Organizational Culture Flashcards
why does environment matter?
internal environment»_space; organizational culture > personality of the company
external environment»_space; contingency factor
external environment (general)
demography: demographic cohorts
economic
social/ cultural
technological
ecological
political
Internal environment (OC)
a set of shared assumptions that guide what happens in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations > code of conduct
Seven dimensions of OC
- Innocation and risk taking: degree to which the employees are encouraged to be innovative and risk taking
- Attention to detail: degree to which the employees are expected to exhibit precision and attention to detail
3.Outcome orientation: degree to which managers focus on results rather than how to achieve them - People orientation: degree to which management decision take into accouont the effect on people within the organization
5.Team orientation: degree to which work is organized around teams rather than individuals
Aggressiveness: degree to which employees are aggressive an competitive rather than cooperative
Stability: degree to which organizational decisions and actions emphasize maintaining the status quo
Schein model of OC
Norms and values
Espoused: stated or desired cultural elements (written or stated tone that the management wish to instill)
Enacted: the actual values that the culture represents
Artifacts and products
Material, buildings, slogans, symbols, stories/ myths, clothing, ceremonies
Do organizations have uniform culture?
the dominant culture expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the organization’s members
Subsultures tend to develop in large organizations to reflect common problems, situations, or experiences of members
Code of conduct
coordination and control mechanism: act like formalization
define boundaries
influence management style - empowerment or autocratic
influence how people deal with each other
generates commitment beyond oneself
enhances social stability (social glue)
Managerial decisions affected by culture
Planning
-the degree of risk hat plans should contain
-whether plans should be developed by individuals or teams
-the degree of environmental scanning in which management will engage
Organizing
-how much autonomy should be designed into employees’ jobs
-whether tasks should be done by individuals or teams
-the degree ot which department managers interact with each other
Leading
-the degree to which managers are concerned with increasing employee job satisfaction
-what leadership styles are appropriate
-whether all disagreements- even constructive ones- should be eliminated
Controlling
-whether to impose external controls or to allow employees to control their own actions
-what criteria should be emphasized in employee performance evaluations
Culture and performance
adaptive culture translates into organizational success, it is characterized by managers paying close attention to all their constituencies, intiiating change when needed and taking risks
Culture is no off the shelf recipe
what works now will not necessarily work tomorrow
Strong culture
values widely shared
culture conveys consistent messages about what’s important
most employees can tell stories about company heroes
employee strongly identify with culture
strong connection between shared values and behaviours
Strong culture will
have great influence on the behaiour of its members
increase cohesiveness
acts like formalization
result in lower employee turnover
may be better performance
weak culture
values limited to few people- usually top management
culture sends contradictory messages about what’s important
employees have little knowledge of company history or heroes
employees have little identification with culture
little connection between shared values and behaviours
factors influencing the strength of culture
size of organization
age of organization
rate of employee turnover
strength of the original culture
clarity of cultural values and beliefs (not many subcultures)
dysfunctional aspects of strong culture
Barrier to change
-culture is slow to change_ even in a dynamic environment
-people become blind followers
Barriet to diversity
-managers want employees that accept thevalues of the firm
-strong cultures pit pressure to conrform (groupthink)
Barrier to acquisition and mergers
-most mergers fail due to cultural incompatibility
creating culture
Its founder
-have a clear vision, when successful, founder’s vision becomes a myth
-are unconstrained by previous visions
-hire and keep employees who think like them
-act as role model
-also industry and national culture plays a role
