ORGANIZATIONAL

CULTURE
LIST OF CONTENTS

Organizational culture
Learning and maintaining organizational culture
CONCEPT

Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and

beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations.

These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the

organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs.

Every organization develops and maintains a unique culture, which

provides guidelines and boundaries for the behavior of the members of the
organization.

Let's explore what elements make up an organization's culture.

ELEMENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Innovation (Risk Orientation)
Attention to Detail (Precision Orientation)
Emphasis on People (Fairness Orientation)
Teamwork (Collaboration Orientation)
Aggressiveness (Competition Orientation)
Stability (Rule Orientation)
INNOVATION (RISK ORIENTATION)

Companies with cultures that place a high value on innovation

encourage their employees to take risks and innovate in the
performance of their jobs.

Companies with cultures that place a low value on innovation expect

their employees to do their jobs the same way that they have been
trained to do them, without looking for ways to improve their
performance.
ATTENTION TO DETAIL (PRECISION
ORIENTATION)

Companies that focus on results, but not on how the results are
achieved, place a high emphasis on this value of organizational
culture.

A company that instructs its sales force to do whatever it takes to get

sales orders has a culture that places a high value on the emphasis on
outcome characteristic.
EMPHASIS ON PEOPLE (FAIRNESS
ORIENTATION )
Companies that place a high value on this characteristic of
organizational culture place a great deal of importance on how their
decisions will affect the people in their organizations.

For these companies, it is important to treat their employees with

respect and dignity.
TEAMWORK (COLLABORATION
ORIENTATION)

Companies that organize work activities around teams instead of

individuals place a high value on this characteristic of organizational
culture.

People who work for these types of companies tend to have a

positive relationship with their coworkers and managers.
AGGRESSIVENESS (COMPETITIVE
ORIENTATION)

This characteristic of organizational culture dictates whether group

members are expected to be assertive or easygoing when dealing
with companies they compete with in the marketplace.

Companies with an aggressive culture place a high value on

competitiveness and outperforming the competition at all costs.
STABILITY (RULE ORIENTATION)

A company whose culture places a high value on stability

are rule-oriented, predictable, and bureaucratic in nature.

These types of companies typically provide consistent

and predictable levels of output and operate best in non-
changing market conditions.
LINK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJW2RDOAv7k
CLASS ASSIGNMENT

Analyze the culture of any organization of your choice using the

elements of organizational culture discussed in the class.
FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE

Boundary defining role (It creates distinctions between one

organization and others).

Conveys a sense of identity for organization members

Generation of commitment (generates commitment to something

larger than one’s individual self interest)

Serves as a control mechanism that guides and shapes the attitude

and behavior of employees.
CREATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

It occurs in 3 ways
 Founders hire and keep only employees who think and feel the
same way they do.

 They indoctrinate and socialize these employees to their way of

thinking and feeling.

 Finally, the founders’ own behavior acts as a role model that

encourages employees to identify with them and thereby internalize
their beliefs , values and assumptions.
 SUSTAINING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Three forces play a particularly important part in sustaining a culture:

Selection practices
Actions of top management
Socialization methods
SELECTION

Explicit goal – identifying and hiring individuals having knowledge,

skills and abilities to perform the jobs successfully.

Individuals having values consistent with those of the organization

are selected as per the decision maker’s judgement.

Selection becomes a ‘two-way street’ as it provides information

about the organization to the applicants.
TOP MANAGEMENT

The actions of top management establishes the norms for the

organization as to
 Whether risk taking is desirable

  How much freedom managers should give to their subordinates

 What actions will pay off in terms of pay rises, promotions and
other rewards, etc.
SOCIALIZATION

New employees are not familiar with the organizational culture and
are potentially likely to disturb the existing culture.

The process through which the employees are told about the customs
and traditions of the organization is known as socialization.

It is the process of adaptation by which new employees are to

understand the basic values and norms for becoming ‘accepted’
members of the organization.
SOCIALIZATION PROCESS

Socialization is a process made up of three stages:

Pre-arrival - All the learning occurring before a new member joins.

Encounter - The new employee sees what the organization is really like
and confronts the possibility that expectations and reality may diverge.

Metamorphosis - The relatively long-lasting changes take place. The new

employee masters the skills required for the job, successfully performs the
new roles, and makes the adjustments to the work group’s values and
norms
HOW EMPLOYEES LEARN CULTURE

Stories – Depicting the past events of the organization. Some

organizations actually try to manage this element of culture learning.

For example, in Ford Motor Co., when Henry Ford II was the
chairman, whenever executives got too arrogant, they were
reminded by Mr. Ford that “its my name that’s on the building”.
Rituals – Repetitive sequential activities reinforcing the values of the
organization. One of the better known corporate rituals is Wal-
Mart’s company chant.

Started by Sam Walton, “Gimme a W, gimme an A, gimme an L,

give me an M,A,R,T”, it has become a ritual that bonds Wal-Mart
workers.
Material Symbols – Conveying social equality, desired
organizational behavior, etc. by the top management.

For example the layout of corporate headquater, the type of

automobiles top executives are given, and the presence or absence of
corporate aircraft .

These material symbols convey to employees who is important, the

degree of egalitarianism desired by top management etc.
Language –Organizations often develop unique terms to describe
equipment, offices, key personnel, suppliers, customers or products
that relate to its business. After some time, new employees also
become familiar with it, which unites all of them as members of a
given culture.
CREATING AN ETHICAL O.C

Be a visible role model

Communicate ethical expectations

Provide ethical training

Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones

Provide protective mechanisms

Thank You