Premium Essay

Organizational Culture: Corporate Culture in Organizations

In:

Submitted By lisacerrito
Words 917
Pages 4
Summary: Organizational Culture: Corporate Culture in Organizations
Leadership and Management in Nursing
September 3, 2013

Summary: Organizational Culture: Corporate Culture in Organizations
Summarize your perception of the article content? This article discusses how difficult it is to define culture in the work environment. Culture encompasses everyone’s life at all times and is a commanding unit that shapes the, “work enjoyment, work relationships and work processes.” (Heathfield, S.M., 2013). Culture consists of values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a specific group and is characterized within the group through language, decision making, symbols, folk lore, and work ethics. Within this article seven characteristics of culture are discussed. These characteristics of culture include: * Culture = Behavior – This shows us how culture should not be described as positive or negative but merely signifies the overall functional customs in a particular environment. * Culture is Learned - Various activities are learned by a positive or negative consequences subsequent to their behavior. * Culture is Learned Through Interaction - Personnel absorb culture by interacting with each other at the work place. * Sub-cultures Form Through Rewards – This occurs with value rewards that are not related with the behaviors anticipated by managers but by social reward from coworkers, project teams, and work units. * People Shape the Culture – The personnel’s individual personalities and experiences shape and mold the culture within the work place. * Culture is Negotiated – A culture is not formed by a single person. Culture modification is a progression of give and take performed by all associates within an organization. * Culture is Difficult to Change – A transformation in culture involves an

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Corp Cult

...practitioners and theorists are increasing interest in organizational culture as a category, which determines the effectiveness of the organization. This sort of "molecular level" of the latter, on the one hand, gives it a unique, on the other - allowing it to adapt to the environment, and employees - to the existence within it, but at the same time inspiring them to solve common problems. It is this circumstance had in mind a Swedish scientist Iesper Kunde, who in his book "Corporate Religion" suggests that all the famous brands owe their success above all a clear and strong integration of ideology and values in the consciousness of its employees. The concept of organizational culture as a form of process management emerged in the late 70's and 80's of the XX century in the period of institutionalization of the organization, when from a producer of goods and services it has become a social unit. Until that time, the functions of management were reduced to coordinating and controlling the activities of groups, ensuring the interaction of units to achieve the goals, etc. However, the concept of organizational culture was not something totally new. This phenomenon is considered in M. Weber, K. Levin, T. Parsons, F. Selonika. A C. Bernard and G. Simon introduced the concept of "organizational morale", in essence similar to the definition of organizational culture. Many Western researchers have linked the fact of handling the organizational culture as well as management functions and the need...

Words: 2299 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Organizational Culture

...C H A P T E R Organizational Culture Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to: • Describe the elements of organizational culture. • Discuss the importance of organizational subcultures. • List four categories of artifacts through which corporate culture is communicated. • Identify three functions of organizational culture. • Discuss the conditions under which cultural strength improves corporate performance. • Discuss the effect of organizational culture on business ethics. • Compare and contrast four strategies for merging organizational cultures. • Identify five strategies to strengthen an organization’s culture. 16 S I X T E E N 496 T o an outsider, PeopleSoft is one of the loopiest places on the planet. The Pleasanton, California, business management software company has nerf ball shootouts and minigolf tournaments in the hallways. Dress-down day is every day of the week. A white collar is usually a T-shirt. The bagels and gourmet coffee are free. Having fun is so ingrained that many employees—called PeoplePeople—say it’s the best place to have a bad day. PeopleSoft also values egalitarianism— treating everyone with respect and minimal status differences. Executives don’t have secretaries, special perks, or grandiose offices. “Don’t kiss up and slap down,” PeopleSoft cofounder Dave Duffield reminds everyone. In other words, give the bagel delivery guy the same respect as the company president. PeopleSoft is also extreme on...

Words: 12145 - Pages: 49

Premium Essay

Business

...McShane−Von Glinow: Organizational Behavior, Second Edition Part Four Organizational Processes Organizational Culture © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2002 C H A P T E R 15 Organizational Culture AFTER READING THIS CHAPTER , YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO : Learning Objectives I Describe the elements of organizational culture. I Discuss the importance of organizational subcultures. I List four categories of artifacts through which corporate culture is communicated. I Identify three functions of organizational culture. I Discuss the conditions under which cultural strength improves corporate performance. I Discuss the effect of organizational culture on business ethics. I Compare and contrast four strategies for merging organizational cultures. I Identify five strategies to strengthen an organization’s culture. McShane−Von Glinow: Organizational Behavior, Second Edition Part Four Organizational Processes Organizational Culture © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2002 C arly Fiorina is taking Hewlett-Packard back to the future by reformulating the California-based technology company’s legendary culture, known as the H-P Way. “The H-P Way is about innovation; trust and respect and integrity; contribution to community; and performance,” says Fiorina, H-P’s first CEO hired from outside the company. The problem, she argues, is that employees have distorted these values over the years. “The H-P Way has been misinterpreted and twisted as a gentle bureaucracy...

