Socialization

The term socialization is used by sociologists, social psychologists and educationalists to

refer to the process of learning one’s culture and how to live within it. For the individual
it provides the skills and habits necessary for acting and participating within their society.
For the society, inducting all individual members into its moral norms, attitudes, values,
motives, social roles, language and symbols is the ‘means by which social and cultural
continuity are attained’ (Clausen 1968: 5).

Types

Primary socialization

Primary socialization occurs when a child learns the attitudes, values, and actions
appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture. For example if a
child saw his/her mother expressing a discriminatory opinion about a minority
group, then that child may think this behavior is acceptable and could continue to
have this opinion about minority groups.

Secondary socialization

Secondary socialization refers to the process of learning what is appropriate

behavior as a member of a smaller group within the larger society. It is usually
associated with teenagers and adults, and involves smaller changes than those
occurring in primary socialization. eg. entering a new profession, relocating to a
new environment or society.

Developmental socialization

Developmental socialization is the process of learning behavior in a social

institution or developing your social skills.

Anticipatory socialization

Anticipatory socialization refers to the processes of socialization in which a

person "rehearses" for future positions, occupations, and social relationships.
Resocialization

Resocialization refers to the process of discarding former behavior patterns and

accepting new ones as part of a transition in one's life. This occurs throughout the
human life cycle. Resocialization can be an intense experience, with the
individual experiencing a sharp break with their past, and needing to learn and be
exposed to radically different norms and values. An example might be the
experience of a young man or woman leaving home to join the military.

THE ANTECEDENTS OF INDIVIDUAL ATTITUDE TOWARD

IMPROVISATION: A MULTI-LEVEL MODEL
Extant theoretical literature points out that organizational improvisation relies on factors related
to the individual, group and organizational level Drawing on previous theoretical literature, we
propose the following research framework of individual attitude toward improvisation in the IS
development
Individual level
Individual factors influencing improvisational behaviours range from personality traits to
cognitive issues. Developer’s technical cognizance and a good comprehension of the
environment in which the system should be implemented could facilitate the effectiveness of
improvisation. Moreover, improvisation could lead to new and useful ideas through individual’s
creative behaviours which facilitate the generation of a greater number of potential solutions.
Consequently, individual characteristics may have a significant effect on improvisational
behavior in organizations. Relevant factors at the individual level include creativity, personality
and cognitive traits, domain-relevant skills, and background factors.

Creativity
A recurrent parallel is often drawn between the notion of improvisation and that of
creativity. Albeit the two concepts are generally held as distinct improvisation has been defined as
a creative process in which the focus is on how organizational actors attempt to orient themselves
to, and take creative action in, situations and events that are complex, ambiguous, and ill defined.
Consequently, we hold that individual who perceive themselves as creative may be more likely to
engage in
Improvisational behaviors. creative should be more likely to develop solutions by relying on a
small set of information.

Personality Factors.
“Personality factors represent individual characteristics which are likely to be stable overtime”
individual characteristics such as persistence, curiosity, energy, intellectual honesty, internal locus
of control may affect individual attitude to behave in a spontaneous fashion. Another important
issue related to the personality traits can be traced back to the concept of self monitoring. This
represents the propensity to adapt one’s behavior to social cues, using others’ behaviors as a guide
for expressing oneself. Relying on the information from social cues, individuals with a high level
of self-monitoring are more likely to interpret the dynamics of environment and to disconnect
from routinized behavior. In the ISD domain, if an individual is able to understand the complex
environment in which the system is going to be designed and implemented, he or she will be able
to recombine the system requirements without following a routinized path.

Cognitive Factors
The ability of individuals to produce ideas is also related to the individual cognitive processes.
For example, the characteristic of “field independence” refers to the ability of an individual to
focus on relevant aspects of a certain situation, ignoring irrelevant issues (Woodman et al., 1993).
Therefore, an individual with high field independence is more likely to take spontaneous action
because he or she does not have difficulty in separating important aspects from less important
ones. Another central cognitive aspect which may influence the individual attitude toward
improvisation can be traced to the concept of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy refers to judgments of
what one can do with whatever skills one possesses. Individuals with a low level of self-efficacy
are more likely to follow instructions and directions more carefully. Therefore, individuals with a
high degree of confidence in their ability to exploit their skills will be less likely to follow
standard procedures in the development of the system, experimenting with new
pathways and behaving in a spontaneous fashion.
Domain-relevant skills
Domain-relevant skills form the set of cognitive pathways that are followed to solve a given
problem or complete a given task. Domain-relevant skills can be considered as the raw materials
that individuals can use for improvising. Therefore, a great number of skills implies a high
number of potential alternatives that can be generated by the individual when improvisation is
needed. Underscore this aspect by pointing out that “it’s impossible to improvise on nothing”.
Individuals with high knowledge of a certain product or process are more likely to recombine
materials/tools to develop new solutions. Connected to this aspect, Therefore, by leveraging on
the creation of expertise, training allows individuals to rely more on intuition rather than on
planning. In fact, the development of strong expertise allows individuals to spontaneously decide
what to do,
rather than to think consciously about action. By developing a more extensive
set of skills in the ISD domain, employees should be more comfortable in trying new things, as
well as be more aware of different alternatives and opportunities.

