Transcript Document

Chapter 10:
Organizational
Culture
Organizational
Behaviour
5th Canadian Edition
Langton / Robbins / Judge
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education
Canada
10-1
Chapter Outline
• What Is Organizational Culture?
• Reading an Organization’s Culture
• Creating and Sustaining Culture
• The Liabilities of Culture
• Changing Organizational Culture
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
10-2
Organizational Culture
1. What is the purpose of organizational culture?
2. How do you read an organization’s culture?
3. How do you create and maintain culture?
4. Can organizational culture have a downside?
5. How do you change culture?
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Henry Mintzberg on Culture
• “Culture is the soul of the organization
— the beliefs and values, and how they
are manifested. I think of the structure
as the skeleton, and as the flesh and
blood. And culture is the soul that holds
the thing together and gives it life force.”
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Organizational Culture
• The pattern of shared values, beliefs, and
assumptions considered to be the appropriate way
to think and act within an organization.
–
–
–
–
Culture is shared.
Culture helps members solve problems.
Culture is taught to newcomers.
Culture strongly influences behaviour.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Exhibit 10-1 Layers of Culture
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
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Levels of Culture
• Artifacts
– Aspects of an organization’s culture that you see, hear,
and feel.
• Beliefs
– The understandings of how objects and ideas relate to
each other.
• Values
– The stable, long-lasting beliefs about what is important.
• Assumptions
– The taken-for-granted notions of how something should
be in an organization.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Characteristics of
Organizational Culture
• Innovation and risk-taking
– The degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative
and take risks.
• Attention to detail
– The degree to which employees are expected to exhibit precision,
analysis, and attention to detail.
• Outcome orientation
– The degree to which management focuses on results or outcomes
rather than on technique and process.
• People orientation
– The degree to which management decisions take into consideration
the effect of outcomes on people within the organization.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Characteristics of Organizational
Culture
• Team orientation
– The degree to which work activities are organized around teams
rather than individuals.
• Aggressiveness
– The degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather
than easygoing.
• Stability
– The degree to which organizational activities emphasize
maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
10-9
Exhibit 10-2 Contrasting
Organizational Cultures
Organization A
• Managers must fully document
all decisions.
• Creative decisions, change, and risks
are not encouraged.
• Extensive rules and regulations exist
for all employees.
• Productivity is valued over employee
morale.
• Employees are encouraged to stay
within their own department.
• Individual effort is encouraged.
Organization B
• Management encourages and
rewards risk-taking and change.
• Employees are encouraged to
“ run with ” ideas, and failures are
treated as “ learning experiences.”
• Employees have few rules and
regulations to follow.
• Productivity is balanced with treating
its people right.
• Team members are encouraged to interact
with people at all levels and functions.
• Many rewards are team based.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
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Culture’s Functions
• Social glue that helps hold an organization together.
– Provides appropriate standards for what employees should
say or do.
– Boundary-defining.
– Conveys a sense of identity for organization members.
– Facilitates commitment to something larger than one’s
individual self-interest.
– Enhances social system stability.
– Serves as a “sense-making” and control mechanism.
– Guides and shapes the attitudes and behaviour of employees.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
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Do Organizations Have Uniform
Cultures?
• Organizational culture represents a common perception
held by the organization members.
• Core values or dominant (primary) values are accepted
throughout the organization.
– Dominant culture
• Expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the
organization’s members.
– Subcultures
• Tend to develop in large organizations to reflect common
problems, situations, or experiences.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
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Reading an
Organization’s Culture
• Stories
• Rituals
• Material Symbols
• Language
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
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Exhibit 10-3 How Organizational
Cultures Form
Philosophy
of
organization's
founders
Top
management
Organization's
culture
Selection
criteria
Socialization
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
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Creating and Sustaining Culture:
Keeping a Culture Alive
• Selection
– Identify and hire individuals who will fit in with the culture.
• Top Management
– Senior executives establish and communicate the norms of
the organization.
• Socialization
– Organizations need to teach the culture to new employees.
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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Exhibit 10-5
A Socialization Model
Socialization Process
Outcomes
Productivity
Pre-arrival
Encounter
Metamorphosis
Commitment
Turnover
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Exhibit 10-6
Entry Socialization Options
• Formal vs. Informal
• Individual vs. Collective
• Fixed vs. Variable
• Serial vs. Random
• Investiture vs. Divestiture
Sources: Based on J. Van Maanen, “People Processing: Strategies of Organizational Socialization,” Organizational Dynamics, Summer 1978, pp. 19-36; and E. H. Schein,
“Organizational Culture,” American Psychologist, February 1960, p. 116.
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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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The Liabilities of Culture
• Culture can have dysfunctional aspects in some
instances.
– Culture as a Barrier to Change
• When organization is undergoing change, culture may impede
change.
