Culture and Design

Question 1

What is organisational culture?

Answer 1

• Personality of the organisation
• Shared values, beliefs and norms which influence the way employees think and act towards others
• Shared basic assumptions that a group has learned

Question 2

How is culture not widely understood?

Answer 2

• 12% of organisations truly understand their culture

- 19% of organisations believe they have the right culture

Question 3

What does organisational culture matter?

Answer 3

• Asset/Liability
• An effective control mechanism
• Need it to enjoy competitive advantage
• Related to increased performance

Question 4

What are artefact behaviours according to Schein’s three levels of culture?

Answer 4

Visible but not always obvious, organisational structures and processes - tangible aspects of culture (surface manifestations)

Question 5

What are values according to Schein’s three levels of culture?

Answer 5

Strategies, goals, philosophies, shared principles and goals (espoused justifications)

Question 6

What are basic assumptions according to Schein’s three levels of culture?

Answer 6

Invisible, not usually stated, unconscious taken for granted beliefs, they lie below awareness (ultimate source of values and action)

Question 7

How is culture like layers of an onion according to Schein’s three levels of culture?

Answer 7

Basic assumptions at the core e.g excellence, values surrounding assumptions e.g integrity, teamwork, diversity and artefacts and behaviours on the surface e.g ceremonies, slogans

Question 8

What values characterise an organisation’s culture?

Answer 8

• Innovative
• Aggressive
• Outcome orientated
• Stable
• People orientated
• Team orientated
• Detail orientated

Question 9

What are the dimensions of culture?

Answer 9

• Outcome oriented cultures
• Stable cultures
• People oriented cultures

Question 10

What are outcome oriented cultures?

Answer 10

A culture that emphasises achievement, results, and action as important values e.g Amazon, Dior, Netflix

Question 11

What are stable cultures?

Answer 11

Companies that are stable are predictable, rule oriented and bureaucratic e.g Police, Universities, Government Bodies

Question 12

What are people oriented cultures?

Answer 12

These organisations value fairness, supportiveness and respecting individual rights e.g Google, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook

Question 13

What are the two general types of cultures?

Answer 13

Defensive cultures (inactive and reactive) and constructive cultures (proactive)

Question 14

What are the characteristics of defensive cultures?

Answer 14

• How people see you is more important than actions
• Focus on blame
• Maintain status quo
• Systematically undermines LT performance
• Turf wars drive decisions
• Win or lose beating associates rather than competitors

Question 15

How do defensive cultures work in practice?

Answer 15

• Approval - employees expected to gain approval or and be liked by others
• Conventional - employees expected to conform, follow rules
• Dependent - expected to do what they are told and clear decisions with supervisors
• Avoidance - expected to shift responsibilities to others and avoid being blamed for mistakes

Question 16

What are the characteristics of constructive cultures?

Answer 16

• Fosters innovation
• Reinforces personal responsibility and accountability
• Values performance
• Expected to provide initiative
• Low distortion in communication
• Encouraged to take moderate risks
• Standard of excellence
• Open decision making
• Non political atmosphere

Question 17

What are constructive cultures like in practice?

Answer 17

• Achievement - employees are expected to set realistic goals and solve problems effectively
• Self actualisation - expected to gain enjoyment from work
• Humanistic encouraging - expected to be supportive, constructive and open to influence in dealing with others
• Affiliative - expected to be friendly and sensitive to the satisfaction of the team

Question 18

How does an organisational culture form?

Answer 18

1. Philosophy of organisation’s founders
2. Selection criteria
3. Top management + Socialisation
4. Culture

Question 19

How can a culture be kept alive?

Answer 19

• Selection
• Top management
• Socialisation

Question 20

What are the functions of a culture?

Answer 20

• Glue of the organisation
• Boundary defining
• Conveys a sense of identity for an organisations members
• Facilitates commitment to something larger than one individual’s self interest
• Enhances social system stability
• Serves as sense making and a control mechanism

Question 21

How can culture be a liability?

Answer 21

It can be a barrier to…

• Change
• Diversity
• Mergers and acquisitions

Question 22

What are the conditions for culture change?

Answer 22

• A dramatic crisis
• Turnover in leadership
• Young and small organisations
• Weak culture

Question 23

What did Rofcanin et al (2017) find about culture?

Answer 23

That a family supportive culture in the financial credit industry in Mexico led to work engagement and better performance

Question 24

What are the competing perspectives on culture?

Answer 24

Managerial vs Social Science

Question 25

What does a managerial perspective believe about culture?

Answer 25

• Has - something an organisation has e.g tool
• Integrated - general mission statement sustains high member commitments, provide guidelines for behaviour
• Managed
• Symbolic of leadership

Question 26

What does the social science perspective believe about culture?

Answer 26

• Is - something the organisation is, change occurs through natural evolution
• They can be inconsistent, in effectiveness dependent on industry
• Tolerated - deeply held views and values cannot be modified in the short term
• External control replaced with internal control - builds commitment goals

Question 27

What are the forms of control in the workplace?

Answer 27

• Bureaucratic control (Taylor) - manipulates rewards
• Humanistic control (Mayo) - satisfying or motivating work
• Cultural control (Schein) Manipulation of culture

Question 28

What is the dark side of culture?

Answer 28

Personality absorbed into organisational mission can lead to neglect of self/others.. Members may be forced to sacrifice their lives. E.g coercive persuasion (communist party of china) and doomsday cults