Notes on Organisational Culture

Organisational Culture Notes

Learning Outcomes

  • Define organisational culture and its significance

  • Explain how organisational cultures are formed, sustained, and changed

  • Describe the process of organisational socialisation and its impact on culture

  • Recognize various models and typologies of organisational culture

  • Explore the link between national culture and organisational culture

Definitions of Culture

  • Institutionalisation: When an organisation exists independently of its members, gaining a sense of immortality.

  • Culture: A system of shared meaning among organisational members, serving as a descriptive term.

Mintzberg on Culture

  • Describes culture as the "soul" of the organisation, encompassing its beliefs and values, contrasting it with structure (skeleton) and systems (flesh and blood).

Classic Overview of Cultures

  • Mechanistic Culture:

  • Characteristics: Labor specialization, hierarchical authority, vertical communication.

  • Focus: Rules, centralization, loyalty, written communications.

  • Organic Culture:

  • Characteristics: Team-based roles, lateral communication, decentralization.

  • Focus: Collaboration, fluid processes, verbal communications.

Defining and Measuring Organisational Culture

  • The definition of organisational culture remains debated.

  • Schein: Defines it as a ‘system of shared meaning’ that differentiates organisations.

Elements of Culture

  • Artifacts: Physical representations of beliefs and values.

  • Values: Underlying beliefs regarding acceptable practices.

  • Basic Assumptions: Core beliefs affecting relationships and risk perceptions.

Schein’s Six Ways to Observe Culture

  1. Regular Behaviours: Daily interactions (greetings, dress, etc.).

  2. Norms: General work attitudes (work ethic, overtime).

  3. Dominant Values: What the organisation prioritizes (e.g., customer focus).

  4. Philosophy: Collective views on profit motives, community ties.

  5. Rules: Guidelines for workplace conduct.

  6. Feeling/Climate: Emotional atmosphere (trust levels, safety perceptions).

How Cultures are Embedded

  • Through: Formal statements, physical layout, rewards systems, mentorship, stories, and workflow processes.

Primary Characteristics of Culture

  • Innovation and Risk-Taking: Support for creativity and calculated risks.

  • Attention to Detail: Expected precision in work.

  • Outcome Orientation: Focus on end results rather than processes.

  • People Orientation: Decisions consider employee welfare.

  • Team Orientation: Structures organized around teams.

  • Aggressiveness: Competitive work environment.

  • Stability: Preference for maintaining the status quo.

The Dominant Culture

  • Core values accepted by most members define the dominant culture.

  • Subcultures can exist within departments or locations.

Strong Cultures vs. Weak Cultures

Strong Cultures

  • Clearly articulated values, shared understanding, emphasis on culture in recruitment, and positive interactions.

Weak Cultures

  • Lack of clear philosophy, poorly communicated values, little alignment in practice.

Primary Cultural Functions

  • Defines boundaries between organisations, enhances stability, and guides behaviour.

  • Reduces ambiguity and increases commitment but may conflict with effectiveness when values are misaligned.

Creating and Sustaining Culture

  • Founders are critical in establishing initial culture, especially in smaller organisations.

  • Attraction-Selection-Attrition Theory: Focuses on creating cultural fit during recruitment to maintain homogeneity and strengthen culture.

Socialisation of New Employees

  1. Prearrival Stage: Learning before joining.

  2. Encounter Stage: Experiencing actual culture vs. expectations.

  3. Metamorphosis Stage: Adjustment to organisational norms.

Learning Culture

  • Through stories, rituals, symbols, and language that reinforce values and identity.

Types of Culture

  • Constructive: Focus on member growth and encouragement.

  • Passive-defensive: Approval-seeking, bureaucratic.

  • Aggressive-defensive: Competitiveness and aggression prioritized.

Deciphering Culture

  • Cultural analysis is complex, requires contextual understanding, and is shaped by historical and current practices.

Organisational Cultural Changes

  • Often necessary with environmental shifts; change is difficult due to ingrained assumptions.

Liabilities of Culture

  • Can hinder change, diversity, and integration efforts during mergers.

Lewin’s Three-Step Change Model

  1. Unfreezing: Address resistance to change.

  2. Moving: Involve employees in change.

  3. Refreezing: Stabilize new behaviour.

Models and Frameworks

  • Schein: Culture as shared assumptions.

  • Handy: Classifies organisations based on cultural characteristics.

  • Trompenaars: Discusses varying corporate cultures through relationships and authority.

  • Hofstede: Cultural dimensions based on international employee research.

Hofstede’s Dimensions

  1. Power Distance: Equality among individuals in a hierarchy.

  2. Individualism vs. Collectivism: Preference between solo vs. group functionality.

  3. Uncertainty Avoidance: Preference for structured situations.

  4. Masculinity vs. Femininity: Valued traits in society.

  5. Pragmatism vs. Normativism: Long-term vs. short-term tendencies in cultural approaches.

  6. Indulgence vs. Restraint: Control over desires and impulses.

National Culture Influence

  • National culture affects organisational attitudes, often overshadowing culture specific to the organisation.

The Dark Side of Culture

  • Culture can dominate and restrict; however, it can also empower and foster diversity.

Conclusions

  • A positive culture nurtures strengths, incentivizes rather than punishes, and promotes personal and collective growth.