Tying Concepts Together
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Chapt14-OrganizationalCulture.pptxChapter 14: Organizational Culture
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The Team Culture at Warby Parker (1 of 2)
Startup quickly became powerhouse
Team culture considered essential to success
Donation for each purchase
Results in teams with passion
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Warby Parker began as a startup and quickly became a global retail powerhouse.
Cofounders Neil Blumenthal and David Gilboa view their team culture as essential to their success.
Part of their mission is to donate a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair purchased.
Warby rewards employees who have been at the company for 3 years with a mission-driven perk: an international trip to experience the company’s “Buy a Pair, Give a Pair” program in action.
Results in teams with a passion for the mission.
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The Team Culture at Warby Parker (2 of 2)
Training focuses on interpersonal relationships
Strong team culture means happier employees
Better retention
More efficient teams
Higher revenue
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Training at Warby Parker focuses on fostering strong interpersonal relationships.
Encourages direct, open, honest conversation.
Offers continual learning opportunities.
Strong team culture leads to happier employees, which means:
Better retention (lower recruiting costs).
More efficient teams.
Higher revenue.
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What Is Organizational Culture? (1 of 2)
Organizational culture
Dimensions of organizational culture norms
Cultural variability in visibility and concreteness
Artifacts and creations
Values
Assumptions
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14-1 Define organizational culture, and describe the seven characteristics.
Organizational culture: The pattern of basic assumptions, that a given group has invented, discovered, or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, and that have 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.
More succinctly, a set of shared meanings that people in organizations have with respect to how to adapt to the environments and cope with change.
Organizational culture norms have three dimensions:
Content, or what is deemed important.
Consensus, or how widely shared norms are held across people in the organization.
Intensity of feelings about the importance of the norm.
Cultural variability in visibility and concreteness:
Artifacts and creations: Observable and abstract reflections of organizational culture, such as dress, office decoration, and the architecture of buildings.
Values: The reasons people give for their behavior.
Espoused values: Stated values.
Enacted value: Values which are acted out, perhaps unconsciously.
Assumptions: Specific and hidden understandings that underlie values and are often unconscious to people in organizations because they do not question them.
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What Is Organizational Culture? (2 of 2)
How to understand an organization’s culture
Seven Characteristics of Culture
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14-1 Define organizational culture, and describe the seven characteristics.
To understand an organization’s culture, a person must go beyond what they can see and hear (artifacts and creations) and gain a deeper awareness of values first and then assumptions.
Seven Characteristics of Culture
Cultural values of four industries in the service sector differed according to the industry and were related to levels of industry, technology, and growth:
Innovation and risk-taking.
Attention to detail.
Outcome orientation.
People orientation.
Team orientation.
Aggressiveness (easygoingness reversed).
Stability.
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Markets, Bureaucracies, and Clans (1 of 4)
Another approach examines control mechanisms
Goal incongruence
Performance ambiguity
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14-2 Compare and contrast market, bureaucracy, and clan cultures.
Another approach to describing organizational cultures is to examine the mechanisms used for control when organizations are faced with goal incongruence and performance ambiguity.
Goal incongruence exists when organizational members do not agree on what the goals of the organization are or should be.
Performance ambiguity occurs when revenue streams are unpredictable or uneven.
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Markets, Bureaucracies, and Clans (2 of 4)
How organizations address control
Market control
Bureaucratic control
Clan control
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14-2 Compare and contrast market, bureaucracy, and clan cultures.
Three ways organizations address control according to a classic theory at the organizational level of analysis:
Market control: Exists when prices determine how social interactions between people are formed.
Bureaucratic control: When legitimate authority governs social interactions.
Clan control: When shared values and beliefs govern how people interact socially.
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Markets, Bureaucracies, and Clans (3 of 4)
How organizations address control
Implications of emergent cultures
Employee organizational commitment
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14-2 Compare and contrast market, bureaucracy, and clan cultures.
Three ways organizations address control according to a classic theory at the organizational level of analysis:
Differences in the emergent cultures have implications for how organizations are designed and employee performance.
Markets require only knowledge of prices and supply and demand.
Bureaucracies require the creation of rules and regulations (the employee handbook for a new employee, for example). Bureaucratic control also requires close surveillance and direction of employees by supervisors.
Clans are more efficient in the sense that there is less need for information on pricing or rules, and norms and traditions that emerge over time are shared with a new employee.
Employee organizational commitment is highest in the clan culture since they have internalized the organization’s cultural value system.
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Markets, Bureaucracies, and Clans (4 of 4)
National Culture and Organizational Culture
Possible source of confusion
Important organizational culture values
Significant statistical associations
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14-2 Compare and contrast market, bureaucracy, and clan cultures.
National Culture and Organizational Culture
Since the term culture is used for both national and organizational cultures, this may be a source of confusion.
Four important organizational culture values:
Adaptability: The ability to transfer the demands of the market into organizational actions.
Involvement: Building human capability, ownership, and responsibility.
