Organisational culture Flashcards
Corporate culture
sum of all beliefs, attitudes, norms and customs that prevail within an organisation
6 main factors that influence culture
- SIZE of organisation?
- how TECHNOLOGIcally advanced is the organisation?
- how DIVERSE is the company?
- how old (AGE) is the business/managers of business?
- what worked in the past (HISTORY)?
- is the organisation owned (OWNERSHIP) by a sole trader?
Schein’s argument
First leaders of company create culture and future leaders will only be selected if they support this culture. = culture and leadership link and difficult to change
Three levels of culture described by Schein
artefacts - aspects of culture easily seen e.g. the way people dress
espoused values - strategies and goals of organisation such as company slogans etc.
basic assumptions and values - unseen so difficult to identify and exist unconsciously
Handy and his 4 cultural types
- Power culture
- Role culture
- Task culture
- Person culture
Power culture (Handy)
One major source of influence and few procedures & rules of a formal kind as staff take direction from owner (found in entrepreneurial structure businesses)
Role culture (Handy)
People describe their job by their duties, not purpose, structure determines authority and responsibility of individuals and strong emphasis on hierarchy and status (effective in stable environments, where work performed rarely changes)
Task culture (Handy)
emphasis is on achieving specific task and staff need to be flexible to meet deadlines - people describe their positions in terms of results they’re achieving and nothing can get in the way of achieving task (specific task project teams)
Person culture (Handy)
exists to satisfy requirements of particular individual(s) involved with organisation (found is small, highly participatory organisation where individuals undertake all duties)
Cultural web and G. Johnson
identifying no. of elements that can be used to describe/influence organisational structure
Cultural web - the paradigm
what is organisation about, what it does, its mission and values (influenced by six elements)
The paradigm: control systems
process that monitors what’s going on (internal control systems etc.)
The paradigm: organisational structures
reporting lines, hierarchies, the way that work flows through business
The paradigm: power structures
who makes decisions, how widely is power spread, what is power based on?
The paradigm: symbols
organisational logos/designs, formal/informal dress codes
