ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE OLC EUROPE HND BUSINESS ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Introduction Organisational culture has been given a lot of attention in recent years. Culture consists of the shared values of an organisation - the beliefs and norms that affect every aspect of work life, from how people greet each other to how major policy decisions are made. It refers to the style, and sets of shared beliefs, habits, patterns of behaviour and traditions developed by people within an organisation The strength of a culture determines how difficult or easy it is to know how to behave in the organisation.

Definitions of Culture The Collection of traditions, values, policies, beliefs and attitudes that constitute a pervasive context for everything we do and think in an organisation It is made up of the enterprise value system, its perceptions of necessity and sum total expected staff attitudes, priorities and behaviour. The pattern of all those arrangements, material or behavioural, which have been adopted by society (corporation, group, team) as the traditional ways of solving problems of its members.

Handy - Gods of Management Handy suggests that we can classify organisations into a broad range of four cultures. The formation of `culture' will depend upon a whole host of factors including company history, ownership, organisation structure, technology, critical business incidents and environment, etc. The four cultures he discusses are Power', `Role', `Task' and 'People'. Usually the predominant culture reflects the real needs and constraints of the organisation. Handy uses diagrammatic representation to illustrate his ideas:

POWER CULTURE The Person Culture (The Web)

POWER CULTURE Best represented as a web Often found in small businesses (with some exceptions though) Effectiveness hinges on trust and empathy Communication by personal conversation and telepathy Few rules and procedures

POWER CULTURE – Pros and Cons Advantages Often very strong and permeate the whole organisation able to move quickly can react well to threat or danger Disadvantages Can break down if too many activities are linked can suffer from low morale & high turnover in the middle layers

ROLE CULTURE The Role Culture (Greek Temple)

ROLE CULTURE Structure is represented by a Greek Temple Strength lies in functions or specialities, not individuals Interaction is controlled by procedures Normally coordinated by a narrow band of senior managers Effectiveness depends on rationality of work allocation Woks by logic and rationality

ROLE CULTURE – Pros and Cons Advantages Succeed in stable environments Provide secure employment roles and responsibilities are clearly defined a clear system for processing work exists Disadvantages Unsuitable to changing environments can be boring does not often have room for personal growth slow to adapt to things like new technology

TASK CULTURE The Task Culture (Lattice or Net)

TASK CULTURE Best represented as a net Job or Project oriented Brings together. Resources and people at appropriate levels and allows them to get on with it. Influence is based more on expert power than on position or personal power Utilises unifying power of the group

TASK CULTURE – Pros and Cons Advantages of task cultures extremely adaptable teams can be easily reformed, abandoned or continued can work quickly - as each group often has all the decision-making power it requires Individuals have a large degree of control over their work Disadvantages finds producing economies of scale difficult often cannot produce depth of expertise control in such organisations is difficult

PERSON CULTURE Person Culture (Cluster)

PERSON CULTURE Best represented as a cluster t galaxy of stars Unusual, not found in many organisations People like Consultants belong to this way of thinking but often operate in other cultures

PERSON CULTURE – Pros and Cons Advantages individuals have a great deal of power decisions are by mutual consent the role one plays depends on one's expertise Disadvantages Control mechanisms are impossible to implement except by mutual consent organisations are often powerless to evict such individuals individuals with this orientation are not easy to manage

CULTURE AND ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN Most organisations start as power cultures Growth leads to specialisation and formalisation of activities (Role) A need for greater flexibility, often results in cultural diversity which if resisted can do a lot of damage to an organisation

Factors that Influence Culture History and Ownership Goals and Objectives Size The environment Technology The people

History and Ownership Centralised ownership leads towards a power culture with more control of resources Family firms and owner-dominated organisations tend to be power conscious Often new organisations are a combination of power and task in the bid to be flexible and adaptable Rapidly changing technologies suit a power or task culture

Goals and Objectives Goals emphasise product quality and are often suited to a role culture Organisations seeking growth are suited to a power or task culture

The Environment A rapidly changing environment calls for a task culture Diversity inclines towards a task culture Standardisation inclines towards a role culture. Environmental hostility is best encountered by power cultures

SIZE Often the single most important variable Large organisations tend to be more formalised and tend to be role cultures Exceptions exist where the decentralisation may make it impossible for a different culture to exist

Technology Routine, programmable operations suit role cultures High cost, expensive technologies are suited to a role culture. Non-continuous discrete operations often suit power or task culture

PEOPLE The individual working with the organization to a large extent influence the culture of the workplace. The attitudes, mentalities, interests, perception and even the thought process of the employees affect the organization culture. It is the mindset of the employees which forms the culture of the place. Example - Organizations which hire individuals from military background tend to follow a strict culture where all the employees abide by the set guidelines and policies. The employees are hardly late to work. Organizations with majority of youngsters encourage healthy competition at the workplace and employees are always on the toes to perform better than the fellow workers.