CREATING

&
MANAGING
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational culture is one of those items that you can’t describe what it is,
but you know when it’s broken.
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 Describe organization culture, its types and theoretical underpinnings.

 Identify the building blocks or foundations of an organization’s culture.

 Look at implications of culture on business practices and organizations.

 Understand how an organization’s culture, like its structure, how can it

be designed, managed and changed.
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE?
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: the underlying values, beliefs and
principles of an organization that serve as the foundation for their
management system. It implies that the values of the organization will
be expressed in its management practices.

 Can be used to increase organizational effectiveness

 Can be a source of competitive advantage

 WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE?
TERMINAL VALUE: a desired end state or outcome that people seek to
achieve – usually stated as the Vision statement

INSTRUMENTAL VALUE: a desired mode of behavior- mission

NORMS: standards or styles of behavior that are considered acceptable or

typical for a group of people.

FORMAL STRUCTURE: values are embedded in a company’s SOPs, rules, and

goals
 NATURE OF CULTURE
Learned
Culture is acquired by learning and experience
Shared
People as a member of a group, organization, or society share culture
Trans-generational
Culture is cumulative, passed down from generation to generation
Symbolic
Culture is based on the human capacity to symbolize
Patterned
Culture has structure and is integrated
Adaptive
Culture is based on the human capacity to change or adapt
LEVELS OF CULTURES
Stories, Rituals,
ceremonies, Heroes,
property rights

Cultural forms:
Observable ways in
which members of cultures
express substance:
Cultural cultural values
Shared systems
of Beliefs, Norms,
Assumptions &
Values
TYPES OF ARTIFACTS
• Personal Enactment : “officer and a gentleman”

• Ceremonies and Rites: rites of passage, rites of integration, rites of

enhancement , rites of conflict resolution, rites of degradation

• Stories
– About the boss; about getting fired
– About relocating; about promotions
– About crisis situations; about status considerations

• Rituals ; meetings, get together, coffee breaks water coolers

• Symbols- corner office, stationery , insignia, parking space

 Hidden Elements

Visible Elements

Does the hidden manifest in the visible?

Does the visible inform the hidden?

WHERE AN ORGANIZATION’S
CULTURE COMES FROM ?

ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
LEARNING CULTURE-
SOCIALIZATION PROCESS

1. Anticipatory Socialization – all of the learning that takes place prior

to the newcomer’s first day on the job.
2. Encounter – newcomer learns the tasks associated with the job,
clarifies roles, and establishes new relationships at work.
3. Change and Acquisition– newcomer begins to master the demands of
the job.
SOCIALIZATION PROCESS
Tactics that Lead to an Tactics that Lead to an
Institutionalized Orientation Individualized Orientation

Collective Individual

Formal Informal

Sequential Random

Fixed Variable

Serial Disjunctive

Divestiture Investiture
THE DOUBLE S CUBE MODEL
ROB GOFFEE AND GARETH JONES,
THE CHARACTER OF THE CORPORATION, 1998

Sociability comes from mutual esteem and concern for one's colleagues. The main driving
force in decisions is emotion and social concern. High sociability is people-based, low
sociability has a greater task focus.
• Positive sociability is people helping one another to succeed.
• Negative sociability is covering up for other people and tolerating poor performance in the
name of friendship or ‘saving face’.

Solidarity is the degree to which people think together in the same ways, sharing tasks and
mutual interests. The main driving force in decisions is logic.
• Positive solidarity gets the job done efficiently and effectively.
• Negative solidarity does not care for other people and can have high levels of internal
conflict or inefficient self-interest.
THE DOUBLE S CUBE
 FOUR ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURES
Networked Culture: this type of organizational culture is characterized by high levels of
sociability and low levels of solidarity.

Mercenary Culture: this type of organizational culture is characterized by a low degree of

sociability and a high degree of solidarity.

Fragmented Culture: this type of organizational culture is characterized by a low degree of

sociability and a low degree of solidarity.

Communal Culture: In the double S cube, this type of organizational culture is characterized by
both a high degree of sociability and a high degree of solidarity.
 COMPETING VALUES FRAMEWORK
Flexibility and discretion
Clan Adhocracy
Thrust: Collaborate Thrust: Create

Means: Cohesion, participation, Means: Adaptability, creativity,

communication, empowerment agility

Ends: Morale, people Ends: Innovation, Growth,

development, commitment cutting-edge output
Internal
External focus
focus and
and
integration
Hierarchy Market differentiation
Thrust: Control Thrust: Compete

Means: Capable processes, Means: Customer focus,

consistency, process control, productivity, enhancing
Measurement competitiveness

Ends: Efficiency, timeliness, Ends: Market share,

smooth functioning profitability, goal achievement

Stability and control

SOURCE: Adapted from K.S. Cameron, R E Quinn, J DeGraff, and A V Thakor, Competing Values Leadership: Creating Value in Organizations (Northampton, MA: Edward
Elgar, 2006), p. 32.
 HOW
KEEPING A CULTURE
CULTURE ALIVE CHANGES
 Composition of the workforce
 Selection  Planned organizational change in
 Socialization response to the environment and
technology.
 Actions of top  Redesign structure
management  Revise property rights used to
motivate people
 Change the people – especially top
management
 Mergers and acquisitions
AOL AND TIME WARNER MERGER 2000-
2009: A CASE OF CULTURAL INCOMPATIBILITY
OLD MEDIA STALWART :
(Warner Bros., New Line Cinema), music (Atlantic, Warner Bros. Music, Elektra), cable television
networks (HBO, TBS, CNN), cable television distribution (Time Warner Cable), publishing
(Fortune, Time, Little Brown & Co.)

DIGITAL AGE DARLING

STRUCTURAL AND CULTURAL
DIFFERENCES
AOL Time Warner
High Tech Old-world
Tight on finances/Cost Cutting Spendthrift
Casual, khakis and cotton shirt Suit and tie
Centrally managed Decentralized - autonomy at division level
Smaller, younger Big, mature
Improvisational Approach Top Down Management Style
20 Somethings’ Grey beards
Compensation – Stock Options Profit sharing – Old School
Unitary Culture Diversified Enterprise
Focus on stock price Focus on organic business growth
HOW CAN MANAGERS WORK WITH
CULTURAL VALUE DIFFERENCES
Insensitivity to cultural values that are the cause of behavioral difference
can cause managers:

– Not to recognize the other person, but to judge only on the basis of
narrowly defined, only skill-based criteria.
– Ignore the reality of why a person is the way he/she is.
– Assume that all people are same (essentially like me)
– Judge that if they are not same as I am, they are inept (or whatever
else): this can lead to racist, sexist, ethnocentric behaviors.
– To choose not to see the cultural differences and thereby limit
managerial choices