ORGANIZATIONA

L CULTURE

LO 1
DESCRIBE THE
ELEMENTS OF
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE AND DISCUSS
THE IMPORTANCE OF
ORGANIZATIONAL
SUBCULTURES

ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE

Consists of the values and assumptions

shared within an organization

Defines what is important and unimportant

in the company
Directs everyone in the organization toward
the right way of doing things

ELEMENTS OF
ORGANIZATIONA
L CULTURE

VALUES
Stable, evaluative beliefs that
guide our preferences for outcomes
in a variety of situations
Conscious perceptions
about what is good or bad,
right or wrong

SHARED
VALUES
Values that people within
the organization have in
common and place near
the top of their hierarchy of
values

SHARED
ASSUMPTIONS
Deeper element that
some experts
believe is the essence of corporate culture
Nonconscious, taken-for-granted
perceptions or ideal prototypes of
behavior that are considered the
correct way to think and act
toward problems and
opportunities

ESPOUSED
VALUES
Values that they
want others to
believe guide the organizations
decisions and actions
Usually socially desirable so
they present a positive public
image

ENACTED
VALUES
Values that most leaders
and employees truly rely on
to guide their decisions and
behavior

CONTENT OF
ORGANIZATONA
L
CULTURE

ENTREPRENEURIAL
Where
employees are encouraged
CULTURE

to take risks to make a difference to

the company and society, to have
an impact and to receive support for
reasonable mistakes

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
DIMENSION

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
DIMENSION

Innovation

Experimenting, opportunity
seeking, risk taking, few rules,
low cautiousness

Stability

Predictability, security, rule

oriented

Respect for people

Fairness, tolerance

Outcome Orientation

Action oriented, high

expectations, results oriented

Attention to detail
Team Orientation

Precise, analytic
Collaboration, people oriented

Aggresiveness

Competitive, low emphasis on

social responsibility

ORGANIZATION
AL
SUBCULTURES

Subculture
s differentiates itself
A cultural group that
from the parent culture to which it
belongs, often maintaining some of its
founding principles
Located throughout their various
divisions, geographic regions and
occupational groups

DOMINANT
CULTURES

The values and assumptions shared

most consistently and widely by the
organizations members
It is usually supported by senior
management

COUNTERCULT
URE
Embrace values or
assumptions that directly
oppose the organizations
dominant culture

FUNCTIONS OF
Maintain the organizations
SUBCULTURES
standards of performance and
ethical behavior.

They are the spawning grounds for

emerging values that keep the firm
aligned with the evolving needs and
expectations of customers, suppliers and
communities.

LO 2
LIST FOUR
CATEGORIES OF
ARTIFACTS
THROUGH WHICH
CORPORATE
CULTURE IS

DECIPHERING
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE THROUGH
ARTIFACTS

ARTIFACT
S and signs of an
The observable symbols
organizations culture
Represent and reinforce an organizations
culture
Essence of organizational
culture

FOUR BROAD
CATEGORIES
OF ARTIFACTS

ORGANIZATION
AL STORIES
AND LEGENDS

Serves as powerful social prescriptions

of the way things should be done.
They add humans realism to corporate
expectations, individual performance
standards and the criteria for getting
fired.

RITUALS AND
CEREMONIES

RITUAL
S of daily
Are the programmed routines
organizational life that dramatize an
organizations culture.
Repetitive, predictable events that
have symbolic meanings reflecting
underlying cultural values and
assumptions.

CEREMONI
ES

Are more formal artifacts than

rituals.
Planned activities conducted
specifically for the benefits of an
audience.

ORGANIZATION
AL LANGUAGE

 The language of the workplace speaks volumes

about the companys culture.
How employees talk to one another, describe
customers, express anger and greet stakeholders
are all verbal symbols of cultural values.
Language also highlights value
held by organizational
subcultures.

PHYSICAL
STRUCTURES
AND SYMBOLS

 Buildings both reflect and influence an

organizations culture.
The size, location and age of buildings
reflect or emphasis companys teamwork,
environmental friendliness, hierarchy and
other set of values.

