Group 2 - Part 3

Assignment 3:


Group 2
Student ID Name
41206606 Salman Rahman
42308585 Rui Wang ( Ray )
41761561 Ashley Lowe
43142141 Woosung Jung

Monday 6PM Class
Organisational Culture and the
HR and Symbolic Frames
Organisational culture is the shared pattern of beliefs, assumptions and values that
are considered to be the right way of thinking and acting within an organisation. Culture
influences employee directions and day-to-day interactions through internal undefined
mental assumptions. This essay will consider organisational culture and its relevance to a
manager who has a strong preference of the HR and symbolic frames. Managers in reality
use two or more frames and as such these two are examined together rather than
separately.
Managers with a strong preference for the HR and symbolic frames would tend to
view a good culture as one that encourages innovation, investment in employees,
construction of a positive work environment and open communication. The HR and
symbolic frames emphasise human relationships and rituals/traditions respectively. These
managers would thrive best in organisational cultures that encourage interdependence,
helping others, work-life balance and ritualistic tradition. These factors demonstrate the
HR frames focus on cultural congruency and the symbolic frames emphasis on vision,
perception and the soul of organisations.
The IT industry provides a key example of the type of organisation that is better
suited to a HR-symbolic frame of management. For example, at Amazon, they look for
innovation and originality-pioneers in their field. Employees in this industry are highly
skilled and highly motivated, thus managers focus on employee relations and employee
perceptions of the company to encourage corporate vision and culture. Employees do not
need constant direction and supervision, as they are able to make their own decisions and
decide on their own work projects. Managers encourage and motivate employees through
the use of symbolism, such as stories, rituals and employee-manager interactions.
Cultures are managed and encouraged by the use of several strategies. The
progressive approach implemented by companies such as Google represents elements
from both HR and symbolic frames. Organisations offering benefits that cater to
employees personal needs demonstrate (through actions) their commitment to corporate
culture and vision; this shows the importance of employees to the company and human
relationships. Managers may also use high involvement strategies to increase employees
responsibility and commitment to corporate vision, thus improving organisational fit. The
two types of involvement strategies are empowerment and bond strengthening.
Empowerment is needed to improve employees decision-making ability and
responsibility for company goals. This effectively leads to employees actively
contributing to the organisation in line with the companys specific values/culture. Bond
strengthening is an also useful, or indeed hiring employees who espouse congruent values
to the company. The greater the value similarities between employees and the
organisation, the greater the chance of the cultures survival in the long-term. The culture
of tradition and employee focus is also influenced by the use of rituals and stories. These
can become part of an organisations legend, which demonstrate key values of the
company. As employees tell and retell stories of certain events, or how the organisations
founder began the company, they are effectively letting new employees and outsiders
know the corporate culture of the company and what to expect in dealing with us.
Organisations have very distinct cultures and a key issue with managers, is how to
maintain this organisational culture in an environment with ever-changing variables.
Managers can use various techniques to encourage their chosen culture, but must always
ensure employees values reflect those of the organisation.




















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