Mission: Defining the meaningful long-term direction for the organization.
Consistency: Defining values and subsystems that are the basis of a strong culture.
Significant statistical associations:
Profitability: mission and consistency.
Sales growth: adaptability and mission.
Innovation: adaptability and involvement.
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Strong Organizational Cultures (1 of 3)
Characteristics of strong cultures
High agreement among employees about values
High intensity toward values
Strong cultures critical for bottom-line performance
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14-3 Demonstrate understanding of the two characteristics of strong cultures by providing examples.
Strong cultures are based on two characteristics:
High levels of agreement among employees about what they value.
High intensity towards these values.
Strong cultures are critical to bottom-line performance.
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Strong Organizational Cultures (2 of 3)
Zappos: A Strong Organizational Culture
Zappos’s drivers in building strong culture
Core values
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14-3 Demonstrate understanding of the two characteristics of strong cultures by providing examples.
Zappos: A Strong Organizational Culture
Zappos acknowledges five specific drivers in building a culture that results in a great place to work, exceptional customer service, and impressive organizational performance.
Committed leaders.
Core values.
Customer-focused strategies.
Human resource practices.
Management practices that align with core values.
10 core values:
Deliver wow through service.
Embrace and drive change.
Create fun and a little weirdness.
Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded.
Pursue growth and learning.
Build open and honest relationships with communication.
Build a positive team and family spirit.
Do more with less.
Be passionate and determined.
Be humble.
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Strong Organizational Cultures (3 of 3)
Organizational Subcultures
Most organizations have three general subcultures
Operators
Engineers
Executives
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14-3 Demonstrate understanding of the two characteristics of strong cultures by providing examples.
Organizational Subcultures
Three general organizational subcultures exist in most organizations.
Operators: The line managers and employees who are involved in making products, delivering services, and interacting with customers directly.
Value teamwork.
Desire engagement in their work.
Engineers: A group focused on designing systems to support the work of operations, such as employees who design a manufacturing facility.
May also include employees who design and implement information technology systems, financial analysis systems, and marketing research.
Executives: Employees who have worked their way up organizational career ladders, and they are financially responsible to their board of directors and shareholders.
Make tough financial decisions.
Maintain large numbers of people and divisions.
Rely on policies and reward systems to maintain control.
May lose touch with customers and low-level employees.
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Socialization (1 of 4)
Organizational Socialization
Series of reality “shocks”
Process
Anticipatory Socialization
Organizational anticipatory socialization
Basic processes
Seeking good person-organization fit
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14-4 Explain how employees learn organizational culture through the socialization process.
Organizational socialization: The process an organization utilizes to ensure that new members acquire necessary attitudes, behaviors, knowledge, and skills to become productive organizational members.
First 6 months on the job are characterized as a series of reality “shocks” as they are exposed to the unwritten rules defining the organizational culture in the organization.
Process of anticipatory socialization, entry and assimilation, and metamorphosis.
Anticipatory Socialization
Organizational anticipatory socialization: The process an individual goes through as they attempt to find an organization to join.
Two basic processes:
Recruiting.
Selection.
Both applicant and organization seek good person-organization fit.
Applicants often adapt their responses on personality inventories strategically to appear as a match to the organizational culture.
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Socialization (2 of 4)
Entry and Assimilation
Preentry
Issues in preentry
Entry
Onboarding
“Unwritten rules” for new employee behavior
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14-4 Explain how employees learn organizational culture through the socialization process.
Entry and Assimilation
Preentry: A step occurring from the time someone is offered the job to when they actually start working.
Three issues in preentry:
Types of messages a new employee receives from the organization prior to starting work could include realistic job previews in which the members of the organization attempt to clarify what the job will be like. These may positively or negatively differ from expectations.
New employees are typically concerned about how they are seen by existing organizational members and engage in impression management to influence the perceptions of new coworkers.
Current organizational members form perceptions of the new hire and consider how well they will fit in.
Entry: A phase initiated when the new member starts work.
Beginning of assimilation.
Employees begin to understand the organization’s culture and work expectations.
Formal or informal orientation.
Being proactive leads to positive assimilation outcomes.
Onboarding: The process of welcoming and orienting new organizational members to facilitate their adjustment to the organization, its culture, and its practices and help them adjust to their new work environment.
Psychological contract: The employees' beliefs about the mutual obligations between them and their employers.
Psychological contract influences the degree to which they view onboarding processes as valuable.
The informal expectations about how new employees should behave within the organization are “unwritten rules” that govern how new employees should act.
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Socialization (3 of 4)
Metamorphosis
Definition
New employee is comfortable
Successful metamorphosis and positive effects
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14-4 Explain how employees learn organizational culture through the socialization process.
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis: The final stage of organizational entry and assimilation, in which a person transforms from a new employee to an established contributor who is valued and trusted by other members of the organization.
New employee is comfortable with the organization, their boss, and their work group.
