PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT

Productivity Management

Productivity Management

Introduction

IA brief overview of the organisation is provided followed by a detailed description of Saudi Aramco's organisational culture, drawing inferences with the relevant concepts, theories and models. One or two models or theories of organisational culture are then chosen, and this forms the basis of a critical analysis of the company's organisational culture. This is followed by an in-depth discussion on whether organisational culture can be managed, and if so, how this can be effectively done using examples from Saudi Aramco. The company would later enter into a strategic alliance with Texaco and Shell, resulting in the formation of Motiva Enterprises LLC, whose main line of business was the refining and marketing of oil products across the United States (Alvon, 2002).

While organisational culture encompasses all cultures within an organisation, corporate culture is specifically concerned with how managers behave and act in an organisation. However is of the view that it should not be limited to managers only since it has an organisation wide purpose. Saudi Aramco's organisational culture is based on basic assumptions which emphasise respect and dignity for all employees. It is involved in a number of community projects that are meant to improve the lives of ordinary members of the community. Its recent decision to build a world class research university is a good example of this. In this paper the author will analyse Saudi Aramco's current organisational culture using Schein's theory and the contingency theory(Barny, 1986).

Discussion

According to an organisation's artifacts also include the total man made environment comprising of both material and non-material products. The company is involved in a number of projects that are aimed at restoring the damaged environment, making sure air quality is up to the required standards and that the public are fully protected. However it is stated that while it may be reasonably easy to identify artefacts, it is complex to figure out the purpose of these same artefacts. Likewise, managers at Saudi Aramco treat employees as members of their own family.

As stated by (Schein, 1985), insubordination is rarely punished at Saudi Aramco since every employee is treated as part of the family. This kind of behaviour and management would not be tolerated in companies doing business in the United States or the United Kingdom. However, it is paramount for outsiders to have a clear understanding of the company's underlying assumptions in order to understand this behaviour. (Sackman, 1991) advises that there are a number of untested assumptions that exist in the current literature on organisational behaviour. (Barny, 1986)

Schein provides a clear model for evaluating an organisation's basic assumptions, looking at a company's relationship to the environment, the nature of reality, time and space, the nature of human nature, the nature of human activity, and the nature of human relationships. (Schein, 1985) further emphasises that basic assumptions develop from hypotheses into reality, and once they become reality people take them for granted. Saudi Aramco's employees' and managers' basic assumption is the dignity and respect for fellow ...