Experiential Learning Exercise

Peeling Back the Culture Onion Organizational culture has many layers Subjective Culture vs. Objective Culture Dominant Culture vs. Sub Cultures Subjective organizational culture refers to the shared patterns of beliefs, assumptions, and expectations held by organizational members, and the group’s characteristic way of perceiving the organization’s environment. Within subjective culture is also managerial culture which is the leadership styles and orientations, mental frameworks and ways of behaving and solving problems that are influenced by the values supported by the organization Objective organizational culture refers to the artifacts created by an organization. Organizations typical have a dominant culture which are the core values and norms shared by the majority of the organizational members They also have a series of subcultures that can be defined by division, location, functions and departments. Subcultures appear to exdert a more powerful influence than the larger organizational culture on employee behavior.

Impact of Culture Cultural norms and socialization Ability for an organization to function Reflection of organization’s “personality” Powerful force in shaping behavior Pg. 320 – Similar to an individual’s personality, provides us insights into attitudes and behaviors. Ongoing research has underscored the potency of organizational culture, suggesting that strategy formulation, preferred leadership style and accepted ways of accomplishing tasks, among other central facets of organizational life, are reflections of an organization’s culture. Use Enron example….Similar to societal culture, organizational culture is also implicitly diffused, and it is a pervasive and powerful force in shaping behavior. Pgs 320-321

Today’s Scenario Three teams – four people each Two members in each group go to the kitchen Other two members go to a white board When teams reconvene, will have 8 minutes to complete a drawing Each team member contributes to the drawing on a rotational basis, one minute each turn Facilitators will provide each team’s instructions

8 Minutes on the Clock

Report Out How did the interaction feel overall? Specific to those assimilating to “unspoken” expectations? Specific to those guiding teammates without articulating the expectations? Did the “out group” figure out what cultural norms they were suppose to be adjusting to? Was the task accomplished? Can everyone figure out what the image is suppose to be? Describe how the cultural norms impacted the team’s efficiency to accomplish the task.

Purpose Illustrate subjective organizational culture and the dynamics of a group attempting to accomplish a task when only half of the group is aware of the organizational culture. Demonstrate the socialization process for cultural norms and behaviors on new members of the organization. Observe the challenges that exist as team members adapt to the existing cultures while performing a task. SHAWN

Learning Objectives Experience the emotions and reactions associated with being challenged with a task while adapting to cultural norms and behaviors. Understand the tension that exists when “in group” and “out group” members are challenged to accomplish a task. Recognize how cultural norms and behaviors impact an organization’s effectiveness. KELLY The point of this exercise is to focus on behavioral norms and expectations. We set up the exercise so that each of the teams behaved differently. The goal of the experience is to reinforce the role that employee behaviors have on establishing norms and ultimately company culture. As mentioned in Chapter 10, Page 327, “Organizations have norms that shape expectations about appropriate behaviors, which are social manisfestations of the dominant beliefs and values of the culture.” Our point in setting up the three teams the way we did was to see how the behaviors of the employees on each team impact the social manisfestations. We hope to help the participants to realize the impact the way employees behave can impact or shape the norms or behaviors of the employees. In addition, it will also be

Measuring and Evaluating Expected emotions and reactions: Group 1 – frustrated and confused Group 2 – supported but confused Group 3 - frustrated and confused, possibly hopeless Underlying tension should be very evident Task accomplishment will vary Group 1 – unlikely to complete task Group 2 – most likely to complete task Group 3 – likely to complete task DEBBIE

Conclusion KIM – Just some thoughts….As we hope was illustrated by our exercise today, the results of organizational culture are not always positive in nature, clear or orderly. An introduction An overview of the topic An overview of the purpose(s) of the experiential exercise An outline of the specific learning objectives A description of the exercise A means for measuring and evaluating the achievement of the objectives A conclusion