CIV402 Sec22 & 66 4/22/2020

Being Morally Responsible in an Organization

The Importance of Organizational Culture
Engineers must first have some understanding of the organization in
which they are employed.

This knowledge helps engineers to understand:

(1) how they and their managers tend to frame issues under the
influence of the organization and
(2) how one can act in the organization effectively, safely, and in a
morally responsible way.

It is generally agreed that organizational culture is set at the top of an

organization—by high level managers, by the president or chief
executive officer of the organization, by directors, and sometimes by
owners.

Three Types of Organizational Culture

1. Engineer-Oriented Companies.
In these firms, there is general agreement that quality takes priority over other
considerations, except safety. In the words of one manager, ‘‘we have
overdesigned our products and would rather lose money than diminish our
reputation”.
Engineers often said that managers would rarely overrule them when there
was a significant engineering issue, although they might make the final
decision when primarily such issues as cost or marketing are involved.

2. Customer-Oriented Companies.
Decision making is similar to that of engineer oriented firms, but with four
significant differences.
First, managers think of engineers as advocates of a point of view different
from their own.
Second, more emphasis is placed on business considerations than in
engineer-oriented companies.
Third, as with engineer-oriented companies, safety outranks quality.
Sometimes quality can be sacrificed to get the product out the door.
Finally, communication between engineers and managers may be somewhat
more difficult than in engineer-oriented firms.

Dr. Manish A. Kewalramani 1

CIV402 Sec22 & 66 4/22/2020

Three Types of Organizational Culture….cont…..

3. Finance-Oriented Companies.
These firms are more centralized and that this has important
consequences. For example, engineers may receive less information for
making decisions and consequently their decisions are given less weight
by managers. Managers are less inclined to try to reach consensus, and
engineers are seen as having a ‘‘staff ’’ and advisory function.

Dr. Manish A. Kewalramani 2