Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Organisational
Culture
- What is culture
- The way we do things around here
- Jacques 1952:251
- The "customary and traditional way of thinking and doing things which is
shared to a greater or lesser degree by all members and which new
members must learn...in order to be accepted into the services of the firm"
- Culture as a shared meaning
- Shared understandings of meanings about the organization,
its purpose, its members and how they should behave
- Relates to values, beliefs and assumptions
- Which are reflected in patterns in physical
artifacts, language use, symbols, rituals,
practices that have evolved over time
- The "pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in
learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, and that has
worked well enough to be considered valid and...taught to new members as the way to perceive.
think and feel in relation to problems" (Schein quoted in textbook)
- Where can it be found
- Most visible
- Observable symbols; Physical layout and appearance
- Logos
- Uniforms
- Rituals and ceremonies (performances with
beginning and endings, clear roles)
- How do we find them?
- Deliberate; meant to be
observed and meaning usually
clear
- Can be 'hijacked' or 'subverted'
- Place: Decor, furniture, offices, architecture
- People: Physical appearance and attire
- How do we find them?
- Easy to observe by walking around but their
meaning can be difficult to interpret
- Communication: jargon, patterns, stories
- jargon. acronyms, metaphors, nicknames, etc
- Patterns (like use of titles vs first names, etc)
- Stories, legends, myths, jokes, often drawn from the organizaton's past
- How do we find them?
- Can listen to the way people talk although
may need some interpretation
- Practices and behaviours
- How does the organization regularly do the things it has to do?
- Can be formal or informal
- How do we find them?
- Have to 'hang around' (conduct
ethnographic studies) but the meaning
may not be immediately obvious
- Values, assumptions, feelings, and beliefs
- Only by observing all previous aspects of
culture that we can derive this
- Layout: assembly lines
- Practices: people working mechanically
- Communication: if a person isn't functioning well,
they are replaced
- Core belief: Machine Metaphor
- Layout: slides, video games, dogs, balls
- Practices: people take breaks by playing ping pong,
getting a massage
- Communication: "you can be serious without a suit"
- Core belief: Playground Metaphor
- May be deeply held, but people are unaware of how
they affect behaviour
- May be 'espoused' rather than 'in use'; stated
but not enacted
- How do we find them?
- Ask questions but may not get
useful answers because people
- Are unaware
- Say what they think you want
to hear
- Keep them private
- Culture is self reinforcing
- Beliefs and assumptions
form our concept of
'reality'
- Influences how we perceive events
and how we interpret them
- We take beliefs and assumptions
for granted -- often only noticing
them when we move to a different
culture
- Least visible
- How can it be managed, if at all
- Critical
- Both integrationist and differentiationist theories
are functional, i.e. look at culture from
management's point of view
- Critical theory take a different approach --
looks at how employees are affected
- Focuses on the way in which power
is embedded in culture
- Especially interested in how strong
culture is a way to control employees
- Functionalist
- Integrationist
- Using integrationist theory
- Look for a dominant culture
- Widely shared understandings
- Consensus throughout the organization
- Individuals with strong organizational commitment
- Clear organizational boundaries between
who's inside and what's outside
- Top down control of culture by leaders
- The culture is seen as helping the organization to
function and to be profitable
- Managing an integrationist culture
- Managers "engineer" the
right type of culture via
- Founders
- Selection
- Leadership
- Socialization
- Rewards and punishments
- To improve organizational
effectiveness
- Disadvantages
- No theoretical basis or empirical
evidence for a relationship between
culture and performance
- Failure of many 'excellent' companies
especially when market conditions change --
strong cultures may not change easily
- When strong integrationist
cultures are found, they can
be dysfunctional
- Successful companies do
not always have strong,
integrationist cultures
- Advantages
- A single, uniform strong culture is better
- Allows people to work together: a common set of values, less need for rules
- Makes organization stable; more culture is reproduced
- Makes the organization more effective (functionalist)
- Allows it to survive or thrive in the larger environment
- External adaptation
- Consensus on:
- How organization operates in
its environment
- Specific goals
- Means to
accomplish those
goals
- Criteria for measuring
results i.e. whether goals
are achieved
- Repair strategies -- what to do
when things go wrong
- "Holds" its members together
(culture acting like a social glue)
- Internal integration
- Consensus on:
- Common language
- Core values
- Boundaries -- who's inside vs outside
- Criteria for the allocation of
status, power and authority
- Criteria for friendships
and relationships
- Criteria for
allocation of
resources
- Differentiationist
- Organization is a cluster of
sub-cultures related to a particular
challenge, task, responsibility of a unit
or group
- Consensus is found not at
organizational level but in sub
cultures
- Relations among sub cultures can be
complementary, conflicting or independent
- Boundary between "inside" or "outside" is permeable
- Managing differentiationist sub-cultures
- Middle managers should manage
sub-culture
- Still sees management of culture as
possible and desirable; still functionalist
- Comparing Theories
- Integrationist
- There is one unified culture,
which should be managed
centrally
- Strengths
- Patterns are easy to
look for
- Convergence may lead to
committment
- Some successful companies
have strong cultures
- Can be managed top
down
- Weaknesses
- Patterns may not
tell the whole story
- Convergence may
be dysfunctional
- A strong culture may
not bring success
- Not all organizations
are appropriate for a
single uniform culture
- Differentiationist
- We can expect multiple
sub-cultures, each of which
should be managed differently
- Strengths
- Emphasizes commitment
to the work group
- It may be more
meaningful for individual
experience
- It allows for adaptation
(because boundary for
inside/outside is permeable)
- Allow more scope
for middle managers
to manage culture
- Weaknesses
- Not clear how different
sub-culture are going to
fit together
- There may be
conflicts among
sub-cultures
- Movement between
sub-cultures may
become difficult
- Balkanization; sub-cultures
work for self interest rather
than common interest
- Critical theory
- Culture is a way of exercising control
over employees; it should be resisted
- Strengths
- Considers
negative effects
- Shows the hidden ways in
which culture affects
individuals
- Not having a
culture or
sub-culture is not
necessarily "bad"
- Weaknesses
- Not everyone perceives
culture negatively
- Some control is inevitable
- Cultural controls may be
less oppressive than other
controls