2. Questions for Consideration
What is organizational culture?
When is organizational culture functional?
Dysfunctional?
How do employees learn about the culture of
their organization?
3. “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.”
4. The pattern of shared values, beliefs and assumptions
considered to be the appropriate way to think and act
within an organization.
Culture is shared
Culture helps members solve problems
Culture is taught to newcomers
Culture strongly influences behaviour
5. Artifacts of Material Symbols
Organizational Language
Culture Rituals
Stories
Organizational Beliefs
Culture Values
Assumptions
6. Innovation and risk-taking
The degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and take
risks.
Attention to detail
The degree to which employees are expected to exhibit precision, analysis,
and attention to detail.
Outcome orientation
The degree to which management focuses on results or outcomes rather
than on technique and process.
People orientation
The degree to which management decisions take into consideration the
effect of outcomes on people within the organization.
7. Team orientation
The degree to which work activities are organized around teams
rather than individuals.
Aggressiveness
The degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather
than easygoing.
Stability
The degree to which organizational activities emphasize
maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth.
9. Organizational culture represents a common
perception held by the organization members.
Core values or dominant (primary) values are
accepted throughout the organization.
Dominant culture
Expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the
organization’s members.
Subcultures
Tend to develop in large organizations to reflect common
problems, situations, or experiences.
10. Top
Philosophy management
of Selection Organization's
organization's criteria culture
founders
Socialization
11. Selection
Identify and hire individuals who will fit in with the
culture
Top Management
Senior executives establish and communicate the norms
of the organization
Socialization
Organizations need to teach the culture to new
employees
12. Socialization Process Outcomes
Productivity
Prearrival Encounter Metamorphosis Commitment
Turnover
13. Formal vs. Informal
Individual vs. Collective
Fixed vs. Variable
Serial vs. Random
Investiture vs. Divestiture
14. High Networked Communal
Sociability
Low Fragmented Mercenary
Low High
Solidarity
15. Social glue that helps hold an organization together
Provides appropriate standards for what employees
should say or do
Boundary-defining
Conveys a sense of identity for organization members
16. Facilitates commitment to something larger than one’s
individual self-interest
Enhances social system stability
Serves as a “sense-making” and control mechanism
Guides and shapes the attitudes and behaviour of
employees
17. Culture can have dysfunctional aspects in some
instances
Culture as a Barrier to Change
When organization is undergoing change, culture may impede
change
Culture as a Barrier to Diversity
Strong cultures put considerable pressure on employees to
conform
Culture as a Barrier to Mergers and Acquisitions
Merging the cultures of two organizations can be difficult, if not
impossible
18. Have top-management people become positive
role models, setting the tone through their
behaviour.
Create new stories, symbols, and rituals to replace
those currently in vogue.
Select, promote, and support employees who
espouse the new values that are sought.
Redesign socialization processes to align with the
new values.
19. Change the reward system to encourage
acceptance of a new set of values.
Replace unwritten norms with formal rules and
regulations that are tightly enforced.
Shake up current subcultures through transfers,
job rotation, and/or terminations.
Work to get peer group consensus through
utilization of employee participation and creation
of a climate with a high level of trust.
20. Employees form an overall subjective perception of the
organization based on such factors as degree of risk
tolerance, team emphasis, and support of people.
This overall perception becomes, in effect, the organization’s
culture or personality.
These favourable or unfavourable perceptions then affect employee
performance and satisfaction, with the impact being greater for
stronger cultures.
Just as people’s personalities tend to be stable over time, so
too do strong cultures.
This makes strong cultures difficult for managers to change.
21. One of the more important managerial implications of
organizational culture relates to selection decisions.
Hiring individuals whose values don't align with those of the
organization is not good.
An employee's performance depends to a considerable
degree on knowing what he should or should not do.
22. Why Culture Doesn’t When Culture Can
Change Change
Culture develops over
There is a dramatic crisis
many years, and becomes
part of how the There is a turnover in
organization thinks and leadership
feels The organization is young
Selection and promotion and small
policies guarantee survival There is a weak culture
of culture
Top management chooses
managers likely to
maintain culture