Professional Documents
Culture Documents
0 Organisational culture
By Dr. M. Mbasera
organizational culture defined
• Stories: Organizational “stories” typically contain a narrative of significant events or people including such things as the organization’s founders, rules
breaking, reactions to past mistakes, These stories provide prime examples that people can learn from and tell employees “why we do things in a
certain way”. To help employees learn the culture, organizational stories anchor the present in the past and exemplify what is important to the
organization.
• Rituals and Ceremonies: Corporate rituals are repetitive sequences of activates that express and reinforce the values of the organization, what goals
are most important, and which people are important and which ones are superfluous. Ceremonies and rituals reflect such activities that are enacted
repeatedly on important occasions. Members of the organization who have achieved success are recognized and rewarded on such occasions. For
example, awards given to employees e.g. end of year awards are reflections of culture of that institution.
• Material / Cultural Symbols: Symbols communicate organizational culture by unspoken messages. When you walk into different businesses, do you
get a “feel” for the place – formal, casual, fun, serious, and so forth? These feelings you get demonstrate the power of material symbols in creating an
organization’s personality. Examples: - assigned parking space for senior executives in the company premises, large offices given to senior managers,
luxury automobiles given to senior or successful officers of the organization.
• Organizational Heroes: Top Management and prominent leaders of the organization become the role models and a personification of an
organization’s culture. Their behaviour and example become a reflection of the organization’s philosophy and helps to mould the behaviour of
organizational members.
• Language: - Many organizations and units within organizations use language as a way to identify members of a culture. By learning this language,
members attest to their acceptance of the culture and their willingness to help to preserve it.
Characteristics of a healthy
organisational climate
a healthy organisational climate might be expected to exhibit such characteristic features
as:
• The integration of organisational goals and personal goals;
• The most appropriate organisation structure based on the demands of the sociotechnical
system;
• Democratic functioning of the organisation with full opportunities for participation;
• Justice in treatment with equitable HRM and employment relations policies and
practices;
• Mutual trust, consideration and support among different levels of the organisation;
• The open discussion of conflict with an attempt to avoid confrontation;
• Managerial behaviour and styles of leadership appropriate to the particular work
situations;
Characteristics of a healthy organisational
climate continue
• Acceptance of the psychological contract between the individual and the
organisation;
• Recognition of people’s needs and expectations at work, and individual
differences and attributes;
• Equitable systems of rewards based on positive recognition;
• Concern for the quality of working life and job design;
• Opportunities for personal development and career progression;
• A sense of identity with, and loyalty to, the organisation and a feeling of
being a valued and important member.
If organisational climate is to be improved, then attention should be given to
the above features.
Activities
• Define culture?
• What are the basic elements of culture?
• 4. Explain the characteristics of Organisational Culture.
• 5. What are the major elements of organizational culture, and where
do they come from?
• 5. What are characteristic features which a healthy organisational
climate might exhibit