COMMUNICATION IN ORGANISATIONS EXAM PAPER
Bella Beckerman

Topic: Investigate the concept of organisational culture, its dimensions, role and importance for organisations. Explain some of the communication practices that are likely to assist in the creation and maintenance of a positive and ethical organisational culture and climate.

Organisational culture is ‘what the employees perceive and how this perception creates a pattern of beliefs, values, and expectations’. Shein (2004). Organisational culture consists of levels and dimensions that play an important role within the organisation, along with communication practices including communication audits, and ongoing training that assist in the creation and maintenance of positive and ethical organisational culture and climate that will be explored throughout this paper.

According to Edger Schein (2004), ‘culture involves assumptions, adaptations, perceptions, and learning’ and ‘contends that an organisation’s culture… has three layers’ of which include artefacts and creations that are visible but not often interpreted, values or things that are important to people, and basic assumption people make that guide their behaviour. This is called Schein’s Three-Layer Organisational Model.
Schein’s Three-Layer Organisational Model broken down show layer one includes visible artefacts such as wall dividers between employees or annual reports. Layer two includes conscious values or desires, and layer three include assumptions of how people think and subconscious thoughts. In order to understand the importance of culture Hofstede (1988) ‘identified five value dimensions by which cultures can differ’, they include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, and long-term orientation. Other cultural dimensions include societal collectivism, in-group collectivism, gender egalitarianism,