Organizational culture

1. 15-1Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
Essentials of
Organizational Behavior, 10/e
Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge
Chapter 15
Organizational Culture

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After studying this chapter, you
should be able to:
• Define organizational culture and describe its common
characteristics.
• Compare the functional and dysfunctional effects of
organizational culture on people and the organization.
• Explain the factors that create and sustain an
organization’s culture.
• Show how culture is transmitted to employees.
• Demonstrate how an ethical culture and a positive
culture can be created.
• Show how national culture may affect the way
organizational culture is transported to a different
country.

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Organizational
Culture
A system of shared
meaning held by members
that distinguishes the
organization from other
organizations
•Composed of seven key
characteristics

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Seven Characteristics of
Organizational Culture
1. Innovation and Risk
Taking
2. Attention to Detail
3. Outcome Orientation
4. People Orientation
5. Team Orientation
6. Aggressiveness
7. Stability

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Culture Is a Descriptive Term
Culture
• Organizational culture is
concerned with how
employees perceive an
organization’s culture, not
whether or not they like it
• Descriptive
Job Satisfaction
• Measures affective
responses to the work
environment: concerned
with how employees feel
about the organization
• Evaluative

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Do Organizations Have Uniform
Cultures?
• The dominant culture expresses the core
values that are shared by a majority of the
organization’s members
• Subcultures tend to develop in large
organizations to reflect common problems,
situations, or experiences of members
• Subcultures mirror the dominant culture
but may add to or modify the core values

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Strong Cultures
• In a strong culture, the organization’s core
values are both intensely held and widely
shared
• Strong cultures will:
 Have great influence on the
behavior of its members
 Increase cohesiveness
 Result in lower employee
turnover

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Culture Versus Formalization
• Both seek predictability, orderliness, and
consistency
• Culture controls by increasing behavioral
consistency
• Formalization controls through policies and
written documentation
• Strong cultures can be a substitute for
formalization

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Culture’s Five Basic Functions
• Defines Boundaries
• Conveys a Sense of Identity
• Generates Commitment Beyond Oneself
• Enhances Social Stability
• Sense-making and Control Mechanism

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Culture as a Liability
• Barrier to Change
 Culture is slow to change – even in a dynamic
environment
• Barrier to Diversity
 Culture seeks to minimize diversity
 Can embed prevalent bias and prejudice
• Barrier to Acquisitions and Mergers
 Most mergers fail due to cultural incompatibility

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Creating Culture
• Ultimate source of an organization’s culture
is its founders
• Founders create culture in three ways:
 By hiring and keeping those who think and feel the
same way they do
 Indoctrinating and socializing those employees to their
way of thinking and feeling
 Acting as a role model and encouraging employees to
identify with them

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Keeping a Culture Alive
• Selection – seek out those who fit in
• Top Management – establish norms of
behavior by their actions
• Socialization – help new employees adapt
to the existing culture

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A Socialization Model
• Pre-arrival –initial knowledge about the
organization and own unique ideas
• Encounter – exposed to the organization
• Metamorphosis – member changed to fit
within the organization

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Dimensions of
Socialization Programs
Intense Programs
• Formal – new workers
separated for training
• Collective – group basis
• Fixed – planned activities
• Serial – role models used
• Divestiture – strip away
characteristics to build up
new ones
Moderate Programs
• Informal – new workers
immediately put to work
• Individual – one-on-one
• Variable – no timetables
• Random – on your own
• Investiture – accepts and
confirms existing
characteristics

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How Organization Cultures Form
Success in employee socialization depends
on management’s selection of socialization
method and the closeness of new employees’
values to those of the organization

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How Employees Learn Culture
Culture is transmitted to
employees through:
 Stories – provide
explanations
 Rituals – reinforce key
values
 Material Symbols – convey
importance
 Language – identify and
segregate members

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Creating an Ethical
Organizational Culture
A strong culture with high risk tolerance,
low-to-moderate aggressiveness, and
focuses on means as well as outcomes is
most likely to shape high ethical standards
 Managers must be visible role models
 Communicate ethical expectations
 Provide ethical training
 Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical
ones
 Provide protective mechanisms

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Creating a Positive
Organizational Culture
A positive culture is one that
emphasizes the following:
•Building on Employee
Strengths
•Rewarding More Than
Punishing
•Emphasizing Vitality and
Growth of the Employee

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Global Implications
National and Organizational Cultures:
• Organizations exist in a global context
• Must be aware of local and national cultures
Suggestions and Observations:
• Organizations heavily dependent on foreign markets and
labor
• National culture does influence organizational culture
• All managers must be culturally sensitive

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Implications for Managers
• Create the culture
you want when
the organization is
small and new
• If established
culture needs to
be changed,
expect it to take
years

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Keep in Mind…
• Organizational culture is concerned with
how employees perceive the culture, not
whether or not they like it
• Ethical and positive organizational cultures
can be created – methods differ
• National culture influences organizational
culture

22. 15-22Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
Summary
• Defined organizational culture and described its
common characteristics.
• Compared the functional and dysfunctional effects of
organizational culture on people and the organization.
• Explained the factors that created and sustained an
organization’s culture.
• Showed how culture was transmitted to employees.
• Demonstrated how an ethical culture and a positive
culture could be created.
• Showed how national culture might affect the way
organizational culture is transported to a different
country.