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The document discusses organizational culture, describing its common characteristics, levels, and frameworks for understanding different cultural types. Organizational culture refers to shared assumptions, values and beliefs that influence employee behavior and performance. Culture exists at various levels from visible artifacts to deeper underlying assumptions. Companies also tend to have cultures that emphasize characteristics like innovation, collaboration, or results orientation.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
51 views58 pages

Lec. 02 - Modified

The document discusses organizational culture, describing its common characteristics, levels, and frameworks for understanding different cultural types. Organizational culture refers to shared assumptions, values and beliefs that influence employee behavior and performance. Culture exists at various levels from visible artifacts to deeper underlying assumptions. Companies also tend to have cultures that emphasize characteristics like innovation, collaboration, or results orientation.

Uploaded by

yaser abdelrahim
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
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Organizational Behavior

Eighteenth Edition, Global Edition

Chapter 15
Organizational Culture

Lect. 02

Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


Learning Objectives
15.1 Describe the common characteristics of organizational culture.
15.2 Compare the functional and dysfunctional effects of
organizational culture on people and the organization.
15.3 Identify the factors that create and sustain an organization’s
culture.
15.4 Show how culture is transmitted to employees.
15.5 Describe the similarities and differences in creating an ethical culture, a positive culture,
and a spiritual culture.

15.6 Show how national culture can affect the way organizational culture is transported to
another country.

Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


What is in it for me?
• In a 2021 Global Culture Survey of 3,200 leaders and employees worldwide,
PricewaterhouseCoopers highlighted the following findings:
❑ 72% report that culture helps successful change initiatives happen.

❑ 69% of organizations that adapted amid the pandemic say culture offers a
competitive advantage.

❑ 67% of survey respondents said culture is more important than strategy or


operations.

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What is in it for me?
• Organizational culture is present in our daily lives. Whether or
not you recognize it, organizational culture can be found in
every family unit and in any group dynamic you are a part of.
– Understanding how culture is developed can give
insight into an organization.
– Recognizing internal and external factors that contribute
to an organization’s cultural identity and learning how to
adjust them to change culture is a valuable skill to have.
– The ability to identify a positive or negative company
culture can assist you when applying for jobs and when
deciding on a career path.
– Many published empirical research indicated that
corporate culture impacts financial performance
measured as EBIT; and that culture explains as much as
46% of EBIT.

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Organization + Culture
What is an organization ?

An organization consists of individuals with different specializations,


educational qualifications and work experiences all working towards a
common goal.

What is culture ?

The attitude, traits and behavioral patterns which govern the way an
individual interacts with others is termed as culture. Culture is
something which one inherits from his ancestors and it helps in
distinguishing one individual from the other.

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Common Characteristics of
Organizational Culture (1 of 6)
• A Definition of Organizational Culture
– Organizational culture refers to a system of shared
meaning held by members that distinguishes the
organization from other organizations.
Organizational culture refers to a
system of shared assumptions,
values, and beliefs that show
employees what is appropriate and
inappropriate behavior.
These shared values have a strong influence on the
people in the organization and dictate how they dress,
act, and perform their jobs.

These values have also a strong influence on https://youtu.be/4cBN8xH-5Qw


organizational performance.
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Definition of Organizational Culture

The Nordstrom Case. “Use good judgment in all


situations.”

1980s Peters and Waterman’s best-selling book In Search of


Excellence

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Levels of Culture (Shein)
https://youtu.be/wd1bsxWeM6Q

linking Values to behaviors.


• You can’t call your culture “transparent” if people are afraid of speaking truth to power. You can’t
say you have a “collaborative” workplace if you regularly promote selfish employees.
Amazon punishes “complacency” and having a “Day 2 mentality.” Mediocrity is not welcomed. The
tech giant rewards speed, relentlessness, and intellectual autonomy. This is consistent with
Amazon’s aggressive culture.

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• understanding the organization’s culture may start from observing its artifacts: the
physical environment, employee interactions, company policies, reward systems,
and other observable characteristics.

• However, simply looking at these tangible aspects is unlikely to give a full picture of
the organization.

