Organizational Culture

Organizational Culture is the totality of beliefs , customs, traditions and values shared by the members of the organization.

Corporate culture can be looked at as a system.

It is important to consider culture while managing change in the organization.

Culture can be both, as input and as output.

Introduction

Innovation and Risk Taking Attention to Detail Outcome Orientation People Orientation Team Orientation Aggressiveness Stability

Key Characteristics of Corporate Culture

Authoritarian culture Participative culture Mechanistic culture Organic culture Sub-cultures and Dominant culture

Types of Culture

Academy culture Baseball Team culture Club culture Fortress culture

As given by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld

Talent-attractor Talent-retainer Engages people Creates energy and momentum Changes the view of “work” Creates greater synergy Makes everyone more successful

Importance of Organizational Culture

Product of action, i.e., input.

Element of future action, i.e., output.

Culture is the product of socio-technical systems.

Management strategies, structures, procedures,

etc. influence culture.

Culture can be self-perpetuating and highly

resistant to change.

Culture – Input and Output

Adapted from Williams et al, 1989The Organization

External Environment

• Legislation• Politics• Technology• Education• Society• Market place• Competitors• Consumers• Economy

strategy

Structure, systems, technology

Work Environment

Work tasks, goals and procedures

Work group

behavior

Manager

behavior

Culture: common beliefs, values and attitudes

Characteristic patterns of

behavior

National cultural values are learned early, held deeply and change slowly over the course of generations.

Organizational culture, on the other hand, is comprised of broad guidelines which are rooted in organizational practices.

A nation’s culture is similar to that of an organization as it is comprised of the symbols, values, rituals, and traditions of the people living in a particular region.

Cultures usually differ in relationships between the individual and society, ways of dealing with conflict, relationships to authority, and conceptions of class and gender. All of these things are comparable to organizational culture, just on a grander scale.

Organizational Culture v/s National Culture

Creating and Sustaining Organizational Culture

The ultimate source of an organization’s culture is its founders.

Culture creation occurs in three ways:◦ Employees hire and keep employees with same

thinking◦ They indoctrinate and socialize the employees

with the organization’s thinking◦ The founder’s behavior acts as a role model for

the employees With the organizational success, the founder’s

personality is embedded in the organizational culture.

Creating Corporate Culture

How Organization Cultures FormRobbins, 1989

Philosophy of organization’s founders

Selection criteria

Top management

Organization culture

Socialization

Three forces play a particularly important part in sustaining a culture: • Selection practices • Actions of top management • Socialization methods

Sustaining Organizational Culture

Explicit goal – identifying and hiring individuals having knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the jobs successfully.

Individuals having values consistent with those of the organization are selected as per the decision maker’s judgements.

Selection becomes a ‘two-way street’ as it provides information about the organization to the applicants.

Selection

The actions of top management establishes the norms for the organization as to:

• Whether risk taking is desirable• How much freedom managers should give to

their subordinates• What actions will pay off in terms of pay rises,

promotions and other rewards, etc.

Top Management

New employees are not familiar with the organizational culture and are potentially likely to disturb the existing culture.

The process through which the employees are proselytized about the customs and traditions of the organization is known as socialization.

It is the process of adaptation by which new employees are to understand the basic values and norms for becoming ‘accepted’ members of the organization.

Socialization

Socialization is a process made up of three stages:

Pre-arrival - All the learning occurring before a new member joins.

Encounter - The new employee sees what the organization is really like and confronts the possibility that expectations and reality may diverge.

Metamorphosis - The relatively long-lasting changes take place. The new employee masters the skills required for the job, successfully performs the new roles, and makes the adjustments to the work group’s values and norms.

Socialization Process

Socialization Model

Pre-arrival

Encounter

Metamorphosis

Productivity

Commitment

Turnover

Socialization Process

Outcomes

Stories – Depicting the past events of the organization. Some organizations actually try to manage this element of culture learning.

Rituals – Repetitive sequential activities reinforcing the values of the organization.

Material Symbols – Conveying social equality, desired organizational behavior, etc. by the top management.

Language – Acceptance and preservation of culture.

How Employees Learn Culture

Culture adapts to diverse circumstances. Managers need to understand the nature and role

of culture. Managers must understand the importance of

culture for organizational change. Corporate culture also impacts the day-to-day

decision-making of the organization.

Conclusion