DISCUSS THE
IMPORTANCE OF
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE AND THE
CONDITIONS IN WHICH
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE STRENGTH

LO 3

IS
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
IMPORTANT?

Culture is one of the most

precious things a company
has.
Organizational culture improve
organizational effectiveness.

STRENGTHS OF AN
ORGANIZATIONS
CULTURE
Refers to how widely
and deeply
employees hold the companys dominant
values
and
assumptions.
Employees understand and embrace
the dominant values.

It is a long lasting

THREE IMPORTANT
FUNCTIONS OF STRONG
CULTURES

1.CONTROL SYSTEM
A form of social control that
influences employee decisions and
behavior. Culture is pervasive and
operates nonconsciously. It directs
employees that are consistent with
organizational expectations.

2. SOCIAL GLUE
It bonds people together and makes
them feel like part of the organizational
experiences. It is important as a way to
attract new staff and retain top
performers. It also becomes the
common thread that holds together
employees in global organizations.

3. SENSE
MAKING

Helps employees make sense of

what goes on and why things
happen in the company.

CONTINGENCIES
OF
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE AND
EFFECTIVENESS

THREE IMPORTANT
CONTINGENCIES

CULTURE CONTENT ALIGNMENT

WITH ENVIRONMENT
One contingency between culture
strength and organizational effectiveness
is whether the organizations culture
content-its dominant values and
assumptions- is aligned with the external
environment.

AVOIDING A CORPORATE
Second
contingency is the degree of
CULT
cultural
strength
One reason
corporate cult may undermine
organizational effectiveness is:
That they lock people into mental models
which can blind them to new opportunities
They suppress dissenting
subcultural values

CULTURE IS AN ADAPTIVE
The
CULTURE
influence of cultural strength on

organizational effectiveness is whether

the culture content includes an adaptive
culture.
Encourages employees to be
innovative and receptive to
change.

See things from an open systems

perspective.
Have a strong sense of
ownership
Has a strong learning orientation,
means that it also supports actionoriented discovery

LO 4
COMPARE AND
CONTRAST FOUR
STRATEGIES FOR
MERGING
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURES

MERGING
ORGANIZATION
AL CULTURES

SUBSTANTIAL
DISRUPTIVE EFFECT
OF
MERGERS
Neglected
strategy
Employee stress
Customer problems

BICULTURAL
AUDIT

A process of diagnosing cultural

relations between companies and
determining the extent to which
cultural clashes will likely occur.

STRATEGIES FOR
MERGING DIFFERENT
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURES

MERGER
STRATEGY

DESCRIPTION

WORKS BEST
WHEN:

ASSIMILATIO
N

Acquired company
embraces acquiring
firms culture.

Acquired firm has a

weak culture.

DECULTURAT
ION

Acquiring firm imposes

its culture on unwilling
acquired firm.

Rarely works- may be

necessary only when
acquired firms
culture doesnt work
but employees dont
realize it.

INTEGRATIO
N

Merging companies
combine the two or
more cultures into a
new composite culture.

Existing cultures can

be improved.

Merging companies
remain distinct entities
with minimal exchange
of culture or

Firms operate
successfully in
different businesses

SEPARATION

LO 5
IDENTIFY FOUR STRATEGIES
FOR CHANGING OR
STRENGTHENING AN
ORGANIZATIONS CULTURE,
INCLUDING THE
APPLICATION OF
ATTRACTION-SELECTION-

CHANGING AND
STRENGTHENING
ORGANIZATIONA
L CULTURE

CHANGING
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE

Culture ends up changing corporate

leaders.
Changing is a monumental
challenge
.
It is necessary to change one or more
shared values and assumptions because
the alignment of that culture with the
external environment can influence the
organizations survival and success.

STRENGTHENIN
G
ORGANIZATIONA
L CULTURE

ACTIONS OF FOUNDERS
AND LEADERS
Achieving vision required mechanics to build and
maintain a strong focus on service. Great leaders
form their organizations culture and introduce ways
to make that culture stick. They able to reshape that
culture by applying transformational leadership and
organizational change practices. And founders
provide a powerful role model for others to follow.

