1. Organizational Culture
Chapter 14: pp
Organizational Behavior 261
Gabrielle Durepos

2. Reminders for Today Attendance Individual Assignment
Read the Globe and Mail!
Send me an or come see if you need help identifying a suitable article
Example of Individual Assignment has been posted on Moodle
Group Sign up – Via Moodle
Wed Sept 28th 2011
Business Cards on sale
Lobby of SCHW
11AM – 2PM
$15 for 50 cards
Hosted by Women in Business Society
Wearing it Well workshop
Friday, Sept 23rd 11.15AM – 12.30PM
SCHW 152

3. Outline A story about culture change…
Toward an understanding of culture
Factors that constitute the culture of an organization
Historical view of culture
The value of looking at organizational culture
3 Ways of viewing organizational culture
Integration
Differentiation
Fragmentary
Conclusions

4. A story about Culture Change…
In 1988, Nova Scotia Power has a problem:
Low morale of employees, bad press and fragmentation
CEO Comeau decides culture change is the answer
Hires consultants who have a ready “culture change package”:
Been implemented at NSLC
Focus will now be on valuing:
The province – be responsive and respective of community needs
The employee – committed to value & recognize employee contributions
The customer – dedicated to ensuring customer satisfaction
The environment – employees should be responsible for the quality of environment
Implementation:
Mangers get 4 days of training; 2,400 employees get 1 day
Slogans are developed that reflect the new values – posted on mugs, posters, pens…
All managers and employees adopt yellow hats – instead of…
Employees are allowed to take last 15 minutes of day to shower before going home…
The outcome
Overcoming existing distrust between managers and employees…
Long-term unemployment, class divides, death of primary industries
Consultant led change = layoffs?
Friction – employees go home early, can not identify managers due to color of hard hat, training session is shorter for employees
Eventually the change is adopted…. In 1992 – NSPower undertakes a process of re-engineering

5. Toward an understanding of Culture 1/2
Refers to the dominant ways of doing things in an organization that are reflected in the activities of individuals
Factors that constitute the culture of an organization:
Leadership styles, values, beliefs, symbols, artifacts, language, dress, rites, ceremonies, stories, structure, slogans

6. Toward an understanding of Culture 2/2
Behavior at work is influenced by a number of factors
How do these factor influence the way individuals:
feel, make sense of work, extract meaning, act?
Looking at culture means:
Looking at tangible & intangible factors at work
To see how these affect individual thoughts, feelings and behaviors
Tangible factors include - leadership, artifacts, dress, symbols…
Intangible factors include - values, beliefs, stories, slogans…

7. Factors that constitute the culture of an organization 1/4
Leadership
People who play a key role in either formally or informally managing others
Values
Standards or expectations that people desire at a certain point in time
Beliefs
What is accepted as being true, what we trust in

8. Factors that constitute the culture of an organization 2/4
Symbols
Objects that are seen as representative of a particular organization
Artifacts
Physical objects (chairs, machines, buildings…) that form the life of an organization but do not necessarily symbolize it
Language
The jargon that a company develops
double double
big mac
Google 15

9. Factors that constitute the culture of an organization 3/4
Dress
Items of clothing and ways of dressing that characterize a particular organization
Ceremonies
Celebrations that accompany an act (or rite of passage) that give it meaning
Stories
Tales that are told and retold that give clues to the organizations values, beliefs and ways of doing things

10. Factors that constitute the culture of an organization 4/4
Slogans
Phrases that are developed to give employees and customers a view of that organization
Structure
Stable pattern of relationships; The organizational arrangement of employees that enable them to work together

11. Historical View of Culture
Becomes prominent in the 1980’s
American companies look to their successful Japanese counterparts
Japanese companies had a “strong culture”
Strong Cultures – organizations in which many employees “buy into” a specific “way of doing things”, thus buy into its culture
Many articles/books written on culture because:
Organizational culture is seen as valuable
Defining an organizations culture means developing & defining clear goals & values:
Individuals at work can then be trained to “buy into” the organization
Develops a cohesive collective
Introduces the potential for:
Increased efficiency
Increased profitability
increased competitiveness

12. The value of looking at Organizational Culture 1/2
Helping companies grow and develop
Defining a vision, mission, goals and values for the organization
Making sure that individuals align their personal beliefs, attitudes and behaviors with the organization
Through new hires
Through training
Enabling employees to “collectively buy into” what the organization “stands for”
These attitudes/behaviors of employees could be managed which leads to increased profits

13. The value of looking at Organizational Culture 2/2
Identifying organizational problems
Every organization has “mini-cultures”
These refer to: the way things are done regardless of a manager’s vision of how they “should be done”
By examining these, we can identify problems such as:
Very subtle forms of inequity
Discrimination
Racism

14. 3 Ways of viewing organizational Culture: Integration Perspective
Assumptions of this approach:
Culture is imposed by managers
Individuals values and beliefs CAN change to match the organization
Individuals values and beliefs DO change to match the organization
Focus is on:
Achieving an organizational culture where everyone subscribes to the same overall values and beliefs
Everyone is trained to value the same aspects
What this perspective ignores:
Individuals come to the organization with deeply embedded assumptions
These do not simply and easily change
What are the ethical concerns of thinking managers can alter the values & beliefs of employees
A managerialist / mainstream approach to culture

15. 3 Ways of viewing organizational Culture: Differentiated Perspective
Assumptions of this approach:
Culture is imposed by managers
But not all individuals “buy into” the organization's values, beliefs and goals
Some resist and form “mini cultures”
Individuals have agency, are free willed
They can act on processes that are perceived as inequitable
Focus is on:
Understanding the organization as made of “mini cultures”
Groups that espouse different views, beliefs and values
How different view points, values and beliefs are constrained or ignored by senior management
A Radical, Feminist and Racioethnicity approach to culture

16. 3 Ways of viewing organizational Culture: Fragmentary Perspective
Assumptions of this approach:
Culture is not imposed by managers
Culture is something that “happens” as a result of people interacting, experiencing each other and organizational events
Culture is “the way things are done around here”
Individuals have complete agency
Focus is on:
Understanding the organization as made of various, contradictory viewpoints
These are always in flux…
A postmodern approach

17. Conclusions Ethical Concerns: Does culture ignore issues of diversity?
Can we impose a set of values on individuals to achieve profit oriented ends
What about the individual and their personal values, beliefs and attitudes?
Does culture ignore issues of diversity?
A strong culture is a cohesive culture
Does imposing a culture act as a melting pot?
Where we all become the same?
If so, does this reduce diversity?
Does it make us frown upon diversity or differences?
Or is it a powerful heuristic to inspect these issues closely?