Week 12, Organizational Culture, Slides

Question 1

NASA’s Culture

Answer 1

• NASA’s human space flight culture possessed a ‘can
  do’ attitude.
• The past success of NASA reinforced within NASA the
  notion that it is a perfect organization excluded from
  accountability.
• In the view of the Columbia Accident Investigation
  Board (CAIB) the organizational culture of NASA had as much to do with this accident as the foam insulation.

Question 2

Culture of Silence

Answer 2

• Restricted Decision Making
  ** Overconfidence-the “we can do anything” mentality
  ** Groupthink-bad decisions made by groups that individuals know are wrong
  ** Conformity-the lack of questioning decisions
• Dysfunctional Communication
  ** Lack of upward/lateral feedback-subordinates and peers do not provide feedback to the supervisors and leaders of the organization
  ** Little air time-individual thoughts, comments and concerns are often not heard
• Insulated Leadership
  ** Stifled dissent-individual thoughts, comments and concerns are often glossed over
  ** Rationalization-it was the foam or the O-ring and a small budget that caused the past tragedies
• Lessons Not Learned
  ** No retro learning-NASA does not learn enough from the past
  ** Resistance to change-individuals may fear change

Question 3

Organizations

Answer 3

• Social Entity
  ** People – Common purpose
• Characteristics
  ** Climate
  ** Culture
  ** Fit & Expectations
• Contemporary research emphasizes the importance of employee perceptions over that of the “objective”
  environment (ex. Hawthorne studies)

Question 4

Concrete vs. Symbolic

Answer 4

• Actions in organizations have been characterized as displaying a dual
  significance (Pfeffer, 1981)
• The tangible character of actions can be seen in the way they are used to attain profits, promotions, and calculated goals
• Actions also display a symbolic, expressive element through which
  beliefs, emotions, and identities can be formed and changed
• This symbolic character plays an important role in maintaining and reinforcing social structures and incorporating individuals into a larger social entity

Question 5

Climate

Answer 5

• “Climate is the perceptions of individual employees about their work entity: an organization, division, department or work group” (Landy & Conte, 2004)
• Refers to a set of measurable properties of the work environment, that
  are perceived by the people who live and work in it, and that influence
  their motivation and behavior
• Organizational Climate is the perception of how it feels to work in a
  particular environment. It is the “atmosphere of the workplace“
• Individual ? What does a $2 an hour raise mean? Depends on who you are…
• James & McIntyre (1986)
  ** Psychological Construct
  ** Based on perceptions
  ** Gives meaning to organizational events
  *** Establish schemas
• Elements become salient when they affect an employees personal
  values & well-being
• Personal values set schemas in which environmental stimuli are
  evaluated

Question 6

climate factors

Answer 6

Image

Question 7

Climate Types

Answer 7

• Multiple climates
  ** Goals of org or department
• Context specific climates
  ** Industry
  ** Service Climate
  ** Safety Climate
• Value / climate congruence tied to important outcome
  variables such as satisfaction & turnover

Question 8

Culture

Answer 8

• Shared values, beliefs, behavior norms & assumptions
• Sum of the total of all shared assumptions
• Organizational Culture became a business
  phenomenon in the early 1980s
• Triggered by Peters and Waterman’s (1982) seminal
  book titled In Search of Excellence: Lessons from
  America’s Best Run Companies.

Question 9

Organizational Culture

Answer 9

• The concept appealed to scientists and practitioners who had grown disillusioned with quantitative research.
• Shifted attention away from the functional and technical aspects (the so-called hard side) of management that could be
  more readily quantified
• Analyzed the interpersonal and symbolic aspects (the soft side) of management that required in-depth, qualitative studies of
  organizational life.
• Emergent Property

Question 10

Culture

Answer 10

Schein (1999)
* Artifacts
** Observable
** Easiest to change

• Espoused values
  ** Strategies, goals, and philosophies
  ** Inconsistencies – deeper level driving behavior
• Assumptions
  ** Core values
  ** Underlying theory
  ** Perceptions, thoughts, and feelings
  ** Hardest to change

Question 11

Layers of Culture Image

Answer 11

Image

Question 12

Layers of Culture

Answer 12

• While the deeper levels may have been somewhat invisible in the past, this may no longer be the case
• As a result of greater attention being directed at managing culture, organizations are recognizing the importance of articulating and stressing their fundamental assumptions
• Greater attention becomes directed at making the tacit
  knowledge within an organization more explicit and accessible