ALIGNING ARTIFACTS
Artifacts are mechanisms that keep the
culture in place.
Leaders can adjust shared values and
assumptions by altering artifacts.
Corporate culture are also altered and
strengthened through the artifacts of
stories and behaviors.

INTRODUCING CULTURALLY
CONSISTENT REWARDS
Reward systems are artifacts that often have a
powerful effect on strengthening or reshaping an
organizations culture.
These actions reinforced a more disciplined
and centralized performance-oriented
culture.

ATTRACTION-SELECTIONATTRITION THEORY

States that organizations have a natural

tendency to attract, select and retain people
with values and personality characteristics
that are consistent with the organizations
character, resulting in a more homogeneous
organization and a stronger culture.

ATTRACTI
ON
They look for subtle artifacts during interviews
and through public information that
communicate the companys culture

Must be compatible with their own

values
Participants indicate how they would
respond to a series of business
scenarios.

SELECTION
How well the person fits
in with the companys
culture

ATTRITIO
N
People are motivated to seek
environments that are sufficiently
congruent with their personal values
Person-organization values
congruence supports their social
identity and minimizes internal
role conflict

LO 6
DESCRIBE THE
ORGANIZATIONAL
SOCIALIZATION PROCESS
AND IDENTIFY
STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE
THAT PROCESS

ORGANIZATION
AL
SOCIALIZATION

The process by which individuals learn the

values, expected behaviors, and social
knowledge necessary to assume their roles in
the
organization.
When employees are effectively
socialized into the organization,
they tend to perform better, have
higher job satisfaction and remain
longer with the organization.

ORGANIZATIONAL
SOCIALIZATION AS
A LEARNING AND
ADJUSTMENT
PROCESS

LEARNING PROCESS

ADJUSTMENT PROCESS

Individuals need to
They learn about the
adapt to their new work
organizations
environment. They
performance
develop new work roles
expectations, power
that reconfigure their
dynamics, corporate
social identity, adopt
culture, company history
new team norms, and
and jargon.
practice new behaviors.

PSYCHOLOGICAL
CONTRACTS
Individuals beliefs about the terms
and conditions of a reciprocal exchange
agreement between that person and
another party (typically an employer).

TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL
CONTRACTS
TRANSACTIONAL
CONTRACTS

RELATIONAL
CONTRACTS

Primarily short-term economic Long-term attachments that

exchanges.
encompasses a broad array of
Responsibilities are well
subjective mutual obligations.
defined around a fairly narrow More willing to contribute
set of obligations that do not
their time and effort without
change over the life of the
expecting the organization to
contract.
pay back this debt in the
short term.
Dynamics, meaning the
parties tolerate and expect
that mutual obligations are
not necessarily balanced in
the short run.

STAGES OF
ORGANIZATION
AL
SOCIALIZATION

STAGE 1: PREEMPLOYMENT
SOCIALIZATION (OUTSIDER)

Actively searched for information about the

company, formed expectations, and felt some
anticipation about fitting into that
environment.
Encompasses all the learning and

adjustment(adjustment process)

STAGE 2: ENCOUNTER
(NEWCOMER)
The stage in which newcomers test
how well their preemployment
expectations fit reality

REALITY
SHOCK

The stress that results when

employees perceive
discrepancies between their
preemployment expectations
and on-the-job reality.

STAGE 3: ROLE MANAGEMENT

(INSIDER)
It is most active as employees make the
transition from newcomers to insider.
They strengthen relationships and adopt attitudes
and values consistent with their new positions and
organization.
the
Resolve
the conflicts
between work and nonwork

IMPROVING THE
SOCIALIZATION
PROCESS

REALISTIC JOB
A PREVIEW
method of improving organizational

socialization in which job applicants are given a

balance of positive and negative information
about
the
job
and
work
context.
Represent a type of vaccination by
preparing employees for the more
challenging and troublesome aspects
of work life.

SOCIALIZATION
AGENTS
Provide
information and social support
during the socialization process.
Coworkers are important socialization agents
because they are easily accessible, they also
serve as a role models for appropriate
behavior.