Workplace Culture: Chapter 7

► Workplace Culture: Developing a shared value and normative system. Cultures emerge organically and often cannot be forced. Cultures emerge from interactions among the people at the paid workplace.

Functions of Workplace Culture ► 1) Socializes new workers to formal and informal work codes. ► 2) Help preserve workers’ rights in the face of hostile customers and managers. ► 3) Protect workers from outsiders.

Workplace Cultures are often Gendered/Racialized, etc ► 1) And are created by employers by:  Intentionally or unintentionally hiring groups based on stereotypes ► For example: marines make men out of boys, cocktail waitresses. ► Hooters: Imagine a restaurant called Cocks, with a rooster shaped like a penis and bare-chested men serving food.

Workplace Cultures are often Gendered/Racialized, etc ► 2) And are Created by workers: ► WOMEN:  Celebrate private life at work: birthdays, engagements, etc. WHY?  This can be resistance by creating community, avoiding high productivity and denying bosses’ or male co- workers perception of women’s work as menial.

Workplace Cultures are often Gendered/Racialized, etc ► 2) And are created by workers:  MEN:  Like women, cultures created by men foster solidarity and hence resistance to exploitation.

Men continued  Some cultures created by men, however, can create detrimental exclusions that foster racism and/or sexism  For example, white males resisting African American males in the early twentieth century.

Men Continued…. ► Stan Gray’s article shows what about workplace culture? ► How can workers and managers use this information to build an “inclusive” workplace culture?