Background factors
Individual behavior within organizations may depend upon factors as organizational position and
tenure. A higher position within an organization, as well as a longer tenure, may increase
legitimization and authority. Consequently, we hold that individuals may feel more legitimized to
act outside the tight boundaries of predefined tasks and procedures, thereby engaging more easily
and proactively in improvisational behavior.

Group level
Besides personal characteristics, individuals are immersed in an organizational environment
which may facilitate or constrain the improvisational process. Numerous studies pointed out the
influence of team dynamics, structure and resources may
influence the organizational improvisation In fact several attitudes are socially constructed.
Hereafter, according to our multilevel model, we present the main team level factors which may
influence the individual attitude to improvise. These include teamwork quality, leadership
behaviour, the nature of the task, structural characteristics, and team expertise.

Teamwork quality.
Teamwork quality refers to the degree of collaboration among team members. The way through
which team members cooperate allows managing the interdependencies more effectively. This
aspect has been underscored by who posit that difficulties in managing team process for
knowledge flow may hinder project outcomes. For example, a good quality in the communication
process allows exchanging information more effectively, helping individuals to get the right
information in a short time frame. Moreover, the presence of mutual support is an important issue
in order to
avoid the interpersonal conflict among members. The lack of conflict allows individuals to
cooperate to achieve common goals. The existence of mutual support allows team members to
rely on one another when they are facing with an unexpected situation. Another important issue is
existence of trust among members. Trust can be considered as “the extent to which a person is
confident in, and willing to act on the basis of, the words, actions, and decisions of another”
(McAllister, 1995). On the receiver side, trust allows to reduce the effort verifying the accuracy
and the validity of received information. In other words, members will be more likely to accept
other members’ information because of the presence of trust. Therefore, according to Vera and a
lack of trust and dysfunctional interaction among members brings individual to not have access to
the material needed for improvise, decreasing their attitude to perform spontaneous actions.

Leadership behavior
It is generally acknowledged that leaders’ behavior affects the attitudes and behaviors of
employees. We consider the supervisor’s behavior as a group-level construct as we assume that
members belonging to the same group are likely to be exposed to the influence of the same
supervisor, involving a relatively homogeneous experience that is distinct from those of other
groups. improvisation process involves trial and error and discovery, leader’s behavior should be
consistent with this approach. Given the domain associated with improvisation process, leaders
should be able to provide the necessary resources which could help the individual to improvise.

Task nature
The nature and texture of the task individuals have to perform affects the likeliness
of engaging in improvisational activities, customization are more likely to spur improvisational
behaviour. On the contrary, if tasks are routinized via rigid procedures, individuals may choose to
trace unanticipated events to known procedures, rather than improvise novel solutions. Moreover,
time pressure may spur improvisation, as individuals facing unanticipated and emerging
challenges ineffectively tackled via known procedures struggle to meet deadlines by improvising
alternative solutions.

Structural characteristics
Although empirical evidence on the influence of group composition on members’ outcomes is not
entirely conclusive, a number of recent studies find a positive
relationship between group diversity and innovative behaviors. Group composition is a
multifaceted construct referring to the degree to which individuals within a group represent
different characteristics related to background, age, gender, and so on.
Some researchers suggested that group diversity might increase the attitude of individuals to try
out new pathways based upon the assumption that individuals who belong to non-homogeneous
groups are likely to be influenced by the different perspectives of the other members. The
empirical evidence of the diversity in team
composition has been pointed out also in the information systems domain. In fact leveraging on
the “value in diversity”, team composition stimulates individual in the attempt to find non
obvious alternatives. Moreover, other studies point out group size as a further aspect related to the
structural characteristics. Group size has been considered by researchers as a critical issue related
to group activities and outcome.

Team skills and expertise.

