ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational Culture & Performance

Organizational Culture & Performance

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to expand the boundaries of our knowledge by exploring some relevant facts and figures relating to the topic of managing organizational culture for improved performance. The most popular definition of organizational culture presents it as a system shared by most members of the basic assumptions concerning the external world, the organization values and standards of conduct that govern the behaviour and attitudes of members of the organization. Organizations operate in an environment increasingly competitive as part of a general phenomenon of globalization that emphasizes their interdependence. This induces linkages based on cooperation which extends to the vertical or horizontal integration in order to cope with environmental constraints and increase the competitiveness of the company.

Multinationals are also the emanation of the phenomenon of globalization has also led to business processes that transcend national boundaries in a continuous search for the organization that ensures value creation. Such an organization requires not only the abolition of traditional boundaries of a legal, political or financial, but also limitations and hazards inherent to the cultural specificities of each organization. Compliance with institutional requirements that refers to the propensity of the organization to join the 'politically correct', and which is the antithesis of pragmatism to respond first to market constraints and customer needs. In the next section we will examine some relevant literature to assess the relationship of organizational culture and performance.

Critical Literature Review

Organizational culture is the way the company learns to manage their environment, a complex mixture of assumptions, behaviours, stories, myths, metaphors and other ideas that define what it means to work in a particular organization (Schein, 1985, pp. 45-67). Organizational culture is a database of basic assumptions and invention, discovered or developed by a group by learning to cope with their problems of external adaptation and internal integration exerted enough influence to be considered valid and, consequently, taught to new members (Schein, 1988, pp. 2-17).

The culture of a company originates in areas such as history and its environment that manifests itself in ways i.e. language, communication, the system production of material goods, interpersonal relations, leadership and subcultures (Zapata & Rodriguez, 2008, pp. 98-107). The strength of the organizational culture can be interpreted as the degree of pressure exerted on the immigrants of the company and their treatment of behaviours. The amplitude of the culture is a measure of its strength, which will be greater if the extension and acceptance covers all the aspects of organization (Sonrensen, 2002, pp. 70-91).

Morcillo (2007) notes that organizational culture should be examined from the analytical perspectives from leadership, values, ethics, sociability, solid authority, success, competitive advantage, and innovation. Moreover, economic theory and the theory of institutional resources and capabilities provide a framework of reference for the study of organizational culture, the institutional approach of North (1990), shows that “the objectives and actions of individuals and groups are strongly influenced by environmental institutions and theory of resources and capabilities”pp.3-14.

Organizational culture can be considered is a "resource" or ...