Describes management in an orgaization

1. Understanding & “Managing”
Corporate Culture
BA 152

2. Characteristics of Organizations
Environment
Cultures
People
Systems
Technologies
Structures
Strategies
Goals

3. What is Corporate Culture?
• An organization’s and/or work units’
– Personality;
– Set of shared assumptions about the way
things are done; and/or
– Shared values, norms, and beliefs about
the ways things are done.

4. • Performance implications?
• Organizational guidance systems?
– Nature of cultures at Enron, Arthur Andersen,
Tyco, HealthSouth,?
• Impact of differences on mergers and/or
acquisitions?
Corporate Culture:
Why should we be concerned?

5. General Culture
Work Unit Cultures Work Unit Cultures

6. Corporate Culture:
What should we examine?
1. Visible events, actions, and/or
behaviors
2. Rules, language, symbols, and/or
things
3. Public norms/justification for the above
4. Hidden values/assumptions for the
above

7. Corporate Culture:
Where does it come from?
• The organization’s founder
• A strong leader
• Reactions to a crisis
• Strategic decisions

8. Corporate Culture
What are the components?
• Culture’s Content
1. Assumptions about what is important
2. The ordering of those assumptions

9. Culture’s Content: KFBS
• Achievement
• Responsibility
• Family-like
• Friendliness
• Team work
• Support
• Family-like
• Team work
• Support
• Friendliness
• Friendliness
• Achievement

10. Corporate Culture
What are the components?
• Culture’s Strength
1. Number of shared assumptions
2. How many employees share these
assumptions?
3. How many employees share the
ordering of these assumptions?
• Culture’s Content
1. Assumptions about what is important
2. The ordering of those assumptions

11. Many
Many
Many
Some
Some
# of shared
assumptions
# of employees
sharing ordering
of assumptions
# of employees
sharing these
assumptions
Few
Few
Culture’s Strength
Characteristics
Weak
Culture
Moderate
Culture
Strong
Culture
Few Some

12. Corporate Culture
Why is it important?
• Impact on behavior and control?
– Greater predictability of behavior
– Provides control in the absence of controls
• Impact on performance?
– Is it better to have a strong culture or a
weak culture?

13. Culture and Performance
STRATEGY
STRUCTURE
PERFORMANCE
ENVIRONMENT

14. Environment, Strategy,
and Culture
Needs of the Environment
Flexibility Stability
Strategic
Focus
External
Internal
Mission
Culture
Clan
Culture
Bureaucratic
Culture
Adaptability/
Entrepreneurial
Culture

15. Changing Your Culture
How should you start?
TOP DOWN?
BOTTOM UP?

16. Leadership and Culture
“. . . the only thing of real importance
that leaders do is to create and
manage culture, and the unique talent
of leaders is their ability to work with
culture.” (italics in the original)
(From Edgar Schein, Organizational
Culture and Leadership, 1997)

17. “Maintaining/Changing”
a Corporate Culture
1. Hiring/socializing new employees
2. (Re)moving current employees
3. Communicating cultural values
4. Modeling appropriate behavior
5. Rewarding appropriate behavior

18. “Managing” a Corporate
Culture
1. Culture is not a simple concept.
2. Culture’s influence is pervasive.
3. Manipulating culture is not any easy
task.
4. There is no one best (permanent)
culture for an organization.

19. Next Time
Implementing Change at National
Industrial Products