Organizational Culture

1. Organizational Culture Chapter 14: pp. 423-437 Organizational Behavior 261 Gabrielle Durepos

2. Reminders for Today • Attendance • Individual Assignment • Read the Globe and Mail! • Send me an email or come see if you need help identifying a suitable article • Example of Individual Assignment has been posted on Moodle • Group Sign up – Via Moodle • Wed Sept 28th 2011 • Business Cards on sale • Lobby of SCHW • 11AM – 2PM • $15 for 50 cards • Hosted by Women in Business Society • Wearing it Well workshop • Friday, Sept 23rd 11.15AM – 12.30PM • SCHW 152 • Hosted by Women in Business Society

3. Outline • A story about culture change… • Toward an understanding of culture • Factors that constitute the culture of an organization • Historical view of culture • The value of looking at organizational culture • 3 Ways of viewing organizational culture • Integration • Differentiation • Fragmentary • Conclusions

4. A story about Culture Change… • In 1988, Nova Scotia Power has a problem: • Low morale of employees, bad press and fragmentation • CEO Comeau decides culture change is the answer • Hires consultants who have a ready “culture change package”: • Been implemented at NSLC • Focus will now be on valuing: • The province – be responsive and respective of community needs • The employee – committed to value & recognize employee contributions • The customer – dedicated to ensuring customer satisfaction • The environment – employees should be responsible for the quality of environment • Implementation: • Mangers get 4 days of training; 2,400 employees get 1 day • Slogans are developed that reflect the new values – posted on mugs, posters, pens… • All managers and employees adopt yellow hats – instead of… • Employees are allowed to take last 15 minutes of day to shower before going home… • The outcome • Overcoming existing distrust between managers and employees… • Long-term unemployment, class divides, death of primary industries • Consultant led change = layoffs? • Friction – employees go home early, can not identify managers due to color of hard hat, training session is shorter for employees • Eventually the change is adopted…. In 1992 – NSPower undertakes a process of re-engineering

5. Toward an understanding of Culture 1/2 • Refers to the dominant ways of doing things in an organization that are reflected in the activities of individuals • Factors that constitute the culture of an organization: • Leadership styles, values, beliefs, symbols, artifacts, language, dress, rites, ceremonies, stories, structure, slogans

6. Toward an understanding of Culture 2/2 • Behavior at work is influenced by a number of factors • How do these factor influence the way individuals: • feel, make sense of work, extract meaning, act? • Looking at culture means: • Looking at tangible & intangible factors at work • To see how these affect individual thoughts, feelings and behaviors • Tangible factors include - leadership, artifacts, dress, symbols… • Intangible factors include - values, beliefs, stories, slogans…

7. Factors that constitute the culture of an organization 1/4 • Leadership • People who play a key role in either formally or informally managing others • Values • Standards or expectations that people desire at a certain point in time • Beliefs • What is accepted as being true, what we trust in

8. Factors that constitute the culture of an organization 2/4 • Symbols • Objects that are seen as representative of a particular organization • Artifacts • Physical objects (chairs, machines, buildings…) that form the life of an organization but do not necessarily symbolize it • Language • The jargon that a company develops • double double • big mac • Google 15

9. Factors that constitute the culture of an organization 3/4 • Dress • Items of clothing and ways of dressing that characterize a particular organization • Ceremonies • Celebrations that accompany an act (or rite of passage) that give it meaning • Stories • Tales that are told and retold that give clues to the organizations values, beliefs and ways of doing things

10. Factors that constitute the culture of an organization 4/4 • Slogans • Phrases that are developed to give employees and customers a view of that organization • Structure • Stable pattern of relationships; The organizational arrangement of employees that enable them to work together

11. Historical View of Culture • Becomes prominent in the 1980’s • American companies look to their successful Japanese counterparts • Japanese companies had a “strong culture” • Strong Cultures – organizations in which many employees “buy into” a specific “way of doing things”, thus buy into its culture • Many articles/books written on culture because: • Organizational culture is seen as valuable • Defining an organizations culture means developing & defining clear goals & values: • Individuals at work can then be trained to “buy into” the organization • Develops a cohesive collective • Introduces the potential for: • Increased efficiency • Increased profitability • increased competitiveness

12. The value of looking at Organizational Culture 1/2 • Helping companies grow and develop • Defining a vision, mission, goals and values for the organization • Making sure that individuals align their personal beliefs, attitudes and behaviors with the organization • Through new hires • Through training • Enabling employees to “collectively buy into” what the organization “stands for” • These attitudes/behaviors of employees could be managed which leads to increased profits

13. The value of looking at Organizational Culture 2/2 • Identifying organizational problems • Every organization has “mini-cultures” • These refer to: the way things are done regardless of a manager’s vision of how they “should be done” • By examining these, we can identify problems such as: • Very subtle forms of inequity • Discrimination • Racism

14. 3 Ways of viewing organizational Culture: Integration Perspective • Assumptions of this approach: • Culture is imposed by managers • Individuals values and beliefs CAN change to match the organization • Individuals values and beliefs DO change to match the organization • Focus is on: • Achieving an organizational culture where everyone subscribes to the same overall values and beliefs • Everyone is trained to value the same aspects • What this perspective ignores: • Individuals come to the organization with deeply embedded assumptions • These do not simply and easily change • What are the ethical concerns of thinking managers can alter the values & beliefs of employees • A managerialist/ mainstream approach to culture

15. 3 Ways of viewing organizational Culture:Differentiated Perspective • Assumptions of this approach: • Culture is imposed by managers • But not all individuals “buy into” the organization's values, beliefs and goals • Some resist and form “mini cultures” • Individuals have agency, are free willed • They can act on processes that are perceived as inequitable • Focus is on: • Understanding the organization as made of “mini cultures” • Groups that espouse different views, beliefs and values • How different view points, values and beliefs are constrained or ignored by senior management • A Radical, Feminist and Racioethnicity approach to culture

16. 3 Ways of viewing organizational Culture:Fragmentary Perspective • Assumptions of this approach: • Culture is not imposed by managers • Culture is something that “happens” as a result of people interacting, experiencing each other and organizational events • Culture is “the way things are done around here” • Individuals have complete agency • Focus is on: • Understanding the organization as made of various, contradictory viewpoints • These are always in flux… • A postmodern approach

17. Conclusions • Ethical Concerns: • Can we impose a set of values on individuals to achieve profit oriented ends • What about the individual and their personal values, beliefs and attitudes? • Does culture ignore issues of diversity? • A strong culture is a cohesive culture • Does imposing a culture act as a melting pot? • Where we all become the same? • If so, does this reduce diversity? • Does it make us frown upon diversity or differences? • Or is it a powerful heuristic to inspect these issues closely?