LO1 - Elements of Organizational Culture

• organizational culture

  The values and assumptions shared within an organization.
• Organizational Culture

  Provides direction toward the “right way” of doing things.
• Organizational Culture

  Company’s DNA is invisible, yet powerful template for employee behaviour.
• Values 


  are stable, evaluative beliefs that guide our preferences for outcomes or courses of action in a variety of situations.
• shared values


  which are values that people within the organization or work unit have in common and place near the top of their hierarchy of values.
• shared assumptions


  a deeper element that some experts believe is the essence of corporate culture.
• Shared assumptions 


  are nonconscious, taken-for-granted perceptions or ideal prototypes of behaviour that are considered the correct way to think and act toward problems and opportunities.
• Organizational culture

  consists of shared values and assumptions
• Shared values


  • Conscious beliefs

  • Judgments about what is good or bad, right or wrong
• Artifacts of Org. Culture

  
• espoused values


  the values that corporate leaders hope will eventually become the organization’s culture, or at least the values they want others to believe guide the organization’s decisions and actions.
• Espoused values

  usually socially desirable, so they present a positive public

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• An organization’s culture is defined by its enacted values,

  not its espoused values.
• The relative ordering of values.​

  Problems with org culture models and measures:​

  1. Oversimplify diversity of possible values.​
  2. Ignore shared assumptions.​
  3. Assume company cultures are clear and unified.
• An organization’s culture is fuzzy:​


  • Diverse subcultures (“fragmentation”).​
  • Values exist within individuals, not work units.
• Organizational Culture Profile​

  
• Organization Culture Dimensions​

  Innovation​

  Stability​

  Respect for people​

  Outcome orientation​

  Attention to detail​

  Team orientation​

  Aggressiveness​
• Innovation​

  Experimenting, opportunity seeking, risk taking, few rules, cautiousness.​
• Stability​

  Predictability, security, rule-oriented.​
• Respect for people​

  Fairness, tolerance.​
• Outcome orientation​


  Action oriented, high expectations, results oriented.​
• Attention to detail​

  Precise, analytic.​
• Team orientation​


  Collaboration, people-oriented.​
• Aggressiveness​

  Competitive, low emphasis on social responsibility.​
• dominant culture


  values and assumptions shared most consistently and widely by the organization’s members.
• dominant culture 


  is usually (but not always) supported by senior management.
• subcultures 


  located throughout their various divisions, geographic regions, and occupational groups
• Countercultures


  values or assumptions that directly oppose the organization’s dominant culture
• Two functions of countercultures:

  1. they maintain the organization’s standards of performance and ethical behaviour. (Surveillance and critical review.)
  2. they are spawning grounds for emerging values that keep the firm aligned with the evolving needs and expectations of customers, suppliers, communities, and other stakeholders (Source of emerging values.)