Organizational culture (1)

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-1
Organizational Culture

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Creating an Ethical
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

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

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

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

Organizational culture (1)

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