Why An Organizational Culture Journal Helps A Business
There aren't many organizational culture journals that focus solely on organizational culture and its effects on individuals, but one might be surprised at the level of coverage the concept and theory of organizational culture has in a wide range of journals. While now most commonly seen as a study in corporate culture, studies on organizational culture appear in journals that talk about business, sports, psychology, and sociology. So while there may not be one specific organizational culture journal, there are many journals where articles and studies about organizational culture are studied.
Organizational culture is often discussed in the context of transformational leadership, general organizational effectiveness, and outside of discussing business, this term appears most often in reference to successful sports franchises, which with their multi-leveled management and need to produce tangible results against competition, often are run like corporations.
A good organizational culture is one that is said to inspire members to contribute and excel beyond the regular expectations of the industry for someone in their position. This is especially true of leaders/supervisors who should provide the others with strong levels of support, be personally involved without being suffocating, and showing the type of appreciation that is likely to inspire loyalty.
Organizational culture can be described as the deeply rooted beliefs, values, assumptions, and standards that will shape the normal behaviors of any group, whether it is a sports team, government, charity, or corporation. Having a positive organizational culture will result in a large series of positive differences, including increased staff alignment, increased general effectiveness in organization, increased employee productivity, and very high levels of employee commitment.
One aspect of organizational culture that many journals seem intrigued by is the revelation that with an actual organizational culture that can be shared, taught, and passed on, it appears that a culture can actually produce leadership.
The idea of transformative leadership used to be thought of as one individual far ahead of their time who had the ability to mix amazing foresight with a practical knowledge to implement a new way of doing things. While this can still be true, organizational culture has shown that providing a great environment where normal individuals can simply be encouraged to reach their potential within a structure that encourages such.
A great structure with a strong culture can produce the same strong results as a charismatic leader, and sometimes even more so since many people put in a position to succeed may be able to overcome large obstacles easily that a single individual, no matter how trend setting a leader, could defeat himself.
This is proven once again in sports, as often times the best players in a sport are not necessarily the ones winning championships-the best teams are. The idea that organizational culture journals explore is that ideal systems that encourage and uplift everyone involved garner far more, and far better, results than those that do not.
Since organizational culture tackles the very theoretical basis of leadership, team work, and success, it's safe to say that many journals across the various disciplines will continue to make in depth studies of this topic for many years to come.