Lecture 11: Chapter 14: Organizational Culture Flashcards
What is organizational culture?
The values, norms and assumptions shared among organizational members
What are values?
Stable, evaluative beliefs that determine our preference for a certain outcome or approach in various situations. They’re our conscious perceptions of what’s good/wrong.
What are assumptions?
Unconscious, taken for granted perceptions about the correct way of dealing with and thinking about problems and opportunities
What is the difference between espoused values and enacted values?
Espoused: values the organization says it’s important to them
Enacted: values that actually operate in the organization and impact decision making
Organization’s culture is defined by its enacted values
What are the 3 organizational culture dimensions? Explain with the iceberg paradigm
Under water iceberg = shared values and norms + shared assumptions
Above water iceberg = artefacts
What are artefacts? Give the 4 categories
Visible signals and signs, observable manifestations
- Stories/legends
- Rituals/ceremonies
- Physical structures/symbols
- Language
Give an example of apple’s artefacts concerning physical structures, language, rituals and stories
Physical: fancy apple stores
Language: iPhone, iPad: all start with i
Rituals: product launches are big shows
Stories: calculator design got perfected by annoying steve jobs
What are organizational culture norms?
Informal rules and shared expectations of employee behavior
What are the 7 categories of organizational cultures? Give a few characteristics of each
- Innovation: experimenting, risk taking, few rules
- Stability: predictable, secure, rules
- Respect for people: fairness, tolerance
- Outcome orientation: actions, high expectations, results oriented
- Attention to detail: precise, analytic
- Team orientation: collaboration, people oriented
- Aggressiveness: competitive, low social responsibility
What are 4 main problems of categorizing and culture models?
- Oversimplification of diversity
- Ignoring deeper shared assumptions
- Culture isn’t shared by everyone, it’s blurry/fragmented
- Existance subcultures
What are organizational subcultures? What are the 2 types?
Cultures that can be differentiated from the dominant culture
Two types:
1. Parallel and supporting dominant culture
2. Counterculture: opposed dominant culture
What are the 2 functions of subcultures? What is a risk?
- Source of attentiveness and critical thinking: creativity: guard performance/ethical behavior
- Source of info in order to adapt to changing environment –> long term survival
Risk = increase conflicts and dissension –> dysfunctional behavior
What is the difference between rituals and ceremonies?
Rituals: programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize org. culture
Ceremonies: planned displays of org. culture, conducted specifically for the benefit of an audience, more formal than rituals
Why is organizational culture a fundamental part for the success of organizations?
With the right culture they can be more effective
What is strength of organizational culture and on what 3 things does it depend?
How deeply the organizational values are held by employees
- How much employees understand and embrace dominant values
- How much the culture is institutionalized and spread through artefact
- The extent to which the culture is long-lasting and the values can be traced back in history of the company
What are 3 contingencies/ on what do the benefits of culture strength depend?
- Fit with the environment
- Moderate, not cult like, strength
- Adaptiveness
What are 3 functions of strong culture?
- Control system = culture is pervasive and operates non-consciously and can act as a vehicle for control of employees, automatic pilot working
- Social glue = culture bonds people and make them feel part of the organization
- Sense making = culture helps employees to make sense of what goes on a why things happen in the company
What are 2 main outcomes of a strong culture?
- Organizational performance
- Employee well-being
Why is an org. culture more effective when it aligns with the environment?
Employees are more likely to make decisions which are beneficial for that environment
Why is an org. culture more effective when it’s not cult-like?
If culture is too strong it may become inflexible and intolerant of alternative subcultures
Why is an org. culture more effective if it’s adaptive?
It can respond to changes in the environment
An adaptive culture has a strong learning orientation. What is a learning orientation?
Set of beliefs and norms in which people are encouraged to question past practices, learn new ideas, experiment putting ideas into practice and view mistakes as part of learning process
What is the influence of org. culture on business ethics?
If promoting ethical behavior is part of org. culture, it’s likely the company has good business ethics
What is a bicultural audit? What are 3 important things to establish?
Process of diagnosing cultural relations between companies and determining the extent to which cultural clashes will likely occur
Leaders can minimize cultural collisions by conducting this
- Differences/similarities
- Possible areas of conflict
- Best plan for combining cultures
What are 4 main strategies for merging different corporate cultures?
- Assimilation
- Dculturation
- Integration
- Separation
What is assimilation in merging org. cultures? When does it work best?
When the acquired organization accepts the new culture.
It works best when the acquired company has a weak culture and the acquiring company a strong one
What is the difference between the acquired and acquiring company?
Acquired: company that is bought by the acquiring company
What is deculturation in merging cultures? When does it work best?
Acquiring firm forces the other to accept its culture
Rarely works, but it may be necessary when the acquired company has a dysfunctional culture and their employees aren’t yet aware of it
What is integration in merging cultures? When does it work best?
