Topic 19: Organisational Culture

Question 1

Why do we study organisational culture?

Answer 1

• Competitive advantage and financial success.
• Productivity, Quality and morale.
• Innovation.
• Compatibility of mergers and acquisitions.
• Person-organisation fit.
• Direction of leadership activity.

Question 2

Define organisational culture.

Answer 2

The basic pattern of shared values and shared assumptions within the corporation.

Question 3

What are the elements of organisational culture?

Answer 3

Artifacts of organisational culture:

• Physical structure.
• Languages.
• Rituals and ceremonies.
• Stories and legends.

​Organisational culture.

• Shared values
  
  • Conscious beliefs.
  • Evaluate what is good or bad, right or wrong.
• Shared assumptions
  
  • Unconscious, taken for granted beliefs.
  • Implicit mental models

Question 4

What values are in the organisational culture profile?

Answer 4

IS ROATA

• Innovation.
• Stability.
• Respect for people.
• Outcome orientation.
• Attention to detail.
• Team orientation.
• Aggresiveness.

Question 5

Outline innovation as a value in organisational culture profiles.

Answer 5

• Experimenting.
• Opportunity seeking.
• Risk taking.
• Few rules.
• Low cautiousness.

Question 6

Outline stability as a value in the organisational culture profile.

Answer 6

• Predictability.
• Security.
• Rule-oriented.

Question 7

Outline respect for people in the organisational culture profile.

Answer 7

• Fairness.
• Tolerence.

Question 8

Outlines outcome orientation in the organisational culture profile.

Answer 8

• Action-orientated.
• High expecations.
• Results-oriented.

Question 9

Outline attention to detail in the organisational culture profile.

Answer 9

• Precise.
• Analystic.

Question 10

Outline team orientation in the organisational culture profile.

Answer 10

• Collaboration.
• People-oriented.

Question 11

Outline aggresiveness in the organisational culture profile.

Answer 11

• Competitive.
• Low emphasis on social responsibility.

Question 12

What are the effects of organisational culture in the workplace?

Answer 12

• Control system: subconsciously guides behavior and decisions.
• Social glue.
• Sense making.

Question 13

What are the contingencies to successful organisational culture?

Answer 13

• The culture fitting the firms environement.
• Moderate, not cult like strength.
• Adaptive culture.

Question 14

What are the outcomes of successful organisational culture?

Answer 14

• Performance.
• Employee wellbeing.

Question 15

What are the functions of counter cultures?

Answer 15

• Provide surveillance and critique.
• Source of emerging values.

Question 16

What can be done to change / strengthens organisational culture?

Answer 16

• Attracting, selecting and socialising employees.
• Actions of founders and leaders.
• Align artefacts to the desired culture.
• Introducing culturally-consistent rewards.

Question 17

What is organisational socialiation?

Answer 17

The process by which individuals learn the values, expected behaviors and social knowledge necessary to assume thier roles in the organisation.

Question 18

What are the stages of socialisation?

Answer 18

1. Pre-employement socialisation: Learn and form expectations.
2. Encounter: Test expectations.
3. Role management: stengthen relationships, practise roles, resolve conflicts.
4. Socialisation outcomes.

Question 19

What are the outcomes to organisational socialisation?

Answer 19

• Higher motivation.
• Higher loyalty.
• Higher satisfaction.
• Lower stress.
• Lower turnover.

Question 20

What can be done to improve organisational socialisation?

Answer 20

• Realistic job preview.
• Socialisation agents
  
  • Supervisors: Job related details.
  • Coworkers: social help.