5. What Is an Organization Culture? Where does an organisations culture come from? Ans.

Organizational culture is the shared values, principles, traditions, and ways of doing things that influence the way organizational members act. This definition implies: 1. Individuals perceive organizational culture based on what they see, hear, or experience within the organization. 2. 3. Organizational culture is shared by individuals within the organization. Organizational culture is a descriptive term. It describes, rather than evaluates. 4. Seven dimensions of an organizations culture have been proposed a. Innovation and risk taking (the degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and take risks) b. Attention to detail (the degree to which employees are expected to exhibit precision, analysis, and attention to detail) c. Outcome orientation (the degree to which managers focus on results or outcomes rather than on the techniques and processes used to achieve those outcomes) d. People orientation (the degree to which management decisions take into consideration the effect on people within the organization) e. Team orientation (the degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals) f. Aggressiveness (the degree to which employees are aggressive and competitive rather than cooperative) g. Stability (the degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth) 5. An organization's personality or system of shared meaning. 6. Organizations have cultures that govern how their members should behave. 7. In every organization, stories, rituals, material symbols, and language evolve over time and are "the way things are done around here". 1. Culture is perception, descriptive and shared.

B. Where Does an Organizations Culture Come from?

1. An organizations culture usually reflects the vision or mission of the organizations founders. a) The founders also have biases on how to carry out the idea. b) They are unconstrained by previous customs or ideologies. c) The small size of most new organizations also helps the founders impose their vision. 2. An organizations culture results from the interaction between: a) the founders biases and assumptions, and b) what the first employees learn subsequently from their own experiences. c) Example, the founder of IBM, Thomas Watson, established a culture based on pursuing excellence, providing the best customer service, and respect for employees. d) Some 75 years later, in an effort to revitalize the ailing IBM, CEO Louis Gerstner enhanced that culture with his strong customer-oriented sensibility recognizing the urgency the marketplace places on having their expectations met. 3. Corporate rituals are repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the important values and goals of the organization. 4. Material symbols or artifacts also help in creating an organizations personality. Language is used as a way to identify and unite members of a culture

3.

CURRENT ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ISSUES Four current cultural issues managers should consider: A. Creating an Ethical Culture (See Exhibit 3-7 for suggestions on how managers can create a more ethical culture.) 1. The content and strength of an organizations culture influence its ethical climate and ethical behavior of its members. 2. A strong organizational culture exerts more influence on employees than does a weak one. 3. The organizational culture most likely to shape high ethical standards is one that is high in risk tolerance and low to moderate in aggressiveness, while focusing on means as well as outcomes.

Thinking Critically About Ethics

When Does Success Turn Ugly?

From the discussion so far, it is easy to get the impression that a strong culture is beneficial for the organization. But what happens when the culture of the company promotes abusive or even illegal behavior? As can be seen in this example, UMC Corporations intent to create a strong sense of pride and hard work actually had unintended consequences. The idea of a driven, elite sales force sounds good until we see how a strong sense of culture can reinforce the wrong set of values. In this critical thinking exercise, asks students to consider what UMC should do next. Questions can revolve around whether it is more appropriate to fire the offending employees or to take drastic steps to change the values of the sales teams. Would firing one or two employees help? Would creating a new set of policies regarding illegal behaviors have a strong impact? How easy would it be to change the culture at UMC?

B.

Creating an Innovative Culture 1. What does an innovative culture look like? Swedish researcher Goran Ekvall provides these characteristics: Challenge and involvement Freedom Trust and openness Idea time Playfulness/humor Conflict resolution Debates Risk taking Creating a Customer-Responsive Culture 1. What does a customer-responsive culture look like? Research shows the following six characteristics routinely present in a customer-responsive culture. (See Exhibit 3-8 for actions managers can take to make their cultures more customer responsive.) Type of employee Few rigid rules, procedures, and regulations Widespread use of empowerment

C.

D.

Good listening skills Role clarity Employees who are conscientious in desire to please customers Creating a Culture that Supports Diversity 1. Todays organizations are characterized by many types of diversity including: gender, race, age, and personality characteristics. 2. For managers, it is important to recognize the impact that homogeneous vs. a heterogeneous workforce impacts the culture of the organization. 3. Which culture is best for improving creative solutions and morale?