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Levels of Culture (Shein)
Corporate logos, uniforms, rituals, stories, events, "heroes,"
Symbolic posters, buildings, layout, purported organizational structure.
(Artifacts) Artifacts include organizational structures and processes that are
apparent and visible

Buzzwords and phrases, renaming roles/unites, "culture change,"


values and culture explicitly espoused by the organization,
Discursive technical or professional norms and rules. Rules imposed by the
(Values) organization. Values include the “why” behind why a company
operates the way they do. It includes company goals, strategies
and philosophies that drive a company’s mission

Workers’ sense of identity, attitudes towards and feelings about


Affective and the manifestations of levels 1–2, trust in organizations’ espoused
cognitive versions, understanding of the "reality" of working in the
(Underlying organization. Tacit knowledge of how things work. These
assumptions & underlying assumptions create the foundation for the values and
attributes) artifacts levels. They take time and energy to fully decipher and
understand
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Common Characteristics of
Organizational Culture
• The culture of an organization decides the way employees behave
amongst themselves as well as the people outside the organization.

• Primary characteristics that capture the essence of an organization’s culture:


Each of the characteristics exists on a continuum from low to high. They are:
– Adaptability/ Innovation & Risk taking
– Detail orientation/ Attention to details
– Results/Outcome orientation
– People/Customer orientation
– Collaboration/Team orientation
– Integrity

Appraising an organization on the strength of each provides a basis for the shared understanding
that members have about the organization, how things are done in it, and the way they are
supposed to behave.

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Common Characteristics of
Organizational Culture
1. Adaptability (innovation & Risk taking). The degree to which employees are
encouraged to be innovative and flexible as well as to take risks and experiment.
2. Detail orientation (Attention to detail). The degree to which employees are
expected to exhibit precision, analysis, and attention to detail.
3. Results/Outcome orientation. The degree to which management focuses on
results or outcomes rather than on the techniques and processes used to achieve
them.
4. People/Customer orientation. The degree to which management decisions
take into consideration the effect of outcomes on people within and outside of the
organization.
5. Collaboration/Team orientation. The degree to which work activities are
organized around teams rather than individuals.
6. Integrity. The degree to which people exhibit integrity and high ethical
standards in their work.

Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


Common Characteristics of
Organizational Culture
• Another common cultural framework groups organizations into one of
four types, each which has its own assumptions, beliefs, values,
artifacts, and even criteria for effectiveness:

Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


Common Characteristics of
Organizational Culture
• Another common cultural framework groups organizations into one of
four types, each which has its own assumptions, beliefs, values,
artifacts, and even criteria for effectiveness:
– The Clan- ex. Family business
▪ A culture which is based on human affiliation. Employees value attachment,
collaboration, trust, and support.

– The Adhocracy – ex. Google


▪ A culture which is based on change. Employees value growth, variety,
attention to detail, stimulation, and autonomy.

– The Market
▪ A culture which is based on achievement. Employees value communication,
competence, and competition.

– The Hierarchy- ex Mcdonald’s


▪ A culture which is based on stability. Employees value communication,
formalization, and routine.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Common Characteristics of
Organizational Culture (4 of 6)
• Culture as a Descriptive Term
– Organizational culture is concerned with employees’
perceptions of the characteristics of the culture, not
whether they like them.
▪ Does it encourage teamwork?
▪ Does it reward innovation?
▪ Does it stifle initiative?
– It differs from job satisfaction:
▪ Job satisfaction is evaluative.
▪ Organizational culture is descriptive.

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Characteristics of
Organizational Culture (5
of 6)

• Do Organizations Have Uniform (Single) Cultures?


– Most organizations have a dominant culture and
numerous sets of subcultures.
– The dominant culture expresses the core values a
majority of members share and that give the
organization distinct personality.
▪ Subcultures tend to develop in large organizations
to reflect common problems, situations, or
experiences that members face. subcultures can
influence members’ behavior too. A subculture can
function quite well within the dominant culture.

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Common Characteristics of
Organizational Culture (6 of 6)
• Strong versus Weak Cultures
– Strong culture: core values are intensely held and widely
shared.
▪ The more members who accept the core values and the
greater their commitment, the stronger the culture and the
greater its influence on member behavior.
– an organizational culture with a consensus on the values
that drive the company and with an intensity that is
recognizable even to outsiders BECAUSE
▪ They are characterized by goal alignment.
▪ They create a high level of motivation because of shared values by the
members.
▪ They provide control without the oppressive effects of bureaucracy.

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Common Characteristics of
Organizational Culture (6 of 6)
• Strong versus Weak Cultures
– In weak culture employees treat their organization as a mere
source of earning money and never get attached to it.
– Strong culture companies can be either positive (an asset) or
negative (a liability).
– If the company’s values are constructive, then having a strong
culture is an asset. If the company’s values are negative or
dysfunctional, then having a strong culture will be a liability.

Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


Common Characteristics of
Organizational Culture (6 of 6)
• Strong versus Weak Cultures
For example, the informal culture at Ford Motor Company during the late
1960s and early 70’s was captured in the statement made among
employees that: “if you can get it to drive out the door, we can sell it!”
This was not a formal corporate pronouncement, but a statement that was
prevalent in conversations at the company. It was a statement that
contained an implicit lack of respect for the customer, and suggested the
lack of importance of true product quality. Although Ford later made the
pronouncement that “Quality is Job 1,” this was clearly a response to
damage to its brand when customers realized that Ford products had
declined in quality.

In contrast, Toyota has steadily increased its customer loyalty and


overcome the once prevailing view that products “made in Japan” were of
inferior quality. It has accomplished this by a culture that emphasizes
“perfection” in the customer experience from the product to the sales
process and the service process as well.

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What Do Cultures Do?
(1 of 9)

• organizations that have a rare and hard-to-imitate


organizational culture benefit from it as a competitive
advantage
• The Functions of Culture: Culture is the social glue that
helps hold an organization together by providing
appropriate standards for what employees should say
or do.

– Boundary-defining role.
– Conveys a sense of identity for members.
– Facilitates the generation of commitment to the Org..
– Enhances the stability of the social system.
– Serves as a sense-making and control mechanism.

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What Do Cultures Do?
(1 of 9)

• The Functions of Culture: Culture is the social glue that helps hold
an organization together by providing appropriate standards for what
employees should say or do.
– Boundary-defining role.
▪ Culture helps to create distinctions between one organization and others.
– Conveys a sense of identity for members.
– Facilitates the generation of commitment.
▪ Culture encourages the members of the organization to give priority to organizational
interests over and above their personal interests
– Enhances the stability of the social system.
▪ Culture is also known as the social glue that helps to hold the organization together by
providing appropriate standards for what employees should say and do. It provides a list
of social do’s and don’ts for the employees
– Serves as a sense-making and control mechanism.
▪ Every organization has its own set of assumptions, understandings and implicit rules to
guide the day to day behavior of the employees.

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What Do Cultures Do? (2 of 9)
• Culture Creates Climate
– Organizational climate is shared perceptions about the organization and
work environment.

• The Ethical Dimension of Culture


– the ethical culture, or the shared concept of right and wrong behavior in that
workplace, develops as part of the organizational climate.

• Sustainability
– A culture of sustainability is one in which organizational members hold shared
assumptions and beliefs about the importance of balancing economic efficiency,
social equity and environmental accountability.

• Culture and Innovation


– The most innovative companies have open, unconventional, collaborative,
vision-driven, and accelerating cultures.

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What Do Cultures Do? (2 of 9)

• Culture Creates Climate


– Organizational climate is shared perceptions about
the organization and work environment.
Team spirit at the organizational level.
The unique culture of an organization creates a distinct atmosphere that
Climates
is felt can interact
by the people who arewith
part one another
of the to produce
group, and this atmosphere is
behavior.
known as the climate of an organization.

Climate
Difference alsoorganizational
between influences culture
the habits people adopt.
and organizational climate is that the
culture is about the norms, values and behavior adopted by the
employees within the organization while the climate is about the
atmosphere of the organization that is created based on the culture.

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What Do Cultures Do? (3 of 9)
• The Ethical Dimension of Culture
– Organizational cultures are not neutral in their ethical
orientation, even when they are not openly pursuing
ethical goals.

▪ Over time, the ethical culture, or the shared concept of right


and wrong behavior in that workplace, develops as part of the
organizational climate.
– The ethical climate reflects the true values of the organization
and shapes the ethical decision making of its members.

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What Do Cultures Do? (4 of 9)
• Ethical climate theory (ECT) and the ethical climate index
(ECI) categorize and measure the ethical dimensions of
organizational cultures.
– Five climate categories: instrumental, caring,
independence, law and code, and rules.
– Each explains the general mindset, expectations, and
values of the managers and employees in relationship
to their organization.
• Ethical climate powerfully influences the way its individual
members feel they should behave.

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What Do Cultures Do? (6 of 9)

Sustainability: practices that can be maintained over very long periods of time because the tools or structures that support
the practices are not damaged by the processes.Social sustainability practices.Sustainable management doesn’t need to be purely
altruistic.

