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