Chapter 2 Flashcards
The Manager: Omnipotent of Symbolic (the views of both)?
The omnipotent view: The view that managers are directly responsible for an organization’s success of failure
The performance of organizations is determined by its managers.
Symbolic View: The ability of managers to affect outcomes is influenced and constrained by external factors:
The economy, customers, governmental policies, competitors, industry conditions, proprietary technology, and the decision made by previous managers.
What is Organization Culture?
A system of shared meaning and beliefs held by organizational members that determines, to a large degree, how they act towards each other and outsiders.
“The way we do things around here”
Values, symbols, rituals, myths, & practices that have evolved over time.
What is Organization Culture? Pt.2 charts
Organization Culture:
Attention to Detail
Outcome Orientation
People Orientation
Team Orientation
Aggressiveness
Stability
Innovation and Risk Taking
Strong vs. Weak Cultures?
Strong Cultures:
Key values are deeply held and widely shared.
Have strong influence on organizational members.
Weak Cultures:
Some organizations do not make clear what is important and what is not, and this lack of clarity is a characteristic of weak cultures.
In such organizations, culture is unlikely to greatly influence managers.
Why is it important to have strong cultures?
Employees are more loyal
Are associated with high organizational performance
A downside to this is that it might prevent employees from trying new approaches, especially when conditions change rapidly
Dominant Culture?
System of shared meanings that expresses the core values of a majority of the organization’s members.
It gives the organization its distinct personality.
Subcultures?
Organizations have dominant cultures and subcultures.
Subcultures include the core values of the dominant culture, plus additional values unique to members of the subculture.
Subcultures are likely to be defined by department designations and geographical separation.
Where culture comes from and how it continues?
Vision and mission of the organization’s founder.
Is passed on and modified based on macro environmental factors.
How an organization’s culture is established and maintained?
Recruitment of employees who “fit”
Actions of top management
Socialization of new employees to help them adapt to the culture.
How Employees Learn Culture:
Stories: Narratives of significant events or actions of people that convey the spirit of the organization.
Rituals: Repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the values of the organization.
Materials Artifacts and Symbols: Physical assets distinguishing the organization.
Language: Acronyms and jargon of terms, phrases, and word meanings specific to an organization.
Components of the External Environment:
Economic: factors such as interest rates, inflation, changes in disposable income, stock market fluctuations, and business cycle stages.
Demographic: trends in population characteristics such as age, race, gender, education level, geographic location, income, and family composition.
Political/legal component: federal, provincial, and local laws as well as global laws and laws of other countries.
Sociocultural: societal and cultural factors such as values, attitudes, trends, traditions, lifestyles, beliefs, tastes, and patterns of behavior.
Technological: scientific or industrial innovations.
Global: globalization and a world economy.
Environmental Uncertainty ?
An organization’s external environment is affected by:
Degree of change: how dynamic or stable the external environment is
Environmental Complexity: The number of components in an organization’s external environment
Organizational stakeholders?
Stakeholders: any constituencies in the organization’s external environment that are affected by the organization’s decisions and actions.
Why is stakeholder relationship management important?
Can lead to improved organizational performance
It’s the “right” thing to do given the interdependence of the organization and its external stakeholders
