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 Business 107: Organizational Behavior  /  Business Courses

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Strong vs. Weak Organizational Cultures: Examples & Differences

Chapter 22 /  Lesson 4   Transcript

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Lesson Transcript

Instructor: John McLaughlin

In this lesson, you will learn the difference between a strong organizational culture and a weak
organizational culture. You will also learn how these different types of culture affect the members of an
organization.
Strong vs. Weak Organizational Cultures

Kurt counts cartons of ketchup. Kurt is in charge of quality control at Kelly's Ketchup Factory, and his job
is to make sure every ketchup bottle is full, every label is straight, every cap is on tight and every carton
is full before he ships them to his customers. Myrnie mixes mustard. She works for Murray's Mustard
Company, and her job is to combine the exact amounts of vinegar, water, spices and mustard seed to
make every batch of Murray's Mustard the best it can be.

These two companies are similar in many ways. Both have been making an American condiment for a
long time. Both companies have cultures with similar core values. They both want to make the best
product possible, and make it affordable for the average consumer. There is a big difference in the
strength of cultures of these two companies, however. Let's find out the differences between the strong
organizational culture of Kelly's Ketchup and the weak organizational culture of Murray's Mustard, and
how these differences affect the day-to-day operations of the employees of these two companies.

What is Organizational Culture?

First, let's define organizational culture. Every organization has a unique culture - the same way every
person has a unique personality. Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values and
beliefs that governs how people behave in organizations. The culture of an organization is determined
by the values placed on a set of characteristics, such as risk orientation and attention to detail.

If there is a high level of agreement and commitment among the members of an organization on the
importance of these values, their organization has a strong culture. An organization in which members
do not agree with the core values or are not committed to the core values has a weak culture.

Strong Organizational Culture

The president of Kelly's Ketchup believes that it is very important that every bottle of ketchup that
leaves his plant is made exactly the same way. He believes that producing a consistently high-quality
product is very important to the consumers who buy his ketchup. He acts as a role model for a high level
of consistency by performing his job with great precision.

The president shares this belief with everyone who works at Kelly's Ketchup and provides ways for
employees to measure their success at meeting this high standard. The workers on the production line
are paid bonuses for every batch of ketchup they produce without a defect. Attention to detail is one of
the core values of the culture at Kelly's Ketchup, and by aligning the employee's values to his, the
president has created a very strong culture of production accuracy at Kelly's Ketchup.

This strong culture exists because almost everyone who works for Kelly's Ketchup agrees with the
importance of producing a consistently high-quality product. Every employee knows that it is part of
their job to make sure that every bottle of ketchup they produce will look and taste exactly the same.
Any worker can stop the production line for any reason, anytime they notice something is wrong with
the product.

Shared values that are widely held by the employees provide a strong culture at Kelly's Ketchup. This
strong culture acts like a strong wind that guides all the members of this organization along a similar
path to reach the common goals of the organization. Like the wind that pushes a sail, the strong culture
is invisible, but very powerful.
Weak Organizational Culture

Murray's Mustard also has a core value of attention to detail. Like Kelly's Ketchup, the president of
Murray's Mustard also believes in the importance of making a consistently high-quality product. Unlike
Kelly's Ketchup, the president of Murray's Mustard has only explained the importance of this attention
to detail with a few of his vice presidents.

The rest of the members of the organization have no idea that it is important for them to strive towards
creating a consistent product. Since the weak culture of Murray's Mustard provides very little guidance,
employees on the mustard production line are not always sure what they should do if they notice a
mustard jar that is half full or missing a label.

Myrnie once noticed that the vinegar she was using was past its expiration date and had an unusually
strong odor. Myrnie reported this to her supervisor, who filled out a report and sent it to the purchasing
department to notify them that they had purchased outdated vinegar. Myrnie used the old vinegar in
her batch of mustard and stopped paying attention to expiration dates on the ingredients she used.

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Business 107: Organizational Behavior

26 chapters | 234 lessons

1 - The Evolution of Organizational Behavior

2 - Management and Organizational Behavior

3 - Foundations of Individual Behavior

4 - Personality and Behavior in Organizations

5 - Emotions and Moods in the Workplace

6 - Attitudes and Values in the Workplace

7 - Ethics in the Workplace

8 - Perception and Attribution

9 - Learning in the Workplace

10 - Employee Motivation

11 - Individual Decision Making in Organizations

12 - Workforce Diversity
13 - Organizational Communication in Business

14 - Groups and Work Teams

15 - Group Decision Making

16 - Conflict in the Workplace

17 - Leadership in Organizational Behavior

18 - Leadership Theory in Organizational Behavior

19 - Leadership Styles in Organizational Behavior

20 - Organizational Structure and Design

21 - Job Design

22 - Organizational Culture

 What is Organizational Culture? - Definition & Characteristics 7:37

 Functions of Organizational Culture8:18

 Organizational Subculture: Definition & Examples9:07

 Strong vs. Weak Organizational Cultures: Examples & Differences 6:59

 4:59

Next Lesson

Creating and Sustaining Organizational Culture

 Employee Socialization: Maintaining a Company Culture9:16

 Organizational Climate: Definition, Factors & Impacts on Culture7:04

 Dysfunction in Organizational Culture: Institutionalization & Barriers 7:57

 Ethical Culture and Positive Culture in Organizations 8:28

 Workplace Spirituality and Organizational Culture8:12

 Go toOrganizational Culture

23 - Organizational Change and Organizational Behavior

 Factors that Cause Change in Organizations: Planned and Unplanned 6:18

 The Planned Change Process8:06

 Overcoming Barrier to Change in Organizations5:51

  Lewin's 3-Stage Model of Change: Unfreezing, Changing & Refreezing 8:06

 Kurt Lewin's Force-Field Analysis Change Model5:43

 Kotter's 8-Step Change Model of Management10:45

 Applying Kotter's 8-Step Change Model7:50

 What Is Action Research? - Executing Organizational Change8:18

 What Is Organizational Development? - Executing Organizational Change5:45

 Employee Behavior & Attitudes During Organizational Change8:43

 Technological Innovation and Organizational Behavior4:49

 Organizational Culture and Change8:52

 How Internal and External Factors Drive Organizational Change7:47

 Types of Internal Organizational Change: Structural, Strategic, People, and Process 6:41

 Creativity, Innovation, and Change and the Knowledge Economy7:07

 Go toOrganizational Change and Organizational Behavior

24 - Managing Workplace Stress

25 - Career Management

26 - Global Implications of Organizational Behavior

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