The document defines organizational culture and discusses its key aspects. It notes that organizational culture encompasses shared beliefs, values, and behaviors that shape how an organization conducts business. The document outlines several levels of culture from visible artifacts to underlying assumptions, and discusses five major functions of culture in organizations: providing purpose, fostering a sense of ownership, building community, facilitating communication, and establishing leadership. It provides examples to illustrate strong organizational cultures at companies like Google, Pixar, and DHL.

1. Organizational Culture in business

2. Outcome 4
Define Organization Culture, the understanding of Organization Culture, the
different functions of organization culture and the levels of culture
Contents:
• Definitions and understanding Organization Culture
• Functions of Organization Culture
• Levels of Culture
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3. Culture 3
• Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it,
our language, marriage, music and is different all over the world.
• Culture can be defined as all the ways of life including arts, beliefs
and institutions of a population that are passed down from
generation to generation.
• Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire society."
• As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion,
rituals, art norms of behavior, morality and belief.

4. Characteristics of Culture
• Culture is not thought of as inherited or innate;
culture is learned through experiences.
Culture is Learned:
• Culture is shared by members of a group. One
individual's actions are not considered a culture.
Culture is Shared:
• Culture uses symbols, and the members of a culture
understand the meanings of their shared symbols.
Culture is Symbolic:
• Culture adapts and changes over time. Culture is
dynamic.
Culture is Dynamic:
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5. Organizational culture
• An organization's culture defines the proper way to
behave within the organization.
• Organization's culture consists of shared beliefs and
values established by leaders and then
communicated and reinforced through various
methods, for shaping employee perceptions,
behaviors and understanding.
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6. Organizational culture includes:
• The ways the organization conducts its business, treats its
employees, customers, and the wider community
• The extent to which freedom is allowed in decision making,
developing new ideas, and personal expression
• How power and information flow through its hierarchy
• How committed employees are towards collective
objectives.
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7. Elements of Organizational Culture
Visible
elements
• These
elements are
seen by the
outer world.
Example,
dress code,
activities,
setup, etc.
Invisible
elements
• These inner
elements of
the group
cannot be
seen by
people
outside the
group or
firm.
Example,
values,
norms,
assumptions,
etc.
Stories
• Stories
regarding
the history
of the firm,
or founder.
Rituals
• Precise
practices an
organization
follows as a
habit.
Symbol
• The logo or
signature or
the style
statement of
a company.
Language
• A common
language
that can be
followed by
all, like
English.
Practice
• Discipline,
daily routine
or say the
tight
schedule
everyone
follows
without any
failure.
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8. Examples of Great Organizational Culture • 8
Google's corporate culture is a treasure of perks and bonuses. Free meals,
employee vacations and parties, cash bonuses, open speeches by high-level
executives, employee recognition, gyms, and a pet-friendly atmosphere are
all available at Google.
Pixar believes that if you want to be creative, you must be innovative in
everything you do. This can even be seen throughout Pixar, especially in the
design of the company's "cubicles," which are sometimes shaped like cute
little huts.
DHL is unique in how it benefits from its dynamic, multicultural
environment. With a variety of programmes, such as the unique integrated
learning platform that fosters talent development, the organisation looks
after its employees throughout their careers. Another pillar is workplace
wellness, which includes annual events and long-term activities to protect
employee health.

9. Levels of Culture
Assumptions - reflect
beliefs about human
nature and reality
Values - are shared
principles, standards,
and goals
Artifacts - are visible,
tangible aspects of
organizational culture

10. • Generally, managers start to understand an organizations culture by
observing the artifacts present. This can include the physical environment,
employee interactions, company policies, reporting structure, work divisions,
reward systems, and other observable characteristics.
• To understand values, managers must observe employees individually. We all
have unique values that influence our behavior to varying degrees. These values
are most evident when we interact with others socially and professionally. Our
values will also manifest themselves in our choices.
• While basic assumptions are subconscious and not readily distinguishable
without in-depth conversation and analysis, managers may be able to form an
understanding of employee basic assumptions through a detailed understanding
of their values.
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11. 5 major functions of culture in an organization
Purpose
Ownership
Community
Communication
Leadership
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12. Purpose
• A strong mission statement can help a company to
communicate its purpose of existence to all the
stakeholders.
• For example, the mission statement of SpaceX is:
“To revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal
of enabling people to live on other planets.”
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13. Ownership
Ownership refers to the practice of giving employee an
opportunity and independence to accomplish goals.
For example:
Basecamp is a company promotes ownership. They have a
physical office, but allow employees to work remotely. The
CEO doesn’t know how many hours employees work.
Managers set overall expectations and allow people to build
their own schedules around their projects.
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14. Community 14
Community gives sense of belonging to a group of people that shares
similar principles, goals, and values.
For example:
Employees at Custom Communications used
their intranet to raise awareness of their yearly
Thanksgiving food donation campaign.
They hosted many competition in many
locations for collecting donation, food etc.
This initiative helped build new friendships,
break down geographical barriers, and unite
the full team behind a feel-good activity.

15. Leadership
• Leadership is the ability to influence and guide
followers or members toward achieving organization
goal.
• For example:
Barack Obama is a prime example of transformational
leadership. Where the majority saw obstacles, this
American president saw opportunities and possibilities. He
worked hard to create a culture of integrity and
transparency amongst his administration which led to
loyalty and higher efficiency.
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16. Communication
• Healthy communication in an organization helps in shaping
the attitude of employee working in the organization.
• For example:
• Bosch launched its employee-focussed TED Talk style
format called “The Spark.” At each event, 8–10 employees
give a presentation on a topic of their choice. In
preparation, employees receive coaching sessions. The
employees love this format—they enjoy developing their
skills and sharing their knowledge. The numbers speak for
themselves, the videos have an average of 25,000 views
internally. And above all, they're a great way to share
employee stories!
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