As a good organization, UFRJ Nautilus recognizes the importance of Organizational Culture within a competition team. Our culture is felt and reflected in the behavior of our members who carry the Nautilus way of being. It is this culture that differentiates us from other teams and allows our members a sense of belonging, because when they identify with our values they take for themselves the purpose of UFRJ Nautilus, having the team's success as part of their personal success. But, after all, what is an organizational culture?
Organizational culture can be understood as a set of beliefs, values and habits shared by the members of an organization. Understanding the organizational culture is important to understand the functioning of processes and the dynamics of internal relationships, since it is a strong and well-defined culture that will guide the team's activities both in the form of interpersonal interaction and in decision making. It is through the organizational culture that we not only know what the goals of that organization are, but also how it will seek to achieve those goals. Good management can use culture as a mechanism to integrate and guide its members with a view to team performance in achieving results. Thus, it is possible to understand the importance of organizational culture, as it will enable the members' feeling of identity and belonging, keeping them motivated and aligned with the interests of the team, in addition to being united through a system of common values and beliefs shared.
Now we will discuss how the organizational culture works in the UFRJ Nautilus team. Culture, as previously seen, is related to the mission, vision and values of that organization. In our team, each member carries the essence of the Nautilus way of being representing our values, among them: spread the word - spread the Nautilus word; grit in all we do - perseverance and passion for long-term goals; don’t be good, be great - we always seek to differentiate ourselves in our work with pride; settle for nothing - we are driven by challenges; members first - members as a priority for the team; innovation - we believe it is the way to change the world; be positive - positivity and good humor as companions; big ideas are welcome - incentive to think big and abuse creativity; the best are everywhere - the team being composed of members from different areas of knowledge. Our mission, that is, our reason for existence, is “to be an international reference in a student organization focused on technological innovation”.
At UFRJ Nautilus, we embrace the culture of collaboration as a model as opposed to the culture of competition - competition only happens at RoboSub!!! - we understand that the collaboration system generates better results for the growth of our team - which is a consensus among researchers on the subject, in addition to having as a great example the famous Google showing the importance of investment in organizational culture. This type of system has in its environment members willing to help their teammates, either by sharing their knowledge (in fact, we care a lot about it, each new discovery we file to pass on to future members) or knowing how to listen to different opinions and, collectively, reaching a conclusion in which there is the collaboration of all parties involved.
This type of environment is healthy and productive with a strong sense of cooperation, since everyone has the opportunity to add their own point of view while working together towards the same goal. Internal communication here is an important tool in strengthening the team's identity and culture. We use information and communication technologies (essential in this quarantine period) as support for greater integration between team members and, thus, for everyone to be aware of what is happening in the different internal areas of Nautilus. Therefore, in this collaboration system, our UFRJ Nautilus team provides an environment where our members can share their ideas and build knowledge that they will carry with them in their academic and professional journey.
So far, we can say that investing in a healthy organizational culture brings great positive results, making our team have a greater impact on the academic environment, as it is worth remembering that more than competing, Nautilus aims at the development of technological innovation in the fields of robotics and automation.
At Nautilus, we understand that each member is a fundamental part of the team and, therefore, among the main types of organizational culture - power culture, role culture, task culture and people culture - our team is based on the culture of people. As its name suggests, the culture of people focuses on the people who make up that organization. Nautilus then values the potential of each member and stimulates their growth by making available the tools and the different challenges that our project comes to offer, having space to expose their ideas and solutions with the other team members in a learning process collectively. Thus, there is greater integration between team members and most importantly, they feel part of the Nautilus family, recognizing that they are essential to the team's success.
Written by Karen Brêda.