Organizational Culture Analysis

Organizational Behavior

Organizational behavior has been a widely researched area in terms of understanding how an organization can function along with ensuring its members can contribute to set goals and objectives. The origins of organizational behavior can be traced back to this country’s subsequent birth. Some questions that others may have asked were studied as a means to understanding how certain working environments function.

So what is Organizational Behavior and who were the leaders?

Organizational behavior (OB) is the investigation of the behavioral factors that affect modern organizations and their management at the individual, group, and organization-wide levels. Organizational behavior includes concepts from the fields of psychology, social psychology, sociology, organization theory, human resource management, history, research methods and statistics, and anthropology. OB is a hybrid field that incorporates ideas from these and other disciplines.

Historically, the scientific management approach came first. Frederick W. Taylor developed the principles that merged principles to create the time and motion study. Henri Fayol wrote about planning, organization, staffing, directing, and controlling at about the same time.

Scientific management was challenged by the human relations movement, beginning with the work of Mary Parker Follett. The Hawthorne studies, Maslow’s views of humanism, and the concepts found in Theory X and Theory Y followed. Modern management and organizational behavior approaches include systems theory, contingency theory, total quality management, and positive organizational behavior.

The fields of management and organizational behavior have been influenced by elements of the noncontrollable external environment. These include increasing globalization, rising levels of diversity in the workforce, new ethical challenges, and an evolving workplace. All employees and managers will be exposed to cultural differences, both within a country and in dealings with individuals and organizations from other nations. Language skills and cultural sensitivity become valuable assets in those settings. The evolving workplace has witnessed higher levels of connectivity and networking among individuals on the job. Social media and other technologies continue to influence the ways in which people work.

As you read this chapter think about how your organization functions and what concepts and principles can be attributed to its success or failure.

Culture:  What is culture, in the context of OB, and how can it influence others within its environment?

O’Reilly, Chatman, & Campbell (1991) suggest Culture can be transmitted in many ways. As part of the recruiting process, prospective employees are often told about the organization’s philosophy. As one begins working in a company, asking questions about the organization is common. Many of the questions will be about cultural issues, including what is important and why. Meetings, mailings, and other communications express cultural values, such as the statement “Quality is Job 1,” a pervasive phrase repeated in the Ford Motor Company paperwork. Role modeling and coaching processes instruct employees about the firm’s core values. One viewpoint of culture suggests seven characteristics that, as a group, express the essence of an organization’s culture. Culture represents a relatively fixed organizational element that reflects the organization’s history. Culture consists of the symbols, rituals, language, and social dramas that highlight organizational life, including myths, stories, and jargon (Smircich, 1984). How many times have you noticed individuals wearing some clothing i.e. hats, sweaters etc. that represent the organization they are affiliated with? Better yet we see cultural symbols everywhere we look which can have an effect on our choice to become affiliated with the organization or its product. Culture combines the philosophy of the firm with beliefs, expectations, and values shared by members. Culture often begins with and relies on stories and myths about the company’s founder and its current leading figures—the firm’s heroes and heroines (Gordon, 1993; Schein, 1985).

Personality traits can also have an effect on an organization’s members and understanding the varying types is a critical aspect to ensuring performance from others. The five key personality traits are self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-monitoring, and emotional intelligence. Self-concept is the view a person has of himself or herself as a physical, social, spiritual, or moral being. Self-esteem constitutes a belief about how a person evaluates his or her self-worth as part of an overall self-evaluation. Self-efficacy reflects a person’s belief about his or her ability to successfully complete a task, assignment, or challenge. Self-monitoring is the ability to adjust personal behaviors to external, situational factors based on observations of personal self-expressive behaviors. Emotional intelligence reflects a person’s ability to detect and manage emotional cues and information.

As you are reading this chapter asks yourself what type of culture does your organization fit in? Are the members happy with this culture or could it use improvement? How can personality types be linked to performance and what is the perception from others regarding you?

References

Baack, D. (2012). Organizational behavior. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Gordon, J. R. (1993). A diagnostic approach to organizational behavior (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

O’Reilly, C. A., III, Chatman, J., & Campbell, D. F. (1991, September). People and organizational culture: A profile comparison to assessing person-organization fit. Academy of Management Journal, 487–516.

Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Smircich, L. (1984). Concepts of culture and organizational analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28(3), 339–358.