According to Ackroyd and Crowdy (1990), it is a commonplace claim that human resource managers are vital to managing culture within organisations. Critically evaluate the idea that culture can be managed through human resource management.
Introduction
Arguably, the management of organizational culture represents the most significant function and process in contemporary organizations operating in a gradually competitive business context the world over. This is because organizational culture revolves around human resources, which represent a critical asset within companies. According to McGrath and Tobia (2008), organizational culture entails an indispensable but hidden resource involving relatively powerful forces that influences an organization’s performance, employee cooperation, and experience among others. Each organization develops a distinctive culture and thus underscoring the significance of proper management of the organization to produce desired outcomes (Huczynski & Buchanan, 2016). Accordingly, organizations usually seek to manage organizational culture by defining expected behaviour and developing norms that contribute to the achievement of overarching goals and objectives. Human resource managers, in particular, are understood to play an integral role in managing culture within organizations using strategies and policies driven toward human resources behaviour and actions (Acroyd & Crowdy, 1990). Yet, attempts to manage culture within organizations usually bring about additional issues including the need for change management. Culture evolves and it is complex including sub-cultures representing employees’ mindset, which can form countercultures (Knights & Willmott, 2017). This suggests organizational culture include a set of multidimensional imprints as well as evolves, which means the statement that culture can be managed through human resource management is unfounded. This essay critically evaluates the idea that culture can be managed through human resource management by drawing upon key literature by Ackroyd and Crowdy (1990). Appropriate models such as Schein’s (1990) organizational culture and Hofstede’s (1992) cultural dimensions are also applied to the analysis.
Organizational culture concept
Despite its popularity in management discourse, organizational culture lacks a precise definition. More so, extant literature offers multiple definitions. For example, Deal and Kennedy (1982) identify organizational culture as the things that are done in a particular organization. Crucially, the definition makes organizational culture emerge as the identity of an organization including the behaviour of people within it. Schein (1990) offers a similar understanding, as organizational culture represents a pattern of fundamental assumptions that are shared by a group of individuals and influences their thoughts as well as behaviour. Thus, organizational culture involves the way things are done in a given organization including people’s behaviour and actions. A different understanding, however, is that organizational culture includes subcultures rather than a collective identity and thus complicating efforts to manage it (Boisnier & Chatman, 2002).
Human resource management and organizational culture
Culture can be managed through human resource management (HRM) practices such as recruitment and selection. Schneider (1988) affirms that selection represents a leading tool not only for developing but also for promoting organizational culture. Hiring managers usually undertake the selection process by screening the candidates to identify congruency with the existing culture. More importantly, HRM’s selection operations link to organizational culture management because the human resource managers assess the beliefs, values, and behavioural styles of potential workers. In this line of thought, Willmott (1993) argues that HRM advocates a systematic approach to generating and strengthening culture through reinforcing core organizational values, which is achieved through rising attention to recruitment and selection. The overarching aim is to develop a set of shared values. Schneider (1988) offers the real-world example of the computing giant IBM which may be less concerned with recruiting “the typical Italian than hiring an Italian who fits within the IBM way of doing things”. This includes the need to avoid IBM managers’ power accumulation by moving them every two years, which may be unsuitable for the Italian culture in which organizations are more political than instrumental. Critically, the example of IBM illustrates HRM dictating the organizational culture by managing human resources at the firm. The perspective by Peters and Waterman (1982) suggests that organizational culture represents a quick fix for managers such as human resource managers to enhance overall outcomes such as productivity and organizational performance. The functions, systems, processes, and initiatives of HRM that are imbibed in activities such as performance-related pay serve to build the desired culture by improving behavioural commitment. To support this understanding, Wizniuk and Kumar (2018) point out that human resource managers have a chance to facilitate the shaping of workers’ behaviour actively by evaluating employees’ performance and communicating observations. In other words, HRM directly controls human behaviour at the core of organizational culture by identifying, evaluating, and communicating the expected behaviour to human resources. As a result, it can be said that the management of culture in an organization is a control feature of HRM.
Mathur (2015) points out that HRM plays a critical role in organizational culture because it revolves around the people working for an organization. The indication is that HRM and organizational culture are tied. Specifically, the HR function of recruiting new workers for an organization means that human resource managers directly manage culture in terms of their authority to decide which workers fit into the current organizational culture. HR staff is involved in detecting potential discrepancies concerning those who do not share wanted values, norms, and beliefs (Wizniuk & Kumar, 2018). Thus, HRM functions can be used to manage organizational culture. Real-world examples of recruitment procedures shaping organizational culture’s values and beliefs involve Nigerian private universities such as Covenant University and Crescent University, which use the process to ensure the alignment of intending workers with the organizational culture to achieve a proper match (Adewale & Anthonia, 2013). HRM decisions in areas such as hiring are important, as the recruitment procedure seeks to hire personnel that blends with existing culture to improve shared social knowledge between workers and organizational goals (Mathur, 2015). Accordingly, one can argue that human resource management seeks to manage culture using components such as policies, values, and practices. In other words, human resource-centred strategies are applied to align a firm’s culture. For instance, an organization’s culture can be changed through a recruitment strategy of replacing the current managers with external ones, training programmes, and new reward strategies to influence employee behaviours (Thornhill et al., 2000). More so, human resource managers increasingly play a strategic role not just in securing what can be considered the right human resources but in developing the individuals in terms of thoughts and behaviour in the workplace. One can say that human resource managers are equal partners in the formulation of strategy and thus they can manage organizational culture.
