Organizational Culture Gm591

Introduction

The organization being discussed is a Foster Care Agency located in Detroit, Michigan. This organization provides foster care services to neglected and abuse children throughout Wayne County of Michigan. The goal of Foster Care is to give a child a home and a family to care for him/her until he/she is either returned to his/her birth parents or adopted. Foster Care is a part of a process that leads to a permanent home for a child. If a child is a temporary ward of the court, then the goal is to return the child home. The most desirable outcome for all parties involved is that the child be able to return to his/her birth parents. When this is not possible, the child becomes a permanent ward of the court, and the outcome is adoption. The primary current culture of the Foster Care Agency is Avoidance of the Passive/Defensive style. The secondary current culture of the Foster Care Agency is Oppositional of the Aggressive/Defensive style. These two styles will be discussed through this paper and how it plays into the Foster Care Agency.

Current Culture

According to the Organizational Culture Inventory, the primary style of the Foster Care Agency is Avoidance which is a culture that characterizes organizations that fail to reward success but nevertheless punish mistakes. This negative reward system leads members to shift responsibilities to others and avoid any possibility of being blamed for a mistake. This culture style of employers waits for others to act first and take few chances. The second style of the Foster Care Agency is Oppositional which is a culture that describes organizations in which confrontation and negativism are rewarded. Employees gain status and influence by being critical and thus are reinforced to oppose the ideas of others. The employer point out flaws of its employees and is very hard to impress. The results of Organizational Culture Inventory for the Foster Care Agency are true. The Foster Care Agency current culture definitely has the characteristics of Avoidance. The Foster Care Agency does not reward their employees for going over and beyond their job duties but will punish their employees if they make a small mistake. The Foster Care Agency does not communicate with their employees. Upper management tends to blame employees for its mistakes. I think that if upper management learns how to effectively lead the Foster Care Agency then its employees will want to do their jobs successfully. The Foster Care Agency current secondary culture is Oppositional. The Foster Care Agency definitely is a confrontational organization who rewards negativism. Upper management opposes the ideas of its employees. At the Foster Care Agency upper management are older individuals who are set in their ways of how they want to run their organization. I think that the younger employees could have valuable ideas that can be used to better the organization. The Foster Care Agency needs to stop promoting negativity of its employees and begin rewarding its employees in which in return will motivate them to work at a higher level.

Targets for Cultural Change

There are some large gaps between the ideal organizational scores and those of the Foster Care Agency. The biggest gaps were seen in the Passive/Defensive behavioral group. Avoidance has the largest gap at -62%. The second largest gap is Power at -53%. The Passive/Defensive Styles is a style where employers promote employees and security behaviors.

OCI NORMS Ideal Score Current Score Gap

Achievement 78% 42% 36%

Self-Actualizing 82% 27% 55%

Humanistic-Encouraging 85% 69% 16%

Affiliative 71% 37% 34%

Approval 27% 42% -15%

Conventional 18% 62% -44%

Dependent 24% 26% -2%

Avoidance 27% 89% -62%

Oppositional 45% 84% -39%

Power 30% 83% -53%

Competitive 42% 75% -33%

Perfectionist 25% 64% -39%

Three behaviors that the Foster Care Agency culture should encourage are: 1.) Humanistic-

Encouraging, 2.) Self-Actualizing and 3.) Achievement. These are the three highest behaviors

of the Ideal Score for the Organizational Culture Inventory. The Humanistic-Encouraging

culture characterizes organizations that are managed in a participative and person-centered way.

Employees are expected to be supportive, constructive, and open to influence in their dealing

with one another. The Self-Actualizing culture characterizes organizations that value creativity,

quality over quantity, and both task accomplishment and individual growth. Achievement

culture characterizes organizations