Study Material Work Culture

An Introduction
The contemporary definition of Organizational Culture includes what is valued; the leadership
style, the language and symbols, the procedures and routines, and the definitions of success that
characterizes an organization. It is a specific collection of values and norms that are shared by
people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and
with stakeholders outside the organization

Here, organizational values are beliefs and ideas, about, what kinds of goals members of an
organization should pursue and the appropriate kinds or standards of behavior organizational
members should use to achieve these goals. From organizational values develops organizational
norms, guidelines or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behaviour by employees in
particular situations and control the behaviour of organizational members towards one another

In the past 25 years, the concept of organizational culture has gained wide acceptance as a way to
understand human systems. From an open system perspective, each aspect of organizational
culture can be seen as an important environmental condition affecting the system and its
subsystem. Increased competition, globalization, mergers, acquisitions, alliances, and various
workforce departments have created a greater need for organizational culture. Thus, it has
become an important pattern for the organization’s development.

Organizational culture can be defined as a system of shared beliefs and values that develops
within an organization and guides the behavior of its members. It includes routine behaviors,
norms, dominant values, and a feeling or climate conveyed. The purpose and function of this
Culture is to help foster internal integration, bring staff members from all levels of the
organization much closer together, and enhance their performance organization’s development.

According to Edgar Schein, “Organizational culture is a pattern of basic assumptions invented,

discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with problems of external
adoption and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valuable and
therefore, to be thought to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel, in
relation to those problems.”

According to W. B. Turnstall,  Organizational culture is a general constellation of benep morus,

volve systems, behavioural norms, and ways of doing business that are unique to each
corporation.”
Important Key Ingredients Of Work Culture
1. It focuses attention on the human side of organizational life, and finds significance and
learning in even its most ordinary aspects.

2. it clarifies the importance of creating appropriate systems of shared meaning to help people
work together toward desired outcomes.

 3. It requires members especially leaders, to acknowledge the impact of their behaviour on the
organization’s culture

4. It encourages the view that the perceived relationship between an organization and its
environment is also affected by the organization’s basic assumptions.

 5. Organizational culture is possibly the most critical factor determining an organization’s
capacity, effectiveness, and longevity. It also contributes significantly to the organization’s brand
image and brand promise.

6. Organizational Culture creates energy and momentum. The energy will permeate the
organization and create a new momentum for success.

The above-mentioned relevance of organizational culture supports the proposition that, in this
competitive and globalize corporate scenario, there is huge need of organizational development
strategy at various workforce departments, as this can improve the company’s culture. Thus, to
fulfill organizations development needs, Organizational Culture Center is the better option! With
its outstanding services, OCC provides meaningful responses to the company’s wants, needs and
values. Its services range from Workshop, Speaking to Consulting and Coaching.

OCC, Workshop and speaking service teach cultural enhancement programs to the attendees to
improve their cultural effectiveness. It educates current and emerging leaders on issues related to
organizational culture. Besides, its associates work parallel with leaders at every level of the
organization by engaging and training them to understand workplace culture and to assume their
responsibilities as the cultural leaders of their own individual subcultures.

Organizational Culture Center’s thirty years of experience of building culture, combined with
Vision Link process, provides a complete guideline of six critical elements of workplace cultural
effectiveness with the power of strategic mapping and the balanced Scorecard. This proven and
highly effective leadership concept brings about a direct linkage between the activities and
measurements of every associate at every level of the organization with the vision and strategy of
the enterprise as a whole.
Improving organizational culture has become a necessity in today’s ever changing business
environment people want to work a company they can be happy and balance work and life.
Organisation that treat their members well have experienced a better retention rate, an increased
productivity and a happier overall culture.

Improving organizational  culture can a big challenge for the organisation and its members
Getting the right training for your employees is the first step toward improving organizational
culture.

Determinants Of Work Culture  

Religion may be defined as a system of shared beliefs and rituals that are concerned with the
realm of the sacred. Most ethical systems which guide and shape human behaviour are The
relation between religion, ethics and society is subtle, complex and profound. While religion
influences values (which are the bedrock of culture), yet countries with the same religion have
different cultures, for example, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Hence, religion is a weak determinant
of culture

1. Social Structure:   A society’s social structure refers to its basic social organisation. Although
social structure consists of many aspects, for study of cultural differences, two aspects of it are
more important. The first is the degree to which the basic unit of social organisation is the
individual, as opposed to the group. In most other societies the group is the basic unit of social
structure and an individual considers himself first as part of his family or the company for which
he works.

