Organizational Culture and Schein's Model

Culture Definition

• Culture consists of patterned ways of thinking, feeling, and reacting acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols.
• It is the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior.
• Culture forms values, creates attitudes, and influences behavior.

Schein's Model: Levels of Culture

• No specific details provided in the text.

Underlying Assumptions in Schein's Model

• The nature of reality and the nature of truth: shared assumptions that define what is real and what is not.
• The time dimension:
  • How important is time?
  • Do members of a culture live more in relation to the past, present, or future?
  • Are they oriented more to the long-term or short-term?
  • Examples: past-oriented, present-oriented, near future-oriented, and distant future-oriented.
  • Sequential time cultures vs synchronic time cultures.
• Other underlying assumptions:
  • The effect of spatial proximity and distance on behavior, interactions, and business practices.

Theory X and Theory Y - McGregor

Theory X

• Workers do not like to work and will avoid it whenever possible.
• Workers have little ambition, try to avoid responsibility, and like to be directed.
• Use of coercion, control, and threats of punishment is necessary.
• Most people are self-centered and must be closely controlled and often forced to achieve organizational objectives.
• Most people resist change.
• Most people are not particularly intelligent.

Theory Y

• People view work as being as natural as play and rest.
• People learn to accept and seek responsibility.
• People will be self-directed and creative to meet their work and organizational objectives if they are committed to them.
• People will be committed to their quality and productivity objectives if rewards are in place that address higher needs such as self-fulfillment.