Organizational Culture

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Organizational Culture

• Chapter 7

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What is Organizational Culture?

• Culture is the soul of the organization the
  beliefs and values and how they are manifested.
  I think of the structure as the skeleton, and as
  the flesh and blood. And culture is the soul
  that holds the thing together and gives it life
  force.
• Henry Mintzberg

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Culture Defined

• The pattern of shared values, beliefs and norms
  that a group has developed as it solves its
  problems, adapts to its external environment and
  integrates internally.
• Culture is the intangible, felt aspect of the
  organization
• It evolves over time, retaining elements that are
  proven to work and passing them on by teaching
  them to new members as the acceptable and correct
  way to behave.
• In other words, it is the shared meaning that
  emerges as group members interact and share
  common experiences.

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Levels of Culture

• Culture is a deep concept that exists at a number
  of levels
• On the surface, we see artifacts of culture
• However, there are deeper meanings behind these
  artifacts, as they are merely expressions of
  values, beliefs and norms that are shared by the
  group
• Culture is shared to different degrees
• Dominant Culture - Core values and beliefs are
  shared by the entire organization to some degree
• However, sub-cultures may exist within the larger
  culture which represent the experiences and
  values of sub-groups

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Artifacts of Culture

• There are a number of artifacts that represent
  the visible manifestations of culture (tip of
  iceberg)

• Stories
• Rites Rituals
• Symbols
• Language
• Ceremonies

We Love Wal-Mart!Yes we Do.
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How Can We Describe Cultures?

• Strong vs. Weak
• A strong culture demonstrates high agreement
  among members about what the organization stands
  for.
• Dimensions of Organizational Culture
• Innovation and Risk-taking
• Attention to Detail
• Outcome orientation
• People orientation

• Team orientation
• Aggressiveness
• Stability

Each is represented on a continuum of varying
degrees
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Where does Culture Come From?

• In the beginning, it comes from the vision of the
  founder
• Founder selects an initial group of people who
  share his/her vision
• New people are selected based on their adherence
  to the vision
• New people are socialized to understand and
  accept the culture
• Founder and Senior Managers act as role models of
  the vision

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Where does Culture Come From (2)?

• Culture evolves and is perpetuated in a number of
  ways
• Selection hiring and self-selection
• Socialization of newcomers
• Rewarding and Recognizing preferred behaviours
• Mutual adaptation to events and experiences
• Words and actions of senior management

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Joness Model of Culture

• According to the text, culture emerges from the
  interaction of four factors

• Characteristics of People in the Organization
• Founder
• Employees
• Stakeholders
• Organizational Ethics moral values acceptable
  practices
• Property Rights System Degree of ownership
  employees feel in their work and in the
  organization in general
• Organizational Structure

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Can Culture be Managed?

• Management seeks to design a culture that fits
  strategy (corporate culture view)
• The culture of the organization may be viewed as
  emerging from the interactions of members,
  suggesting that it cannot be forcibly managed.
  (shared meaning view)
• Because culture is dynamic, managements attempt
  to manage culture may have unintended or
  opposite effects to whats expected.
• Changing the structure, ethics, people and
  property rights will affect culture, but how?

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Can Culture be Changed?

• Does culture change through management action?
• Does culture change through the actions of
  employees?
• Is it some combination of both?

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In Search of Excellence

• The notion of culture became popularized in 1982
• Tom Peters and Robert Waterman from McKinsey
  consulting looked at 75 excellent companies to
  dtermine what separated them from the rest
• They developed eight principles, mainly focused
  on the cultural aspects of the organizations. . .

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A Culture Of Excellence

• A bias for action employees and managers are
  encouraged to do something, anything, rather than
  nothing or excessive review and report writing
• Staying close to the customer all organization
  members are encouraged to understand the customer
  and listen to their needs and wants. Knowing
  what customers want at all times is everybodys
  job.
• Autonomy and entrepreneurship every employee is
  encouraged to be creative and innovative.
  Structure is broken into autonomous,
  small-business-like groups that are competitive
  and independent

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Culture of Excellence (2)

• Productivity through people managers throughout
  the organization know that people are the
  organizations key resource. All employees know
  that their contribution is important to the
  bottom line and they share in the organizations
  success.
• Hands-on, value-driven top management and all
  managers stay close to the bottom-line and get
  involved with operations so that they never lose
  touch.
• Sticking to the knitting the organization does
  not take on responsibilities that it does not
  know how to handle well. The organization
  focuses on what it does best.

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Culture of Excellence (3)

• Simple form, lean staff de-layered, flat
  organization with few people at the top. An
  organic structure without a rigid hierarchy
• Simultaneous loose and tight properties
  decision-making and knowledge are decentralized
  to the lowest possible level, but top management
  maintains control of the central values of the
  company.