Lecture 15 & 16 Flashcards
What are features of Culture?
Beliefs, Values, Routines, Norms, Rules
What are some reasons for the emergence of organisational culture?
Decline in religious belief, Advances in technology, the “Japanese Miracle”, globalisation
What is organisational culture?
The collection of values, beliefs and practices that an organisation establishes to guide the conduct of its employees and business
Hofstede: what are the model features?
Indulgence vs restraint, long term vs short term, Masculinity vs femininity, tolerance of uncertainty, Individuality, Power distance
Hofstede: What is Power Distance Index
Acceptance of power inequality: High PDI - hierarchical, centralised, Low PDI egalitarian workplace, employees empowered
Hofstede: Individualism vs Collectivism
Group integration, individualism emphasises personal achievements, autonomy, collectivism prioritises group cohesion loyalty and collective interest
Hofstede: Masculinity vs Femininity cultures
Masculinity: Value competitiveness, ambition, material success
Femininity: emphasises work-life balance, care, quality of relationships
Hofstede: Uncertainty avoidance Index (UAI)
threat of ambiguity:
High UAI: prefer structured situations, clear rules, predictability
Low UAI: open to risk taking, innovation, tolerance for ambiguity
Hofstede Long vs Short-term Orientation
Long-term: values persistence, thrift, long-term planning
Short-term: prioritises respect for tradition, social obligations and quick results
Hofstede: Indulgence vs Restraint
Openness to leisure
Indulgence: encourages personal enjoyment, fun, freedom of expression
Restraint: Emphasises self-control, discipline and adherence to social norms
Dean and Kennedy Model: What are its features?
Has two axis, feedback and reward (slow vs fast) and Risk (high vs low)
Dean and Kennedy: What is the work hard, play hard culture?
Fast and low, focuses on high energy and customer satisfaction with frequent celebration of success e.g. restaurants, customer service sector
Dean and Kennedy: What is the process culture?
Slow and low, stable, methodical focuses on routine, formal processes and consistency e.g. Banks, insurance, government
Dean and Kennedy: what is the Tough-guy/Macho culture?
Fast and High, thrives on risk and rapid feedback, individual achievements and resilience e.g. police, film/entertainment, sports
Dean and Kennedy: What is the bet-your-company culture?
Slow and high, cautious, high stakes involves risk and long-term investments e.g. aerospace and oil industry
Handy Model: What are the features?
Centralisation (Low vs high), Formalisation (high vs low)
Handy: What is the role culture (Apollo)?
High centralisation and formalisation, rules, hierarchy, bureaucracies and big businesses in stable environments
Handy: What is the task culture (Athena)?
High centralisation, Low formalisation, flexible, task orientated, team based, service organisation and adhocracies in competitive environments
Handy: What is the Power Culture?
Low centralisation, high formalisation, personal power and charisma, short lines of communication, entrepreneurs, small businesses in turbulent environments
Handy: What is the Person culture (Dionysus)?
Low centralisation and formalisation, individual talents and ambitions, status based on profession, professional service firms in predictable environments
Cameron and Quinn Model: What are the features?
Inward vs outward focus, focus on stability and control
Cameron and Quinn: What is the Clan culture?
Inwards looking, flexible, team-work and collaboration, close nit and supportive
Cameron and Quinn: What is the Hierarchy culture?
Inward looking, focused on control, value efficiency, process, structure, order and predictability
Cameron and Quinn: What is the Adhocracy culture?
Outward looking, flexible, fast paced, dynamic and entrepreneurial, innovate, take risk and dynamic
Cameron and Quinn: What is the Market culture?
Outward looking, focused on stability and control, outcome driven, focused on competing and winning, market achievement oriented
Johnson & Scholes cultural web: What are the features of this model?
Stories, Rituals & Routines, symbols, org structure, power structure, control systems
Johnson & Scholes: What are stories?
The narrative, stories and examples spoken about within the business
Johnson and Scholes: What are rituals & routines?
The unspoken rules and ways of doing things
Johnson and Scholes: What are symbols?
They physical and metaphorical symbols used in the organisation
Johnson and Scholes: What is org structure?
The way organisations are explicitly and implicitly structured (used within organisations)
Johnson and Scholes: What is power structure?
The way power is managed and handled, pockets of power within the org
Johnson and Scholes: What are control systems?
the control mechanisms within the organisation - finance, performance management, results, rewards
What are some mainstream approaches?
- Top-down perspective of culture
- integrate organisations
- consider organisational culture as amenable to managerial manipulation
- ‘well-managed’ culture linked to performance
What are critiques of mainstream approaches?
- management centric
- Organisational culture is complex and layered
- Positivist and quantitative view
- Emphasised the culture
- Performance links
- Assumptions about human nature
What are some managerial biases in organisational culture?
- Top-driven culture
- Culture as separate from management
- Managerial bias
- Positivist approach (culture measurable and controllable for outcomes)
Organisational culture: what are some further features of culture?
- Complex and layered, includes subcultures
- Conflicting interests between stakeholders
- Incongruent values and beliefs across org
Organisational culture: What is the positivist approach?
Culture is seen as a part of the management toolkit and can be adjusted for org changes
Organisational culture: What are quantitative research methods?
Emphasis on empirical studies using surveys and predefined categories?
Organisational culture: What are limited interpretivist approaches?
less focus on understanding culture through qualitative methods, such as interviews and observations
Organisational culture: What are features of the culture-performance link?
- Emphasis on cultural change (assumes culture change improves performance)
- Serves managerial interests
- neglects non-dominant voices
Organisational culture: What are assumptions about people in organisations?
- Passivity of people
- Pre-constructed symbols, beliefs, values
- are values shared?
- Assumptions about diffusion, acculturation, assimilation
- Human agency
Organisational culture: What is the critical perspective?
- Organisation are cultures
- Explores role of power and inequality
- What is symbolic and meaningful to individuals
- Advocated for an interpretivist approach
- Recognises incongruent values among stakeholders
- Challenges the idea of bureaucratic control and acknowledges employees active participants
Organisational culture studies: What are key critical studies on organisational culture?
- Ackroyd & Crowdy’s case
- Kunda’s Work
- Collinson’s Research
Ackroyd & Crowdy’s case: What was their study?
Looked at abattoir workers, had formal leaders but real leaders were those doing ‘dirtiest’ work, had a function and symbolic hierarchy and that workers had inverted values to wider societal values
Kunda’s Work: What was their findings?
Employees encouraged to merge their sense of self with organisation, employees distanced themselves from orgs ideology, maintaining emotional distance, which acted as a safety value to express frustrations, preventing serious dissent.
Collinson Engineering Humour - What were their findings?
Studied lorry-making factory workers, found humour as a coping mechanism of employees and that it became a subculture to help them cope with work demands and reinforced creativity
Organisational culture studies: What were critical issues arising from the studies?
- Collaborative culture creation
- Symbolic meaning
- Adapting to demands
- Organic development
- Cultural traffic
- Diversity awareness
- Active role of employees