They have internalized the organizational culture and understand their job as well as the rules, procedures, and norms.
Expectations are clear regarding what good performance means in the organization.
Successful metamorphosis positively affects job performance, job satisfaction, and commitment to the organization.
Decreases turnover.
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Socialization (4 of 4)
Attraction–Selection–Attrition (ASA)
Which organizations attract which applicants
Culture is becoming important hiring criterion
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14-4 Explain how employees learn organizational culture through the socialization process.
Attraction–Selection–Attrition (ASA)
Approach which suggests that applicants are attracted to organizations that match their personalities.
Some potential employees will not apply if they feel like a bad fit.
Employees that choose to join an organization are more likely to share organizational values than those that do not (attraction-selection).
Culture fit is becoming an important criterion for hiring because if the person does not fit the culture, they will likely leave.
Especially important in high-turnover jobs.
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How Employees Learn Culture (1 of 3)
Stories
Storytelling
Organizational purposes of stories
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14-5 Discuss four ways that employees learn organizational culture.
Stories
Storytelling is the sharing of knowledge and experiences through narrative and anecdotes to communicate lessons, complex ideas, concepts, and causal connections.
Stories serve these organizational purposes:
Convey shared meanings and values in the organizational culture.
Aid comprehension and suggest causal order for events.
Guide behavior
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How Employees Learn Culture (2 of 3)
Rituals
Definition
Symbols
Definition
Material symbols
Dress symbols
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14-5 Discuss four ways that employees learn organizational culture.
Rituals
Rituals are defined as “a form of social action in which a group’s values and identity are publicly demonstrated or enacted in a stylized manner, within the context of a specific occasion or event.”
Reinforce the cultural values of the organization by providing a tangible way for employees to see the values espoused.
Symbols
Symbols represent the sharing of knowledge through access and exposure to images, diagrams, or objects that represent or illustrate a cultural value or an idea.
Material symbols: office size, location, and view.
Dress symbols: expectations of what particular employees should wear.
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How Employees Learn Culture (3 of 3)
Language
May be confusing to new employee
Language referring to employees reflects values
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14-5 Discuss four ways that employees learn organizational culture.
Language
Employees may communicate using culture-specific language, jargon, or acronyms that can be confusing to a new employee.
Represent the organizational culture and how it is transmitted to newcomers.
The language used to refer to employees reflects underlying values.
For example, some organizations have stopped using the term employees in favor of team member.
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Organizational Climate (1 of 4)
Organizational climate
Definition
Clarification
Distinguishing culture and climate
Climate can be altered
Culture is an evolved context
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14-6 Compare and contrast organizational culture and climate.
Organizational climate: Shared perceptions of the way things are around here.
Level of agreement in perceptions about the organization and work environment among employees.
Key distinction between culture and climate is that culture is viewed as evolving over time and is studied from a sociology or anthropology viewpoint.
Climate, however, can be altered via management interventions.
Culture is an evolved context, and climate is a situation that employees are in.
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Organizational Climate (2 of 4)
Climcult
Elements
The climcult perspective and gaining more complete views
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14-6 Compare and contrast organizational culture and climate.
Climcult: Perspective which suggests that culture and climate work together to influence how people experience their work environment.
Elements of climcult:
Global climate or culture for well-being.
Strategy focused on policies, practices, procedures, and behaviors expected and rewarded.
Processes focused on policies, practices, procedures, and behaviors that are expected and rewarded.
Socialization practices through which values and beliefs for strategy and processes are transmitted.
Myths and stories used for transmitting those same beliefs and values.
The climcult perspective suggests combining survey measures of climate and culture to gain a more complete view of how people describe their organization’s values and their work experiences.
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Organizational Climate (3 of 4)
How Climate Influence Organizational Practice
Significant impacts on dependent variables
Studied facets of climate
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14-6 Compare and contrast organizational culture and climate.
How Climate Influences Organizational Performance
Climate significantly impacts on the dependent variables studied in organizational behavior.
Some studied facets of climate:
Service.
Justice.
Safety.
Diversity.
Innovation.
Toxic climates with abusive supervision.
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Organizational Climate (4 of 4)
Ethical Climate
Leader influence
Aspects of ethical climates
Distinct types of ethical climates and shaping them
Significant role in employee well-being
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14-6 Compare and contrast organizational culture and climate.
Ethical Climate
Leaders influence an organization’s ethical climate and employee attitudes.
Leader moral development influences ethical climate, employee job satisfaction, and turnover intentions.
Effect is stronger in younger organizations.
Five aspects of ethical climates:
Caring.
Law and code.
Rules.
Instrumental.
Independence.
Studies suggest organizations have distinct types of ethical climates, and the ethical climate is shaped by norms, bureaucracy, and the history of the organization.
Ethical organizational culture plays a significant role in enhancing employee well-being measured as sickness absence.
Also associated with lower turnover intentions and higher job performance.
Thus, leaders should develop the moral climate of the organization in addition to behaving ethically.
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