ASSIGNMENT

Assignment

Assignment

Part 1

Organizational Culture

Many different organizations and companies have many distinct cultures and climates. However, before one can begin to describe the culture or climate of an organization we must first know what culture and climate is. So, what is Culture? Edgar Schein defines organizational culture as a pattern of basic assumptions-invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration-that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. To summarize a culture is simply everything that makes the organization exist. The people, the furniture, the building, the paper, the way people talk anything you can see or hear, shapes the culture of an organization. Furthermore, there are certain key elements that are present in most cultures. These elements are relevant constructs (people/ideas important to an org), practices/procedures, a vocabulary, metaphors (other names for the business), stories or legends, rites and rituals (i.e. graduation), values, heroes, and finally sub-cultures.

There are four main functions of O.C.: (1) to define organizational identity, (2) to be used as a sense making device, (3) to promote collective commitment, and (4) as a social system stability device. (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2007) Because of these functions, O.C. is the foundation of any organization; it can make or break the organization's ability to function as a whole. These functions serve as a way to get all members on the same page, to unite every member of the organization into one team with common reactions to similar environments and situations. Organizational Culture can be used as a tool to create strong ethics and predictable actions from members. (Kidder, 1995) This provides all members with an idea of the character of the organization. The member should also understand why the culture is the way it is. If a member fully understands the culture they are more likely to accept it willingly and want to be a part of it. When a member fully understands the culture they can predict the actions of other members and the organization itself. This serves as stability for the member. All of these functions come together to foster a collective commitment.

Theories of Organizational Culture-A Critique

Geert Hofstede

Geert Hofstede demonstrated that there are national and regional cultural groupings that affect the behavior of organizations.

Hofstede looked for national differences between over 100,000 of IBM's employees in different parts of the world, in an attempt to find aspects of culture that might influence business behavior.

Hofstede identified five dimensions of culture in his study of national influences:

Power distance - The degree to which a society expects there to be differences in the levels of power. A high score suggests that there is an expectation that some individuals wield larger amounts of power than others. A low score reflects the view that all people should have equal rights.

Uncertainty avoidance reflects the extent to which a society accepts uncertainty ...