Words: 12594 - Pages: 51

Premium Essay

Corporate Culture

...Corporate Culture By: Joanne Mowat, The Herridge Group {Insert Date} Corporate Culture Abstract As an executive, identifying, understanding, and influencing the organizational culture can ensure corporate agility and financial success. As a potential employee, catching a glimpse of the true culture of an organization will help one decide if the company is a place where one can contribute and flourish. In both cases, misunderstanding the culture can lead to disaster. Corporate cultures have both gross and subtle manifestations that provide clues to the underlying norms and beliefs. Paying attention to the work practices, environment, communication paths, and even the level of humour in a company, will give one a hint of the dominant organizational culture. Identification and understanding the culture is necessary to affect any minute or large scale changes in response to market imperatives. If one does not have a clear picture of the culture one cannot effectively modify it. This paper touches on four key questions in relation to corporate culture: • • • • What is corporate culture? Why is it important to understand the corporate culture? How can one identify the corporate culture? Can corporate cultures be changed? 09/03/2002 2 Corporate Culture What is Corporate Culture? Corporate culture is the personality of the organization: the shared beliefs, values and behaviours of the group. It is symbolic, holistic, and unifying, stable, and difficult to...

Words: 3684 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Jnjn

...2009. No 1 (61) COMMERCE OF ENGINEERING DECISIONS Organizational Culture Types as Predictors of Corporate Social Responsibility* Ülle Übius, Ruth Alas Estonian Business School, Estonia, Tallinn 10114, Lauteri 3 The purpose of this paper is to investigate connections between corporate social responsibility and organizational culture types. The survey was conducted in Estonian, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Czech, Finnish, German and Slovakian electric-electronic machine, retail store and machine-building enterprises. The main aim of the study is to find connections between corporate social responsibility and different organizational culture types. According to Cameron and Quinn (1998), culture defines the core values, assumptions, interpretations and approaches that characterise an organization. Competing Values Framework is extremely useful in helping to organize and interpret a wide variety of organizational phenomena. The four dominant culture types – hierarchy, market, clan and adhocracy emerge from the framework. According to Strautmanis (2007), social responsibility is part of organizational culture and a value in the organizational culture environment. Development of social responsibility is a change in values orientation, whose task is shaping the attitudes, transformation of the personal position so that it matches individual and public interests. Different organizations have framed different definitions about corporate social responsibility - although there is considerable...

Words: 7939 - Pages: 32

Premium Essay

Corporate Culture

...SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND CORPORATE EFFECTIVENES Tran Thi Thu Huong Columbia Southern University SUCCESSFUL ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND CORPORATE EFFECTIVENES Thesis: Four critical questions to ask in any boardroom of both large and small companies around the world in the 21st century are how to attract and keep talented people, how to increase profits and shareholder value, how to increase creativity and productivity, and how to ensure ethics permeate the corporate culture. These four points involve to organization management, particularly to manage organizational culture. After researching 207 companies within 22 industries between 1977 and 1988, John Kotter & James Heskett discovered that corporate culture affects economic performance (as cited in Journal of Management by Allen, 1992). I. Definition of organizational culture Organizational culture is the set of shared values and norms that control organizational members' interactions with each other and with people outside the organization. This element is the first element creating the competitive advantages for a firm (Jones, 2010). A. Define and differentiate between value and norm. B. What organizational values and how they affect behaviors 1. Terminal values Terminal value is a desired end state or outcome that people seek to achieve 2. Instrument values Instrumental value is a desired mode of behavior ...

Words: 988 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Cooporate Change

...Influencing Corporate Culture Change Keywords Corporate culture, organizational culture, culture change, factors of organizational culture change Introduction The main reason in reviewing this article, Factors of Organizational Culture Change, by Kulvinskienė and Šeimienė is to understand how the authors have clearly explored the factors that play the biggest role in influencing change in corporate culture. Without understanding the reasons behind successful or unsuccessful corporate culture change, the management of an organization cannot properly understand the role played by the culture in creating and sustaining acceptable performance Abstract In overall, the article argues that corporate culture is an important factor towards any strategy implementation in an organization. The need to have a comprehensive organizational culture is, therefore, imperative to all companies. In support of this argument, the article primarily provides factors that have large impact on cultural change in organizations. Based on research on a furniture manufacturing company, Kulvinskienė and Šeimienė (2009) identify the main contributing factors to be incorporation of new technology and inclusion of outside persons in an organization. Reflections From a personal perspective, the article makes plausible arguments on the factors that drive cultural change in companies; hence, I agree with the article’s findings. Firstly, based on the furniture manufacturer, change in corporate culture depends...

