Department of Construction Management and Engineering

CE3HRM - Human Resource Management

Is culture important to management/HRM?

Dr Florence Phua
Email: f.phua@reading.ac.uk
 Aims of the session
• What is culture – is it definable? (i.e. national, societal, industry,
organizational)

• Does culture have a bearing on management? If yes, what effects

does it have and why? If no, why not?

• Does culture affect individual behaviour? How?

• Is there such a thing as organisational culture? What is it?

• Is there such a thing as national culture? What is it?

• What does managing cultural diversity mean?

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 The ubiquity of culture
• At the country level, the population of a nation possesses collective
‘national characteristics’ that are widely accepted to determine
countries’ social, political, economic progress and prosperity

• At the societal level, culture exits that can be applied to different

human groups, where they share certain cultural traits with one
another that make their members recognizable to outsiders as
belonging to that society (Asians, Hispanics, Caucasians, Africans in
US, UK, Australia)

• At the organizational level, it is widely regarded as a key variable in

determining the success or failure firms (management style,
business decisions, strategies, etc)

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 How to define culture?
• No consensus as to its definition and meaning
• It is widely regarded as a key variable in the success
or failure of organizations (TQM, partnering, safety,
etc)

• Generally refers to the dimensions of values and

beliefs systems held by people

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 Or more simply…

 Culture = “how things are done around here”

 ___________________________________
 Ouchi, W.G. and Johnson, A.B.(1978), Types of organizational control and their
relationship to emotional well-being, Administrative Science Quarterly, 23, 292-
317.

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What about organisational culture?
– Comprise assumptions, values, norms and artefacts of
organisational members and their behaviours.

– Can be deeply entrenched in the structure and processes of the

organisation

– In every culture, business phenomena such as authority,

bureaucracy, creativity, accountability are expressed and
experienced in different ways

– Strategies, size, environment, history, management styles also

have an impact on organisational culture

– ‘Culture’ is now a widely used and accepted variable that predicts

all manner of organizational outcomes and behaviours.

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 Another way of looking at it
Shared
Values

Reinforcing Organizational
Culture Norms
Outcomes

Individual and
Group
Behaviour

Source: Hitt et al, Organizational Behaviour – A strategic approach

 Consider…
• “Local managers may not openly criticise a centrally
developed appraisal system, especially if confrontation is
not culturally acceptable to them. In practice, though,
beneath the surface, the silent forces of culture operate a
destructive process, biting at the roots of centrally
developed methods which do not ‘fit’ locally”.

• What are the implications of the above statement?

• What should companies do when this scenario happens?

Source: Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1998), Riding the waves of culture, 2nd Edition, McGraw
Hill.

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 What do you think?
• When we talk about cultural effects in management and organizations,
are we talking about the macro national culture, the micro
organizational culture, or both?

• Should managers take cultural difference between countries seriously?

• Is there a one-size-fits-all model of organizational culture that can be

universally applied?

• What implication does this have for MNEs or M&As?

• Is globalisation slowly creating a ‘universal’ culture? Is this good or bad?

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 Components of organizational culture
Formal components Informal components
• Mission/vision • Artefacts/symbols
• Policies • Norms
• Procedures/rules • Belief system
• Organizational • Ceremonies/rites
structure

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 Model of culture

Artefacts and products

Norms and values

Basic Assumptions
Implicit

Explicit

Is there a need to distinguish between aspects of explicit culture and

implicit culture? Why?

Source: Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, (1998), Riding the Waves of Culture, 2 nd Edition, McGraw Hill

Department of Construction Management and

Engineering
 Three levels of culture
Visible, on the surface. Language, clothing,
traditions, buildings. etc
Level 1: Artefacts From observers’ point of view, artefacts are
most accessible element of culture

Social principles, standards,

Level 2: Values/behavioural norms
Level 3: Assumptions/core beliefs
Exist outside ordinary awareness
(unconscious).
Influence perception and thinking.
Basic assumptions is ‘truth’ and
taken for granted.
Source: Schein, E.H. (1985), Organizational Culture and Leadership
unwritten ‘rules’ of what is to be
expected.
Values form the basis for making
judgements about what is
right/wrong; desirable/undesirable.
Beliefs and assumptions nurture and
support these norms and values

Department of Construction Management and

Engineering
 Another model of culture

Source: Hawkins, P. (1997), Organizational culture: sailing between evangelism and complexity,
Human Relations, 50, 417-440.
 Diagrammatic representation

Source: Hawkins, P. (1997), Organizational culture: sailing between evangelism and complexity,
Human Relations, 50, 417-440.
 Organizational subcultures
• Numerous subcultures co-exist within the same organization
– Level of adherence, support to the dominant cultural values
– Occupation, work group, departments, hierarchical level,
affiliation (merger & acquisition)

• Do they always fit with the larger organizational culture?

• The greater the level of differentiation among subcultures, the more

fragmented the organizational culture

• It’s important to have a ‘super-culture’ that dominates the various

subcultures

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 Diagrammatic representation

Organizational
culture Societal culture

Organizational
subcultures

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 Bringing about cultural change
• Understand the difference between rhetoric and reality
(e.g. partnering, BPR)

• The ability to observe the artifacts and behaviors and

linking these to the belief systems of organizational
members

• Embedding the change into the organization’s and

members’ subconscious level

• Not easy to achieve at all

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 A confusing concept?
• Culture - is it static?

• Or dynamic/organic (cannot be fixed into a checklist of

attributes, and changeable)

• Many suggest it is static. Many others argue it is organic

• What are your views?

Department of Construction Management and

Engineering
 A better way of looking at it
• Culture is not necessarily an ‘entity’ that can be changed and
manipulated at will.

• It is a context for sense making and interpretation

• Other peoples’ meanings and interpretations are complex and often

unchangeable

• Often organizations will find it challenging to implement radical

cultural change

• Think instead of culturally manage your organization – manage it with

cultural awareness of the multiplicity of meanings that employees
attach to the organization

• A strong organizational identity is a powerful tool to ensure some

uniformity in meanings that employees attach to the organization

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 Managing cultural diversity
• An ongoing management vogue

• It is not just about the adoption of passive anti-discrimination

or affirmative action legislations.

• It is about finding and capitalising value on diversity

• Involves actively integrating diversity to improve the firm’s

competitive advantage.

• Developing an organisational culture that values and respects

cultural difference.

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 Suggested reading

• Aycan, Z. et al. (2000), Impact of culture on human resource

management practices: A 10‐country comparison, Applied
Psychology: An International Review, 49(1), 192-221

• Ogbonna, E., and Harris, L.C. (1998), Managing organizational

culture: Compliance or genuine change?, British Journal of
Management, 9, 273-288.

• Schein, E. H., (1984), Coming to a new awareness of

organizational culture , Sloan Management Review, 25(2), 3-
16.

Department of Construction Management and Engineering