Besides a good coordination among team members, it is necessary that the team possesses a wide
set of skills and expertise in order to allow the individuals to feel
Comfortable to improvise. Expertise represents one of the most critical resources for project
effectiveness. Moreover, expertise has a positive
impact on individual improvisational process because “the larger the set of skills in a work team,
the more numerous are the alternatives for developing new combination of ideas Another
important issue related to the knowledge within the team relies on the
transactive memory. In fact, transactive memory which allows team members to encode, store,
and retrieve relevant related to previous experiences During the development of a complex
information system, the access to diverse memory resources. Helps individuals improvise, by
leveraging on the recombination of past team experience

Organizational level
Organizational factors may represent a facilitating condition for improvisational process
enhancing individual attitude toward improvisation. Recalling the theories of
Improvisation, many authors pointed out the influence of the organizational environment on the
improvisation process and outcome. Following
This theoretical background we point out the main organizational variables which can affect
Individual attitude to improvise. These include organizational support, culture and climate,
Structures and control mechanisms
Organizational support. The concept of organizational support can be traced back to the
“Employees’ perception about the extent to which the organization cares about their well being”
Organizational support is positively related to employees’ effort. In particular,
Employees who perceive that the organization recognizes and rewards their effort to carry out
their job effectively are more likely to perform behaviors which go beyond their formal duties.

Organizational culture and climate.

Hierarchical organizations permeated by authority relations and rigidly-controlled workplaces
are expected to obstruct improvisational behavior. On the contrary, experimental cultures
rewarding exploration and creativity, and tolerating mistakes, are expected to foster improvisation
when errors are regarded as viable sources of learning, and the ideas of others are not blocked,
but encouraged and freely discussed improvisational activities within individuals and groups are
free to emerge and be evaluated.
External factors effects the organization

Economic
Competitors Community customers
environment

Organization

Political &
Regulators Suppliers legal technology
conditions

Economic environment:

Economic environment is an important element of general environment. Inflation, interest

rate, unemployment etc. are its main elements. As these elements directly affect the
business organizations, decisions should be taken after having deeply studied and
analyzed them. These elements do not remain under control of business. So, the business
organizations cannot affect these elements. Rather the organizations are affected by them.
 1. Inflation:
The price of goods and services goes high during the time of inflation. Companies have
to pay high price for the necessary resources to produce goods or services. As a result, the
cost of goods or services increases. The companies compulsorily increase the price of
their goods or services to recover their investment. In this way, the price hike of goods or
services directly affects the demand, or demand goes down.

2. Interest rate:
If the rate of interest increases, the customers do not like to borrow money. Similarly, the
companies also have to pay the interest rate if thy borrow. In this way, the cost of only
increases resulting to price hike of goods or services. This affects demand or demand
goes gown.

3. Unemployment:

the unemployment situation also affects the demand of goods or services. So, this is also
one of the important elements of economic environment. Companies get good chances to
select employees. As only a small number of people decrease. As a result, the demand
declines.

Competitors:

Competition is very important element of task environment. It directly affects

organizations. Organizations should analyze competition to form clear strategy for giving
satisfaction and expansion of market share. The competitors of an organization are other
organizations which compare for resources.

Community

social responsibility as a managerial obligation to take actions that protects and improves
both the welfare of society as whole and the interests of the organization.

Socio-cultural environment:

Socio-cultural environment is one of the important elements of general environment. This

include population, pressure groups, reference groups, lifestyle, social classes, religion,
language etc. these elements directly affect organizations, so decisions should be taken
only after their deep study and analysis.

Demography:

The elements such as growth of population, size of population, age group, population
distribution, urbanization, migration, etc. are included in demography. These elements
affect business organizations. So a manager should analyze such demographic elements
for taking rational decision.

Pressure groups:

Pressure groups do different activities for different social and group interests. Such
activities affect business organizations. Consumer, civil society, human rights
organizations, woman organization, environment protection group etc. are the pressure
groups. So a manager should also analyze the pressure groups and their activities for
taking proper decisions.

Reference groups:

Reference group is also called affecting group. Such group binges change in the
consumers behavior. For example: famous film stars, musicians, other popular
personalities fall in reference group. They can bring changes in consumer’s life style,
fashion, behavior belief etc.

Life style:

Social change brings change in the life style of people. The life style of people is
expressed in their activities, behavior, interest views or ideas etc. such changes in people
affect business organizations. Os, a manager should also study and analyze such things.