A contrasting argument is that culture is unmanageable through HRM, as its implicit character makes it resistant to management (Kratschmer, 2011). Drawing on the theory of iceberg by Hall (1976), a sizeable part of organizational culture is invisible and usually unconscious, which complicates not just the identification of a dominant culture but also its management using HRM. This represents a basic issue of managing culture within organizations (Kratschmer, 2011).
According to Aycan et al. (1999), managers including human resource managers determine the way human resources within organizations are utilized based on their assumptions concerning workers’ needs and capabilities. It must be noted that the assumptions are increasingly borrowed from the socio-cultural context from which an organization draws its human resources. In connection, the theory of cultural dimensions by Hofstede (1992) provides the notion of high uncertainty-avoidance and power-distance Eastern societies in which managers perceive their employees as risk averse. Thus, managers in such organizational settings increasingly supervise and guide workers leading to culture rather relay on job autonomy. A limitation of using Hofstede’s model is that it is based on a rather small sample involving IBM workers, which can be said to lack generalization. Nevertheless, a key implication is that prevailing human resource managers’ assumptions concerning human resource behaviours constitute the internal work culture and, in turn, the organizational culture. HRM decisions directly influence the creation of organizational culture and HRM emerges as a crucial tool that can be utilized to lead the culture. Aycan et al. (1999) affirm that selection procedures define the kind of individuals working for an organization based on elements such as values and, by extension, shape the organizational culture. The indication is that human resource managers can manage organizational culture. A counterargument, Yohn (2021) observes, is that the conventional function of the human resource department is responsible for developing culture through policies and strategies is replaced by company culture gaining strategic significance. The management of organizational culture cannot be delegated to HRM professionals. For this reason, it can be said that culture cannot be managed through HRM.
Human resource managers can manage culture within organizations by using beliefs and values. Especially, the managers can play their leadership role to impart their values and beliefs to employees to shape the organizational culture altogether. In this line of thought, Knights and Willmott (2017) observe a workplace’s principal values emerge from the collective accommodation between the requirements of a firm and the aspirations of individual members. The indication is that human resource managers not only take the lead in shaping an organization’s culture but also support its development. However, a criticism of the understanding that managers can manage culture through HRM is that it relies on the view of the collective will. Meek (1988) argues that equating culture to the collective will of an organization represents a metaphysical explanation of behaviour that is impossible to observe. The assumption that culture involves the internalization of dominant values and norms which all align with the dominant value system is confusing. More so, organizations seemingly involve management teams belonging to one social class and workers to another (Meek, 1988). However, it can be said that human resource managers’ responsibility includes developing an appropriate culture. In support of this argument, Metwally et al. (2019) argue that leaders serve as the all-vital information sources regarding salient features of the business and play a crucial function in shaping organizational culture. In particular, the information shared by HRM managers including the shared values, mission, and strategies helps to manage culture by promoting shared perceptions to inform new and existing members concerning desired actions, decisions, and behaviour. A real-world example involves Apple Inc’s recruitment process that is aligned with organizational culture concerning collaboration underpinned by the mission statement, as a hiring manager at the firm said “he would rather hire somebody who may know very little about Apple computers but knows how to teach” (Vergara, 2014). In another example, the United States Ford Motor Company has HRM practices including corporate citizenship with the aim of doing good things for the community, which aligns with the mission of helping to build a better world (Ford Motor Company Annual Report, 2020). The two examples are vital, as they reveal HRM professionals’ determination to ensure alignment between recruits and organizational goals. It becomes evident that human resource managers can manage organizational culture by influencing people’s assumptions, values, as well as beliefs. Particularly, HRM is involved in the attraction, selection, and retention of people who share a firm’s core values at the heart of organizational culture. Findings by Pressbooks (2021) affirm that culture within organizations is maintained through the attraction-selection-attrition procedure whereby the primary purpose is to hire only those with suitable values and beliefs.
In this line of thought, the model of organizational culture by Schein (1990) proposes the notions of espoused values and beliefs. The idea of espoused values is especially imperative, as it entails things said by a firm about its culture including the way things are done. This includes the mission and vision statements, which underpin beliefs, norms, and rituals that can be managed instrumentally. A drawback of utilizing the model by Schein is that it does not consider culture as fluid, which suggests it changes including the values and underlying assumptions. Yet, the explanation that human resource managers’ communication articulates espoused values that underlie organizational culture is crucial. The managers can and are involved in managing organizational culture. The management of culture frequently turns into the reinforcement of espoused values (Ogbonna & Harris, 1998). Usually, HRM managers do so by working with strategic leaders to codify the policies and processes governing employee conduct and behaviour driving culture. A critical implication of the argument is that it shows HRM’s participation in managing organizational culture. A criticism of this argument, however, is that human resource managers cannot manage culture on their own especially because influencing organizational culture means changing the entire organization, which is the mandate of senior leaders. Newton (2016) argues that managing organizational culture is only effective when business leaders make it their responsibility and the HR department is just a helpful resource. Consequently, HRM’s participation is limited and thus it cannot be used to manage culture within organizations.
