THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Profitability, productivity, morale and quality of work life are of concern to most organizations because they impact achievement of organizational goals. There is an increasing trend to maximize an organizations investment in its employees. Jobs that previously required physical dexterity now requires more mental effort. Organizations need to ‘work smarter’ and apply creative ideas (Devis, 2007:104). The work force has also changed. Employees expect more from a day’s work than simply a day’s pay. They want challenge, recognition, a sense of accomplishment, worthwhile tasks and meaningful relationships with their managers and co workers. When these needs are met, performance declines. Today’s customers demand continually improving quality, rapid products or service delivery, fast turn around time of change, competitive pricing and other features that are best achieved in complex environments by innovative organizational practices.
The effective organization must be able to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Adaptability and responsiveness are essential to survive and thrive (French and Bell 1990:12).
The effective organization must be able to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Adaptability and responsiveness are essential to survive and thrive (French and Bell 1990:12).
Organizational culture has been linked to economic performance and organization viability or success (Denison and Mishra, 1995:204; Pothukuchi; Damanpour, Choi, Chen, and Park 2002:204; Sorensen, 2002:109; Devis 2007:3). For example, organizations dedicated to continuous improvement with visionary leaders who ‘walk their talk’ and focus on a set of core values, have been shown to be more financially successful in the long term (Kotter and Heskett, 1992:225). Organizational
culture has also been shown to be important for successful new product/ process innovation and organizational change (Plakhotnik and Tonette, 2005:94; Umiker, 1999:22).
culture has also been shown to be important for successful new product/ process innovation and organizational change (Plakhotnik and Tonette, 2005:94; Umiker, 1999:22).
Culture is one of the most precious things a company has so they must work harder on it than anything else, says Herb, various studies indicate that companies with strong culture are more likely to be successful but only under a particular set of conditions. The effect of organizational culture depends partly in its strength. Corporate culture strength refers to how widely and deeply employees hold the company’s dominant values and assumption. In a strong organizational culture, most employees across all subunits hold the dominant values. These values are also institutionalized through well established artifacts, thereby making it difficult for those values to change. Furthermore, strong cultures tend to be long- lasting; some can be traced back to company founders- values and assumptions. In contrast, companies have weak culture when the dominant values are short – lived – and held mainly by a few people at the top of the organization.
A strong corporate culture potentially increases a company’s success by serving three important functions:
i. Control system- Organizational culture is a deeply embedded form of social control that influences employee decision and behavior. Culture is pervasive and operates unconsciously.
ii. Social glue- Organizational culture is the ‘social glue’ that bonds people together and makes them feel part of the organization experience. Employees are motivated to internalize the organizations dominant culture because this helps fulfill their need for social identity. This social glue is increasingly important as a way to attract new staff and retain top performers.
iii. Sense-making- Organizational culture assists the sense making process. It helps employees understand what goes on and why things happen in the company. Corporate culture also makes it easier for them to understand what is expected of them and to interact with other employees who know the culture and believe in it.
People are constantly surrounded by culture. It forms the background (often invisible) of our work-lives, colouring everything in an organization. Organizational culture also provides a mechanism for controlling behavior by influencing how we attach meaning to our world and how we interpret events.
i. Control system- Organizational culture is a deeply embedded form of social control that influences employee decision and behavior. Culture is pervasive and operates unconsciously.
ii. Social glue- Organizational culture is the ‘social glue’ that bonds people together and makes them feel part of the organization experience. Employees are motivated to internalize the organizations dominant culture because this helps fulfill their need for social identity. This social glue is increasingly important as a way to attract new staff and retain top performers.
iii. Sense-making- Organizational culture assists the sense making process. It helps employees understand what goes on and why things happen in the company. Corporate culture also makes it easier for them to understand what is expected of them and to interact with other employees who know the culture and believe in it.
People are constantly surrounded by culture. It forms the background (often invisible) of our work-lives, colouring everything in an organization. Organizational culture also provides a mechanism for controlling behavior by influencing how we attach meaning to our world and how we interpret events.
CHALLENGES AND IMPLICATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NIGERIAN BANKING INDUSTRY:
According to Agboola, Yinusa and Olagunde(2003:3) in an article on “ The Impact of digital revolution on the structure of Nigerian banks:- asserts that digital revolution has transformed the nature and context of banking leaving behind far reaching effects and implications on both the organizational and industrial structure. It has utilized developments in information and communication technology to usher in the era of information economy where the productivity and competitiveness of units or agents in the economy (be they firms, regions or nations) depend mainly on their capacity to generate, process and apply knowledge-based- information efficiently (Castells, 1996:39). It is an economy where information is both the currency and the product. Dwyer (1999:6) confirmed that information technology has had more impact on more fundamentals, more quickly, than virtually any other external change in the history of the banking industry. It is transforming every aspect of a bank’s business from its management information to the nature of the products and services it offers. It fundamentally affects many of the key drivers of both costs and revenue, which increasingly determine a bank’s overall profitability and competitive positions. Darlington (2000:113) noted that the revolution has changed the very nature of banking. Though money if still being handled, information not money, is now the life blood of the banking industry. He claims further that from what was essentially a transaction-based business, where customers came to the banks (or didn’t), banking has made the leap into what is essentially a sale and marketing culture. In the new culture, a bank defined almost solely by its ability to add value to the customer relationships, which breaks down into acquiring, analyzing, integrating, and leveraging of information about, from and for the benefit of each individual customer (Wikipedia, 2007:12).
A pervasive use of information and communications, technology is necessary because the relative standing of staff within each bank and that of banks within the industry is influenced by the ability to utilize the various opportunities provided by the digital revolution. Differential rates of utilization often lead to digital divide. Digital divide separates the information rich and the information poor within or between different organizations in the society. The organization for economic cooperation and development defines the digital divide as the difference between individuals, households, business and geographic areas with regard to their opportunities to access ICTs and their use of the internet for a wide variety of activities. It is the gap between those who have real access to information and technology and who are able to use it effectively and those who don’t have such access (Bridges, 2002:21). This ‘Digital Divide’ has implications on the relative positioning of individuals as well firms in the banking industry and eventually influences organizational structure of the industry.
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