Culture

Question 1

Hofstede (definition)

Answer 1

1980: Culture = the values and beliefs that provide people with a programmed way of seeing

Question 2

Legge

Answer 2

1994: Culture = a set of shared meanings, or taken-for-granted assumptions

Question 3

Why is culture important?

Answer 3

1) Affects performance, particularly in multinationals
2) If too strong, can be demotivating and create a lack of flexibility
3) Provides certainty over what will happen - controlling
4) Important for managers to know if they can change it

Our understanding of culture depends on inclusivity assumed and epistemological position

Question 4

Morgan

Answer 4

1977: Industrial culture - people in factories across the world belong to the same culture

Question 5

Hofstede (national culture)

Answer 5

1980: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity

Question 6

What is the POSITIVIST view of culture?

Answer 6

Culture as something the organisation HAS - something variable

Question 7

Lewin

Answer 7

1951: Unfreeze, change, refreeze model - need controlled trauma, showing current beliefs to be untrue

Question 8

Goffee & Jones

Answer 8

1996: Solidarity/sociability model - change clearness of goals, or friendliness of organisation, then you’ll change the culture (too simplistic?)

Question 9

Johnson & Scholes

Answer 9

1993: Cultural web - influence of power, structure, control etc.; the bubbles are lenses and levers for you to nudge things

Question 10

Schein

Answer 10

1985: Artefacts and values (can be created, developed and changed), assumptions (much harder to alter, culture only really changes when these do)

Question 11

What is the INTERPRETIVIST view of culture?

Answer 11

Culture as something the organisation IS

Question 12

Hatch

Answer 12

1997: Other people’s interpretations are highly unmanageable and one modification could have multiple consequences

Question 13

Geertz

Answer 13

1973: Culture as a social construction, dependant on the native’s point of view. People inherently stereotype, perhaps this is how subcultures arise.

Question 14

Barney

Answer 14

1986: Culture is a resource that cannot be observed and thus cannot be imitated - thus a source of competitive advantage which can lead to superior performance

Question 15

Meek

Answer 15

1988: Culture cannot be created, discovered, or destroyed by the whims of management but, since it’s embedded in social interactions, the process of its reproduction may change it naturally

Question 16

How does ‘culture’ link to ‘power’?

Answer 16

1) Lukes’ 3rd dimension - power of the institution and social constructions
2) Do managers have the power to change culture?
3) The effect of power structures on an organisational culture