Chapter 16 Outline

Organizational Culture Values and assumptions shared within an organization What is important and what is unimportant in the company and consequently directs everyone in the organization toward the "right way" of doing things Function of Organizational Culture Social glue Control system Avoid cult-like dominant culture Adaptive Cultures Employees focus on the changing needs of customers External focus Employees assume responsibility for the organization's performance Continuous improvement of internal processes Sense-making Employees can understand their roles, how to interact with other employees, how/why things happen in the company Elements of Organizational Culture Shared Values Stable, evaluative beliefs that guide our preferences for outcomes or courses of action in a variety of situations Conscious perceptions about what is good or bad, right or wrong In common between people within the organization Espoused vs. enacted values What they say vs. what they do Create a positive public image Examples e.g. rapid change, cost-cutting frugality, process efficiency, egalitarianism, stability, dedicated service, reputation, employee-friendly, performance-oriented, customer-focused Attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness, stability, innovation, risk taking Rules oriented, innovation oriented, internally focused, externally focused, controlling, flexible, goal-oriented, supportive Artifacts Observable symbols and signs of an organization's culture Organizational stories and legends Recount heroic deeds by employees Ridicule past events that deviated from the firm's core values Rituals and ceremonies How visitors are greeted, how often senior execs visit subordinates, how people communicate with one another, length of lunch break Planned activities conducted specifically for the benefit of an audience Public rewards/punishment Parties Language Preferred language Clients vs customers Jargon Slang Physical structures and symbols Size, shape, location, and age of buildings Frugality in furniture, products Shared Assumptions Unconscious, taken-for-granted perceptions or beliefs Mental models of ideals Organizational Subcultures Dominant culture Themes shared most widely by the organization's members Content of Organizational Culture The relative ordering of values and assumptions Strength How widely and deeply employees hold the company's dominant values and assumptions Changing and Strengthening Organizational Culture Difficult because corporate culture is deeply embedded in the collective mindset Strategies Actions of leaders and founders Symbolize culture through events Model through decision-making and actions Culturally consistent rewards Reward employees for culturally consistent behaviors Reward managers who help employees understand the culture Selecting and socializing employees Hire people whose values are consistent with the culture Inform and indoctrinate new staff about what the culture means Aligning artifacts Share stories supporting the culture Celebrate goals/milestones Inhabit buildings that reflect the culture Cons May lock decision-makers into closed mindsets When the cultural content is misaligned with company's best interest Subcultures Parallel values and assumptions Countercultures Directly oppose the organization's core values Potential source of conflict and dissension Maintain standards of performance and ethical behavior Source of surveillance and critique over the dominant order Encourage constructive conflict and more creative thinking about how the organization should interact with its environment Prevent employees from blindly following one set of values and thereby help the organization to abide by society's ethical values Spawning ground for emerging values that keep the firm aligned with the needs of customers, suppliers, society, and other stakeholders Merging Organizational Cultures Corporate Culture Clash and Chemistry Is a company aligned with or incompatible with another Bicultural Audit Diagnoses cultural relations between companies and determines the extent to which cultural clashes will likely occur Identifying cultural differences between the merging companies Analyze differences to determine which will result in clash and which in chemistry Identifying strategies and preparing action plans to bridge the two organization's cultures Strategies Assimilation Employees in the acquired company willingly embrace the cultural values of the acquiring organization Rare; Acquired firm likely has a weak culture Deculturation Acquiring firm imposes its culture on the unwilling acquired firm Rarely successful Strips acquired firm's reward system and artifacts People who do not adapt are fired Integration Combining two or more cultures into a composite culture May result in overall improvement Many overlapping values Originally weak cultures Separation Merging companies remain distinct entities with minimal exchange of culture or organization practices Firms operate successfully in different businesses, requiring different cultures Organizational Socialization A process of learning and adjustment Stages Preemployment socialization ?hiring process Learn about the organization and the job Form employment relationship expectations Both employers and employees tend to build unrealistically high expectations, based on distorted resumes and overly positive images of work life Encounter Test expectations against perceived realities Reality shock The stress that results when employees perceive discrepancies between their preemployment expectations and on-the-job reality Role management Strengthen work relationships Practice new role behaviors Resolve work-nonwork conflicts Successful socialization leads to higher motivation, loyalty, satisfaction, and lower stress and turnover. Improving the socialization process Realistic Job Preview A balance of positive and negative information about the job and work context Socialization agents Co-workers, bosses, and friends who work for the company Technical information, feedback, information about job duties Provide opportunities to form social ties with co-workers Co-workers can be flexible and tolerant to newcomers Hazing -- fooling or intimidating newcomers as a practical joke or initiation ritual