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Organizational

Culture

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

McShane/Von Glinow OB 5e Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Re-aligning Dells OrganizationalCulture

Dells winning culture, which emphasized cost efficiency

and competitiveness, became more of a liability as the

market moved toward a preference for style and

innovation.

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Organizational Culture Defined

The basic pattern of shared values and assumptions

governing the way employees within an organization

think about and act on problems and opportunities.

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Organizationalculture

Artifacts oforganizationalculture

Elements of

Organization

al Culture

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Content of Organizational Culture

The relative ordering of values. A few dominant values

Example: Dell -- efficiency and competitiveness

Problems with measuring org culture Oversimplifies diversity of possible values Ignore shared assumptions

Adopts an integration perspective

An organizations culture is fuzzy: Diverse subcultures (fragmentation)

Values exist within individuals, not work units

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Organizational Culture Profile

Org CultureDimensions Dimension Characteristics

InnovationExperimenting, opportunity seeking, risk taking, fewrules, low cautiousness

StabilityPredictability, security, rule-oriented

Respect for people Fairness, tolerance

Outcomeorientation

Action oriented, high expectations, results oriented

Attention to detail Precise, analytic

Team orientation Collaboration, people-oriented

Aggressiveness Competitive, low emphasis on social responsibility

Source: OReilly et al (1991)

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Organizational Subcultures

Dominant culture -- most widely shared

values and assumptions

Subcultures

Located throughout the organization

Can enhance or oppose (countercultures) firms

dominant culture

Two functions of countercultures: provide surveillance and critique, ethics

source of emerging values

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Cirque du Soleils Risky Culture

Cirque du Soleils founders promote a risk-

taking and creative corporate culture. They

frequently take gambles on new forms of

creativity and initiatives.

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Artifacts in Organizational Culture

Observable symbols and signs of culture

Physical structures, ceremonies, language, stories

Maintain and transmit organizations culture

Not easy to decipher artifacts -- need many of them

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Artifacts: Stories and Legends

Social prescriptions of desired (undesired)

behavior

Provides a realistic human side to

expectations Most effective stories and legends:

Describe real people

Assumed to be true

Known throughout the organization

Are prescriptive

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Artifacts: Rituals and Ceremonies

Rituals

programmed routines

(eg., how visitors are greeted)

Ceremonies

planned activities for an audience

(eg., award ceremonies)

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Artifacts: OrganizationalLanguage

Words used to address people, describe

customers, etc.

Leaders use phrases and special vocabularyas cultural symbols

Language also found in subcultures

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Artifacts: PhysicalStructures/Symbols

Building structure -- may shape and reflect

culture

Office design conveys cultural meaning

Furniture, office size, wall hangings

Courtesy of Microsoft Corp.

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Organizational Culture Strength

How widely and deeply employees hold the

companys dominant values and assumptions

Strong cultures exist when:

most employees understand/embrace the

dominant values

values and assumptions are institutionalized

through well-established artifacts culture is long lasting -- often traced back to

founder

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Functions of Strong CorporateCultures

Functions of

Strong Cultures

Control system Social glue

Sense-making

Organizational

Outcomes

Org performance Employee well-being

Culture strengthadvantages depend on:

Environment fit

Not cult-like

Adaptive culture

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Contingencies of Org Culture &Performance

Effect of organizational culture strength on

organizational performance is moderate

Need to consider contingencies:

1. Ensure culture-environment fit

2. Avoid strength to level of corporate cult

- Cults restrict mental models, suppress subcultures

3. Create an adaptive culture- External focus, process focus, ownership, proactive

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Merging Cultures: BiculturalAudit

Part of due diligence in merger

Minimizes risk of cultural collision by

diagnosing companies before merger

Three steps in bicultural audit:

1. Examine artifacts

2. Analyze data for cultural conflict/compatibility

3. Identify strategies and action plans to bridgecultures

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Merging Organizational Cultures

Assimilation

Deculturation

Acquired company embraces acquiring

firms cultural values

Acquiring firm imposes its culture on

unwilling acquired firm

IntegrationCultures combined into a new composite

culture

SeparationMerging companies remain separate with

their own culture

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Changing/StrengtheningOrganizational Culture

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1. Actions of Founders/Leaders

Org culture sometimes reflects the

founders personality

Transformational Leaders can reshape

culture -- organizational change practices

2. Aligning Artifacts

Artifacts keep culture in place

e.g., building structure, communicating

stories, transferring culture carriers

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3. Introducing Culturally Consistent

Rewards

Rewards are powerful artifactsreinforce

culturally-consistent behavior

4. Attracting, Selecting, Socializing

Employees

Attraction-selection-attrition theory Socialization practices

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Attraction-Selection-AttritionTheory

Organizations become more homogeneous

(stronger culture) through:

Attraction -- applicants self-select and weed out

companies based on compatible values

Selection -- Applicants selected based on values

congruent with organizations culture

Attrition -- Employee quite or are forced out whentheir values oppose company values

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Lindblads ShipshapeSocialization

Lindblad Expeditions cant

afford to have crew members

jump ship soon after starting

the job, so the adventure cruise

company gives applicants a

DVD showing a realistic picture

of what its like to work on

board. This realistic job preview

is one part of the companys

socialization process.

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Organizational SocializationDefined

The process by which

individuals learn the

values, expected

behaviors, and social

knowledge necessary to

assume their roles in the

organization.

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Socialization: Learning &Adjustment

Learning Process

Newcomers make sense of the organizations

physical, social, and strategic/cultural dynamics

Adjustment Process

Newcomers need to adapt to their new work

environment

- New work roles- New team norms

- New corporate cultural values

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Stages of Socialization

Role

Management

Insider

Changing roles

and behavior

Resolving

conflicts

Encounter

Stage

Newcomer

Testing

expectations

Pre-Employment

Stage

Outsider

Gathering

information

Forming

psychological

contract

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Improving OrganizationalSocialization

Realistic job preview (RJP)

A balance of positive and negative information

about the job and work context

Socialization agents

Supervisorstechnical information, performance

feedback, job duties

Coworkersideal when accessible, role models,

tolerant, and supportive

hbo chap014

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