Transcript Slide 1

Organizational Culture and
Cultural Diversity
Chapter 18
Learning Goals
1. Describe the core elements of a culture
2. Compare and contrast four types of
organizational culture
3. Discuss why subcultures exist in
organizations
4. Describe several activities for successfully
managing diversity
 Culture: the unique pattern of shared assumptions,
values, and norms that shape the socialization,
symbols, language, narratives, and practices
of a group of people
 Shared assumptions: the underlying thoughts and
feelings that members of a culture take for
granted and believe to be true
 Value: a basic belief about something that has
considerable importance and meaning to
individuals and is stable over time
 Norms: rules that govern the behaviors of group
members
 Socialization: a process by which new members
are brought into a culture
 Symbol: anything visible that can be used to
represent an abstract shared value or something
having special meaning
 Language: a shared system of vocal sounds,
written signs, and/or gestures used to convey
special meanings among members of a culture
 Narratives: the unique stories, sagas, legends,
and myths in a culture
 Practices
 Taboos: culturally forbidden behaviors
 Ceremonies: elaborate and formal
activities designed to generate strong
feelings
Formal Control Orientation
Flexible
Clan
Culture
Entrepreneurial
Culture
Bureaucratic
Culture
Market
Culture
Stable
Internal
External
Focus of Attention
 Behavior of employees is governed by formal
rules and standard operating procedures,
and coordination is achieved through
hierarchical reporting relationships
 Focuses on predictability, efficiency, and
stability
 Tasks, responsibilities, and authority
clearly spelled out
 Internal Focus
 Behaviors of employees are shaped by tradition,
loyalty, personal commitment, extensive
socialization, and self-management
 Formal rules and procedures minimized
 High sense of member obligation and identity
to the organization
 Long and thorough socialization process
 Mentors and role models
 Strong peer pressure
 Internal focus
“There’s a family mentality here as opposed
to just being another number. That trickles
down from the top. He [the CEO] knows
everyone’s name and says ‘hi’ everyday
when I see him during morning workouts at
the gym.”
Andres Smith, Accountant, Analytic Graphics, Inc.,
Easton, Pennsylvania
 External focus and flexibility create an
environment that encourages risk taking,
dynamism, and creativity
 Commitment to experimentation, innovation,
and being on the leading edge
 Creates change and quickly reacts to change
 Individual initiative, flexibility, and freedom
seen as fostering growth
 Encouraged and rewarded
Market Culture
 Values and norms reflect the importance of achieving
measurable and demanding goals, especially those
that are financial and market based (e.g., sales
growth, profitability and market share)
 Hard driving competitiveness dominates
 Profits orientation and quantifiable performance
goals prevail
 Minimal informal social pressure on members
 Superior interactions with subordinates focus on
performance-reward (economic) agreement and
resource allocations
Exists when assumptions, values,
and norms are shared by some—but
not all—organizational members
Reason for merger failure
 Reasons Executives Give for Failed Mergers
Inability to manage target
business
Clash of management
styles/egos
Inability to implement change
in new organization
Synergies were overstated
Incompatible cultures
0
10
Percent of executives who state reason as
primary explanation for merger failures
20
30
Percent
40
50
60
 Departments and divisions within the organization
have their own subcultures
 Occupational subcultures
 Geographically based subcultures
 Subcultures created by managers
Positive cultures are created by managers who:
 recognize personal milestones, such as birthdays and
employment anniversaries;
 hold public celebrations for professional
achievements;
 sponsor picnics and parties; and
 listen to their employees and recognize the efforts
they put into work
 Diverse workforce demographics
create subcultures
Ethnicity
Age
Gender and other demographics
“My first conscious exposure to racism occurred
when I came back to the States and went to public
school. One of the children said something—I don’t
remember now what—but I remember what my
grandmother said to me: ‘They tried to put you in a
box. Don’t ever let anybody put you in a box.’”
Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., Former Chairman and
CEO, TIAA-CREF
Cultural diversity: encompasses
the full mix of the cultures and
subcultures to which members
of the workforce belong
 Organization goals for managing cultural
diversity include:
Legal compliance
Creating a positive culture for employees
Create greater economic value for the
organization
“HP is committed to building a work environment where
everyone has an opportunity to fully participate in creating
business success…We address our commitment [to diversity]
through development programs targeted to the next generation
of HP leaders, work-life initiatives for our employees, recruiting
of diverse talent, and other efforts that help employees and
managers foster an inclusive work environment. Additionally,
we establish diversity goals to create accountability and drive
our success. By weaving diversity into the fabric of our
company, we create a mind-set in every employee and manager
that will allow them to think consciously about diversity and
inclusion in everything they do.”
Emily Duncan, VP Culture and Diversity, Hewlett-Packard
 Diagnosis: Before managers begin to design new
approaches to managing diversity, they must
understand how current practices affect the
amount and nature of diversity
 Vision: Leaders must formulate and articulate a
clear vision to persuade others to join them
(continued)
 Involvement: For the plan to be effective, those
who are affected must buy into it
 Timing: Planned organization change usually
follows an evolutionary—not revolutionary—
path
Managing Cultural Diversity and
Inclusion: Diversity Training
 Awareness training: designed to provide
accurate information about the many
subcultures present in the organization
 Harassment training: aimed at ensuring
that employees understand the meaning of
harassment and the actions the company
will take when someone complains Harassment
Training
of being harassed
Seminar
 Create Family-Friendly Work Places
Survey employees
Offer options to meet employees’ needs
Consider child-care initiatives
Consider elder-care initiatives
 Hold Managers Accountable
 Managing the reactions of the members of
the dominate culture, who may feel that they
have lost some of the power they previously
had
 Synthesizing the diversity of opinions from
individuals and using them as the basis for
reaching meaningful agreement on issues
 Avoiding real and perceived tokenism and
quota systems