2.  Social mobility :  This refers to the extent to which individuals can move out of the strata,
caste or class in which they are born. The class system is less rigid than the cast system which is
prevalent in India. While most societies have a class system, social mobility within it varies from
society to society.

3. Language :  Language is an essential element of culture for it reflects its nature and riches. It
is language which distinguishes one culture from another although language could be said to
reflect the nature and values of a culture, this is not always the case. English is the official
language of many countries, such as Australia and Singapore, but the two countries are culturally
diverse, English tends to be business language, while French is seen the language of diplomacy.

Language is also symbolic communication in terms of space, time and friendship, and marketers
need to be aware of these ‘silent languages’. Body language differs from culture to culture.

4. Education :  Learning and sharing cultural values happens through the education system. The
educational system can take many forms and it is important to understand the differences
because it can indicate the type of consumer market available and the quality of human resources
available for employment and training,
5. Aesthetics : The aesthetics of a culture refers to design, forms colors, shapes, sounds -things
conveying the concept of beauty and good taste. These are reflected in the music, art, and
architecture of a society. The aesthetics of a culture can affect a firm’s marketing strategy,
diplomacy and management of human resources

Types Of Work Culture

1.Power culture : This type of culture provides excitement and drives for some people but
seems threatening to others. It depends on strong leadership from central power source
controlling and manipulating all activities within the organisation. This culture functions mainly
through subordinates looking to the boss for all decisions and clearances. Money and status are
more highly valued than technical expertise. Members who want to progress from network of
influential people to increase the information and connection they hold are part of this culture.
This culture is usually found in small entrepreneurial organisations and in companies with
autocratic bosses.

2. Role culture :  This type of culture place great value on functions, job specialization,
procedures and rules. Job descriptions, authority relationships and communication procedures are
formal and the role of the manager is to coordinate activities between the different functions.
Everyone sticks to his job description and role and any unforeseen event is referred higher up.
This culture is followed in bureaucratic, mechanistic organisations where is environment is
simple and stable.

3. Person culture :  The primary objective of this culture is to serve the individuals in a group,
structure, rules, procedures, and roles are only to serve the needs of individual members. Change
occurs only to meet their needs and control is exercised by mutual consent of the members. The
wishes of professionals are the central focus of this culture. People are attracted to the culture
which reflects the value they hold and the way in which they wish to work. Sometimes even if
comfortable, people may not feel comfortable if the culture does not match their value system.

4. Strategy and organisation culture :   strategy and external environment are big influences on
corporate culture. Corporate culture should embody what the organisation needs to be effective
within its environment. For example, if the organisation requires flexibility and responsiveness,
the culture should encourage adaptability. The right relationship between cultural values and
beliefs, organizational strategy, and the business environment can enhance business
performance.

5.Adaptability culture :   Adaptability culture is characterized by strategic focus on the external

environment through flexibility and change to meet customer needs. The culture encourages
norms and beliefs that support the capacity of the organisation to detect, interpret and translate
signals from the environment into new behaviour responses. Companies with this type of culture
need to react to bid for new projects and have the capacity to restructure or adopt a new set of
behaviors and processes for New tasks Marketing electronics and cosmetics companies may use
this culture because they have to move quickly to satisfy customer needs.
6. Mission culture :  Mission culture is ideal for an organisation concerned with serving the
external environment but without the need for rapid change. Mission  culture plan importance on
a shared vision of organisation purpose. The vision provides members’ work activities with
meaning that goes beyond typically defined jobs and role work activities with meaning that goes
Capitation leaders shape behaviour by envisioning a desired future state the important to
everyone.

7.Focus Involvement culture :   Involvement culture participation of the organisation in the

rapidly changing expectations of the external  environment. A high-involvement culture has a
clan-type structure. More than a other type, this culture focuses on the needs of employees as the
route to beer performance. Involvement and participation create a sense of responsibility and
ownership and hence, greater commitment to the organisation. Companies in fashion and retail
industries also use this type of culture because it releases the creativity of employees, enabling
them to respond to rapidly changing consumer tastes.

