Organizational Behaviour

1
Chapter 9Organizational Culture
2
Whats Organizational Culture?

• Mintzberg says Culture is the soul of the
  organization the beliefs, values and how they
  are manifested. I think the structure is the
  skeleton. The culture gives the life force.
• Carter McNamara says Basically, organizational
  culture is the personality of the organization.
  Culture is comprised of the assumptions, values,
  norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of
  organization members and their behaviors.

3
Culture Defined

• Organizational Culture the pattern of shared
  values, beliefs and assumptions considered to be
  the appropriate way to think and act
• It is shared by the members of the organization
• It helps to solve and understand the things it
  encounters
• Culture is taught to new members as a time tested
  framework for behaviour in the organization
• Artifacts aspects of the culture you can se,
  hear, touch, feel. How employees learn about the
  culture
• Beliefs Understandings of how objects and ideas
  related to each other
• Values the stable, long lasting beliefs about
  what is important

4
Characteristics of an Org Culture

• Innovation and risk taking
• the degree to which employees are encouraged to
  be innovative
• Attention to Detail
• The degree to which employees are expected to
  work with precision
• Outcome Oriented
• The degree to which management focuses on results
  rather than techniques
• People Oriented
• The degree to which management decisions take
  into account outcomes on people
• Team Oriented
• The degree to which activities are organized
  around teams vs individuals

5
Characteristics of an Org Culture

• Aggressiveness
• The degree to which people are aggressive and
  competitive vs easy going or supportive
• Stability
• The degree to which organization activities
  emphasize the status quo vs growth
• On a day-to-day basis, cultural can be
  characterized by
• Hours of operation, coffee breaks or not,
  flexible lunch times
• Corporate Culture Meets GAP Adventure Video

6
Artifacts of Culture

• Artifacts are the aspects of the organization
  that you can see, hear, touch and feel
• They are the tools used by newcomers to learn
  about the organization
• Stories are artifacts that tell tales about the
  founders, previous employees, successes, failures
• They anchor the present in the past nd provide
  explanations and legitimacy for current practices
• Rituals repetitive sequences of activities that
  express and reinforce the key values, such as
  identifying who the important people and what the
  important goals are.
• What is an example of a organizational ritual?

7
Artifacts of Culture

• Material symbols often act as an indicator to
  culture
• Size of offices, dress code, executive perks,
  convey to employees who is important and the kind
  of behaviour that is appropriate
• Members learn to use the proper language to be
  indoctrinated into the culture (language is
  evidence that a Background of Relatedness is
  present)

8
Cultures and Subcultures

• Large organizations not onl posses cultures but
  can also exhibit subcultures
• Dominant Culture expresses the core values that
  are shared by a majority of the organization's
  members, giving it a distinct personality
• Subcultures tend to develop to reflect common
  problems, situations or experiences by a subgroup
• Subcultures appear in geographically dispersed
  organizations, or where departments are large
  enough to have theirn own life force outside the
  organizations

9
Birth and Life of a Culture

• Cultures are born based on the personality and
  philosophy of the founder and earliest employees
• Often, stories of the early company when it only
  had a few employees are the foundation for the
  culture
• These early stories influence the thoughts and
  behaviours of the employees
• Founders hire and keep those who think the way
  they do
• They socialize new employees to the way they
  think and founders actions act as a role model
  for new employees
• Everybody drinks the same coolaid
• Culture is maintained through selection
  processes, performance evals, training, and
  promotional procedures
• Its kind of like the BORG (resistance is futile)

10
Socializing Employees

• Organizations have several options when it comes
  to assimilating an employee
• Formal vs informal training vs learn it
  yourself
• Individual vs Collective one on one vs group
  activities
• Fixed Time vs Variable a fixed training period
  such as an apprenticeship, articling, probation
  period
• Investitures vs Divestitures are skills valued
  and built upon, or torn down then rebuilt
• In your recent occupation (job or student), did
  your organization do anything to socialize you?
• Is socialization truly brainwashing or
  assimilation?

11
Culture as a liability

• Culture helps new employees orient themselves
• it helps the organization maintain an identity
• It increases organizational commitment and
  reduces ambiguity for employees
• But it also can be a barrier to change
• By definition, culture is stable, resist change
• Culture can also reduce diversity since founders
  and hiring managers will seek to hire people who
  have the same perspective as they do
• Corporate Culture Meets GAP

12
Matching People to Culture

• Hiring practices in many high-tech companies
  today call for an organizational fit
• Job candidates also endeavour to find a good
  organizational match
• Goffee and Jones identified for Cultural Types to
  help employees select prospective employers
• Networked family, friendly, sociable, group
  oriented
• Mercenary fiercely goal oriented, less
  politicking, lone wolfs
• Fragmented individualists, quality of work and
  productivity are key success criteria
• Communal values friendship and performance,
  feelings of belonging with a strong focus on goals

13
Changing an Organizational Culture

• Can this be done, if culture is a long lasting
  and stable concept?
• Is a culture manageable?
• How would you go about changing a culture?
• In the end, changing culture is very very
  difficult and very expensive (in terms of ,
  people, stress, confusion,).
• You can create a culture by coaching people in
  what they are already committed to
• Chapter 10

14
(No Transcript)