Organizational Culture and Cultural Diversity

1
Organizational Culture and Cultural Diversity

• Chapter 18

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Learning Goals

1. Describe the core elements of a culture
2. Compare and contrast four types of organizational
   culture
3. Discuss why subcultures exist in organizations
4. Describe several activities for successfully
   managing diversity

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Elements of a Culture

• Culture the unique pattern of shared
  assumptions, values, and norms that shape the
  socialization, symbols, language, narratives, and
  practices of a group of people

• Shared assumptions the underlying thoughts and
  feelings that members of a culture take for
  granted and believe to be true

• Value a basic belief about something that has
  considerable importance and meaning to
  individuals and is stable over time

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Elements of a Culture The Culture Iceberg
Practices
Observable Elements of Culture
Narratives
Language
Symbols
Socialization
Norms
Hidden Elements of Culture
Values
Assumptions
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Elements of a Culture
(cont'd)

• Norms rules that govern the behaviors of group
  members

• Socialization a process by which new members are
  brought into a culture

• Symbol anything visible that can be used to
  represent an abstract shared value or something
  having special meaning

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Elements of a Culture

• Language a shared system of vocal sounds,
  written signs, and/or gestures used to convey
  special meanings among members of a culture

• Narratives the unique stories, sagas, legends,
  and myths in a culture

• Practices

• Taboos culturally forbidden behaviors
• Ceremonies elaborate and formal activities
  designed to generate strong feelings

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Basic Types of Organizational Cultures
Flexible
Clan Culture
EntrepreneurialCulture
Formal Control Orientation
BureaucraticCulture
MarketCulture
Stable
Internal
External
Focus of Attention
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Bureaucratic Culture

• Behavior of employees is governed by formal rules
  and standard operating procedures, and
  coordination is achieved through hierarchical
  reporting relationships

• Focuses on predictability, efficiency, and
  stability

• Tasks, responsibilities, and authority clearly
  spelled out

• Internal Focus

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Clan Culture

• Behaviors of employees are shaped by tradition,
  loyalty, personal commitment, extensive
  socialization, and self-management

• Formal rules and procedures minimized

• High sense of member obligation and identity to
  the organization

• Long and thorough socialization process

• Mentors and role models

• Strong peer pressure

• Internal focus

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Clan Culture Snapshot
Theres a family mentality here as opposed to
just being another number. That trickles down
from the top. He the CEO knows everyones name
and says hi everyday when I see him during
morning workouts at the gym.
Andres Smith, Accountant, Analytic Graphics,
Inc., Easton, Pennsylvania
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Entrepreneurial Culture

• External focus and flexibility create an
  environment that encourages risk taking,
  dynamism, and creativity

• Commitment to experimentation, innovation, and
  being on the leading edge

• Creates change and quickly reacts to change

• Individual initiative, flexibility, and freedom
  seen as fostering growth

• Encouraged and rewarded

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Market Culture

• Values and norms reflect the importance of
  achieving measurable and demanding goals,
  especially those that are financial and market
  based (e.g., sales growth, profitability and
  market share)

• Hard driving competitiveness dominates

• Profits orientation and quantifiable performance
  goals prevail

• Minimal informal social pressure on members

• Superior interactions with subordinates focus on
  performance-reward (economic) agreement and
  resource allocations

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Organizational Subculture

• Exists when assumptions, values, and norms are
  shared by somebut not allorganizational members

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Organizational Subculture

• Reasons Executives Give for Failed Mergers

Inability to manage target business
Clash of management styles/egos
Inability to implement changein new organization
Reason for merger failure
Synergies were overstated
Incompatible cultures
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Percent of executives who state reason as primary
explanation for merger failures
Percent
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Organizational Subculture

• Departments and divisions within the organization
  have their own subcultures

• Occupational subcultures

• Geographically based subcultures

• Subcultures created by managers

Positive cultures are created by managers who

• recognize personal milestones, such as birthdays
  and employment anniversaries
• hold public celebrations for professional
  achievements
• sponsor picnics and parties and
• listen to their employees and recognize the
  efforts they put into work

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Organizational Subculture

• Diverse workforce demographics create subcultures

• Ethnicity

• Age

• Gender and other demographics

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Organizational Subculture Snapshot
My first conscious exposure to racism occurred
when I came back to the States and went to public
school. One of the children said somethingI
dont remember now whatbut I remember what my
grandmother said to me They tried to put you in
a box. Dont ever let anybody put you in a box.
Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., Former Chairman and CEO,
TIAA-CREF
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Managing Cultural Diversity and Inclusion

• Cultural diversity encompasses the full mix of
  the cultures and subcultures to which members of
  the workforce belong

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Managing Cultural Diversity and Inclusion

• Organization goals for managing cultural
  diversity include

• Legal compliance
• Creating a positive culture for employees
• Create greater economic value for the
  organization

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Managing Cultural Diversity and Inclusion
Snapshot
HP is committed to building a work environment
where everyone has an opportunity to fully
participate in creating business successWe
address our commitment to diversity through
development programs targeted to the next
generation of HP leaders, work-life initiatives
for our employees, recruiting of diverse talent,
and other efforts that help employees and
managers foster an inclusive work environment.
Additionally, we establish diversity goals to
create accountability and drive our success. By
weaving diversity into the fabric of our company,
we create a mind-set in every employee and
manager that will allow them to think consciously
about diversity and inclusion in everything they
do.
Emily Duncan, VP Culture and Diversity,
Hewlett-Packard
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Managing Cultural Diversity and Inclusion
Process of Change

• Diagnosis Before managers begin to design new
  approaches to managing diversity, they must
  understand how current practices affect the
  amount and nature of diversity

• Vision Leaders must formulate and articulate a
  clear vision to persuade others to join them

(continued)
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Managing Cultural Diversity and Inclusion
Process of Change
(cont'd)

• Involvement For the plan to be effective, those
  who are affected must buy into it

• Timing Planned organization change usually
  follows an evolutionarynot revolutionarypath

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Managing Cultural Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity Training

• Awareness training designed to provide accurate
  information about the many subcultures present in
  the organization

• Harassment training aimed at ensuring that
  employees understand the meaning of harassment
  and the actions the company will take when
  someone complains of being harassed

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Managing Cultural Diversity and Inclusion

• Create Family-Friendly Work Places

• Survey employees
• Offer options to meet employees needs
• Consider child-care initiatives
• Consider elder-care initiatives

• Hold Managers Accountable

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Managing Cultural Diversity and Inclusion
Challenges

• Managing the reactions of the members of the
  dominate culture, who may feel that they have
  lost some of the power they previously had

• Synthesizing the diversity of opinions from
  individuals and using them as the basis for
  reaching meaningful agreement on issues

• Avoiding real and perceived tokenism and quota
  systems