Organisational Culture

Dr. Berna Bridge İYTE Leadership and Management

Organisational Culture

Copyright: Berna Bridge

Culture relates to the informal aspects of organisations rather than their official elements which are often typified by portrayals of structure.

Culture focuses on the values, beliefs and norms of individuals and how these perceptions coalesce into shared organisational meanings.

The importance of organisational culture lies in the notions that the officially agreed and sanctioned areas of organisational activity produce only a partial picture of how and why an organisation functions as it does.

Managers, therefore, need an analytical framework in order to identify the undocumented, unofficial and intangible elements which influence the way the organisation functions. (O’Neill, 1994, p.103)

O’Neill refers to Deal’s (1988) discussion of several elements of culture which are enacted in a variety of ways:

Shared values and beliefs expressed in written form

Heroes and heroines who typify desirable organisational behaviours and personal qualities

Rituals which allow members to come together and reinforce core values

Ceremonies which celebrate those values

Stories which communicate and disseminate philosophy and successful practice

An informal network of cultural players which serves to maintain the culture in the face of pressures for change.

Culture is expressed in three modes:

Conceptually or verbally through the use of language, and the identification of organisational aims and objectives

Behaviourally through ceremonies, rules, support mechanism, and patterns of social interactions

In a visual mode through facilities and equipment, memorabilia, and mottoes, crests and uniforms.

Culture is thus manifested via a complex multi-sensory amalgam of symbols, routines, and physical resources.

It presents significant management opportunities inasmuch as ‘symbols are not only the means whereby established meanings are communicated but are central to the process of constructing meaning.’

Hence it becomes possible for managers to influence the development of organisational culture by attending to the way it is demonstrated and symbolised in all areas of organisational activity.

Maintenance of the culture is a significant leadership role.

Maintenance of the culture is threatened by changes in both group membership and practice. A strong culture can thus contribute to the socialisation of new members and the integration of demands of changes in activities.

Maintenance of culture depended on the recognition of both the individuality and the interdependence of group members. Such recognition leads to the development of interpersonal openness in an atmosphere of security and mutual affection.

It is possible, then, to identify four interdependent elements of organisational activities which contribute to the prevailing culture.

Purpose: This refers to the official purposes of the organisation and the interpretation of those purposes by the people who work in the organisation and its immediate community.

Symbolism: This refers to the ‘connotative’ aspects of organisational activity, i.e. the implicit messages which management structures and styles and ceremonies and rituals convey.

Networks: This refers to patterns of professional and social interaction, i.e. the way the people in the organisation communicate, meet and work together in all areas of organisational activity.

Integration: This refers to the extent to which disparate areas of activity and different groups of people are brought together and given opportunities to share in a unifying and unified organisational culture.

Handy and Aitken (1986) identify four cultures in educational organisations:

Club culture: Is similar to a spider web in which informal networks of influence and like-minded people support the vision of the central leader of the organisation. Communication channels are short and informal, and power is centralised. Most effective in smaller organisations.

Role culture: Is articulated in terms of the impersonal sets of roles or job boxes which relate to each other in an ordered, logical fashion. The focus is on the work of the organisation. Communication channels are formalised and are used to support chosen procedures and systems. Most effective in stable and predictable environments.

Task culture: Described as a flexible net concentrates on the organisation of human and other resources to meet the demands of specific problems, projects or new areas of activity. It is perceived as a response to the inflexibility of a pure role culture. It tends to be non hierarchical. Communication takes place in meetings which are used to plan coordinated responses to unfamiliar tasks. Task cultures are seen as expensive in terms of time and energy.

Person culture: Is oriented towards organisational support for the talent and initiative of particular individual ‘stars’ or alternatively, ‘clusters’ of individuals. The organisation serves to provide a minimal support structure within which talented individuals operate with a great deal of autonomy.

For Handy, none of the four cultural models is of itself inherently good or bad, but rather each is viewed as appropriate for different types of organisational activity and with different groups of people.

Four ways in which leaders may take account of culture in developing their strategies for their organisations:

Auditing or diagnosing culture Generating new or modified culture through communicating a vision based

on clearly articulated values Taking account of the prevailing culture in developing strategy but also

seeking to modify culture if it is inconsistent with new strategic aims Using their power as leaders to change or ‘found’ culture.