Organizational Culture Overview

Organizational Culture

• Organizational culture is a system of shared meanings held by members distinguishing the organization from others.

Common Characteristics of Organizational Culture

• Primary Characteristics:
  • Adaptability
  • Detail orientation
  • Results/outcome orientation
  • People/customer orientation
  • Collaboration/team orientation
  • Integrity

Culture as a Descriptive Term

• Concerned with employees' perceptions of characteristics, not whether they like them.
  • Questions to consider: does it encourage teamwork, reward innovation, or stifle initiative?
• Differs from job satisfaction, which is evaluative; organizational culture is descriptive.

Do Organizations Have Uniform Cultures?

• Most have a dominant culture and numerous subcultures.
• Dominant culture expresses core values shared by the majority, giving the organization a distinct personality.
• Subcultures tend to develop in large organizations reflecting common problems, situations, or experiences.

Strong versus Weak Cultures

• Strong culture: core values intensely held and widely shared.
  • Stronger influence on member behavior the more members accept core values and are committed.

What Do Cultures Do?

• Functions of Culture:
  • Boundary-defining role.
  • Convey a sense of identity for members.
  • Facilitate generation of commitment.
  • Enhance stability of the social system.
  • Serve as a sense-making and control mechanism.
• Culture Creates Climate:
  • Shared perceptions of the organization and work environment, including team spirit at the organizational level.
  • Climates interact to produce behavior and influence habits.
• Ethical Dimension of Culture:
  • Cultures are not neutral in their ethical orientation.
  • Ethical culture (shared concept of right/wrong) develops over time as part of the organizational climate.
  • Reflects true values and shapes ethical decision-making.
• Sustainability:
  • Practices maintained over long periods due to supportive tools and structures.
  • Social sustainability not purely altruistic.
  • Long-term culture puts values into practice.
  • Requires time and nurturing to grow.
• Culture and Innovation:
  • Most innovative companies have open, unconventional, collaborative, vision-driven, and accelerating cultures.
  • Startup firms often have innovative cultures, usually small, agile, and focused on problem-solving.
• Culture as an Asset:
  • Significantly contributes to an organization's bottom line in many ways.
  • Many success stories are due to excellent organizational cultures.

Culture as a Liability

• Institutionalization: deeply ingrained organizational culture making change difficult.
• Barriers to Change: culture opposes change.
• Barriers to Diversity: resists diversity.
• Toxicity and Dysfunctions: negative cultures causing problems.
• Barriers to Acquisitions and Mergers: cultures clash during integration.

Creating and Sustaining Culture

• How a Culture Begins: Ultimate source is founders.
  • They have a vision for what the organization should be.
  • New organizations are small, facilitating the founders' vision.
• Culture Creation (3 Ways):
  • Founders hire employees who think and feel as they do.
  • Employees are indoctrinated and socialized into founders' way of thinking.
  • Founder's behavior encourages employees to identify with them.
• Keeping a Culture Alive (Selection and Top Management):
  • Selection: Identifying and hiring individuals with necessary skills.
  • Top Management: Establishing norms of behavior.
• Socialization Model (Exhibit 16-2):
  • Prearrival Stages
  • Encounter Stage
  • Metamorphosis Stage
• How Organizational Cultures Form (Exhibit 16-4):
  • Philosophy of founders
  • Selection criteria
  • Top management
  • Socialization

How Culture is Transmitted to Employees

• Culture is transmitted through
  • Stories
  • Rituals
  • Symbols
  • Material symbols
  • Language

Influencing Organizational Culture

• Ethical Culture:
  • Visible role model.
  • Communicate ethical expectations.
  • Provide ethics training.
  • Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones.
  • Provide protective mechanisms.
• Positive Culture:
  • Emphasizes building on employee strengths.
  • Rewards more than it punishes.
  • Emphasizes vitality growth.
• Workplace Spirituality:
  • Not about organized religious practices or theology.
  • Recognizes inner life nourishing and nourished by meaningful work taking place in a community context.

Implications for Managers

• Realize culture is relatively fixed. Involve top management for change strategies.
• Hire individuals whose values align with the organization.
• Understand employees' performance and socialization.
  • Train well and inform of changes.
• Shape culture by taking a visible role model and by working to create an ethical and positive work environment.
• Culture may not be transferable to other countries, so understand cultural relevance when introducing new initiatives.

Identify Characteristics of a Spiritual Culture

• Many organizations have grown interested in spirituality but had difficulty implementing its principles.
  • Leaders can demonstrate values, attitudes, and behaviors that trigger intrinsic motivation and a sense of calling through work.
  • Encouraging employees to consider their work’s purpose through community building.
• Critics focus on: scientific foundation, legitimacy of imposing spiritual values, and compatibility with profits.

Global Context

• Organizational cultures often reflect national culture.
• U.S. managers need to be culturally sensitive.
• Ethical behavior management can be a cultural clash point.