Words: 644 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Strategy

...Organizational Culture Name of Student Student Number Institution Course Code Name of Lecturer Date of Submission Corporate Culture and Strategy The corporate leadership council (2003) defines organizational culture as the values, behavior and the political environment in a company. Employee motivation, communication patterns, decision-making strategies, operating methodologies, structure of an organization and its philosophy constitute the elements of a company’s corporate structure. With an organization having an effective culture, the outcome may be a company which accepts and appreciate diversity, shows concern and treats all employees fairly. Further, employees portray utmost satisfaction and pride working for the organization, their (employees) full potential is given equal consideration to allow for the realization of individual goals. Subsequently, communication and collaboration among employer and employee concerning policy making is adequate and the employees are respected and motivated. This paper aims at explaining how companies utilize corporate culture as a key component in organizational change and how these cultures, when applied, may impact on the productivity of the company in question. The effect of organizational cultures, when not aligned with corporate business strategies, will also be discussed. Organizational culture is the distinctive norms, beliefs, principles and behavioral ways in...

Words: 1107 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Corporate Culture Report

...Assessment Task 2 : Group Report Organisational Culture Prepared for: Prepared by: Han Qiyong Jimmy Jin Jin Afiq Kerox Alex 28/2/14 Table of contents: Executive Summary Current Approach to Corporate Culture * Managers * Class Ceiling * Asdasd * Asdad * Asdasd Key Topic Concepts of Corporate Culture in ANZ Bank * Ethical Culture * Asdasd * Asdasd * Asdasdad Conclusion Scholarly Articles Appendix References Executive Summary The aim of this report is to discover, analyse and offer suggestions on the current Corporate Culture of ANZ and the bank industry. Through the report we will uncover how Corporate Culture is formed and how it affects the managers and employees of the organisation. Key elements that might affect corporate culture will be discussed and analysed in detail. Introduction to Organisational Culture Organisational Culture is a set of guidelines designed by the management to educate new employees and keep old employees aligned with the organisation’s goals. Corporate Culture is usually determined by the top management and briefed to the employees by the managers. The managers in turn need to become role models by practicing in theory and action the organizational values. The commitment in senior management to the culture is of utmost importance with rewards given out to employees who reinforce the organization’s values. However, Organizational Culture is like a double edged sword and can be used in...

Words: 2156 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Shaping Organizational Culture

...Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture Laurita M Jones, MBA, MSA Walden University The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture Leaders have a profound impact on their organization and how well their teams perform. Thus, organizational leadership plays an influential role in shaping culture and culture in return forms administration. As a leadership perception, corporate culture has been acknowledged as one of the various elements that leaders can utilize to enhance a dynamic business. The process of establishing the cultural foundation of a company begins with the appointed leadership of organizations. They do so by enforcing their assumptions and expectations of organizational culture onto their followers. High-level superiors are the major sources for communicating norms and core values in organizations. Therefore, it is imperative that leaders convey the organization leadership and cultural principles to their followers for utilizing their leadership powers to support and preserve an organizational culture that is ethical and healthy. With the attentiveness to culture in today’s business entities, and its resilient influence on the behavior of subordinates, leaders in company’s can produce a culture that supports high moral and ethical behavior. The subsequent analysis of leadership and organizational culture will attempt to discuss several mechanisms of leadership, and the role leadership plays in shaping the culture of an organization. Leadership...

Words: 1911 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Research Proposal

...the King of the Kings, whose help and guidance in both worlds is unparallel. We would like to thank to our sir and parents for their help and guidance through out our life. We really want to thank our teacher Sir. Mushtaq Ahmed for his help and to our parents for their moral support to us. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION: 5 RATIONALE AND SIGNIFICANCE: 5 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: 6 CONTRIBUTION: 7 LITERATURE REVIEW/PAST RESEARCH: 7 PROBLEM STATEMENT: 10 THEORATICAL FRAMEWORK: 10 HYPOTHESIS TO BE INVESTIGATED: 12 RESEARCH DESIGN: 12 Methodology: 13 Instrument: 13 Data analysis: 13 REFERENCE: 14 TOPIC: “ROLE OF CORPORATE CULTURE ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE” INTRODUCTION: In the modern business world of today, it is imperative that individuals understand each other as members of the same organization. The study of culture attempts to describe some underlying dynamics...

