1. Chapter 15 Organizational Culture

2. What Is Organizational Culture?
The norms, values, beliefs, assumptions, shared mental models, etc., held by the organization’s members; a system of shared meaning.
Sample Culture Bases:
Innovative and risk-taking
Attentive to detail
Outcome orientated
People orientated
Team orientated
Aggressive, competitive
Stable, predictable

3. Culture and Performance
Culture impacts performance via:
Social control, generates commitment to something larger than “self”
Social glue and stability, sense of identity
Sense-making:
Reduces confusion (especially with diversity)

4. Elements of Org. Culture
Espoused Culture
vs.
Enacted Culture?
Stories (Heroes)
Language/Usage
Rules & Policies
Physical Structures
Rituals/Ceremonies
Norms
Beliefs
Values
Assumptions
Mental Models
Artifacts of
Culture
Core of
Culture

5. How Employees Learn Culture?
Stories
Rituals
Material Symbols
Language

6. How are organizational cultures created and maintained?
Founding leaders, legends, histories
Subsequent leadership influence:
What’s rewarded and punished?
Where are budgets allocated?
Who’s hired, how are they socialized?
Member exchanges and interactions
Stability of workforce
Kluckhon and Strodbeck propose that cultures differ in terms of how they approach six basic dimensions.
First, cultures differ in their relationship to nature. Some see nature as a force, but others see it as an obstacle to master. Second, cultures differ in their time orientation. Some focus on the past and traditions; some stress the present, the short-term; some look to the future, the long-term. The third difference concerns views of human nature--whether people are basically good, evil, or neutral. The fourth dimension, activity orientation, concerns the degree to which people within a culture are proactive, reactive, or controlling. The fifth dimension pertains to relationships among people. Some cultures focus on individual achievements and performance; some emphasize group harmony and performance; some view social relationships as hierarchical and based on well-established rank and order. The last dimension deals with views of personal space. In some cultures privacy and ownership of personal space are valued; in others, space is commonly shared. Many cultures fall in the middle, with a combination of public and private views of space. 7

7. Keeping Culture Alive Top Management: Selection (when hiring):
Managers establish norms that permeate the company; this happens as they reward and/or punish different behaviors, establish rules and policies, emphasize stories and rituals, set company budgets and priorities, and so on.
Selection (when hiring):
Hiring candidates who “fit” into the company.
Provides information to candidates about the company (and candidates also choose).
Socialization:
Helps new employees adapt to the culture.

8. What else can cultures do?
Cultures as liability:
Barriers to change
Barriers to mergers and acquisitions
Barriers to diversity

9. Creating an Ethical Culture
Strong culture
High risk tolerance
Low-to-moderate aggressiveness
Focus on means as well as outcomes
Managers must:
be visible role models
communicate ethical expectations
provide ethics training
visibly reward ethical and punish unethical acts
provide protective mechanisms

10. Creating a Positive Culture
Positive cultures emphasize:
Building on employee strengths
Rewarding more than punishing
Clear and unambiguous reinforced (and consistently lived) community values
Emphasizing vitality and growth of the employee:
Clear and unambiguous trust