OB test #2 Flashcards
Organizational Culture
The share beliefs, values, and assumptions that exist in an organization.
What does organizational culture do?
Culture provides uniqueness and social identity to organizations.
It represents a true “way of life” for organizational members.
It tends to be fairly stable over time.
Pre-Entry & At-entry Issues(RTDOSR)
- Realistic Job preview (RPJ)
- The Psychological Contract
- Developing Commitment in the New Recruit
- Orientation
- Socialization
- Recognizing Types of Cultures and their practices
How do Organizations develop early commitment in the new recruit?(VEIP)
- Visibility
- Explicitness
- Irreversibility
- Personal Volition
Socialization
The process by which an employee begins to adapt to the values, norms, and beliefs of the organization and its members (culture)
Involves learning the organizations climate and “learning to fit in”
Proximal and Distal socialization outcomes
Climate
members’ shared perceptions of the contingencies between behaviours that occur in the work environment and their consequences
Learning what behaviours are expected, acceptable, unacceptable.
Strategic Importance of socialization. (CURES)
- Clarifies expectations / how things are done
- Uncertainty reduction theory
- Reduces anxiety for new employees
(will I fit in?) (will i enjoy the job/coworkers/etc?) - Effects employee attitudes and behaviour
(job satisfaction, commitment)
(Job performance) - Sets the tone of employment relationship
Uncertainty reduction theory
“newcomers are motivated to reduce their uncertainty so that the work environment becomes more predictable and understandable”.
Strategic importance of socialization
Socialization facilitates the social influence process and leads to greater identification and involvement with organizational norms and roles.
what does socialization help
helps employees move from compliance to internalization
Compliance
conformity to a social norm out of desire to acquire rewards or avoid punishment
Identification
conformity to a social norm out of belief that those who promote the norm are attractive or similar to ones self
Internalization
conformity to a social norm out of true acceptance of the beliefs, values, and attitudes that underlie the norm
Socialization Vs Orientation (socialization)
process of employees adapting to organization (culture/climate)
Long-term process, often informal
Person-job fit; person-organization fit; person-group fit; organizational identification
Socialization vs orientation (orientation)
Program that informs new employees about their job and company
short-term, often formal
Employee orientation programs
Employee Orientation Program for Entry Stress
(ROPES)
The three stages of socialization (AER)
- Anticipatory (pre arrival)
- Encounter
- Role Management (settling in)
Realistic job preview (RPJ)
Info about job demands and working conditions - both positive and negative aspects
Anticipatory (pre arrival)
- Employees begin with certain expectations about organization and job
- may be unrealistic - if unmet, result in dissatisfaction, turnover, etc.
- Not all anticipatory socialization will be accurate or useful
- RJP may be helpful
Encounter (1)
- Employee has started now job
- inconsistencies between expectations and reality emerge
- needs info re: policies, procedure, etc.
E.g, via orientation program
organizational issues, policies etc.
benefits
introductions
job duties
Encounter (2) Benefits of a good orientation program
- Shows organization values to employee
- reduces employee anxiety and turnover
- reduces start-up costs
4.clarifies job and organizational expectations - Improves job performance.
Role Management (settling in)
- inconsistencies start to get worked out
- employee begins to identify with organization
- transition from being an “outsider” to feeling like an “insider”
- Often involves taking on new attitudes, values, and behaviours to align with organizations
- misalignment = dissatisfaction and turnover
socialization tactics(CIFFSS)
- collective vs individual
- Investiture (affirm identity) vs divestiture (strip self-confidence)
- formal vs informal (on the job)
- fixed vs variable (timeframe)
- sequential vs random
- serial (experiences, role models) vs disjunctive
Depends on Organization
Institutionalized vs individualized socialization
Institutionalized; Formalized and structured program; reduces uncertainty and encourages new hires to stick to status quo.
Collective - Formal - sequential - fixed - serial - divestiture
Individual; Reflects relative absence of structure; encourages new hires to question status quo and develop their own approach to their role.
Individual - informal - random - variable - disjunctive - investiture
Mentoring
- Career functions (coach, feedback)
- Psychosocial functions (role model, counselling)
diagnosing a culture
symbols - use symbols to reinforce cultural values
ritual - rites, rituals, ceremonies can convey essence. E.g., casual fridays, Walmart
stories - The folklore of organizations – stories about past organizational events – is a common
aspect of culture
subcultures
smaller cultures that develop within a larger organizational culture that are based on differences in training, occupation, or departmental goals.
* E.g., could be a different culture across faculties or across departments
Strong vs weak culture
Strong; An organizational culture with intense and pervasive beliefs, values, and assumptions.
A strong culture provides great consensus concerning “what the organization is about” or what it stands for.
* E.g., WestJet Airlines
Weak; Weak cultures are fragmented and have less impact on organizational members.
There may be a gap between the culture that leaders envisions and the culture that
employees experience
Assets vs Liabilities (strong culture concept)
Assets;
-Coordination
-Facilitate communication and coordination
-Conflict Resolution
-Sharing core values can resolve conflicts
-Financial Success
Liabilities;
-Resistance to Change
-Damage a firm’s ability to innovate
-Culture clash
-Strong cultures can mix badly when a merger or acquisition occurs
-Pathology
socialization steps in strong cultures
Selection
Hazing
Training
Reward
in core culture
folklore
Role models
Proactive socialization
The employee plays an active role in his/her own socialization by:
information seeking
relationship building
boss-relationship building
networking
Phycological contract
beliefs held by employees regarding the reciprocal obligations and promises between them and their organization.
breach of the phycological contract
employee perceptions that their organization has failed to fulfill one or more of its promises or obligations in the phycological contract