Social class:

All the people do not belong to the same class in any society. Some are rich and some
others are poor. On the basis of middle class and lower class. Generally the interest,
capacity of expenses and behavior of the people of same class become similar. Such
social classes affect business organizations.

Religion:

Religion is an element of socio- cultural environment. Religion also affects business

organization. Os, business organization should think over this element. The consumer’s
groups may be Hindu, Muslim, and Christian etc. so, a business organization should think
over religion also.
Language:

the other important element of socio-cultural environment is language. Language works

as the communication media. It directly affects organizational activities. English,
Chinese, French, Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali etc. are the languages used by consumers.
Languages are different in different countries. Various languages can be spoken in a
country. So, language is also and important element of socio- cultural environment.

Customer:

Those who purchase the products or services of an organization are called customers.
Customer may be individuals or organization. Schools, hospitals, government agencies,
whole sellers, retailers, producer etc. are the organizations which are the customers of
other organizations. Organizations develop different programs to satisfy their customers.

Political & legal environment:

Political and legal environment is also included in general environment. Political

philosophy, political system, political organizations, legal system, court, legal
administration etc. are included in this. Theses elements also do not remain under the
control of organizations. So, decisions should be taken after deep study and analysis of
these elements.

Political philosophy:

Political philosophy may be democratic or socialist or mixed. In democratic countries

private companies play important roles. In the socialist philosophy the government plays
important roles. In the mixed political philosophy, the political philosophy, the role of
both the private sector and state play important roles. So, business organizations should
analyze political philosophy also. In Nepal, both the private and government sectors have
important roles.

Political system:

Political system includes political ideology, election prices, the process of government
formation etc. Besides, political stability or instability also consists in it. This factor also
affects business organization.
Political institution:

This includes executive (Government), legislative (Parliament) and judiciary (court of

law). These political institutions also affect business organizations.

Legal System:

The things what business organizations can do and what they cannot do are stated in legal
system. Besides, the rights and interests of labors and consumers are also clearly
explained.

Court:

Court is also included in the environment of business. Court solves the legal problems.
There may be different types of courts according to the level and nature of legal
problems, court settle disputes.

Administration of law:

Administration of law is also one of the elements to affect business organization. This
includes the law implementation bodies. They are government bodies, police, advocates
etc.

Suppliers:

Suppliers are those organizations which provide resources to business organizations. It is

good for any organization to keep long term relationship with suppliers for quality,
effective and prompt delivery of resources. Suppliers may be of different types. They are
raw material supplier, machinery supplier, human resource supplier, financial resource
suppler etc.

Regulators:

Regulator controls the policy and behavior of an organization. So the organization is

affected by his activities. The regulators are also of two types. They are Regulatory
Agencies and Interest groups. Regulatory agency is a unit formed by government which
provides protection to people an organization by curbing unfair business practices. It
protects consumer rights. Interest groups are formed to influence an organization. Such
groups works for the interest of its members or group.
Technological environment:

The other important element are technological environment. The level of technology,
pace of technology, researches and development budget technology transfer etc. are
included in technological environment. These elements also directly affect business
decision. So, the managers should regularly study and analyze technological
environment.

Level of technology:

The level of technology is labour and capital dominated. Labor dominated technology
uses much manpower whereas capital dominated technology uses modern machineries
and equipments.

Pace of technology:

Technology is dynamic. Its pace of change is very fast. So a manager should adopt
changing technological environment.

R & D budget:

Customer’s needs keep on changing. Old technology may be useless to fulfill the
changing needs. So it is necessary to develop new technology. Research and development
is the main basis of development of new technology. So a manager should pay attention
towards this aspect.

Technology transfer:

Top import new technology from developed countries to technologically poor countries is
called technology transfer. Technology can be transferred trough projects, multinational
companies, technical assistance, trade etc.

Organizational Culture:
Organizational Culture:
Definition: The pattern of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions considered to be the
appropriate way to think and act within an organization.

Features of culture:
 Sharing of culture between members of the organization
 Culture helps members of the organization solve/understand problems internally
and externally
  Beliefs and expectations that have worked over time are taught to and believed by
members who join the organization
 The assumptions and beliefs of the culture strongly influence how people
perceive, think, and behave within the organization

Note:
 Not every group develops culture, but a group that has existed for a while and has
had shared learning’s will have evidence of culture.
 When we talk about a organization’s culture, we are referring to its dominant
culture. This is the macro view that gives culture its distinct personality.

