Organizations exist all over the place; each of them have goals and missions they are trying to obtain. I am enrolled in a Leadership class here at Virginia Tech, and we are doing a project having to do with analyzing the culture and relations of an Organization. The organization my team chose to analyze the American Medical Student Association of Virginia Tech. There are approximately 190 local members. Currently they are having many cultural problems; there have been communication issues among the leadership, low attendance, and low confidence levels among the organization as a whole.
"Organizational Behavior" by Stephen Robbins and Timothy Judge states that organizational culture "refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations". As part of our analysis we have constructed a sound survey allowing member and leaders alike to voice their opinions about AMSA. The conclusion from these surveys will give our team a greater understanding of the organizational culture and how we can potentially propose to improve the dynamics of this particular organization. "Organizational Behavior" claims that "research on organizational culture has sought to measure how employees see their organization: does it encourage teamwork? does it reward innovations? does is stifle initiative? The term organizational culture is descriptive, whereas job satisfaction is evaluative". I feel that our survey will allow us to further analyze how the culture is by answering many and most of these questions.
A culture of an organization allows it to have a certain distinction from other organizations; it's what makes that organization unique and stand apart from the rest. Culture allows the member of that particular organization to feel unique as well. If every organization were the same, then there would be no point in having organizations in the first place. When members feel important and feel needed for the organization to operate or function properly it is great because that allows for a sense of loyalty to come about, and members will remain true to the organization for long periods of time. This will hopefully allow for the organization to have continued success in the future; from leaders training other leaders because they feel the need to help out the organization and make sure that it does succeed in the future. Once again, "Organizational Behavior" states that "culture serves as a sense-making and control mechanism that guides and shapes the attitudes and behavior of employees". Culture is the key factor that allows an organization for work smoothly and maintain positive relations with its members. When an organization has achieved a good culture, then they will attract new members because people strive to be involved with great organizations with great cultures.
Check out AMSA of Virginia Tech's website for further information:
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