Prescriptive Views of Culture
Careful not confuse organizational culture with corporate culture.
- OrgCulture describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values (personal and cultural values) of an organization.
- CorpCulture is the total sum of the values, customs, traditions and meanings that make a company unique.
The Views:
Deal & Kennedy's Strong Cultures
- Values - beliefs and vision that members hold for the organization
- Heros - people who come to exemplify the organization's values
- Rite and rituals - the ceremonies through which an org celebrates its values
- Cultural network - the communication system through which cultural values are instituted and reinforced.
Ways to identify aspects of org culture that were prevalent in high performing companies deemed excellent by employees and experts.
- Common themes emphasized the value of people and downplayed bureaucracy.
- Moved analysis away from strictly rational models of organizing.
- It's naive to believe there is a single culture that is responsible for organizational success.
- These prescriptive approaches treat cultures as a thing that an org has, and by doing this we de-emphasize the complex process that an org created and sustained.
- Org scholars now seek to describe and understand the unique ways in which org culture is developed and maintained - my preferred approach.
Alternative Approaches to Culture - Instead of seeing culture as a managing influence, study is turning to the emerging values, practices, narratives and artifacts that make up the org.
- Org Cultures are Complicated - belief systems, lore, communication rules, and watercooler chatter are just a few ways to get a sense of culture.
- Org Cultures are Emergent - created through social interaction of org members.
- Org Cultures are not Unitary - many subcultures can exist in harmony, conflict indifference to others.
- Org Cultures are Ambiguous
Schein's Model of OrgCulture - Edgar Schein was a management scholar and consultant interested in the role of leaders in the development and maintenance of org culture.
Schein's definition of culture - A social group, an org or other collective that i based on:
- Group phenomenon - it can't just be one person as the culture depends on communication in order to perform.
- Basic pattern of assumptions - beliefs that make up the culture are relatively enduring and hard to change.
- Emerging and developing - they are learned and invented as a group meets internal and external challenges.
- Socializing - developing an understanding of the assumptions and values that make up that org's culture.
Schein's Model
Organizational culture consists of some aspects that are relatively more visible, as well as aspects that may lie below one’s conscious awareness. Organizational culture can be thought of as consisting of three interrelated levels.
At the deepest level, below our awareness lie basic assumptions. These assumptions are taken for granted, and they reflect beliefs about human nature and reality.
At the second level, values exist. Values are shared principles, standards, and goals.
Finally, at the surface we have artifacts, or visible, tangible aspects of organizational culture. For example, in an organization one of the basic assumptions employees and managers share might be that happy employees benefit their organizations. This assumption could translate into values such as social equality, high quality relationships, and having fun. The artifacts reflecting such values might be an executive “open door” policy, an office layout that includes open spaces and gathering areas equipped with pool tables, and frequent company picnics in the work place.
For example, Alcoa designed their Headquarters to reflect the values of making people more visible, accessible and to promote collaboration. In other words, understanding the organization’s culture may start from observing its artifacts: the physical environment, employee interactions, company policies, reward systems, and other observable characteristics.
When you are interviewing for a position, observing the physical environment, how people dress, where they relax, and how they talk to others is definitely a good start to understanding the company’s culture. However, simply looking at these tangible aspects is unlikely to give a full picture of the organization. An important chunk of what makes up culture exists below one’s degree of awareness. The values and, deeper, the assumptions that shape the organization’s culture can be uncovered by observing how employees interact and the choices they make, as well as by inquiring about their beliefs and perceptions regarding what is right and appropriate behavior.
Points:
- OrgCulture is reflected in a complicated et of assumptions, values, behaviors and artifacts.
- OrgCultures change over time as groups adapt to environmental contingencies or issues.
- OrgCulture is usually composed of subcultures existing in varying degrees of harmony or competition.
- OrgCultures are created and maintained through the communication interactions of members.
Qualitative study - Ethnography
The writing of culture sees it as a text to be read, and the ethnographer will try to become immersed and then create an understanding of that culture and wrote about what they experienced (sound familiar?). They try to create the cultural tale:
- Realist - a documentary where everything is objective and factual.
- Confessional - the ethnographer talks about their experience with the orgCulture.
- Impressionist - a narrative in which the info about the culture is slipped in the story that could stand on its own merits.