Levels of Culture
1) Visible
 On the surface, or visible level of a culture there are artifacts. Artifacts are things
that an individual can see, hear, and feel such as dress policies. Artifacts also
include stories, rituals, material symbols, and language.
2) Invisible
 Invisible culture deals with the beliefs, values, and assumptions that make up
the underlying, invisible culture of an organization.

Characteristics of Culture:
1) Innovation and Risk-Taking.
 The degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and take
risks.
2) Attention to Detail.
 The level of precision, analysis, and attention to detail that the employees
are expected to work at.
3) Outcome Orientation.
 How important results and outcomes are compared to the techniques and
processes used to achieve these outcomes.
4) People Orientation.
 The degree to which management’s decisions take into consideration the
effect of outcomes on people within the organization.
5) Team Orientation.
 Arranging Activities involving teamwork rather than individual work.

6) Aggressiveness.
 The level of aggression and competition that exists amongst members.
7) Stability.
 The degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the
status quo in contrast to the organizations level of growth.
Creating and Sustaining Culture

How is a culture established?

A culture begins with the ideas of the organization’s founder. This sets the precedent for
the basic philosophies of the workplaces culture. The management must strive to find
employees that agree with the established beliefs of the organization in order for the
organization to thrive.

How a Culture Begins

The founders of an organization have a general idea of what they would like the culture
of the organization to be like. They strive to communicate their ideas to their employees
to create their ideal culture. There are three ways that culture is created:

 The founders only hire and retain people who reflect their ideals.
 They then make sure their employees are familiar with their ideals through
socialization and indoctrination.
 The founders act as role models for the other employees in the organization.

Keeping a Culture Alive

Organizations utilize their human resources to help sustain the organization’s culture. By
keeping experiences between employees similar, punishing deviations from the culture,
and rewarding behavior that supports it the culture is maintained. The three main forces
that keep a culture alive are selection, top management, and socialization.

Selection helps maintain culture because it allows managers to choose employees who
will work well within the culture and not counter to it. Through selection managers can
seek out ideal employees and pinpoint positive and negative traits without having to hire
them first. This allows managers to weed out potential troublemakers.

Top management provides the role model for other employees. The behavior of top
management helps employees to see what traits are desirable within the organization.
Also top management’s definition of the workplace’s culture can change the behavior of
the organization’s employees.

Socialization
Definition: The process that adapts employees to the organizations culture.

Socialization Model
The three stages in the Socialization Model are as follows:

Pre-arrival Encounter Metamorphosis

Stage Stage Stage

Stage #1: Pre-arrival

Definition: This is the period of learning in the socialization process that occurs before
a new employee joins the organization.

Pre-arrival: Anticipatory Socialization

• Happens before joining an organization or taking a new job
• Prepares the person for organizational entry
• First glimpse of the organization’s culture
• Develops a person’s expectations or beliefs about the organization

Pre-Arrival Exposure
– Recruitment advertising: presentation of the organization
– Company recruiters: campus interviews
– Internships: experience the organization while still a student
-Screening and selection devices: written tests, oral interviews, job simulations

Stage #2: Encounter Stage

Definition: The Stage in the socialization process in which a new employee sees what
the organizations is really like and confronts the possibility that expectations and
reality may diverge.

Entry/Encounter Stage (“Breaking In”)

• Crosses the boundary of the organization and enters this second stage of socialization
• Brings expectations from the anticipatory stage
• Compares expectations to the reality of the organization
• Often eager to “learn the ropes”
• New self-image

– The intent of the organization

– Focuses on pivotal and relevant role behaviors
– Role clarification

• Teach tasks, duties, and responsibilities organization: immediate supervisor

• Immediate workgroup

Process has three steps

• Unfreezing: Discard Old Self-Image
• Changing: Move To New Self-IMAGE
• Refreezing: Puts The New Self-Image Solidly In Place

Stage #3: Metamorphosis Stage

Definition: The stage in the socialization process in which a new employee adjusts to
the work group’s values and norms.