When 2 cultures are combined into one
Works best if both companies have a weak culture or have overlapping values that can be improved
What is separation in merging cultures? When does it work best?
Merging organizations maintain their own cultures and have minimal exchange of culture or organizational practices
Works best when both companies are successful in their own culture
What are 5 ways in changing and strengthening organizational culture?
- Actions of founders and leaders
- Align artefacts with the desired culture
- Introduce culturally consistent rewards/recognition
- Support workforce stability and communication
- Use attraction, selection and socialization for cultural fit
How can actions of founders and leaders change/strengthen org. culture?
Founder of the company sets the base of the company through their own values. Later, leaders need to strengthen, reinforce or change the culture
How can aligning artifacts with desired culture change/strengthen org. culture?
Artefacts help to maintain and alter the culture
How can introducing culturally consistent rewards/recognition change/strengthen org. culture?
Organization has to reward behavior that is in line with values of the organization
How can supporting workforce stability and communication change/strengthen org. culture?
Strong culture depends on the employees and that is why it’s important to have a stable workforce that understands and supports the company values
Communication promotes the development of common language, shared ideas, stories and artefacts
What is the ASA theory? What are the 3 aspects of it?
ASA: attraction-selection-attrition
–> Organizations attract, select and keep employees whose values are in line with the org. culture
Attraction: emphasize org. culture on job application, which leads to employee self-selection
Selection: selected on the basis of how well they fit in
Attrition: when an employee doesn’t fit with the org. culture, employees tend to quit (if value incongruence is high)
What phrase do executives rather use than culture fit and why(2)? How is this reflected in them hiring people?
Culture add, because:
1. They want to avoid a demographically homogenous organization. Culture fit screens out people with different backgrounds, but would actually fit well
2. People with identical values stifle constructive debate, creativity and adaptability
Actually they steill attract and hire applicants whose personal values are similar to, rather than opposed to, the company’s values
What is organizational socialization?
The process by which individuals learn the values, expected behaviors and social knowledge necessary to assume their roles in the organizaton
Which 2 things guide the process of organizational socialization?
- Learning: employees need to have organizational comprehension (setting, dynamics, cultural environment)
- Adjustment: employees need to adapt to novel work environment (develop new roles, adopt team norms, practice new behaviors)
What is a psychological contract?
The individual feelings of obligation related to the reciprocal exchange between employee and organization
What are the 2 types of psychological contracts?
- Transactional: focus on short-term economic exchange, no commitment to organization
- Relational: long-term commitments to organization that include mutual obligations
What are the 3 stages of organizational socialization?
- Preemployment socialization
- Encounter
- Role management
Leads to socialization outcomes
What is the stage of preemployment socialization and what happens in this stage (2)?
All learning and adjustment that occurs before the first day of work
–> Learn about organization and job
–> Form employment relationship expectations
What is a problem in the preemployment socialization stage? (3)
Outsiders rely on indirect info about what it’s really like to work in the organization. It’s often distorted by conflicts in negotiations between employer and applicant
Applicants also avoid asking questions about the organization in the beginning, because they want to give a good impression, impression management
Employers can be hesitant to ask the applicants questions in order to avoid attrition
What is the encounter stage of organizational socialization? Give 2 reasons why employees can experience reality shock?
When a new employee comes in contact with the organization
Shock because:
1. Unmet expectations: employer doesn’t deliver on their promises
2. Unrealistic expectations: employees have formed distorted work expectations in the pre-employment stage
What is the stage of role management in organizational socialization? What are 3 things that happen in this stage?
It begins during preemployment socialization, but it’s activated when employees are transitioning from newcomers to insiders
- Strenghten work relationships
- Practice new role behaviors
- Resolving conflicts work/non-work activities and personal/company’s values
What are 4 types of conflict in the preemployment socialization stage?
- Employer attracts applicants in such a way it conflicts with applicant’s need to receive complete info for choosing best offer
- Applicant’s motivation for job conflicts with employer’s need to receive complete info for choosing applicant
- Employer attracts applicants in such a way it conflicts with their own need to receive complete info for choosing best applicant
- Applicants are motivated to attract offers, which conflicts with their own need for complete info for choosing the best job
What is a reality shock?
Stress that results when employee perceives discrepancies between their preemployment expectations and on-the-job reality
How can an organization help improve the socialization process of new employees before and after hiring?
Before hiring: Realistic job previews (RJP): method of improving org. socialization in which job applicants are given a balance of positive and negative information about the job and work context
After hiring: socialization agents, buddies
What is an unintended effect of realistic job previews (RJP)?
It can scare some applicants, but it also leads to lower turnover and increased job performance and organizational commitment
What are socialization agents? What is a very important agent?
Helpful coworkers, bosses or friends that help new employees adjusting to their jobs
Coworkers: because they’re easily accessible, can answer questions and serve as role models
E.g. buddy system