Question 13

Culture

Answer 13

• Stable and difficult to change
  ** Accumulated learning
  ** Most important parts are hard to measure
• Important functions of culture
  ** Culture is shared interpretation of organizational events
  ** Gives conscious/unconscious purpose
  ** Emotional impact, inspiration, commitment
  ** Sense of community
  ** Create and maintain boundaries
  ** Organization control mechanism
  ** Increase productivity
• Complex
  ** Must analyze at every level
• Culture is deep, broad, and stable
• Change efforts that are narrowly focused will fail
  ** Currently perceptions versus were you want to be
  ** Ignoring elements that are deeply embedded and
  unnoticeable

Question 14

Developing a Culture

Answer 14

External adaptation
* Niche and coping w/ outside environment
* Founding member
** Mission and strategy
** Organizational goals
** Game plan to pursue goals
** Performance criteria for org success

Internal integration
* Org behavior and working relationships
* Founding member initially
** Language and concepts
** Group and team boundaries
** Power and status
** Reward and punishment

Question 15

Maintaining a Culture

Answer 15

• Managers focus
  ** Performance appraisal, feedback
  ** Importance and expectations
• Crisis and critical incidents
  ** Maintain or result in change
• Modeling and teaching
  ** Top mgmt/managers fill roles
  ** Training and day-to-day communication
• Allocation of rewards
  ** Valued and important
  ** Don’t reward A, hoping for B
• Recruitment, selection, promotion, and termination
  ** ASA model
• Rites or ceremonies
• A form of social action in which a group’s values and identity are publicly demonstrated or enacted in a stylized manner, within the context of a specific occasion or event.
• Rites/Ceremonies
  ** Rites of passage
  ** Rites of degradation
  ** Rites of enhancement
  ** Rites of integration
• Stories
• Note: Change culture the same way you maintain culture

Question 16

Culture & Leadership

Answer 16

• Schein (1992) argues that leadership today is essentially the creation, the management, and at times the destruction and reconstruction of culture

“the only thing of importance that leaders do is create and manage
culture” and “the unique talent of leaders is their ability to understand and
work within culture”

• Leaders must be able to assess how well the culture is performing
  and when and how it needs to be changed

Question 17

Strong Versus Weak Cultures

Answer 17

• Although all organizations have cultures, some appear to have more deeply rooted cultures than others.
• Strong culture was conceptualized as a coherent set of beliefs,
  values, assumptions, and practices embraced by most members of the organization.
• Emphasis on:
  ** the degree of consistency of beliefs, values, assumptions, and
  practice across organizational members
  ** the pervasiveness (number) of consistent beliefs, values, assumptions, and practices.
• Some researchers have suggested that strong cultures can be dysfunctional
• Reduce diversity of thought and restrict change
• Schein argues that just because a strong organizational culture
  is fairly stable does not mean that the organization will be resistant to change.
• It is possible for the content of a strong culture to be change-oriented

Question 18

Climate Culture Continuum Image

Answer 18

Image

Question 19

Culture comes from people

Answer 19

• Culture seems amorphous and intangible
• You decide the culture of your organization!
• Culture springs from consistency of behavior
• Influence is reciprocal, but individual behaviors ultimately determine the success of a culture
• Often starts as tacit knowledge can be explicit

Question 20

Socialization Image

Answer 20

Image

Question 21

Organizational entry

Answer 21

• Dual matching process
• Must match the KSAOs of the individuals to the KSAOs necessary for performance in a given job
• Also must match the personality of the individual to the climate/culture of the organization or work unit
  ** Job satisfaction
  ** Engagement
  ** Retention
• “Best foot forward bias” on both parties can lead to mismatches

Question 22

Socialization

Answer 22

• Socialization is the process by which a new employee becomes aware of the culture, values and procedures of the organization (Landy & Conte, 2004).
• Newcomer orientation is a subcategory of socialization.
• Designed to help new employees become matched with the organization in terms of performance expectations and retention-related attitudes and behaviors (Shuler et al.)

