Post on 02-Jun-2018
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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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Changing/StrengtheningOrganizational Culture
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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Changing/StrengtheningOrganizational Culture
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
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Organizational
Culture
14-28McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc All rights reserved