Organizational Culture
- Just like individuals, organizations have their own personalities, known as organizational cultures.
- Organizational culture: a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that show employees what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior.
- These values have a strong influence on employee behavior as well as organizational performance.
The first organization you worked
- It was a place where employees dressed formally.
- It was completely inappropriate to question your boss in a meeting.
- It was important to check your e-mail at night as well as during weekends or else you would face questions on Monday about where you were and whether you were sick.
- It was a place where employees dress more casually.
- You are encouraged to raise issues and question your boss or peers, even in front of clients.
- It is widely known that family life is very important, so it is acceptable to leave work a bit early to go to a family event.
- Organizations that have a rare and hard-to imitate organizational culture benefit from it as a competitive advantage.
- Worldwide business leaders identified corporate culture as important as corporate strategy for business success. (2007)
- Culture, or shared values within the organization, may be related to increased performance.
- Researchers found a relationship between organizational cultures and company performance, with respect to financial success indicators.
- It is important to have a culture that fits with the demands of the company’s environment.
- For example, if a company is in the high-tech industry, having a culture that encourages innovativeness and adaptability will support its performance.
- If a company in the same industry has a culture characterized by stability, a high respect for tradition, and a strong preference for upholding rules and procedures, the company may suffer as a result of its culture.
- Organizational culture is an effective control mechanism for dictating employee behavior.
- Culture is in fact a more powerful way of controlling and managing employee behaviors than organizational rules and regulations.
- Creating a culture of customer service achieves the same result by encouraging employees to think like customers.
- Assumptions are taken for granted, and they reflect beliefs about human nature and reality.
- Values are shared principles, standards, and goals.
- Artifacts are visible, tangible aspects of organizational culture.
- For example, in an organization one of the basic assumptions employees and managers share might be that happy employees benefit their organizations. This assumption could translate into values such as social equality, high quality relationships, and having fun. The artifacts reflecting such values might be an executive “open door” policy, an office layout that includes open spaces and gathering areas and frequent company picnics in the workplace.
- Are flexible and adaptable, and experiment with new ideas.
- Characterized by a flat hierarchy in which titles and other status distinctions tend to be downplayed.
- Value competitiveness and outperforming competitors
- They may fall short in the area of corporate social responsibility.
- Microsoft has been described as having an aggressive culture
- Emphasize achievement, results, and action as important values.
- Best Buy Co. Inc. - having a culture emphasizing sales performance.
- are predictable, rule-oriented, and bureaucratic.
- prevent quick action, and as a result may be a misfit to a changing and dynamic environment.
- Public sector institutions.
- value fairness, supportiveness, and respect for individual rights.
- live the mantra that “people are their greatest asset.”
- Starbucks Corporation.
- are collaborative and emphasize cooperation among employees.
- Southwest Airlines Company facilitates a team-oriented culture by cross-training its employees so that they are capable of helping each other when needed.
- paying attention to details.
- Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton - keep records of all customer requests, such as which newspaper the guest prefers or what type of pillow the customer uses.
- Some jobs are safety sensitive. (Ex: aircraft pilot, fishing worker, steel worker, and roofer etc.)
- In organizations with a safety culture, leaders encourage employees to demonstrate behaviors such as volunteering for safety committees, making recommendations to increase safety, protecting coworkers from hazards, whistleblowing, and in general trying to make their jobs safer.
- Also maintain competitive advantage - reduce accidents, maintain high levels of morale and employee retention, and increase profitability by cutting workers’ compensation insurance costs.
- Subcultures may arise from the personal characteristics of employees and managers, as well as the different conditions under which work is performed.
- Within the same organization, marketing and manufacturing departments often have different cultures
- Marketing department may emphasize innovativeness, whereas the manufacturing department may have an emphasis on detail orientation.
- In an interesting study, researchers uncovered five different subcultures within a single police organization.
Onboarding - organizational socialization process.
Visual Elements of Culture
- Repetitive activities within an organization that have symbolic meaning. – Saturday morning meeting, award ceremonies etc.
- Statement of purpose, describing who the company is and what it does.
- Companies create rules to determine acceptable and unacceptable behavior, the rules that exist in a company will signal the type of values it has.
- A critical event an organization faced, a heroic effort of a single employee etc.
- A company’s building, including the layout of employee offices and other work spaces, communicates important messages about a company’s culture.
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