Organizational Culture Flashcards
Organizational Culture
Innovation/risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation
Attention to detail
Degree to which employees are expected to exhibit precision
Outcome orientation
Degree to which management focuses on results or outcomes rather than on technique and process
People orientation
Degree to which management decisions take into consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the organization
Team orientation
Degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals
Aggressiveness
Degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing
Stability
Degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth
Layers of the organizational culture onion
Basic underlying assumptions - espoused values - observable artifacts
Observable artifacts
Stories, metaphors, rituals, heroes, symbols (manifestations of culture that people can easily see and talk about)
Espoused values
Beliefs, philosophies, norms that a company explicitly states
Basic underlying assumptions
Taken-for-granted beliefs and philosophies that are so ingrained that employees simply act on them rather than questioning the validity of their behavior in a given situation
Culture’s functions
Boundary defining, sense of identity, commitment to something larger than one’s individual self-interest, social glue, “sense-making”
General Culture
Varies on continuum of sociability and solidarity
High sociability and high solidarity
Communal (sense of belonging, task-driven, leaders are inspirational but may have too much influence)
High sociability and low solidarity
Networked (Members are willing to help each other and share information, but are so close to each other that they may refuse to criticize poor performance)
Low sociability and high stability
Mercenary (focus on strict goals, those with poor performance can be treated inhumanely)
Low sociability and low stability
Fragmented (Sense of belonging to and identification with the organization is usually very weak. Individualists constitute the organizations, commitment is given first to individual members and task work, but lack of cooperation)
Culture strength
High consensus (employees agree about the way that things are supposed to happen within the organization) High intensity (subsequent behaviors are consistent with those expectations)
Specific culture types
Customer service, safety, diversity, creativity
Attraction - selection - attrition
Socialization has three stages of anticipatory, encounter, and understanding/adaptation
Organization socialization
Process by which newcomers are transformed from outsiders to participating, effective members of the organization
Anticipatory socialization
All of the learning about the organization that occurs before a newcomer’s first day on the job
Realism
Degree to which the new person holds accurate expectations about the job and organization
Congruence
Refers both to extent to which a newcomer’s abilities match the demands of the job, and the extent to which the newcomer’s values match the values of the organization
Encounter
Newcomer learns the organizational tasks associated with the job, calrifies roles, establishes relationships. May clash with realities of job during this stage
Change and acquisition
Newcomers begin to master the demands of the job, time span of the last stage varies greatly, but is complete when the newcomer and others consider the newcomer an org. insider
Socialization as cultural communication
Socialization process centers on the transmission of the organization’s core values to newcomers
Changing a culture
Occurs through change in leadership, merger and acquisition, major change in processes, big changes in market, strategy change
3 Step Change model
unfreezing, moving, refreezing
Unfreezing
Arouse dissatisfaction with current state, activate and strengthen top mgt support, use participation in decision making, build in rewards
Moving
Establish goals, institute smaller, acceptable changes that reinforce and support change, develop mgt. structure for change
Refreezing
Build success experiences, reward desired behaviors, develop structures to institutionalize change
