W&O ch14 Organizational culture

Question 1

Organizational culture

Answer 1

The shared values, norms and assumptions in an organization

Question 2

Values

Answer 2

Stable, evaluative beliefs that determine our preference for a certain outcome or approach in various situations. They are our conscious perceptions of what is right/wrong or good/bad

Question 3

Assumptions

Answer 3

Unconscious, taken for granted perceptions about the correct way of dealing with and thinking about problems and opportunities

Question 4

What are the dimensions of organizational culture (iceberg)

Answer 4

Artefacts (tip of iceberg), shared values and shared assumptions (under the water that are often not seen)

Question 5

Shared values

Answer 5

Values that people within the org have in common
Conscious, what is good/bad, right/wrong, congnitions
Espoused vs enacted

Question 6

Espoused values

Answer 6

What they say is important for them as a value
Usually socially desirable
They don’t always match the enacted values

Question 7

Enacted values

Answer 7

What the org actually does - values in action
An organization’s culture is defined by enacted values

Question 8

Shared assumptions

Answer 8

Nonconscious, taken for granted, implicit mental models, prototype for behaviour

Question 9

Artifacts

Answer 9

• Visible symbols and signs and observable manifestations of an org’s culture
• Symbols or indicators of culture - tip of the iceberg
• Represent, maintain and strengthen culture
• Signal and pass on culture to newcomers

Question 10

Four categories of artifacts

Answer 10

1. Stories and legends
2. Organizational language
3. Rituals and ceremonies
4. Physical structures and symbols

Question 11

Stories and legends

Artifacts

Answer 11

• Tales recounting heroic deeds or ridicule incidents of deviations from org’s core values
• Add human realism to corporate expectations, individual performance standars and criteria for getting fired

Question 12

When do stories and legends have the greatest effect on communicating org’s culture?

Answer 12

1. Describe real people
2. Assumed to be true
3. Known by employees thoroughout org
4. Convey clear messages about the way things should/not be done

Question 13

Organizational language

Artifacts

Answer 13

How employees talk to one another, describe customers, express anger, and greet stakeholders
= all verbal symbols of shared values, norms and asumptions

Question 14

Rituals and ceremonies

Artifacts

Answer 14

• Rituals - repetitive, predictable events that have symbolic meaning of underlying cultural values, norms and assumptions (e.g. fast-paced walk around the office)
• Ceremonies - planned displays of org culture, specifically for the benefit of an audience (e.g. rewarding employees)

Question 15

Physical structures and symbols

Artifacts

Answer 15

• Might support a company’s emphasis on their values (e.g. teamwork…)
• Building, workplace design…
• E.g. Collaborative and creative cultures (more team space, informal and flexible environment, organic layout) vs Controlling and competitive cultures (more individual space, formal and fixed environment, structure and symmetrical layout)

Question 16

What are various categorizations of organizational cultures?

Dimensions of org cultures

Answer 16

1. Innovation - experimenting, risk-taking, few rules
2. Stability - security, predictability
3. Respect for people - fairness, tolerance
4. Outcome orientation - high expectations, action-oriented
5. Attention to detail - precise, analytic
6. Team orientation - collaboration, people-oriented
7. Aggressiveness - competitive, low emphasis on social responsibility

Question 17

Problems of categorizing and culture models

Answer 17

1. Oversimplification of diversity (there are many more values and its combinations)
2. Ignoring deeper shared assumptions
3. Not automatically shared by everyone in an organization: culture is blurry and fragmented
4. Often subcultures exist

Question 18

Subculture

Answer 18

Parallel to the dominant culture
Sometimes … the dominant culture:
* enhance - by enacting parallel values, norms and assumptions
* differ - but do not conflict with the DC
* contrary to (counterculture) - embrace values, norms, and assumptions that directly oppose org’s DC

Question 19

The relevance of subcultures (incl. countercultures)

Answer 19

Sources of conflict and dissension
* Risk of dysfunctional behaviour
BUT…
1. Source of attentiveness and critical thinking: creativity
↪ Guard performance and ethical behaviour
2. Sources of info in order to adapt to changing environment
↪ Long term survival

Question 20

What does the strength of an organization’s culture depend on?

Answer 20

1. Extent to which employees understand and embrace dominant values
2. Extent to which the values and assumptions are institutionalized through wide-spread artifacts

Period in which the culture has ‘prevailed’ - often links back to the founder of the organization
↪ Strong cultures often long-lasting

Question 21

Functions of a strong culture

Answer 21

1. Control system
2. Social glue
3. Sense making

Question 22

Control system

Function of strong culture

Answer 22

Org culture deeply embedded form of social control - influences employee decisions and behaviour
Culture is pervasive and operates almost invisibly

Question 23

Social glue

Function of strong culture

Answer 23

• Bonds people, makes them feel part of the org
• Employees motivated to internalize org’s culture - fulfils their connectedness need

