Organizational Culture

Organizational Culture 16

Learning Goals • What is organizational culture, and what are its components? • What general and specific types can be used to describe an organization’s culture? • What makes a culture strong, and is it always good for an organization to have a strong culture? • How do organizations maintain their culture and how do they change it? • What is person–organization fit and how does it affect job performance and organizational commitment? • What steps can organizations take to make sure that newcomers will fit with their culture?

Organizational Culture Organizational culture... • Shared social knowledge among members of the organization • Tells employees the rules, norms, and values within the organization • Shapes and reinforces certain employee attitudes and behaviors by creating a system of control over employees

Culture Components Observable artifacts – manifestations of an organization’s culture that we can easily see or talk about • Symbols • Corporate logo • Images on the corporate website • Uniforms worn by employees • Physical structures • Buildings • Internal office designs • Language • Jargon, slang, and slogans

Culture Components, cont’d Observable artifacts • Stories • Anecdotes, accounts, legends, and myths • Passed down from cohort to cohort within an organization • Rituals • Daily or weekly planned routines • Ceremonies • Formal events, usually performed in front of an audience of organizational members

Culture Components, cont’d Espoused values • Beliefs, philosophies, and norms that a company explicitly states • Published documents • Verbal statements made to employees by managers

Culture Components, cont’d Basic underlying assumptions • Taken-for-granted beliefs and philosophies • So ingrained that employees simply act on them rather than questioning the validity of their behavior

Figure 16-1 The Three Components of Organizational Culture

General Culture Types • Fragmented culture – employees are distant and disconnected from one another • Mercenary culture – employees think alike but are not friendly to one another • Networked culture – employees are friendly to one another and all think alike • Communal culture – employees are friendly to one another, but everyone thinks differently and does his or her own thing

Figure 16-2 A Typology of Organizational Culture

Figure 16-3 Specific Culture Types Customer service culture– focused on service quality

Specific Culture Types • Safety culture– focused on the safety of employees • A positive safety culture has been shown to reduce accidents and increase safety-based citizenship behaviors • Diversity culture– focused on fostering or taking advantage of a diverse group of employees • Creativity culture – focused on fostering a creative atmosphere

Table 16-2 Culture Strength Strong culture exists when • Employees definitively agree about the way things are supposed to happen within the organization (high consensus) • When their subsequent behaviors are consistent with those expectations (high intensity)

Culture Strength, cont’d • Subculturesunite smaller subsets of the organization’s employees • Strong leader in one area of the company engenders different norms and values • Different divisions in a company act independently and create their own cultures • Counterculturesexistwhen a subcultures’ values do not match those of the organization

Maintaining Organizational Culture Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) framework • Potential employees will be attracted to organizations with cultures that match their own personalities • Some potential job applicants won’t apply due to a perceived lack of fit • Organizations will select candidates based on whether their personalities fit the culture, further weeding out potential “misfits” • Those people who still don’t fit will either be unhappy or ineffective when working in the organization

Maintaining Organizational Culture, cont’d Socialization – primary process by which employees learn to understand and adapt to the organization’s culture • Anticipatory stage – happens prior to an employee’s first moment on the job • Encounter stage – begins the day an employee starts work • Reality shock – mismatch of information that occurs when an employee finds that working at a company is not what the employee expected it to be

Maintaining Organizational Culture, cont’d • Understanding and adaptation – final stage of socialization • Newcomers come to learn the content areas of socialization • Internalize the norms and expected behaviors of the organization • The more quickly and effectively an employee is socialized, the sooner that employee becomes a productive worker within the organization

Figure 16-5 Dimensions Addressed in Most Socialization Efforts

Changing Organizational Culture • Changes in Leadership • New leaders bring their own ideas and values, and leaders are expected to be a driving force for change • Mergers and Acquisitions • Two companies with distinct cultures are merged to form a new culture

How Important Is Organizational Culture? Person–organization fit– degree to which a person’s personality and values match the culture of an organization • Employees judge fit according to the values they prioritize the highest and whether the organization shares those values • When employees feel that their values and personality match those of the organization… • Experience higher levels of job satisfaction • Feel less stress about their day-to-day tasks • Feel higher levels of trust toward their managers

Application: Managing Socialization Realistic job preview(RJP) – the process of ensuring that a potential employee understands both the positive and negative aspects of the potential job • One of the most inexpensive and effective ways of reducing early turnover among new employees • Occurs during the anticipatory stage of socialization during the recruitment process

Managing Socialization, cont’d Newcomer orientation– a common form of training during which new hires to learn more about the organization • Effective way to start the socialization process • Effective transmitters of socialization content • Employees who complete orientation have higher levels of satisfaction, commitment, and performance

Managing Socialization, cont’d Mentoring– process by which a junior-level employee (protégé) develops a deep and long-lasting relationship with a more senior-level employee (mentor) • Social knowledge, resources, and psychological support • Both at the beginning of employment and as the protégé continues his or her career with the company

Table 16-4 Tactics Organizations Use to Socialize New Employees

Organizational Culture