Question 23

Socialization

Answer 23

Recruitment

Stages of socialization
* Anticipatory socialization
** Realism: Realistic expectations
** Congruence: Job fit and org fit
*** Newcomer orientation
** Entry transition
** Coping mechanisms/supportive environment
* Encounter: Learn job task, role clarity, and relationship building

Mentoring

Question 24

Methods of Newcomer Orientation

Answer 24

• Presenting information
• Modeling (social learning theory)
• Stress inoculation
  ** Highlight upcoming events
  ** Encouragement/coping techniques
  ** Assistance in coping methods
• RJP
• Other methods more specific to pain management

Question 25

Realistic Job Preview

Answer 25

• Research has demonstrated that many applicants know little about the jobs for which they are applying
  ** Inaccurate expectations and/or perceptions about the job
• A major reason for employees quitting a job within the first six months or
  year is that the employee came to the conclusion that he/she made a bad career choice
• A Realistic Job Preview (RJP) is a recruiting approach that is designed to communicate both the desirable and undesirable aspects of a job before an applicant has accepted a job offer
• Can be found in a variety of formats, including videos, verbal presentations, job tours, and written brochures

Question 26

Outcomes of Socialization

Answer 26

• Good job performance
• High job satisfaction
• Higher retention
• Lower levels of distress
• High organizational commitment

Question 27

Attraction-Selection Attrition Model Image

Answer 27

Image

Question 28

PE Fit ASA Model

Answer 28

• Attraction
  ** Fit between value systems, career, & organization
  ** Personality type, environment, character of vocation (Holland’s typology)
  ** Similar personality types define org
• Selection
  ** Similar and competent
  ** Recruiting and selection process
  ** People only differ based on specific competencies
• Attrition
  ** Don’t fit – leave
  ** Unmet expectations
  ** Managers or employees determine fit
  ** Fit – job satisfaction & tenure
  ** Homogeneous group – Not caused by org structure

Question 29

PE Fit, ASA Model, Goals & Outcomes

Answer 29

• Organizational Goals
  ** New employees interact with goals, and assess fit
  ** Originate with founding father/mother
  ** Org personality emergence
  *** Structure and process
• Darkside to good fit
  ** Range restriction
  ** Effectiveness and efficiency are compromised
  ** Select out diversity
  ** Makes orgs very resistant to change
• Research has empirically examined this model and found some support

Question 30

Measuring Culture

Answer 30

• Artifact analysis (e.g. stories, rituals, etc.)
• Document review
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Surveys (e.g. Denison’s Organizational Cultural Survey or custom measures)
• This data must be integrated and examined for emerging patterns
• VERY labor intensive, and to an extent subjective

Question 31

Potential “new” methodology

Answer 31

• Machine learning (ML)
• If ML can be applied, both labor and time can be reduced significantly!
• ML methods allow the rapic scoring of qualitative data, and the assignment of numeric scores
• E.g. Customer experience and Disney World
• Will be examining this method in more depth in T&M class

Question 32

Pandey & Pandey (2017)

Answer 32

• Advocate for the use of phrase based units in NLP as the basis for construct level score on a culture assessment
• N-grams
• Phrases better capture linguistic context and meaning
• Compositionality - meaning of an expression determined by the meanings of the constituents of the expression (i.e., semantics) and its structure (i.e., syntax, logic).

Question 33

Machine Learning Process

Answer 33

• A conceptual framework (describing culture) is constructed – e.g. Loose vs. Tight
• Human raters examine qualitative data (corpus) and code it to map onto the framework
• Machine learning algorithms are used to mimic human ratings, just much faster
• Must meet the human level of reliability when analyzed (correlated with human ratings)
• Can then be applied operationally

Question 34

Pandey & Pandey (2017)

Answer 34

• Suggested there were 6 common dimensions of culture
• Competitiveness
• Control- and coordination- oriented
• Customer-oriented
• Human-resource oriented
• Innovation- and learning- oriented
• Team oriented
• Ultimately all frameworks are arbitrary – the question is are they useful…

Question 35

Generating coding schemes

Answer 35

• Deductive
  ** Extract words from surveys, then use synonym finders to find all possible matches
  ** Problem – I/O language is not common, so synonyms are tough
  to find
• Inductive
  ** Extract major relevant topics and themes from qualitative data
  – e.g. letters to shareholders

Question 36

Pandey & Pandey (2017)

Answer 36

• Authors methods produced some evidence of:
  ** Content validity
  ** Construct validity
  ** Predictive validity

Question 37

The Cycle of Excellence

Answer 37

• When you are hustling you make your degree more valuable in real economic term$
• However, most of the efforts you put in to build the program won’t benefit you directly
• Benefit underclassmen and future students
• In turn they make your degree more valuable
• However, return on investment is considerable
• Why do we do what we do?