28 10 17 - Combination of homework readings and class notes PDF

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Combination of homework readings and class notes...

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Organizations as Cultures ○ How humans make sense of the chaotic, ambiguous world that they live in ○ What is important is not what happens, but what it means ○ More important for what is expressed than what is produced ○ Located in the values, beliefs, and norms of the organisation Culture: system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization form other organizations Seven primary characteristics capture the essence of an org culture: ○ Innovation and risk taking ○ Attention to detail ○ Outcome orientation ○ People orientation ○ Team orientation ○ Aggressiveness ○ Stability Culture as a descriptive term: concerned with the employee's perception of their work environment, not whether they like them ○ Differs from job satisfaction: evaluative vs. descriptive Culture deals with how things are routinely done within an organizational context ○ Shapes the image ○ Influences organizational effectiveness ○ Provides direction ○ Helps to attract, retain, motivate staff Schein’s Model of Culture: ○ Culture is the most difficult organizational attribute to change, outlasting all other attributes ○ Three cognitive levels of culture ■ Visible Manifestations of culture: seen, felt, heard by the uninitiated observer ■ Professed culture of organizational members: slogans, mission statements etc. ■ Tacit assumptions: elements of culture that are unseen and not cognitively identified in everyday interactions Represents a common perception the organization’s members hold: ○ Numerous subcultures ○ Dominant culture expresses the core values a majority of members share ○ Subcultures develop in large organizations to reflect common problems, situations or experiences members face Culture will be strong if core values widely shared among staff and intensely held , if opinions vary widely the culture is weak Culture’s four main functions ○ Sense making device: shapes behavior by helping employees make sense of their surroundings

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○ Social system stability:promotes stability ○ Collective commitment:facilitates commitment ○ Organizational identity: gives identity Positive attitude that was encouraging you’ve experienced the effects of climate ○ Climate refers to the shared perceptions organizational members have about their organization and work environment ○ Psychological climate is strongly related to individuals level of job satisfaction Schein’s four instances in which managers need to understand culture: ○ When joining a new organization ■ Understand rules ■ Study power structure ■ Understand reward/punishment system ■ Examine past problems ■ Must have clear understanding of their own culture ■ Must understand new culture and its implications for its abilities and disabilities ○ Mergers ○ Managing cross-functional processes ■ Sub cultures must be understood ■ Sense future problems ○ Strategic and cultural changes are required Culture as a liability: ○ Institutionalization: when an organization is valued for itself and not for the goods or services it produces, it takes on a life of its own ○ Barriers to change: culture is a liability when the shared values don’t agree with those that further the organization’s effectiveness ○ Barriers to diversity: employees who differ form the majority but must accept the organization’s core cultural values ○ Barriers to acquisitions and mergers: cultural compatibility has become the primary concern How a Culture begins ○ Ultimate source of an organization’s culture is its founders ■ vision ■ Current customs and traditions largely due to what has been done in the past ○ Culture creation occurs in three ways: ■ Founders hire and keep employees who think the same way they do ■ Indoctrinate and socialize these employees ■ Founders’ own behavior encourages employees to identify with them and internalize their beliefs, values and assumptions Keeping a culture alive: ○ New employees need help adapting to the prevailing culture: that help is called socialization

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Socialization: three steps ○ Pre-arrival stage: each individual arrives with a set of values, attitudes and expectations ○ Enters the encounter stage and confronts the possibility that expectations may differ from reality ○ New member changes or goes through metamorphosis stage ○ Internalized and accepted the norms of the organization and their work group Culture is transmitted to employees in a number of forms, stories, rituals etc. ○ Language: convey a message, attest to the acceptance of it, help preserve it ○ Material symbols: size of offices, elegance of furnishings, top management desires ○ Rituals are repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values ○ Culture is transmitted to employees in a number of forms, the most potent being stories, rituals, material symbols, and language ○ Stories circulate through many organizations, anchoring the present in the pat and legitimating current practices...