• A culture of sustainability is one in which organizational


members hold shared assumptions and beliefs about the
importance of balancing economic efficiency, social
equity and environmental accountability.
• To create a truly sustainable business, an organization
must develop a long-term culture and put its values
into practice.
• Like other cultural practices we’ve discussed, sustainability needs time and nurturing to grow.

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What Do Cultures Do? (6 of 9)
• Sustainability: practices that can be maintained over very
long periods of time because the tools or structures that
support the practices are not damaged by the processes.
– Social sustainability practices.
– Sustainable management doesn’t need to be purely
altruistic.
• To create a truly sustainable business, an organization
must develop a long-term culture and put its values into
practice.
• Like other cultural practices we’ve discussed, sustainability
needs time and nurturing to grow.
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What Do Cultures Do? (7 of 9)
• Culture and Innovation
– The most innovative companies have open,
unconventional, collaborative, vision-driven, and
accelerating cultures.
– Startup firms often have innovative cultures.
▪ They are usually small, agile, and focused on
solving problems in order to survive and grow.

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What Do Cultures Do? (8 of 9)

• Culture as an Asset
– Culture can significantly contribute to an organization’s bottom
line in many ways.
– There are many more cases of business success stories
because of excellent organizational cultures than there are of
success stories despite bad cultures, and almost no success
stories because of bad ones.
– Culture is beneficial to the organisation as it enhances
organizational commitment and increases the consistency of
employee behavior.
– Culture is beneficial to the employee also as it reduces
ambiguity. Employees become very clear as to how things are to
be done and what is more important for the organisation.

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What Do Cultures Do? (9 of
9)

• Culture as a Liability
– Institutionalization
▪ Barriers to Change. (IBM, XEROX, GM)
▪ Barriers to Diversity
▪ Toxicity and Dysfunctions
▪ Barriers to Acquisitions and Mergers.
(DaimlerChrysler merger)
– the new executive team ripped out the recently installed smoke detectors on the executive
floor at Chrysler headquarters in Detroit so they could smoke cigars with their red wine in the
evenings.

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What Do Cultures Do? (9 of
9)

• Culture as a Liability
– Institutionalization
• That is, the organization is valued for itself and not for the goods or services it produces—and it takes
on a life of its own, apart from its founders or members. It doesn’t go out of business even if its
original goals are no longer relevant. Acceptable modes of behavior become largely self-evident to
members, and although this isn’t entirely negative, it does mean behaviors and habits that should be
questioned and analyzed become taken for granted, which can stifle innovation and make
maintaining the organization’s culture an end in itself.

– Barriers to Change
• Consistency of employee behavior is an asset to the organization, when it has a stable
environment. When the organization is dynamic, it will prove to be a liability as the employees will try
to resist changes in the environment. Companies such as IBM, Xerox and General motors’ have very
strong cultures which worked well for them in past, but these strong cultures only become barriers to
change when business environment changes. Therefore, organizations which have strong cultures
which proved successful in the past can lead to failure in future, when these cultures do not match
with the changing environmental needs.

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What Do Cultures Do? (9 of
9)

• Culture as a Liability
– Barriers to Diversity
Strong cultures put a lot of pressure on the employees to conform to the accepted values and styles of the
organization. Even the new employees who belong to different race, religion etc. are expected to conform to
the organization’s core cultural values, otherwise they are deemed to be unfit for the organization. Strong
cultures do not acknowledge the fact that people from different backgrounds bring unique strengths to the
organization. Strong cultures can also prove to be barriers to diversity when these support organization bias
or when these become insensitive to people who are different in one way or the other. Diverse behaviors and
strengths are likely to diminish in strong cultures as people attempt to fit in. Strong cultures can be
liabilities when they effectively eliminate the unique strengths that people of different backgrounds
bring to the organization, or when they support institutional bias or become insensitive to people who are
different.

– Toxicity and Dysfunctions


In general, we’ve discussed cultures that cohere around a positive set of values and attitudes. This
consensus can create powerful forward momentum. However, coherence around negativity and
dysfunctional management systems in a corporation can produce downward forces that are equally
powerful yet toxic.be less creative.

