to be identified and articulated free from various older pressure groups who are fully under the influence of western developed world.

Work Culture in Indian organization has assumed a far greater significance in the context or emerging efficiency scenario in view of Government’s continuing structural
reforms and in order to gain and retain competitive advantage, it is imperative for the Indian Organizations to develop a responsive work culture based on the new paradigm. In



the following paragraphs an attempt has been made here to discern direction of change, specify cultural imperative, identify dimensions of responsive work culture and highlight their implications for Indian Organizations specially institutions of higher education.
Shifts in paradigm on corresponding changes in various dimensions of work culture are suggested:
In order to develop and reinforce responsive work culture in Indian organizations, design and process imperative are also outlined in brief.
Organizational culture reflects a set of values, symbols and rituals shared by members of a certain firm, describing the way are done within the organization when solving internal managerial problems, together with those related to customers, suppliers and environment (Claver and Leopis-1998; 84). Since values underlie human decisions and actions (Breu 2001), organizational culture experts a significance influence on organizational performance, self-confidence, commitment, ethical behaviour and productivity (Ritchie 2000). Some researchers, for example, (Desh Pande and Webster 1989) have discovered that there is an important linkage between organizational culture and innovative adoption (Bolding-1981) argued that corporate culture acts as a transforming agent to ensure the survival of the organization’s system. According to Weick (1979) failure in fostering the appropriate cultural norms would impede the organization from changing or evolving itself in accordance with the external environment (Kitchell-1995) added that the adopted firm would normally enact cultural norms that are able to strengthen its ability for outreach (markets, information, innovations and so forth) and its capacity for assimilating new technologies. Several dimensions of culture that have been found to affect organizational innovativeness include learning and development, participative decision making, support of collaboration, power sharing, status differentials, communication and tolerance conflict and risk (Hurley and Hult – 1998).

Learning and Development are defined as the extent to which an organization encourages its members to learn and develop themselves (Ritchie 2000). A learning culture attaches a high value of knowledge (Pemberton and Stonehouse 2000) Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt (1999) argued for a positive association between a firm’s willingness to invest in training and development and their capability to innovate. This is because firms that are able to exploit new equipment or to produce major breakthroughs in products and services had to

rely largely on the skills and knowledge of those who produce such innovations. Those skills and knowledge, in turn, could only be acquired through learning.
There is a positive relationship between learning and organizational innovation (Cohen and Levinthal 1990, Dickson 1992). An organizational culture that emphasizes learning and development is likely to encourage members’ creativity and increases their
ability to discover new opportunities. Equipping employees with the necessary skills and knowledge via continuous training and development enhances their creativity and give
them more confidence to make full use of them (Tidd 1998). Thus, when an organization’s culture places great emphasis on learning, the greater will be the capability of its members to absorb and assimilate new knowledge and information and the greater will be the willingness of its members to embrace changes. This, in turn, reduces chances of employees resisting change, improves their problem-solving skills, and enables them to assist the firm to innovate and improve its performance (McGinnis and Ackerlsberg 1983).

PARTICIPATIVE DECISION MAKING

Participative decision making has been viewed as a process which allows for ethical decision making by all Organizational members (Haskins 1996). These decisions may relate to goal setting, evaluating alternatives, making the final choice and solving problems. The term participative decision making has been associated with other works such as empowerment, involvement, consultation and joint decision making Empowerment in organization helps in boosting employees’ moral since it promotes better ownership of decisions which in turn increased their commitment & involvement in innovational activities. When employees are allowed to participate in decision making, their competency or achievement, feelings of self-determination and their perceived freedom to take action will be enhanced. As a result, employees become more willing and more committed to innovate. Participative decision making enhances information flow & promotes top-down communication within the organization, resulting in a favorable conciliatory environment that fosters innovative behavior. Thus participation in decision making is likely to have a positive relationship with the organizational innovation. Participation allows for greater autonomy & higher level of responsibility



among employees, which in turn encouraged the development & implementation of new ideas and behaviors.

SUPPORT AND COLLABORATION

Adequate Organization support in terms of resources like equipment, time, money & facilities are vital in encouraging innovativeness. The support need not be necessarily limited to physical resources but should also exist in the form of collective efforts among peers & superiors, which are crucial in generating new ideas (Amabile, 1996). Support & collaboration from superiors & co-worker allows for open interaction leading to fair & favorable evaluation which help boost creativity among organizational members. At such work places employees will not feel afraid of negative criticism & will tend to be motivated which will lead to encouraging risk taking and generation of unusual ideas (Pience, 1977 and Scott Bruce 1994). Thus organizational support implies that employees are highly valued by the Organization. Based on the social exchange framework such feelings will foster employees’ desire to innovate for the benefit of the organization as a means of reciprocation. Effective work teams may be one way of promoting organizational innovation (Kharbanda and Stallworthy 1990). Work teams generate positive synergy through co-ordinated efforts of its members. In high performing organizations, support and co-operation, between team members are likely to encourage creative thinking which is one of the foundations of innovativeness.