The management of organizational culture can be achieved through HRM, as they are involved in reinforcing the culture. Singh (2010) asserts that current organizations usually direct HRM efforts toward the development of organizational culture. This includes the use of mechanisms to achieve HRM goals with a competent and committed workforce. The trend of directing HRM efforts towards culture is linked to the understanding that a suitable organizational culture is helpful in achieving a competitive advantage. It can be understood that human resource management processes and operations not only stimulate but also serve as the steward of organizational culture. In other words, organizational culture hinges on proper HRM activities because human resource managers work with leaders to turn vision into tangible actions as well as artefacts (Forbes Human Resources Council, 2020). In relation, the theory by Schein (1990) proposes the concept of artefacts that are on the surface level including the visible part of the culture such as behaviour of the members of an organization. Therefore, artefacts involve the overt elements of the organizational culture including rules and procedures used by human resource managers. As an example, HRM can change artefacts underlying the culture of an organization by utilizing rather simple approaches such as creating fun cultures in which employees are allowed to dress in fancy material on Fridays. A major outcome of this explanation is that it shows organizational culture as having a system layer in which HRM laws, procedures, and regulations manage human beliefs, values, as well as behaviour. The laws and procedures represent a firm’s foundation. According to Onyango (2014), human behaviour within organizations increasingly depends on existing social structures that are embedded in a firm’s culture, which HRM can influence using laws and procedures. It follows that culture in an organization can be managed through HRM.
In view of that, culture can be managed through HRM. In particular, human resource managers inform the beliefs and behaviours that underpin organizational culture including its manifest through people using activities such as rewards. This shows culture can be managed through HRM. Findings by Management Association (2017) identify the symbolic approach in which organizational culture is beyond management’s influence because the culture does not represent an element of the organization. Rather, it involves a lens through which an organization is understood. From this perspective, human resource managers cannot manage culture because it does not entail any form of organizational control in relation to behaviour. However, supporting empirical evidence is offered by Kerr and Slocum (2005) in their investigation of the management of corporate culture in companies in the United States through HR reward systems reveals otherwise. More importantly, they interviewed 75 human resource managers from 14 firms and a crucial finding involves the use of reward systems by the managers to manage organizational culture including the application of performance-based approaches to reinforce norms in the organizations (Kerr & Slocum, 2005). A positive outcome of the example involving the businesses in the United States is that it demonstrates human resource professionals can manage organizational culture effectively in the real world. In support of this understanding, Coleman (2018) argues that HRM is concerned with people flows to ensure talent availability in which human resource managers also build substantive value through facilitating joint interaction with others through shared learning and development programmes. This also includes adding value by leveraging business opportunities across units as well as developing practices and systems that allow the horizontal knowledge flow by selecting talent, which ultimately impacts underlying culture. Crucially, the systems help to create much-needed knowledge to reinforce the desired organizational culture. Additionally, Coleman (2018) points out that the management of human resources is consistent with similar cultural values when culture is aligned with organizations. For instance, employees may have a responsibility to accomplish set goals but the human resource managers provide the all-vital prerequisites involving straightforward job descriptions, supportive working conditions, and proper employee orientation as well as training. By doing so, the organizational strategy is aligned with HR practices to teach workers about desired behavioural norms and conduct (Wizniuk & Kumar, 2018). The indication that HRM can manage organizational culture using systems and procedures, which are crucial to governing the management of people.
Conclusion
Human resource managers play a vital role in managing culture within organizations using strategies and policies driven toward people’s behaviour and actions. The managers can apply recruitment and selection to develop and promote organizational culture. HRM advocates a systematic approach to generating and strengthening culture through reinforcing core organizational values. This includes HRM operations that involve activities such as performance-related pay serve to build the desired culture by improving behavioural commitment. The culture within organizations is maintained through the attraction-selection-attrition procedure whereby the primary purpose is to hire only those with suitable values and beliefs. Human resource managers take the lead in the emergence of a suitable organizational culture by spending significant resources such as time thinking about the values as well as rituals in the organization. Human resource managers can manage culture within organizations by playing their leadership role to impart their values and beliefs to employees to shape the culture. Accordingly, HRM not only takes the lead in shaping an organization’s culture but also supports its development. HRM professionals are determined to ensure alignment between recruits and organizational goals in terms of underlying assumptions, values, as well as beliefs. People’s behaviour within organizations depends on existing social structures that are embedded in an organization’s culture, which HRM can influence using laws and procedures.