Organizational culture
Tribes of the land
Happy day, amazing people!!!
Every organization has their own culture like tribes. Each differing from one another. Some appreciate innovation and others appreciate only outcomes.
Let’s understand the organizational culture in detail through a conversation between two friends.
[ Noah returned to dorm room with a long face]
Liam: What happened Noah? Why do you look so dull?
Noah: Today my teacher was explaining about organizational culture but half way through I missed the trail and dozed off.
Liam: Really Noah, Is this the reason for your long face? I do that all the time.
Noah: No dude, she caught me sleeping and asked me to submit an essay about organizational culture in 2 days.
Liam: Oh no… now that’s a serious problem.
Noah: I don’t know what to do?
Liam: Don’t worry Noah. Apparently, I happened to listen my class. Let me help you with the topic
Noah: Yes…. Please….
[ Liam started to explain Noah about the concepts so that he could write the essay]
Liam: So, Noah, culture is the patterns of learned and shared values and beliefs of a particular social, ethnic or age group.
Let’s take a simple example, every human being eats food but some eat with spoons, others with chopsticks and even others with hands. So how do you think that this all happened, its simply by way of learning and sharing values and beliefs.
Noah: Are you kidding me, Liam? I know this
Liam: Patience my dear friend. Likewise, each organization has their own learned and shared values and beliefs, which will then be passed down to new employees.
For example: Every organization wants to achieve some goals but how to achieve them is different for each organization. Few achieve it by implementing innovation, few by giving importance to details and few others by motivating employees (benefits).
Noah: Wow, now I am listening. So, you are telling me that the whole organization follows the same culture
Liam: Yes Noah, but there is a catch. In large organization there exists subculture pertaining to only particular department or particular location.
For example: Organization may appreciate the good work of employees by means of perks, on the other hand, department may take an initiative to verbally appreciate the person in the departmental meeting. This practice may or may not be found in other departments. Hence it is called subculture (i.e.,) culture pertaining to sub-group.
| Do you know? |
| An average office worker spends around 50 minutes a day looking for the lost files and others items. |
Noah: Ok, then… what’s up with this organizational climate.
Liam: Oh no, that one. It does not have any clear definition but organizational climate generally means employees’ perceptions about their general work environment.
For example: Employees may feel that their organization is safe or stressful or strict or supportive and so. Why would they have felt that way? Is because they would have seen safety measures being executed or the workload is more or there is no scope for individual autonomy or there are rewards for achieving goals and so respectively.
Noah: Yeah! That makes sense.
Liam: Ok Noah, its time. Let continue our discussion after lunch.
[ Both had their meals and are ready to discuss]
Noah: Liam you said earlier that organizational culture are passed down to new employees, may I know how?
Liam: You may Noah. Employees learn the organizational culture through stories about their company’s founders, rituals like corporate chants, material symbols such as office ambiance and finally through language which is nothing but unique terms used in the company.
Noah: Oh… I see…. Liam, what would they do to keep the organizational culture alive?
Liam: So, they basically hire only employees whose values align with the organization’s values, that is one way. Another way is through socialization, even through organization does a good job in recruiting and selection, new employees need help in adapting to the prevailing culture so the organization arranges for seminars and workshops.
Final way is through top management’s action, by following the footsteps of their founders, they will be able to sustain the culture.
For example: If the founders believe in giving employee benefits will motivate the employees to provide better customer services, then the successors must also take necessary steps in giving employee benefits to the employees for sustaining the culture.
| Do you know? |
| According to a survey 88% of employees believes that a strong company culture is the key to business success. |
Noah: Liam, that was so clear. But I have a doubt. Can the culture be a problem to the organization because every concept will have a fair share of advantages and disadvantages, right?
Liam: Ah… you are right Noah. Let’s say company A and company B are going to merge together. Company A is more of an adhocracy type (flexible and dynamic) and company B is of hierarchical type (structure and rigid). Here you could see the very culture is imposing a problem. This could lead to culture clash. Hence companies must also check the cultures before merging and acquiring.
Culture can also be a problem when the company is growing and changing. Culture which was relevant when a company was in a certain size may not be relevant when it is growing.
For example: Clan type culture (working in collaboration and feeling like a one big family) is not applicable in large organizations.
Noah: You are right, Thank you so much Liam. Now I believe I would be able to complete the essay on time.
Liam: Your welcome Noah.
We hope you guys have understood about organizational culture from this conversation.
Ok then before signing off
Love what you do, do what you love…. Bye
From,
Simply grasp