Words: 4383 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Managing Culture and Change Bhrm 710

...Managing Culture and Change An academic essay: "What is a 'successful corporate culture'? Do successful cultures invariably contain seeds of their own destruction?" Introduction This essay aims to critically analyze and explain the phenomenon of 'successful corporate cultures'. We will first define what corporate cultures are and how they align the values of employees with that of an organization and its goals, vision and mission. We will be then discussing the key elements of successful corporate cultures and what practices businesses can adopt in order to achieve that. This essay will highlight the necessary cultural traits which positively contribute towards achieving organization goals and targets and cultural effectiveness. We will then proceed to examine the different types of cultures and relate them to specific market conditions . Also, how organizational cultures can help corporations gain a competitive advantage by improving financial performance, improving productivity and increasing job satisfaction of its employees. Finally, we will discuss limitations faced by successful corporate cultures and how they can hinder creativity in some cases. The role of changing environmental (social, political and economic) conditions in making good cultures become obsolete will be discussed before reaching a conclusion. Defining corporate culture Culture is a broad and complicated term with a number of possible definitions and meanings. No one term can be used...

Words: 2862 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Sia Coporate Culture

...Table of Content 1.0 Executive Summary 2.0 Introduction 3.0 Mission Statement 4.0 Core Values 5.0 Corporate Values 6.0 Corporate Culture 7.0 Corporate Culture Affect Managers 8.0 Levels of Culture 9.0 Assessing Organisational Culture 9.1 Innovation and Risk-taking 9.2 Attention to Details 9.3 Outcome Orientation 9.4 People Orientation 9.5 Team Orientation 9.6 Aggressiveness 9.7 Stability 10.0 Cultural Web 11.0 Right Culture and right values 12.0 Disadvantage of an Organisation with the Wrong Culture and Wrong Values 13.0 “Right Culture with the Right Values will always produce the best organizational performance” 14.0 Conclusion References 1.0 Executive Summary In this business report, Singapore International Airlines (“SIA”) is the company has been chosen to be the topic for discussion. There will be a few factors that will be discussed. Examples like different culture changes an organization’s competitiveness in the market. We will also be evaluating various objective and methods on how an organization can improve, develop and influence to build a stronger management process. The objective of this report is to analyse and explain how SIA, a Singapore company changes its culture to suit a dynamic changing environment and became a successful company with its corporate values and cultures. 2.0 Introduction Singapore Airlines’ history can be traced back to 1st May 1947. That was when a Malayan Airways Limited Airspeed Consul flew from Singapore...

Words: 2924 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Applying Trompenaars Typology of Organizational Culture to Implementation of Csr Strategy

...Economics Applying trompenaars typology of organizational culture to implementation of csr strategy 1. Introduction Nowadays many authors declare Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in strategic terms as it is no longer seen as the invention of some social activist but important source of competitive advantage. However various researchers still struggle to figure out what shape and utility should the tools of CSR have and what implementation model could be the best to fulfill the business objectives. The study aims to demonstrate whether Trompenaars bipolar model of organizational culture could prove useful while implementing CSR strategy and to propose some good practice in this case. 2. Theoretical framework Culture A lot has changed in world of management since 80s and many leaders tend to ask a question whether corporate culture is still important. However high interest in that area seems to be a sufficient prove that it still is. According to a recent survey by management consultancy Bain & Company, 9 of 10 senior executives believe that corporate culture is as important as strategy for business - - - - - Electronic PDF security powered by www.IndexCopernicus.com 114 Adrian Pyszka, Michał Piłat success1. Corporate culture is described as general constellation of beliefs, mores, customs, value systems and behaviors that are unique for each corporation (Tunstall, 1983). By Schein (199) organization culture is the pattern of basic assumptions that...

Words: 4847 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Whose Turn Is It to Polish Apple

... Page 2 of 5 I. Synthesis Locked in an inward looking, closed culture that was proven effective for quite some time, Apple operated in a double agent corporate environment that eventually turned catastrophic to the organization. The founders, Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, relied on their guiding principles: “Do your own thing, defy the pessimists and ignore the Establishment.” Such custom gave birth to what would be Apple’s “insanely great” Mac, largely patronized and loved by users. When the shortcomings of the existing renegade corporate culture started to surface, Apple’s doomsday was inevitable causing changes in the leadership for a few times. At the time of the case, one of America’s celebrated CEOs, Gilbert Amelio, was invited to take the helm of the organization and was tasked to steer the company away from the imminent crisis it was then facing. Tasked with such great responsibilities of turning the sour crisis into sweet profitability, Amelio had to stand for what he believes would be beneficial to Apple even if he had to breakdown an existing grand old corporate system. Will his successful “chartreuse strategy” for the National Semiconductor Corporation be a duplicable victory story in the case of Apple? II. Point of View Gilbert Amelio, Apple’s New Chief III. Statement of the Problem How would Amelio change the pitch of Apple’s existing corporate culture while laying out a robust corporate operational structure that would enable the company to last for long...

Words: 1636 - Pages: 7