6.2 Culture and history

Question 1

Barney (1986) explains that each organisation has a unique culture which has developed over the life of the organisation and is embedded in the _______ and heritage of the organisation and its employees

Answer 1

history

Question 2

Culture can be defined as “the way we __ _____ _____ ____”.

Answer 2

“The way we do things around here.”

Question 3

Schein (2004) defines organisational culture as: “the basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously, and define in a basic, taken-for-granted fashion an organisation’s view of itself and its ___________”.

Answer 3

environment

Question 4

U__________ a___________ are held unconsciously by people working within the organisation. These assumptions implicitly guide the behaviour and opinions of employees for the majority of day-to-day operational activities.

Answer 4

Underlying assumptions

Question 5

V______ are often promoted within an organisation to epitomise what that organisation stands for.

Answer 5

Values

Question 6

A_______ are the visible and tangible evidence of organisational culture.

Answer 6

Artefacts (e.g. policies and procedures that are in place)

Question 7

Johnson refers to the time gap between development of strategy and the subsequent changes within the environment as s_________ d_____.

Answer 7

Strategic drift

Question 8

The four types of strategic drift are:

• incremental strategic change
• strategic drift
• f___
• transformation or death

Answer 8

flux

Question 9

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) recognise 12 frequent type of bias. List four.

Answer 9

Hindsight - being wise after the event
Outcome - results rather than origination
Confirmation - selecting what agrees with your existing beliefs
Anchoring - using a benchmark to judge
Availability - not looking beyond the obvious
Groupthink - fitting in with the crowd
Overconfidence - “we know “better”
Recency - not looking far enough back
Conjunction - predefined linkage in our minds
Selectivity - not looking beyond the obvious
Stereotyping - box thinking
Blind-spot - lack of 360 degree vision.