ORGANISATIONAL VARIABLES
DIMENSIONS OF WORK CULTURE
.............From ...........................................To

A: Management Philosophy

Closed System .........................................................Systemic Orientation
Corporate Vision ....................................................Shared Vision
Espoused Corporate Value System .....................Community held value system
Goal – Oriented System .......................................Purposeful System
Centralised Leadership ........................................Transformational leadership
Power/Role-oriented Ideology ..........................Task/Growth-oriented ideology
Direction and Control ...........................................Consensus and Commitment
Pragmatic emphasis towards students ................Normative student Orientation


B: Management Practices

Result Orientation .................................................Process Orientation
Single rigid structure..............................................Multiple Structures
Rigidly defined boundaries....................................Boundaryless Organisations
Localised domain of interactions..........................Global domain of Operations
Job Orientation ......................................................Employee Orientation
Tight Control..........................................................Control through shared norms
Parochial Orientation ...........................................Professional Orientation
Extrinsic Motivation..............................................Intrinsic Motivation
Communication of facts.........................................Communication of meaning
Exploitative use of power.....................................Productive use of power
Conflict as a threat.................................................Conflict as an opportunity
Relatively closed appraisal system....................Open appraisal system
Uniform reward system......................................Differential reward system


........................C: Coping with change

Managing Change.......................................Changeability
Complying with change.................................Internalization
Single loop learning..................................Generative learning



PARADIGM SHIFT


CONVENTIONAL.........................................EMERGENT


(a) Environment driven......................................Organization driven
(b) Determinism.................................................Relativism
(c) Separateness..................................................Connectedness
(d) Degenerative relationship.............................Regenerative relationship
(e) Work as a means to self-esteem..................Work as a means to self-actualisation
(f) Past/Present driven.......................................Future driven
(g) Regid boundaries............................................Permeable and shifting boundaries
(f) System as orderly arrangement of parts.... System as complex network of
................................................................................clustered components
(i) Interest/Goal Orientation Ideal seeking
(j) Limits to growth Infinite potential to growth.


ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS

• Competitiveness
• Responsiveness
• Flexibility
• Efficiency
• Learning

It would not be trite to have a look as to what exactly Culture and specifically work culture means. Culture has been defined as the total social heritage of mankind: more specifically, all that a given people has created artifact and taboo, technical system and social institutions, employment of work and mode of worship. Work Culture, therefore, signifies total heritage of mankind relating to work.

Theoretically, lack of work culture at work premises indicates attitude of the workers not to exert and not to produce to the best of their ability and to ignore interest of the organization. In fine, this is the attitude of alienation of workers. There is a general feeling that the work culture has declined over the years and the workers are the worst victim of such criticism. It is normally felt that the Universities lack work culture and therefore is lagging behind in comparison to fast developing areas of higher education. The tragic part is the essence of this criticism that lack of work culture is attributed only to the workers for their lack of discipline, lack of motivation and lack of desire to achieve the best. Everybody is talking about this burning issue and is in a fix as to how work culture can be revived or brought back. Such debated ostensibly presume that there was once one work culture in India which has vanished and finally it must be restored or revived. This feeling is primarily being generated perhaps in view of organizational climate that will attribute to the employee’s fulfillment, motivation and self actualization. In the recent times, the progressive sophistication and automation, an excessive specialization and division in work in Universities have obviously created a great amount of apathy, no fulfillment and indifference among the employees. In short, employee’s alienation has become a serious and mounting problem, resulting in reduced productivity, efficiency and output. It also increases social cost to human input through several manifestations to such employee’s alienation. On the one hand, it may be expressed by
passive withdrawal, turnover, absenteeism and tardiness. On the other hand, it is also expressed by active attacks, sabotage, pilferage, assaults, gherao, violence and other disruption of work routines.

Normally people feel alienated when their jobs cease to provide any sort of creative job satisfaction and when their jobs are choked into several pieces and there is no more meaningful and purposeful work content in their jobs. This dissatisfaction is culminated by the genuine employees’ attitude and aspiration, rising educational levels and also rising expectation. As a human being one would like to carryout a more meaningful and creative type of work that would provide opportunity for self-actualization and get fulfillment. People want to be involved and they want to have a say that effect them through their works and their lives. Everybody is interested in the quality of work life.

