4. Organisational Culture

Question 1

What are the seven influences in the cultural web?

Answer 1

• Symbols & Titles
• Power Relations
• Organisation structure
• Control Systems
• Rituals & Routines
• Myths & Stories
• Organisational Assumptions (Paradigm)

Question 2

What are symbols & titles in the cultural web?

Answer 2

• Titles are the names of important roles such as presidents and ceo’s (suggests formal organisation)
• Symbols are things like private dining rooms for top managers, reserved parking and other perks.

Symbols and titles refers to a hierarchal culture, whereas some organisations are more egalitarian.

Question 3

What are power relations in the cultural web?

Answer 3

Refers to how power is distributed.

E.g. do managers keep the power to themselves or is it dispersed?
Are lower level workers told what to do, or are they able to contribute ideas?

Question 4

What are organisational structures in the cultural web?

Answer 4

Refers to tall narrow or wide flat structures.

In wide flat structures, individuals need to be better at looking after themselves as they have less supervision.

Question 5

What are control systems in the cultural web?

Answer 5

How carefully employees account for their time.

Some organisations require you to record what you are doing at regular intervals. This is often for billing purposes.

Others are more interested in overall results.

Question 6

What are rituals & routines in the cultural web?

Answer 6

E.g. ringing a bell when a sale is made, or socialising with colleagues after work.

Question 7

What are myths & stories in the cultural web?

Answer 7

Often used to illustrate desirable behaviour.

E.g. the company once won a particular contract, or a job where everyone worked hard against the clock to get it done on time.

Question 8

What are organisational assumptions in the cultural web?

Answer 8

E.g. the assumption that ‘we are the best’, or ‘we only produce work of the highest quality’.

Question 9

What are the four types of organisational culture that Charles Handy identified?

Answer 9

• Power culture (Zeus)
• Role culture (Apollo)
• Task culture (Athena)
• Person culture (Dionysus)

Question 10

What is power culture?

Answer 10

Where the power is concentrated in the hands of one person.

• Little delegation
• Very centralized

Question 11

What is role culture?

Answer 11

Effectively a management structure where different people have different roles, spreading out the power compared to power culture.

• Strict job descriptions
• Employees may refuse to do things if it doesn’t fit job description, even if it hurts the client.

Question 12

What is task culture?

Answer 12

Emphasis on getting the job done.

People depend less on job specifications or their place in the hierarchy.

More collaborative.

Question 13

What is person culture?

Answer 13

Where people who pursue private ambition within an organisation.

E.g. a surgeon gets job satisfaction from saving lives, but they may not care about interacting with the rest of the organisation.

Question 14

What are Schein’s three levels of culture?

Answer 14

• Artifacts
• Espoused values
• Underlying assumptions

Question 15

What are artifacts (Schein’s levels of culture)?

Answer 15

• Most superficial
• E.g. how people dress, behave, company structure in organisation chart.

Question 16

What are Espoused values (Schein’s levels of culture)?

Answer 16

• Deeper than artifacts but not as fundamental as underlying assumptions
• Stated goals, strategies and philosophies
• E.g. mission statement

Question 17

What are underlying assumptions (Schein’s levels of culture)?

Answer 17

• Most fundamental level
• Often difficult to identify, and left unsaid
• E.g. work overtime to meet deadline, assumption about quality of work, etc.

Question 18

What did Hofstede examine?

Answer 18

How people from different countries develop different organisational cultures, influenced by the national culture.

Question 19

What are the four variables Hofstede identified when examining national cultures?

Answer 19

• Power/distance
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Individualism-collectivism
• Masculinity

Question 20

What is the power/distance variable in relation to national cultures?

Answer 20

Whether people expect to be told what to do and do it without question, or instead expect to have a more participative role to contribute.

Question 21

What is the uncertainty avoidance variable in relation to national cultures?

Answer 21

Whether the culture supports risk taking and trying-but-failing, or instead shies away from taking gambles and finds failures unacceptable.

Question 22

What is the individualism-collectivism variable in relation to national cultures?

Answer 22

To what extent people within an organisation are expected to agree with decisions and conform to what others are doing.

E.g. some countries are more supportive of mavericks that try their own methods.

Question 23

What is the masculinity variable in relation to national cultures?

Answer 23

The extent to which gender roles are important.

Cultures with high masculinity value assertiveness, competition, material success and dominance, and do not value feminine traits as highly, such as modesty, understanding and relationships.

Question 24

Who identified four types of organisational culture?

Answer 24

Charles Handy

Question 25

Who proposed the three levels of culture?

Answer 25

Schein

Question 26

Who examined differences between organisational cultures between nations?

Answer 26

Hofstede