Organizational Culture 3

Essentials of
Organizational Behavior, 10/e
Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge
Chapter 15
Organizational Culture
Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-1
After studying this chapter, you
should be able to:
• Define organizational culture and describe its common
characteristics.
• Compare the functional and dysfunctional effects of
organizational culture on people and the organization.
• Explain the factors that create and sustain an
organization’s culture.
• Show how culture is transmitted to employees.
• Demonstrate how an ethical culture and a positive
culture can be created.
• Show how national culture may affect the way
organizational culture is transported to a different
country.
Organizational
Culture
A system of shared
meaning held by members
that distinguishes the
organization from other
organizations
•Composed of seven key
characteristics

Seven Characteristics of
1. Innovation and Risk
Taking
2. Attention to Detail
3. Outcome Orientation
4. People Orientation
5. Team Orientation
6. Aggressiveness
7. Stability
Culture Is a Descriptive Term
Culture Job Satisfaction

• Organizational culture is • Measures affective
concerned with how responses to the work
employees perceive an environment: concerned
organization’s culture, not with how employees feel
whether or not they like it about the organization
• Descriptive • Evaluative

Do Organizations Have Uniform
Cultures?
• The 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 of members
• Subcultures mirror the dominant culture
but may add to or modify the core values
Strong Cultures
• In a strong culture, the organization’s core
values are both intensely held and widely
shared
• Strong cultures will:
 Have great influence on the
behavior of its members
 Increase cohesiveness
 Result in lower employee
turnover
Culture Versus Formalization
• Both seek predictability, orderliness, and

consistency
• Culture controls by increasing behavioral
consistency
• Formalization controls through policies and
written documentation
• Strong cultures can be a substitute for
formalization
Culture’s Five Basic Functions
• Defines Boundaries
• Conveys a Sense of Identity
• Generates Commitment Beyond Oneself
• Enhances Social Stability
• Sense-making and Control Mechanism

Culture as a Liability
• Barrier to Change
 Culture is slow to change – even in a dynamic
environment
• Barrier to Diversity
 Culture seeks to minimize diversity
 Can embed prevalent bias and prejudice
• Barrier to Acquisitions and Mergers
 Most mergers fail due to cultural incompatibility

Creating Culture
• Ultimate source of an organization’s culture

is its founders
• Founders create culture in three ways:
 By hiring and keeping those who think and feel the
same way they do
 Indoctrinating and socializing those employees to their
way of thinking and feeling
 Acting as a role model and encouraging employees to
identify with them
Keeping a Culture Alive
• Selection – seek out those who fit in
• Top Management – establish norms of
behavior by their actions
• Socialization – help new employees adapt
to the existing culture

A Socialization Model
• Pre-arrival –initial knowledge about the

organization and own unique ideas
• Encounter – exposed to the organization
• Metamorphosis – member changed to fit
within the organization
Dimensions of
Socialization Programs
Intense Programs Moderate Programs
• Formal – new workers • Informal – new workers
separated for training immediately put to work
• Collective – group basis • Individual – one-on-one
• Fixed – planned activities • Variable – no timetables
• Serial – role models used • Random – on your own
• Divestiture – strip away • Investiture – accepts and
characteristics to build up confirms existing
new ones characteristics

How Organization Cultures Form
Success in employee socialization depends

on management’s selection of socialization
method and the closeness of new employees’
values to those of the organization
How Employees Learn Culture
Culture is transmitted to
employees through:
 Stories – provide
explanations
 Rituals – reinforce key
values
 Material Symbols – convey
importance
 Language – identify and
segregate members

Creating an Ethical
A strong culture with high risk tolerance,
low-to-moderate aggressiveness, and
focuses on means as well as outcomes is
most likely to shape high ethical standards
 Managers must be visible role models
 Communicate ethical expectations
 Provide ethical training
 Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical
ones
 Provide protective mechanisms
Creating a Positive
A positive culture is one that
emphasizes the following:
•Building on Employee
Strengths
•Rewarding More Than
Punishing
•Emphasizing Vitality and
Growth of the Employee
Global Implications
National and Organizational Cultures:

• Organizations exist in a global context
• Must be aware of local and national cultures
Suggestions and Observations:

• Organizations heavily dependent on foreign markets and
labor
• National culture does influence organizational culture
• All managers must be culturally sensitive
Implications for Managers
• Create the culture

you want when
the organization is
small and new
• If established
culture needs to
be changed,
expect it to take
years
Keep in Mind…
• Organizational culture is concerned with

how employees perceive the culture, not
whether or not they like it
• Ethical and positive organizational cultures
can be created – methods differ
• National culture influences organizational
culture

Summary
• Defined organizational culture and described its
common characteristics.
• Compared the functional and dysfunctional effects of
organizational culture on people and the organization.
• Explained the factors that created and sustained an
organization’s culture.
• Showed how culture was transmitted to employees.
• Demonstrated how an ethical culture and a positive
culture could be created.
• Showed how national culture might affect the way
organizational culture is transported to a different
country.

Organizational Culture 3

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Essentials of

Organizational Behavior, 10/e

Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-3

Culture Job Satisfaction

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-5

• Both seek predictability, orderliness, and

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-9

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-10

• Ultimate source of an organization’s culture

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-12

• Pre-arrival –initial knowledge about the

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-14

Success in employee socialization depends

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-16

National and Organizational Cultures:

Suggestions and Observations:

• Create the culture

• Organizational culture is concerned with

Copyright ©2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 15-21

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