All human needs can be divided into five categories as far as their motivation is concerned:-

1. Physiological Need-Need for food, shelter and relief from pain
2. Safety and Security – Need for freedom from threat (their two needs are designed as lower level needs).
3. Belongings- Need for affection, interaction and love.
4. Esteem Need – Need for status and recognition
5. Self-actualization – Need to fulfill oneself by maximizing the use of abilities, skills and potentiality.

The first categories are known as lower level needs while the last three as higher level needs.
According to Abraham Maslow, unless the lower level needs are satisfied, people do not thrive for higher level needs and once the needs of lower level are satisfied, further satisfaction of the lower level needs do not motivate a man to work.

In contrast to the motivational concept of Maslow, Herzberg classified the needs into two broad categories even though fulfilled is not motivator but unfulfilled lower level need which are extrinsic in nature are demotivator. Thus, getting monthly salaries or wages or bonus and other allowances will not motivate a man. But if there is lack or matching increase in the salary, wage, allowance etc. with the increased cost of living it will demotivate a man. The motivators are the fulfillment of the higher level needs which are intrinsic in nature.

However, while motivation is individualistic in nature and applicable for leaders, employee’s morale, submission of the attitude of all employees making up a group towards various aspects of their work, the job, the company, the working condition, fellow-workers, supervisors and so on is the crux of organizational success. The employee’s attitude towards some of these aspects may be positive, towards some negative. If the total of all positive attitudes exceeds the total of all the negative attitudes, the morale of the group can be said to be higher, otherwise, it is low.

Therefore, work culture depends on the motivation of the leaders i.e. attitude of the management at the same time, attitude or the morale of the workers which is also indirectly dependent on the attitude of the management and the trade union leaders. It is
unwise to bracket the workers and make only them responsible for lack of work culture. The management has to create a situation wherein the workers can feel positive about:-

1. Pride in general attitude towards organization.
2. General attitude towards supervision
3. Satisfaction with the job standards
4. Style of supervision
5. Workload and work pressure
6. Attitude towards co-workers
7. Satisfaction with salary, wage and other fringe benefits
8. Attitude towards formal communication system in the company
9. Intrinsic job satisfaction
10. Satisfaction with the progress and chances for progress
11. Quality of work life (QWL) as a whole.

Morale building is not a simple process or set of easy clear-cut steps. There are numerous complex and contradictory cause of variation in people’s attitude even may evolves pleasant feeling in one employee may have chance the opposite effect on the other. Thus any morale building programme must take into consideration the techniques which may have in general positive effect.

To improve the morale of the workers and restore work culture it needs a concerted effort of both the management and the workers to work shoulder to shoulder. In Japan, recent system of Kazen i.e. continuous development and progress through continuous suggestion from the line staff is being seriously considered by the management and same generating positive results wherein the workers have a feeling that they are the part rather very important part of the organization to reckon with. In fine, we can follow the following suggestion to improve the work culture in organization, be it industry or service organization or be it educational institution of higher level:-

1. Management’s Responsibility:

(a) Ensure proper job placement
(b) Ensure Job training and development
(c) Job rotation
(d) Introduce personnel counseling
(e) Ensure workers’ right of safety
(f) Ensure proper retirement plan
(g) Improve physical facilities
(h) Introduce alienated workers’ participation in management
(i) Introduce stable salary and wage administration policy
(j) Enforce code of conduct strictly without preference or weakness
(k) Avoid unnecessary rigidity in approach and attitude
(l) Open yourself to criticism and suggestion
(m) Take interest in worker’s family welfare activities
(n) Take interest in peripheral development
(o) Take interest in co-curricular and extra activities
(p) Imbibe the satisfaction of having quality of work life (QWL)




2. Workers’ Role to play:

(a) Be proud of the organization
(b) Accept and discharge the role of workers
(c) Avoid criticism and partisan attitude
(d) Inculcate sharing and earring with co-workers
(e) Follow the role of discipline and code of conduct
(f) Be rational to assess a particular situation
(g) Try to play a win-win game

3. Expectation from the Trade Unions;

(a) Be rational in your approach and demand
(b) Do not indulge in false promises to workers
(c) Induce the workers to follow the code of conduct.
(d) Induce the management to enforce the code of conduct without preference.
(e) Bargain on reasonable betterment and welfare of workers
(f) Allow workers to take part in management
(g) Introduce counseling for the workers as well as the management as impartial independent agency
(h) Go as in between the workers and management
(i) Extend reasonable support to the management for survival of an organization.


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