Question 24

Sense making

Funciton of strong culture

Answer 24

• Org helps make sense of what goes on and why
• Clearer role perceptions
• Less role-related stress

Question 25

(Contingencies) Benefits of culture strength depend on

Answer 25

• Culture content fits the environment
  ↪ Motivation and clearer role perceptions to practice behaviours improving org’s interactions with costumers
• Moderate, not cult-like, strength
  ↪ Cult-like culture locks employees’ mental models - less creativity to solve unique problems
  ↪ Cult-like cultures supress subcultures
• Adaptiveness

Question 26

Adaptive culture

Contingency of strong cultures

Answer 26

• Embraces change, creativity, open-mindedness, growth and learning
• Seek emerging changes and adapt to those
• Strong learning orientation

Question 27

Outcomes from the strong culture

Answer 27

• Organizational performance (incl. ethical behaviour)
• Employee well-being

Question 28

Bicultural audit

Merging organizational cultures

Answer 28

Establishing the cultures of two organizations that merged
↪ Differences and similarities
Determines the extent to which differences could lead to conflicts
Action plan for combining cultures

Question 29

Strategies to combine cultures

Answer 29

1. Assimilation
2. Deculturation
3. Integration
4. Separation

Question 30

Assimilation

Answer 30

• Acquired org embraces culture of aquiring org
• Works best when aquired org has a weak culture and aquiring org’s culture is strong and successful

Question 31

Deculturation

Answer 31

• Acquiring org enforces culture (in case of resistance)
• Rarely works - delays merger
• May be necessary only when acquired org’s culture is dysfunctional but its employees don’t realize yet

Question 32

Integration

Answer 32

• Combining the best aspects of different cultures into one new culture
• (very) slow process
• Work best when both orgs’ cultures are relatively weak or have overlapping values
  ↪ But employees need to be motivated to improve the culture

Question 33

Separation

Answer 33

• Individual orgs keep their culture
• If the orgs have different activities (diversified conglomerates) or are based in different countries

Question 34

What 5 ways how to change and strengthen organizational culture?

The circle model

Answer 34

1. Model desired culture through the actions of founders and leaders (transformational and authentic leadership styles)
2. Align artifacts with the desired culture
3. Introduce culturally consistent rewards/recognition (artifacts; rewards have very strong effect on employees)
4. Support workforce stability and communication
5. Use attraction, selection, and socialization for cultural fit (ASA theory)

Question 35

ASA theory

Answer 35

States that orgs have a natural tendency to attract, select and retain people with values and personality characteristics that are consistent with the org’s character
Attraction - employees consider org’s culture during application process
Selection - select employees who fit the culture
Attrition - if an employee leaves because the culture wasn’t a fit

Question 36

Organizational socialization

Answer 36

The process by which individuals learn the values, expected behaviours and social knowledge necessary to assume their roles in the organization
Adjustment and learning process - organizational comprehension (determines effective socialization)

Question 37

Psychological contracts

Answer 37

Employee’s beliefs about the terms and conditions of a reciprocal exchange agreement between the employee and the employer which develop throughout recruitment and socialization

Question 38

Two types of psychological contracts

Answer 38

1. Transactional - short-term economic exchanges
2. Relational - long-term attachments encompassing mutual obligations
   ↪ Organizational citizenship behaviour more likely to prevail

Question 39

Three stages of organizational socialization

Answer 39

1. Pre-employment stage
2. Encounter stage
3. Role management

Question 40

Pre-employement stage

Answer 40

Outsider
Gathering info (indirect - often distorted)
Forming expectations

Question 41

What are the 4 conflicts that can arise during preemployment stage?

Very long, I know but once you understand, very easy

Answer 41

1. Employer’s motivation to attract high-quality job applicants conflicts with applicant’s need to receive complete and accurate info (org describes only positive aspects)
2. Applicant’s motivation to attract job offers conflicts with the employer’s need to receive complete and accurate info for choosing the best applicant (applicant pretends to be better, points out only positives)
3. Employer’s motivation to attract high-quality applicants conflicts with their need to receive complete and accurate info for choosing best applicant (employer reluctant to ask questions that might scare off best applicants)
4. Applicants’ motivation to attract job offers conflicts with their need to receive complete and accurate info for choosing best job (don’t ask about salary)

Question 42

Encounter stage

Answer 42

Newcomer
Testing preemployment expectations
If unmet or unrealistic expectations don’t fit reality = reality shock
↪ Results in stress that takes up newcomer’s energy

Question 43

Role management

Answer 43

Insider
Strengthen work relationships
Practice new role behaviours
Resolving conflicts between nonwork and work activities and conflicts between personal and org’s values

Question 44

How to improve the socialization process

Answer 44

1. Prior to hiring: realistic job preview
   ↪ Balanced info of positives and negatives - trust (increases affective organizational commitment)
   ↪ Helps reducing reality shock, turnover and increases job performance
2. After hiring: socialization agents, buddies