introduction to the field of organizational...

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 Dell’s Organizational Culture

Dell’s “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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Organizational culture

Artifacts of organizational culture

Elements of

Organizational

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 organization’s culture is fuzzy:

• Diverse subcultures (“fragmentation”)

• Values exist within individuals, not work units

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Organizational Culture Profile

Org Culture Dimensions Dimension Characteristics

Innovation Experimenting, opportunity seeking, risk taking, few rules, low 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

Source: O’Reilly 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) firm’s

dominant culture

Two functions of countercultures:

• provide surveillance and critique, ethics

• source of emerging values

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Cirque du Soleil’s Risky Culture

Cirque du Soleil’s 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 organization’s 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: Organizational Language

Words used to address people, describe

customers, etc.

Leaders use phrases and special vocabulary

as cultural symbols

Language also found in subcultures

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Artifacts: Physical Structures/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

company’s 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 Corporate Cultures

Functions of

Strong Cultures

• Control system

• Social glue

• Sense-making

Organizational

Outcomes

• Org performance

• Employee well-being

Culture strength

advantages 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: Bicultural Audit

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 bridge

cultures

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Merging Organizational Cultures

Assimilation

Deculturation

Acquired company embraces acquiring

firm’s cultural values

Acquiring firm imposes its culture on

unwilling acquired firm

Integration Cultures combined into a new composite

culture

Separation Merging companies remain separate with

their own culture

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Changing/Strengthening Organizational Culture

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1. Actions of Founders/Leaders

• Org culture sometimes reflects the

founder’s 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 artifacts – reinforce

culturally-consistent behavior

4. Attracting, Selecting, Socializing

Employees

• Attraction-selection-attrition theory

• Socialization practices

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Attraction-Selection-Attrition Theory

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 organization’s culture

• Attrition -- Employee quite or are forced out when

their values oppose company values

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Lindblad’s Shipshape Socialization

Lindblad Expeditions can’t

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 it’s like to work on

board. This realistic job preview

is one part of the company’s

socialization process.

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Organizational Socialization Defined

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 organization’s

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 Organizational Socialization

Realistic job preview (RJP)

• A balance of positive and negative information

about the job and work context

Socialization agents

• Supervisors– technical information, performance

feedback, job duties

• Coworkers – ideal when accessible, role models,

tolerant, and supportive

introduction to the field of organizational...

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