CULTURE AND INNOVATION

Culture and Innovation in Organizations

Abstract

While organization culture can be of any social gathering, for instance, the school, university, and not for profit organization have their own respective culture. The government and business also have organizational culture. But the term corporate culture is used for business that is working for profit. The term corporate culture is relatively modern,. It became part of the business literature not later than 1980's. The term was used in the sociological literature and organization theories. Another term that has been used for organization culture is organization environment, though this term has not been used often. The aim of this paper is to cascade light on the notion of organizational cultural and other significant factors associated with it. The paper describes the concept of organizational culture and provides a critical review of some of the theories that have been put forth by theorists regarding the nature of the culture of an organization. The paper then studies and discusses various aspects of an organization which are closely related with the culture and practices of an organization. These aspects include the group processes which determine the manner in which the work is carried out in the organization. Another important aspect discussed in the paper is organizational politics which is an integral part of the organizations in the modern days. This is an aspect which is most often implicit but has profound impact on the culture of an organization. Subsequently the paper discusses certain overt and covert that is shadow side influences that exist in the organization and are explicit or implicit part of the culture of an organization. The paper also discusses the relation of these aspects to the culture of an organization as well their impact on the behavior related to innovation and change within an organization. The influence of the culture of an organization on the behavior related to innovation and change has been detailed using an organization as a model. The paper then ultimately discusses the relation of leaders and leadership styles with the culture of an organization in relation to its influence on the organizational norms, values and standards. In the end, certain recommendations have been provided as to strategies and actions that could be implemented by the leaders of the organization to enhance or create an appropriate culture.

Abstracti

Introduction1

Culture1

Organizational Culture2

Strong and Weak Organizational Cultures4

Strong Culture4

Weak Culture4

Critical review of the theories of the nature of organizational culture4

Competing Value Framework6

Core Assumptions of the Theory7

Internal Process Model7

Open System Model7

Rational Goal Model7

Human Relations Model8

The McKinsey 7S Framework8

The Seven Elements9

The Cultural Web10

Elements of Cultural Web11

Stories11

Symbols11

Organizational Structure11

Control Systems12

Power Structures12

Group processes in an organization and its impact on culture, innovation and change12

Organizational Politics14

Relation of Organizational Politics with the Culture of Organization15

Impacts of Organizational Politics on the Process of Innovation of an Organization16

Shadow side influences in organizations16

Impact of organizational culture on behavior related to innovation18

Impact of organizational culture on behavior related to change21

Influence of leadership styles on organizational culture23

Recommendations24

Conclusion26

References29



Culture and Innovation in Organizations

Introduction

Organization is a complex whole that takes into account ...