8.Consistency culture :   Consistency culture has an internal focus and an orientation towards a
stable environment. This type of culture supports a methodical approach to doing business.
Symbols, heroes and ceremonies support cooperation, tradition and rule by well laid-out
procedures and policies to achieve organisation goals. Personal involvement is lower, but that is
outweighed by a high level of consistency, conformity and collaboration among members. This
organisation succeeds by being integrated and efficient

Important Steps For Enhancing Work Culture Include

1.Analyze your organization’s existing culture and compare it with expectations and perceptions.
customers

2.Form a diverse team of interested and enthusiastic people in an organization to enhance the
organizational culture.

3.Get your team to discuss the current culture and explain the parts of the culture that are already
great and need to be supported. Then create a vision of the culture you want to create, taking into
account the entire current picture of the organization.

4.Provide the appropriate training to the team members regarding the vision of the culture.

5.Communicate to everyone to bring awareness about the team and organizational leadership,
that this isn’t a band-aid, quick fix but an ongoing strategic intention to build a more attractive
culture that fits the needs of the organization and that can improve its culture.
Local Adaptation
It is very important for an organization to understand that its company’s executives must
understand the cultural practices within different countries, in order to be successful within those
countries, and that management style must be modified to be in accord with the people they are
interacting with in those countries.

It is still even more important for organizations to understand that to be successful in today’s
global environment, they should adapt their cultural practices to the different settings where their
businesses are taking place

This does not mean that they should modify their set of values, these should remain the same
across the frontiers, because these are the ones that give the organization its own identity. It is
the practices related to these values the ones that should be adapted.

Some organizations can confuse practices with essential core values, and try to apply the same
practices that are appropriate for their own culture in a different context, where these practices
can actually be inappropriate or even counter-productive.

Going back to the organizations that have as an essential value the “more client-oriented”
attitude, one that because of their own culture they greet clients by their first names to show
courtesy and personalized service. However, should this organization decide to do business with
or establish offices in Germany and started to call their clients by their first name, this would be
considered an insult, because Germans tend to address each other by their last names.

In this particular case, the “client-oriented attitude” must remain unaltered for the entity that
decides to establish a branch office in Germany – this is an essential business culture. What the
entity should do in this case is find appropriate cultural practice so that its German clients can
feel the courtesy and personalized treatment.

There are many examples of errors that many organizations have had to face; especially those
that have recently expanded their horizons into international markets. By not understanding the
difference between cultural values and cultural practices, they have had to prices for these errors
because in many cases those erroneous practices have affected clients and the organizations
employees.

Synthesis
An organization that has been successful in a market, and said achievement has been partially
due to its having a strongly defined and structured Business Culture, should at the time of
expanding its horizons into international markets clearly define the entity’s essential values to be
 able to export them into the new markets, although it will be much more important to understand
that local market’s idiosyncrasy to be able to adapt the cultural practices at the same time.

Importance Of Culture Sensitivity For Global Business And Diplomacy

1. International managers need to know about cultural differences among nations in order to
be able to:
2. Communicate effectively with customers, suppliers, business associates and partners in
other countries and with foreign employees.
3. In order to conduct negotiations among the various parties to negotiation.
4. Predicts trends in social behaviour likely to affect the firm’s foreign operations,
5. Understand ethical standards and concepts of social responsibility in various countries.
6. Predict how cultural differences will affect consumer reactions to advertisements and
other promotions.
7. Foster relationships between union confederations and employee association requiring
cultural empathy.
8. Understand local government policies and influence it for business promotion.
9. Conduct efficient meetings in different countries and encourages employee participation
in management.

Cross Cultural Differences And Similarities : Basic Assumptions

1. The behavior in an organization setting indeed varies across cultures. Thus the employees
in companies based in Japan, The United States, and Germany are likely to have different
attitudes and patterns of behavior. The behavior patterns are likely to be widespread and
pervasive within an organization.
2. Culture itself is one major cause of this variation Culture is a set of shade values, often
taken for granted, that help people in a group, organization or society to understand which
actions are considered acceptable and which are considered unacceptable.
3. Although behavior within the organizational settings (Eg. Motivation and attitude)
remains quiet diverse across cultures, organizations, and the way they are structured appears to
be increasingly similar.
4. The manager behaves differently in different cultural settings. A manager may adopt one
set of behavior when working in one culture but change those behaviors when move to different
cultures.
5. Cultural diversity can be an important source of synergy in enhancing organizational
effectiveness. More and more organizations are coming to appreciate the virtues of cultural
diversity but still no very little about how to manage it.

Organizations that adopt a multinational strategy can – With effort- Become more than some of
their parts. Operation in each culture can benefit from operations in other cultures through an
enhanced understanding of how the world works.