FHTM

Delivered by:
musliha.ahmed@mnu.edu.mv

How Employees Learn Culture

Stories

Narratives of significant events or actions of people that

convey the spirit of the organization

Rituals

Repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce

the values of the organization

Material Symbols

Physical assets distinguishing the organization

Language

Acronyms and jargon of terms, phrases, and word meanings

specific to an organization

Exhibit 2.5 Managerial Decisions

Affected by Culture

2-3

Creating an ethical culture

DEFINITION OF ETHICS

The basicconceptsandfundamental principlesof

decent humanconduct.
It includesstudyof universal values such as the
essential equality of allmen and women, human
ornatural rights, obedience to the law of
land,concernforhealthandsafetyand, increasingly,
also for thenatural environment.

CREATING AN ETHICAL CULTURE:

SUGGESTIONS FOR MANAGERS

Be a visible role model.

Communicate ethical expectations.
Provide ethics training.
Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones.
Provide protective mechanisms so employees can
discuss ethical dilemmas and report unethical
behavior without fear.

Be a role model and be visible

Your employees look to the behavior of top

management as a model of whats acceptable
behavior in the workplace. When senior management
is observed (by subordinates) to take the ethical high
road, it send a positive message for all employees.

Communicate ethical expectations

Ethical ambiguities can be reduced bycreating and

disseminating an organizational code of ethics. It
should statethe organizations primary values and the
ethical rules that employees areexpected to follow.
Remember, however, that a code of ethics is worthless
if top management fails to model ethical behaviors.

Offer ethics training

Set up seminars, workshops, and similar ethical

training programs. Use these training sessions to
reinforce the organizations standards of conduct, to
clarify what practices are and are not permissible, and
to address possible ethical dilemmas.

Visibly reward ethical acts and punish

unethical ones

Performance appraisals ofmanagers should include a

point-by-point evaluation of how his or her
decisionsmeasure up against the organizations code
of ethics. Appraisals must includethe means taken to
achieve goals as well as the ends themselves. People
who actethically should be visibly rewarded for their
behavior.
Just as importantly,unethical acts should be punished.

Provide protective mechanisms

The organization needs to provide formalmechanisms

so that employees can discuss ethical dilemmas and
reportunethical behavior without fear of reprimand.
This might include creationof ethical counselors,
ombudsmen, or ethical officers.

Creating an innovative
culture

Don't JUST Innovate. Create a Culture of

Innovation

While many organizations focus on addressing

problems, the most successful focus on raising
the bar. One of the ways they do this is by
creating a culture where innovation thrives.
When this organizational strength is magnified, it
can become a source of competitive advantage

what are the things that leaders must do

to foster innovation?
Here are five strategies that make a profound
difference:
1. Focus on outcomes
Clearly, one of the ways that innovation is cultivated
is by having leaders who make sure everyone involved
knows the outcome and strategic goals of any
objective. By focusing on outcomes and results, these
leaders free up a lot of energy for the creative process
of making it happen.

2. Develop reciprocal trust

Not the garden varieties of trust, but complete and
shared confidence in one another.
3. Challenge the status quo
In a number of cases employees possess a
willingness to take on difficult issues, even when it
means expressing disagreement with higher levels in
the organization. They separate issues from people
and are able to disagree, without being disagreeable.
Doing so cultivates tremendous respect from their
colleagues. This could be said as healthy creative
tension when describing the atmosphere of
meetings led by the innovator.

4. Be inspiring
For innovation to exist you have to feel inspired!
Similarly, when people feel inspired by a leader they
are more inclined to give more effort and go the
extra mile on a project. That extra effort and
commitment is often what produces innovation.
Put your efforts into fostering and promoting
innovation within your organization. A culture where
innovation thrives in every corner is exponentially
more valuable than a culture which anoints one or
even a few people as the innovative ones. If you
create an environment of innovation, who knows
where your next great idea will come from?

Creating a customer responsive

culture

Creating a Customer-Responsive Culture

Hiring the right type of employees (ones with a strong

interest in serving customers
Having a few rigid rules, procedures and regulations
Using widespread empowerment of employees
Having good listening skills in relating to customers
messages

Providing role clarity to employees to reduce

ambiguity and conflict and increase job satisfaction
Having conscientious, caring employees willing to take
initiative.

Suggestions for Managers: for creating a

more Customer-Responsive Culture

Hire service-contact people with the personality and

attitudes consistent with customer servicefriendliness,
enthusiasm, attentiveness, patience, concern about others,
and listening skills.
Train customer service people continuously by focusing on
improving product knowledge, active listening, showing
patience, and displaying emotions.
Socialize new service-contact people to the organizations
goals and values.
.

Design customer-service jobs so that employees have

as much control as necessary to satisfy customers.
Empower service-contact employees with the
discretion to make day-to-day decisions on
job-related activities.
As the leader, convey a customer-focused vision and
demonstrate through decisions and actions the
commitment to customers

Spirituality and Organisational

Culture

Spirituality and organisational culture

Workplace spirituality

Workplace spirituality recognizes that people have an inner

life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that
takes place in the context of community.
Organizations that promote a spiritual cultural recognize that
people have both a mind and a spirit, seek to find meaning and
purpose in their work, and desire to connect with other human
beings and be part of a community.

Historical models of management and

organizational behavior had no room for
spirituality. The myth of rationality assumed that
the well-run organization eliminated feelings.
Similarly, concern about an employees inner life
had no role in the perfectly rational model. But
weve now come to realize that the study of
emotions improve our understanding of
organizational behavior.
An awareness of spirituality can help you to
better understand employee behavior in the
twenty first century.

A. Theyre among a growing number of

organizations that have embraced workplace
spirituality.

Q: What do Southwest Airlines and

Hewlett-Packard, have in common?

http://www.qualitydigest.com/aug/nelson.html

Employees have always had an inner life. So why has

the search for meaning and purposefulness in work
surfaced now? There are a number of reasons.
The concept of workplace spirituality draws on our
previous discussions of topics such as values, ethics,
motivation, leadership, and work/life balance.

Spiritual organizations are concerned with helping

people develop and reach their full potential.
Similarly organizations that are concerned with
spirituality are more likely to directly address
problems created by work/life conflicts.

What differentiates spiritual

organizations from their
non-spiritual counterparts?

Spiritual organizations build their cultures around a meaningful

purpose. While profits may be important, theyre not the primary
values of the organization. Maximizing profits may excite investors but
it rarely stirs employees emotions or imaginations. People want to be
inspired by a purpose that they believe is important and worthwhile.
Southwest Airlines, for instance, is strongly committed to providing the lowest
airfares, on-time services, and a pleasant experience for customer.
Toms of Maine strives to sell personal care household products that are made
from natural ingredients and are environmentally friendly.
AES, the worlds largest independent power producer, seeks to provide
electricity around the globe and to fundamentally change peoples lives and
their economic well-being.