An Organization's Structure, Culture, Spirit and Leader Style

The relationships between an organization’s structure, culture, spirit, and leader style are ones of interdependence. One definition of culture is seen as the attainment of knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior which forms values, creates attitudes, and influences behavior (Hodgetts 2005). The selection of an organizational structure will enable an organization to mange the risk by enabling dynamism of personal, organizational and cultural values to come into being with individual choices or adherence to a set of beliefs. Interplay happens with the pursuit of knowledge which enables one to solve a problem and thus obtain wisdom. A nurse presented with a choice of performing a task that he or she is uncomfortable with has the professional and personal ability to refuse to perform the action by making a conscientious objection. By making this objection a nurse keeps their integrity intact and adheres to their professional code of ethics, which gives worth to their personal values (Baker, 1996). So, why would someone in an organization perform a risky or disagreeable task for an organization? One performs the task because the organizational values or the cultural values serve as a mediating force to justify his or her actions within the organization or culture (Tuler, Machlis and Kasperson, 1992). Thus, a leader must create a business environment where the cultures are not competing with each but instead showing respect and understanding for all stakeholders and one way to achieve this objective is with an understanding and possible pursuing the scholar/practitioner/ leader model.

References:

Baker, T. (1996, October). Descriptive and normative ethics. Nursing Management, 27(10), 32DD

Hodgetts, R. M., Luthans, F., & Doh, J. P. (2005). International Management: Culture, Strategy, and Behavior, 6th edition. Chapter 4. New York: McGraw-Hill

Tuler, S., Machlis, G., & Kasperson, R. (1992). Mountain Goat Removal in Olympic National Park: A Case Study of the Role of Organizational Culture in Individual Risk Decisions and Behavior. Retrieved March 8, 2005, from Pierce Law, Franklin Pierce Law Center Web site: http://www.piercelaw.edu/risk/vol3/fall/tuler.htm