– Culture as a Barrier to Diversity
• Strong cultures put considerable pressure on employees to
conform.
– Culture as a Barrier to Mergers and Acquisitions
• Merging the cultures of two organizations can be difficult, if
not impossible.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Strategies For Merging Cultures
• Assimilation
– The entire new organization is determined to take on
the culture of one of the merging organizations.
• Separation
– Organizations remain separate and cultures are
maintained.
• Integration
– A new hybrid culture is formed.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Key Steps Before a Merger
• Potential merger partners could conduct a
bicultural audit.
• The management team could bridge existing
culture gaps by:
– Defining a structure that is appropriate for both teams.
– Implementing an appropriate management style.
– Reinforcing internal communication to ensure
employees are aware of changes that will occur.
– Getting agreement on performance criteria and
evaluations.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Changing Organizational Culture
1. Have top-management people become positive role
models, setting the tone through their behaviour.
2. Create new stories, symbols, and rituals to replace those
currently in vogue.
3. Select, promote, and support employees who espouse the
new values that are sought.
4. Redesign socialization processes to align with the new
values.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Changing Organizational Culture
5. Change the reward system to encourage acceptance of a
new set of values.
6. Replace unwritten norms with formal rules and
regulations that are tightly enforced.
7. Shake up current subcultures through transfers, job
rotation, and/or terminations.
8. Work to get peer group consensus through utilization of
employee participation and creation of a climate with a
high level of trust.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Creating an Ethical Culture
• Be a visible role model.
• Communicate ethical expectations.
• Provide ethics training.
• Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical
ones.
• Provide protective mechanisms
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Creating a Positive Organizational
Culture
• Building on employee strengths
• Rewarding more than punishing.
• Emphasizing vitality and growth.
• Limits of positive culture.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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Summary and Implications
1.
What is the purpose of organizational culture?
–
2.
How do you read an organization’s culture?
–
3.
An organization’s culture is derived from the philosophy of its
founders. It is communicated by managers and employees are
socialized into it.
Can organizational culture have a downside?
–
5.
Artifacts, such as stories, rituals, material symbols, and language,
can be used to help read an organization’s culture.
How do you create and maintain culture?
–
4.
Organizational culture provides stability and gives employees a
clear understanding of “the way things are done around here.”
A strong culture can have a negative effect, including “pressurecooker” cultures, barriers to change, difficulty in creating an
inclusive environment, and hindering mergers and acquisitions.
How do you change culture?
–
It is important to change the reward structure and to work
carefully to change employee beliefs.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
10-25
OB at Work
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
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For Review
1. What are the levels of organizational culture?
2. How can an outsider assess an organization’s culture?
3. How is language related to organizational culture?
4. Can an employee survive in an organization if he or she
rejects its core values? Explain
5. What defines an organization’s subcultures?
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
10-27
For Review
6.
What benefits can socialization provide for the
organization? For the new employee?
7.
Describe four cultural types and the characteristics of
employees who fit best with each.
8.
How can culture be a liability to an organization?
9.
How does a strong culture affect an organization’s efforts to
improve diversity?
10. Identify the steps a manager can take to implement culture
change in an organization.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
10-28
For Critical Thinking
1. Is socialization brainwashing? Explain.
2. If management sought a culture characterized as innovative and
autonomous, what might its socialization program look like?
3. Can you identify a set of characteristics that describes your
college’s or university’s culture? Compare them with what
several of your peers have noted. How closely do they agree?
4. “We should be opposed to the manipulation of individuals for
organizational purposes, but a degree of social uniformity
enables organizations to work better.” Do you agree or disagree
with this statement? What are its implications for organizational
culture? Discuss.
5. Today’s workforce is increasingly made up of part-time or
contingent employees. Is organizational culture really important
if the workforce is mostly temporary employees?
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
10-29
Point-CounterPoint
• Why Culture Doesn’t
Change
 Culture develops over
many years, and becomes
part of how the
organization thinks and
feels.
 Selection and promotion
policies guarantee survival
of culture.
 Top management chooses
managers who are likely
to maintain culture.
• When Culture Can
Change
 There is a dramatic crisis.
 There is a turnover in
leadership.
 The organization is young
and small.
 There is a weak culture.
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
10-30
Breakout Group Exercises
• Form small groups to discuss the following:
1. Choose two courses that you are taking this term, ideally in
different faculties, and describe the culture of the classroom in
each. What are the similarities and differences? What values
about learning might you infer from your observations of
culture?
2. Identify artifacts of culture in your current or previous
workplace. From these artifacts, would you conclude that the
organization had a strong or weak culture?
3. Have you or someone you know worked somewhere where the
culture was strong? What was your reaction to that strong
culture? Did you like that environment, or would you prefer to
work where there is a weaker culture? Why?
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Organizational Behaviour, Fifth Cdn. Ed.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education Canada
10-31