Change: Metamorphosis (“Settling In”)

• Change in new employee as the entry/encounter stage flows into the metamorphosis
stage
• Often clear separation from entry/encounter stage with rites and rituals (graduation)
• The word metamorphosis emphasizes the extraordinary changes that can happen
• Successful resolution of multiple socialization demands
• Comfortable in new role
• Some mastery of job requirements
• Acceptance of obvious values
• Adjusted to group norms
• Self-confidence up; anxiety down

Results
– Rebellious response
• Rejects all aspects of role
• Socialization failure
– Custodial response: accepts existing role
– Innovative response
• Content Innovation: changes role
• Role innovation: redefines role; a form of accepting rebellion

This may be done through 5 different methods:

1) Formal vs. Informal
 Formal Socialization occurs when the new employee is segregated from
the group and placed in training programs and orientation groups.
 Informal Socialization occurs when the new employee is placed directly
into their jobs and expected to learn from those around them.
2) Individual vs. Collective
 Individual Socialization occurs when an individual is socialized
individually.
 Collective Socialization occurs when a group of people are socialized
together.
3) Fixed vs. Variable
  Fixed Socialization refers to the fixed schedule given to employees that
outlines specific points in their career that will allow them to advance in
their job.
 Variable Socialization refers to the flexible time period that employees
have to advance through in the job.
4) Serial vs. Random
 Serial Socialization is when a figure head or role model trains and guides
the new employees.
 Random Socialization occurs when a new employees is left on his or her
own to figure things out.
5) Investiture vs. Divestiture
 Investiture Socialization occurs when assumes that employees previous
qualities and qualifications are necessary for success in the job.
 Divestiture Socialization assumes that employee’s previous qualifications
and qualities are not adequate for the job and need to be modified and or
changed.

Culture Typology
1) Networked Culture
 High on sociability, low on solidarity
 Members are viewed as friends and family and individuals willingly give
assistance to others

2) Mercenary Culture
 Low on sociability, high on solidarity.
 Organizations are fiercely goal-orientated and individuals are intense and
determined to meet goals.
3) Fragmented Culture
 Low on sociability, low on solidarity.
 Individuals do not identify with the organization and all individuals are judged
individually based on their productivity and quality of work.
4) Communal Culture
 High on sociability, high on solidarity
 People in an organization value both friendship and performance. Individuals
have a sense of belonging but there is still a ruthless focus on achieving a goal.
 Four-Culture Typology

High

Networked Communal
(Passive-defensive) (Constructive)
bi
lit
ci
S
o

Fragmented Mercenary
(Aggressive-Defensive)
Low

Low Cohesiveness High

What does Culture Do?

Cultures Functions
 It has a boundary defining role, creates distinctions between organizations
 Creates a sense of identity for organization members
 Creates commitment to something larger than individual self interest
 Enhances stability – Is social glue that holds the organization together by
 providing appropriate employee standards
 Control mechanism – that guides and shapes the attitudes and behavior of
 employees

Note:
 As organizations widen spans of control, flatten structures, introduce teams,
reduce formalization, and empower employees, the shared meaning provided by a
strong culture insures that everyone is pointed in the right direction.
Culture as a Barrier to Change

 Culture is a liability when the shared values are not in agreement with those that
will further the organizations effectiveness
 When an organization’s environment undergoes rapid change, the organizations
entrenched culture may no longer be appropriate
 Must be able to adapt culture to the current environment

Culture as a Barrier to Diversity

 Strong cultures put considerable pressure on employees to conform

 Strong cultures can eliminate the unique strengths that people of different
backgrounds bring to the organization
 Strong cultures can be a liability when they support institutional bias or become
insensitive to people who are different

Culture as a Barrier to Mergers and Acquisitions

 Cultural compatibility is a large concern

Changing Organizational Culture

 Very hard to accomplish

 To accomplish a change in culture requires changing everyday policies, practices,
procedures and routines
 Usually occurs when there is a crisis that undermines the status quo and calls into
question the relevance of current culture
 Rate Your Classroom Culture
(P. 360 in text)

Listed here are 10 statements. Score each statement by indicating the

degree to which you agree with it.

If you strongly agree, give it a 5. If you strongly disagree give it a 1.

1) My classmates are friendly and supportive.

2) My instructor is friendly and supportive.
3) My instructor encourages me to question and challenge her as well
as other classmates.
4) My instructor clearly expresses her expectations to the class.
5) I think the grading system used by my instructor is base on clear
standards of performance.
6) My instructor’s behavior during examinations demonstrates her belief
that students are honest and trustworthy.
7) My instructor provides regular and rapid feedback on my
performance.
8) My instructor uses a strict bell curve to allocate grades.
9) My instructor is open to suggestions on how the course might be
improved.
10)My Instructor makes me want to learn.

Add up your score for all the statements except number 8. For number 8,
reverse the score (strongly agree=1, strongly disagree=5) and add it up to
your total. Your score will fall between 10 and50.

A high score, >36, describes an open, warm, human, trusting, and supportive
culture.

A low score, <26, describes a closed, cold, task orientated, autocratic, and
tense culture.