Organisational Culture

At the end of this unit you should be able to 1.Define organisational culture 2.Identify organisational norms that exist in different workplaces 3.Discuss the impact of organisational practices on employees, customers and other stakeholders 4.Outline organisational values that work towards organisational goals and meet the needs of all key stakeholders

What is Organisational Culture?

The set of shared, taken-for granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and determines how it perceives, thinks about and reacts to its various environments’ (Schein 1996: 236) The way things get done around here!

Culture’s Overall Function Culture is the social glue that helps hold an organization together by providing appropriate standards for what employees should say or do. Dwivedi, 1995

Task: How would you describe or depict the Irish Culture.

Prentice Hall, 2001Chapter 179 How Employees Learn Culture/ How it is “reinforced” How Employees Learn Culture/ How it is “reinforced” MaterialSymbolsMaterialSymbolsLanguageLanguage StoriesStoriesRitualsRituals

Johnson & Scoles, 1992

Exercise: What’s the Culture? 1.List different organisations that you are familiar with 2.Describe key characteristics of the organisation. (Formal/informal, friendly, customer orientation, authoritarian/democratic…..) 3.What is the impact of these characteristics on the organisation, the employees, the customers

NORMS Codes of conduct and rules, explicit and implicit, regarding what behaviours are acceptable or not acceptable.

Norms Think about a place where you have worked or currently work: Give 2 examples of Explicit Norms Give 2 examples of Implicit Norms

Culture embodies the attitudes, values, behavioural norms and expectations shared by an organisation’s members.

FastCompany: The Wrong Stuff 1.What communication practices contribute to a negative culture? 2.What would you define as the key characteristics of a healthy culture? 3.If you were a manager of an organisation, what communication norms would you encourage to promote a healthy or wholesome culture?

Cultural Styles 3 broad categories 1.Constructive 2.Aggressive/defensive 3.Passive/defensive

Cultural Styles - Constructive Achievement Self-actualising Humanistic-Encouraging Affiliative

Cultural Styles - Aggressive/defensive Oppositional Power Competitive Perfectionistic

Cultural Styles – Passive/defensive Approval Conventional Dependent Avoidance

Exercise: Cultural Styles What cultural styles have you experienced in your work places - describe them.

See following slide for exercise for the next day. You will need to prepare

Workshop group exercise Prepare a short profile of an organisation Explain the culture of the organisation and how you believe it may impact on the communication How do you think employees feel about the culture Use the handout See page in book

Hibernian Group (HG) 1.Define organisational culture 2.How does an organisations culture develop? 3.Why is an established culture hard to change? 4.List the traditional values of the insurance industry and why HG felt it necessary to change. 5.Summarise the main initiatives undertaken by HG to encourage the development of a new culture.

Espoused versus Enacted Values Espoused Mission Statement Vision Values Code of Ethics Enacted Work practicces Communication practices Physical environment Empowerment