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What Do Cultures Do? (9 of
9)

• Culture as a Liability
– Barriers to Acquisitions and Mergers
• Culture can act as barrier to mergers and acquisitions. Historically financial matters and product synergy alone were
considered to decide which company should acquire which company or which unit should merge with which firm. But
in the recent years there has been a change in the trend. Cultural compatibility has become a primary concern while
deciding about acquisitions and mergers. Favorable financial statement or product line are, of course, the initial
attractions at the time of acquisition, but another important factor to be considered is how well the cultures of the two
organizations match with each other.

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Creating and Sustaining Culture (1 of 6)
• How a Culture Begins
– Ultimate source of an organization’s culture is its
founders.
– Founders have the vision of what the organization
should be.
– New organizations are typically small, which facilitates
the founders’ imparting of their vision on all
organizational members.
– Industry demands also matter

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Creating and Sustaining Culture (2 of 6)
• Culture creation occurs in three ways:
– Founders hire employees who think and feel the way
they do.
– Employees are indoctrinated and socialized into the
founders’ way of thinking.
– Founders’ own behavior encourages employees to
identify with them and internalize their beliefs, values,
and assumptions.
(ex: David Packard of Hewlett-Packard, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Herb Kelleher of Southwest
Airlines, Mary Kay of Mary Kay Cosmetics, etc)

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Creating and Sustaining Culture (3 of 6)
• Keeping a Culture Alive
– Selection
▪ Identify and hire individuals with the knowledge,
skills, and abilities to perform successfully.
▪ Two-way street.
– Top Management
▪ Establish norms of
behavior.

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Creating and Sustaining Culture
▪ First, it’s reflected and sustained via HR policies – selection (after minimum
qualifications are established, then hire for “fit”), perf evaluations, training and
career development, promotions, reward those who support culture, remove
those who do not.

▪ Next, top management behavior exemplifies culture (norms filter down – is


risk taking desirable? How much freedom do managers give employees to
make decisions? What should we wear to work? What behaviors get rewarded
and lead to promotions?, etc).

▪ Finally, socialization methods (the process that adapts employees to the


organization’s culture) are key (pre-arrival, encounter, metamorphosis stages).

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Creating and Maintaining Organizational
Culture
• How Are Cultures Created? Where do cultures come from?

• Understanding this question is important so that you know how they can be changed.

This explains one


reason why
culture is so hard
to change: It is
shaped in the
early days of a
company’s
history.

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Creating and Sustaining Culture (4 of 6)
Exhibit 15-2 A Socialization Model

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Creating and Sustaining
Culture (4 of 6)
• Socialization is the process of helping new employees adapt to the organization’s culture. The
socialization model is a three-stage process.

– The first stage is prearrival, which explicitly recognizes that each individual arrives with
a set of values, attitudes, and expectations. One way to capitalize on pre-hire
characteristics in socialization is to use the selection process to inform prospective
employees about the organization as a whole. The selection process ensures the
inclusion of the “right type”—those who will fit in.

– The second stage is encounter, in which the individual confronts the possible
dichotomy between expectations and reality. If expectations were fairly accurate, the
encounter stage merely cements earlier perceptions. However, this is often not the case.
At the extreme, a new member may become disillusioned enough to resign. Proper
recruiting and selection should significantly reduce that outcome, along with
encouraging friendship ties in the organization—newcomers are more committed
when friends and coworkers help them “learn the ropes.”

– Finally, to work out any problems discovered during the encounter stage, the new
member changes or goes through the metamorphosis stage.

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Creating and Sustaining Culture (6 of 6)
Exhibit 15-4 How Organizational Cultures Form

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Show How Culture is
Transmitted to Employees
• Culture is transmitted to employees through:
– Stories – (ex. Nordstrom and car tires)
– Rituals – repetitive sequence of activities expressing and reinforcing key values (ex. Mary Kay
cosmetics annual award meeting & Saturday morning meetings of Wal-Mart)
– Material Symbols – convey to employees what is important, who holds power and what
kinds of behavior are appropriate (ex. Limousines, jets, offices, dress)
– Language – identifies members of cultures or subcultures, if used by all then it’s accepted and
preserved
▪ (ex. Slang used by some companies)
– Mission Statements: “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can
find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers
the lowest possible prices.” : Amazon
– Rules & Policies – Policies about issues such as decision making, human resources, and
employee privacy reveal what the company values and emphasizes. For example, a company
that has a policy such as “all pricing decisions of merchandise will be made at corporate
headquarters” is likely to have a centralized culture that is hierarchical
– Physical Layout –

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Influencing an Organizational Culture (1 of 5)
• How can management create a more ethical culture?
– Be a visible role model.
– Communicate ethical expectations.
– Provide ethics training.
– Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones.
– Provide protective mechanisms.

