Discussion Topic

The Environment and Corporate Culture

1. Define an organizational ecosystem and how the general and task environments affect an organization’s ability to thrive.

The organizational environment consists of all elements existing outside the boundary of the organization that have the potential to affect and influence the organization. This environment consists of two layers: the task environment and the general environment.

The task environment is closer to the organization and includes the sectors that conduct day-to-day transactions with the organization and directly influence its basic operations and performance such as competitors, suppliers, and customers.

The general environment affects the organization indirectly.  It includes social, economic, legal-political, international, natural, and technological factors that influence all organizations about equally.

2. Explain the strategies that managers use to help organizations adapt to an uncertain or turbulent environment.

The environment creates uncertainty for organization managers.  Uncertainty means that managers do not have sufficient information about environmental factors to understand and predict environmental needs and changes.  Two basic factors that influence uncertainty are the number of factors that affect the organization and the extent to which those factors change.  Strategies to adapt to these changes in the environment include boundary-spanning roles, interorganizational partnerships, and mergers and joint ventures. 

Boundary-spanning roles are assumed by people and/or departments that link and coordinate the organization with key elements in the external environment.  Interorganizational partnerships are a popular strategy for adapting to the environment by reducing boundaries and increasing collaboration with other organizations.  A merger is the combining of two or more organizations into one.  A joint venture involves a strategic alliance or program by two or more organizations. 

3. Define corporate culture.

Culture can be defined as the set of key values, beliefs, understandings, and norms shared by members of an organization.  It can be analyzed at two levels.  At the surface level are visible artifacts, which include things such as manner of dress, patterns of behavior, physical symbols, organizational ceremonies, and office layout.  At a deeper, less obvious level are the expressed values and beliefs, which can be discerned from how people explain and justify what they do.  These are values that members of the organization hold at a conscious level.  They can be interpreted from the stories, language, and symbols that organization members use to represent them.  Some values become so deeply embedded in a culture that members are no longer consciously aware of them.  These basic, underlying assumptions and beliefs are the essence of culture and subconsciously guide behavior and decisions.

4. Provide organizational examples of symbols, stories, heroes, slogans, and ceremonies and explain how they relate to corporate culture.

Fundamental values and corporate culture cannot be observed directly, but they can be understood through the visible manifestations of symbols, stories, heroes, slogans, and ceremonies.  A symbol is an object, act, or event that conveys meaning to others.  Symbols associated with corporate culture convey the organization’s important values.        A story is a narrative based on true events that is repeated frequently and shared among organizational employees.  Stories are told to new employees to keep the organization’s primary values alive.  A hero is a figure who exemplifies the deeds, character, and attributes of a strong culture.  Heroes are role models for employees to follow.  A slogan is a phrase or sentence that succinctly expresses a key corporate value.  Many companies use a slogan or saying to convey special meaning to employees.  A ceremony is a planned activity that marks up a special event and is conducted for the benefit of an audience.  Managers hold ceremonies to provide dramatic examples of company values.  Organizational culture represents the values, understandings, and basic assumptions that employees share, and these values are signified by the above events. Managers help define important symbols, stories, heroes, slogans, and ceremonies to shape the future.

5. Describe four types of culture

The adaptability culture is characterized by values that support the company’s ability to rapidly detect, interpret, and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses.  This culture emerges in an environment that requires fast response and high-risk decision making.

The achievement culture is a results-oriented culture that values competitiveness, aggressiveness, personal initiative, and willingness to work long and hard to achieve results.  It is suited to organizations concerned with serving specific customers in the external environment, but without the intense need for flexibility and rapid change.  An emphasis on winning and achieving specific ambitious goals is the glue that holds the organization together.

The involvement culture places high value on meeting the needs of employees and values cooperation and equality.  This culture has an internal focus on the involvement and participation of employees to adapt rapidly to changing needs from the environment.  Managers emphasize values such as cooperation, consideration of both employees and customers, and avoiding status differences.

The consistency culture values and rewards a methodical, rational, orderly way of doing things.  This culture uses an internal focus and a consistency orientation for a stable environment

The external environment exerts a big influence on internal corporate culture.  The internal culture should embody what it takes to succeed in the environment.  If the external environment requires extraordinary customer service, the culture should encourage good service; if it calls for careful technical decision making, cultural values should reinforce effective managerial decision making.

6. Examine the relationship between culture, corporate values, and business performance.

Companies that succeed in a turbulent world are those in which managers are evaluated and rewarded for paying careful attention to both cultural values and business performance. 

Some companies put high emphasis on both culture and solid business performance as drivers of organizational success. Managers in these organizations align values with the company’s day-to-day operations—hiring practices, performance management, budgeting,  and criteria for promotions and rewards.

7. Define a cultural leader and explain the tools a cultural leader uses to create a high-performance culture.

A cultural leader is a manager who uses signals and symbols to influence corporate culture.  Cultural leaders influence culture by articulating a vision for the organizational culture that employees can believe in, and heeding the day-to-day activities that reinforce the cultural vision.  To create a high-performance culture, a cultural leader would tie the central values that employees believe in to the need for high performance, and then make sure that work procedures and reward systems match and reinforce those values.  Finally, the cultural leader must be sure to exemplify high-performance in his or her own work activities.