1

ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
 Learning objectives
2

 Define the terms organizational culture,socialization

 Define characteristics and functions of OC
 Discuss the key elements of managing the
organizational culture
 Describe the relationship between a society’s culture
and OC
 Identify specific practices and programs used by
organizations to facilitate socialization
 Definitions of OC
3

 The customary and traditional way of doing things, which is

shared to a greater or lesser degree by all members, and
which the new members must learn and at least partially
accept, in order to be accepted into the services of the firm.
 The ideologies, beliefs and deep-set values which occur in all
firms…and are predisposition for the ways in which people
should work in these organizations
 A dominant and coherent set of shared values conveyed by
such symbolic means as stories, myths, legends, slogans,
anecdotes and fairy tales
 The way we do things around here
 Schein’s definition of OC
4

A pattern of basic assumptions – invented, discovered,

or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with
the problems of external adaptation and internal
integration , that has worked well enough to be
considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new
members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel
in relation to those problems
 Culture
5

 Refers to a common frame of reference

 Is smth acquired by people that governs their
behavior
 Gives people smth in common
 Is not easily changed
 Has symbolic significance
 Has an invisible motive force
 Is modifiable
 Layers of culture

 artifacts and creations

 values or things that are important to people
 basic assumptions that guide people’s behaviour
 Basic assumptions
7

Fundamental beliefs that are so taken for granted

that most people in a cultural way unit subscribe to
them but not in a conscious way (Schein)
 Values and beliefs
8

Values are conscious,affective desires or wants

of people that guide behavior

• Reflect society’s ideas about what is right or wrong

• Are passed from one generation to the next

 Artefacts and creations
9

 Norms are a code of behaviour

 Language how managers talk to subordinates, jargon,buzzwords
 Symbols
 Rites and ceremonies Rites are repetitive sequence of activities
that express the key values of the organization
 Myths and stories
 Taboos signal what should not be done
 Dimensions of culture
(Trice and Beyer, 1984)
10

 Company practices (rites and ceremonies)

 Company communications (vignettes,
anecdotes,stories, myths)
 Physical cultural forms
 Common language (jargon, acronyms, special terms)
 7 characteristics capture the essence of OC:
11

 Innovation and risk taking

 Attention to detail
 Outcome orientation
 People orientation
 Team orientation
 Aggressiveness
 Stability
 Functions of OC
12

 Boundary-defining role
 Conveys a sense of identity
 Facilitates the generation of commitment
 Enhances social system stability
 Strong cultures/weak cultures
13

 In strong cultures core values are both

intensely held and widely shared. Strong
culture has has a great influence on the
behavior of its members.
It demonstrates high agreement among
members about what the organization stands
for.
 One specific result of a strong culture is low

employee turnover
 The Evolution of a Positive Culture
14

 Methods  Intervening conditions

 elaborate on history
 develop a sense of History
 communications about
“heroes’ and others
 leadership and role  create a sense of Oneness
modeling
 communicating norms
and values
 The Evolution of a Positive Culture
15

 Reward systems  Promote a sense of

 career management Membership
and job security
 recruiting and staffing
 socialization of new
staff
 training and
development
 Intervention strategies
16

 Change behavior – culture change will follow

 Help employees see the worth if behavior changes
 Communicate to motivate behavior change
 Socialize new members
 Remove existing deviants
 The Evolution of a Positive Culture
17

 Reward systems  Promote a sense of

 career management Membership
and job security
 recruiting and staffing
 socialization of new
staff
 training and
development
 The Evolution of a Positive Culture
18

 Member contact  Increase Exchange

 participative decision among members
making
 intergroup
coordination
 personal exchange
 Difficulties in creating a culture
19

 Cultures are elusive and hidden

 Difficult techniques, rare skills, and time is needed
to measure culture
 Resistance to culture change, because culture
provides stability
 Socialization and Culture
20

Socialization is the process by which an

organization brings new members into
the culture
 Socialization stages
21

 Prearrival stage (Anticipatory socialization)

 Encounter stage
 Metamorphosis stage
 Stage 1 Prearrival stage
22

 Involves activities a person undertakes prior to

organizational entry or taking a different job in the
same organization
 Two kinds of info are of vital interest to people

 What working for the organization is really like

 Whether they're suited to available jobs

 Stage 2 Encounter stage
23

 Occurs after individual becomes a

member of an organization after taking
the job
 conflict
 Stage 3 Metamorphosis stage
24

 Behavour change,
 Acceptance
 clear role expectations
 competence
 Checklist of effective socialization practices
25
 Prearrival stage
1. Recruitment using realistic job previews
2. Selection and placement using realistic career paths
 Encounter stage
1. Tailor-made and individualizes orientation programs
2. Social as well as technical skills training
3. Supportive and accurate feedback
4. Demanding but fair superiors
 Role management socialization
1. Provision of professional counseling
2. Adaptive and flexible work assignments
3. Sincere person-oriented managers
 Mentoring – a relationship between a
junior and a senior (in terms of age or
experience) that exists primarily to
support the personal development and
career advancement of the junior
person
The mentoring role includes coaching,
counseling and sponsorship

26
 Functions of mentoring in socialization
27

 Career functions
 Sponsorship
 Exposure and visibility
 Coaching
 Production
 Challenging assignment
 Psychological functions
 Role modeling
 Acceptance and confirmation
 Counseling
 Friendship
 Organizational benefits of mentoring
28

 Motivate employees
 Retain employees
 Build cohesion
 Strengthen core values
 Phases of mentor relationships
29

 Initiation – relationship begins (6-12 months)

 Cultivation – range of career and psychological
benefits expands (2-5 years)
 Separation – significant change in the structural role
relationship (6 months-2 years)
 Redefinition – relationship ends or takes on different
characteristics
 Summary
30

 Culture is one of the less tangible features of

organizational life
 While culture is hard to define there is a growing
consensus that it consists of a deeply ingrained set of
values that provide people in an organization with a code
of acceptable behavior
 Changing an organization’s culture is likely to be very
difficult, and if it can be accomplished the process would
probably take a considerable amount of time and effort
 Organizational culture contains elements if the culture of
the country in which it is located.