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Influencing an
Organizational Culture (2 of 5)

• There is a trend today for organizations to attempt to


create a positive organizational culture:
– Emphasizes building on employee strengths.
– Rewards more than it punishes.
– Emphasizes individual vitality growth.
• Positive culture is not a cure-all.

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Influencing an Organizational
Culture (2 of 5)
• There is a trend today for organizations to attempt to
create a positive organizational culture:
– Emphasizes building on employee strengths.
– Rewards more than it punishes.
– Emphasizes individual vitality growth.
• Positive culture is not a cure-all.

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Influencing an Organizational
Culture (3 of 5)
• What Is Spirituality?
– Workplace spirituality is not about organized religious
practices.
▪ It is not about God or theology.
– Workplace spirituality recognizes that people have an
inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful
work that takes place in the context of community.

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Influencing an Organizational
Culture (4 of 5)
Exhibit 15-5 Reasons for the Growing Interest in
Spirituality
• Spirituality can counterbalance the pressures and stress of a turbulent pace of life.
Contemporary lifestyles—single-parent families, geographic mobility, the temporary
nature of jobs, new technologies that create distance between people—underscore the
lack of community many people feel and increase the need for involvement and
connection.
• Formalized religion hasn’t worked for many people, and they continue to look for
anchors to replace lack of faith and to fill a growing feeling of emptiness.
• Job demands have made the workplace dominant in many people’s lives, yet they
continue to question the meaning of work.
• People want to integrate personal life values with their professional lives.
• An increasing number of people are finding that the pursuit of more material
acquisitions leaves them unfulfilled.

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Influencing an Organizational
Culture (5 of 5)
• Characteristics of a Spiritual Organization
– Cultural characteristics present in spiritual organizations
include:
▪ Benevolence
▪ Strong sense of purpose
▪ Trust and respect
▪ Open-mindedness

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Identify Characteristics of a Spiritual
Culture (1 of 2)
• Achieving a Spiritual Organization
– Many organizations have grown interested in
spirituality but have had difficulty putting its principles
into practice.
▪ Leaders can demonstrate values, attitudes, and
behaviors that trigger intrinsic motivation and a
sense of calling through work.
▪ Encouraging employees to consider how their work
provides a sense of purpose through community
building also can help achieve a spiritual workplace.

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Identify Characteristics of a Spiritual
Culture (2 of 2)
• Critics of spirituality in organizations focus on:
– The question of scientific foundation: what really is
workplace spirituality?
– Are spiritual organizations legitimate? Do organizations
have the right to impose spiritual values on their
employees?
– The question of economics: are spirituality and profits
compatible?

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The Global Context
• Organizational cultures often reflect national culture.
• One of the primary things U.S. managers can do is to
be culturally sensitive.
• The management of ethical behavior is one area where
national culture can rub up against corporate culture.

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How Do Cultures Change?
• Culture is part of a company’s DNA and is
resistant to change efforts.

• Many organizations may not even realize


that their current culture constitutes a
barrier against organizational
productivity and performance.

• It would be easier to convince managers


and employees that culture change is
necessary in certain conditions such as:
– if an organization
is experiencing failure or
– is under threat of bankruptcy or
– an imminent loss of market share,

• A company can use such downturns to


generate employee commitment to the
change effort.

Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.


Copyright © 2019 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Implications for Managers (1 of 3)

Exhibit 15-6 How Organizational Cultures Have an Impact


on Employee Performance and Satisfaction

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Implications for Managers
(2 of 3)
• Realize that an organization’s culture is relatively fixed in the
short term. To effect change, involve top management and
strategize a long-term plan.
• Hire individuals whose values align with those of the
organization; these employees will tend to remain committed
and satisfied. Not surprisingly, “misfits” have considerably higher
turnover rates.
• Understand that employees’ performance and socialization
depend to a considerable degree on their knowing what to do
and not do. Train your employees well and keep them
informed of changes to their job roles.

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Implications for Managers
(3 of 3)

• You can shape the culture of your work environment,


sometimes as much as it shapes you. All managers can
especially do their part to create an ethical culture and to
consider spirituality and its role in creating a positive
organizational culture.
• Be aware that your company’s organizational culture
may not be “transportable” to other countries.
Understand the cultural relevance of your organization’s
norms before introducing new plans or initiatives overseas.

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