9. Diversity/culture/climate Flashcards
Define culture
“A Culture is a group of people who share assumptions about behaviours demonstrating positive or negative values.”
shared meanings for understanding and acting in the world
what are the 2 perspectives of culture
– Systems-oriented view
– Practice-oriented view
Systems-oriented view of culture
- Norms, beliefs, values shared by a group of people
- Factor that influences behaviour of individuals – independent variable
- Focus on enduring aspects of culture
- Long-term perspective –meanings are stable and change slowly
practice oriented view of culture
- Reproduction of meaning through everyday activities and practices
- Factor that both produces shared meanings and is influenced by shared meanings
- Focus on how shared meanings are reproduced and changed
- Short-term perspective – practices (and meanings) can change quickly as people adapt their activities for different contexts and situations
5 basic dimensions of culture
- power distance
- individualism (vs collectivism)
- Masculinity
- Uncertainty Avoidance
- Long-term orientation
power distance
• level of acceptance of inequality between people in a society
individualism (v collectivism)
degree to which a society reinforces individual achievement instead of collective achievement and interpersonal relationships
masculinity
degree to which societies reinforce the traditional masculine work role model of achievement, control, and power
Uncertainty avoidance
level of avoidance of uncertainty and ambiguity within a society
long-term orientation
degree to which societies embraces, or does not embrace, long-term devotion to traditional values – expectations that change occurs slowly
organisational culture
– shared, “taken-for-granted” assumptions that members of an organization have and which affect the way they act, think, and perceive their environment
– i.e., a systems-oriented view
what what the organisational culture typologies
role culture
power culture
person culture
task culture
role-culture
- bureaucratic
- rule-following
- emphasis on predictability and consistency
power culture
- key figures hold and use power
- few formal rules to restrain power
person culture
- focus on benefiting people in group
- goals set by people themselves
task culture
- focus on work tasks
- engage with others in pragmatic ways
- goals set by task needs
clan culture
-collaboration
-focus on employee
development
Flexibility and Discretion
Internal Focus and Integration
adhocracy culture
- creativity
- focus on new ideas and innovations
Flexibility and Discretion
External Focus and Differentiation
hierarchy culture
- control
- focus on efficiency and standardisation
Stability and Control
Internal Focus and Integration
market culture
- competition
- focus on competitors and clients
Stability and Control
External Focus and Differentiation
organisational climate
the affective dimension of culture: felt “experience” of culture by employees
– “…surface manifestation of culture”
– “…how work environments are cognitively appraised and represented in terms of their meaning to and significance for individual employees”
Different aspects of organisational culture
safety culture
client-oriented culture
diversity culture
safety culture
systems, norms, and practices to
reduce injury and maintain health
client-oriented culture
systems, norms, and
practices for availability, e.g. 24/7 contact
diversity culture
systems, norms, and practices
for treating people with different backgrounds,
customs, and beliefs
Culture that accepts and values differences in employees, e.g., – Gender – Sexuality – Religion – Abilities – Cultural identity – Age
what is intolerance to diversity culture?
Discriminatory practices harassment intimidation mockery, insults exclusion incivility
discrimination practices
Unequal reward for equal work
e.g. Denying opportunities to women of “child-bearing” age
harassment
Unwanted sexual advances or other hostile conduct
e.g. Hiring strippers for office
parties
intimitation
Threats or bullying e.g. Persistent unwarranted criticism of work
mockery, insults
Jokes or negative stereotypes targeting particular individuals or groups
e.g. Asking Muslim employees if they are terrorists “as a
joke
exclusion
Exclusion from work opportunities or events
e.g Meetings in evenings – not possible for those with
family responsibilities
incivility
Aggressive or disrespectful behaviour
e.g.Continually cutting certain people off in conversation
how is support for diversity built through training?
- Communicate the broader social and legal framework
– laws against discrimination
– importance of fair treatment - Focus on similarities rather than differences
– more positive reactions when training focuses on similarities
(Holladay & Quinones, 2008) - Sell the potential benefits (see following slides)
- Foster personal development
– build people’s understanding and awareness of diversity
– develop interpersonal skills when interacting with diverse others
• From defensiveness to acceptance to integration
what are the economical and performance arguments FOR diversity culture?
– Reduce underutilisation of talent in the population
– Improve performance by drawing on broader perspectives resulting in better decision-making
– Increase work motivation by building internal reputation for fairness and inclusion
– Build external reputation through meeting community expectations
• increase investments and attract talented employees
what are the moral and social justice arguments FOR diversity culture?
– Harassment/discrimination is against the law
– Unfairness of disadvantaging people for anything not directly related to work performance
– Rectifying historical or current disadvantage
organisational culture
shared, “taken-for-granted” assumptions that members of an organisation have and which affect the way they act, think and perceive their environment
organisational climate
shared perceptions about a work unit’s policies, practices and what behaviours are rewarded and expected
Psychological climeate
An individual person’s perceptions of the behavioural patterns of an entity
observing and measuring culture: artifacts
The most visible elements of culture
observing and measuring culture: values
standards of behaviour or principles about what is important
observing and measuring culture: assumptions
“taken for granted” beliefs about humane nature
What did Schein explain?
Founder’s values - Founders shape the culture of an organisation beginning from its early days. Entrepreneurs tend to have assumptions about how the world works, what motivates people and how business should b structured. The Choices they make the, the first employees they hire, the manner in which they make decisions and what behaviours they reward and punish result in embedding their own values into the organisation’s culture
