1.

How would you respond to someone who made the following statement “
Organizational culture is not important as far as managers are concerned.” Explain.

A common platform where individuals work in unison to earn profits as well as a

livelihood for themselves is called an organization. A place where individuals realize the
dream of making it big is called an organization. Every organization has its unique style
of working which often contributes to its culture. The beliefs, ideologies, principles and
values of an organization form its culture. The culture of the workplace controls the way
employees behave amongst themselves as well as with people outside the organization.

Each business has an organizational culture no matter how big or small. A business can
informally develop a culture without the guiding hand of management or ownership, or
the company can create its own culture using a system of values and performance
standards. Organizational Culture is a very vital part for any organization. It is very
important to know what type of culture or subcultures exist in an organization, what
cultural traits may be desired. Each of us has a unique personality- traits and
characteristics that influence the way we act and interact with others. When we desire
someone as warm, opened, relaxed, shy or aggressive, we’re describing personality
traits. An organization too, has personality that is called its culture.

A manager's role in a company's culture depends on how the business wants the
manager to interact with other employees and how much authority the business gives
the manager. One of the many responsibilities confronting leaders is the creation and
maintenance of organizational characteristics that reward and encourage collective
efforts. The organizational culture stands out as one of the components that are
important to sustaining performance, and competitive advantage, and a good reason for
becoming a great company. The reason for ethical failure in many organizations is the
fact that while leaders concede of culture as a powerful tool that can create and sustain
performance, only few leaders give it the attention it deserves. The cause of ethical
failure in many organizations can be traced to organizational failure of leadership active
promotion of ethical ideals and practices.

It is the management team who is responsible to establish appropriate culture in the

organization such that every employee clearly understands the organizational values
and objectives.Thus, it can be concluded from this that OC is the way of doing things in
an organization which includes everyone in the organization including the managers.
Culture is important in shaping organizational practices and performances. But the
managers need to address various issues to contribute to creating a more
developmental and performance oriented culture in their organization.

2. How would you define the functions of organizational culture? What are the
various manifestations of organizational culture?
Organization is a platform where individuals work in unison to earn profits as well as a
livelihood for themselves. Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions,
values, and beliefs that governs how people behave in organizations.The culture of an
organization is difficult to measure or observe, but it performs many important functions
within an organization.
When combined together organization culture is the “distinctive norms, beliefs, principles
and ways of behaving that combine to give each organization its distinct character”
(Arnold, 2005). Or when said in simple terms it is also said as the way we do things
around here.
Like every individual is different from each other so is an organization’s culture. OC
exists within all organizations and has vast impact on the morale and enthusiasm of its
employees. OC includes an organizations prospects, practices, attitude and values that
hold it together. One can know about a particular OC by the way the organization
interacts with the outside world. It is mainly based on the shared attitudes, principles,
and customs, written and unwritten rules that have been developed over time and are
considered valid.

The guiding function

Organizational culture can play a guiding role of value orientation and behavior
orientation in enterprises and each member of them. This orientation is different from a
traditional management which simply focus on the rigid discipline or system, it
emphasizes to guide the behavior of members of the enterprise from the shaping
organizational culture, to make people accept the common values in a cultural
imperceptibly.

The incentive function

Positive ideas and code of conduct can form a strong sense of mission and a sustained
driving force. Positive organizational culture is a ruler of self-motivation to the
employees, the ruler that they can contrast their own behavior, identify gaps, can
generate the driving force for improving. In the same time, enterprises with shared
values, beliefs and codes of conduct which can be a powerful spiritual pillar, can make a
person generate a sense of identity, a sense of belonging and a sense of security, until
play the role of mutual encouragement.

The cohesion function

The collective strength depends on the cohesion of the organization, the coordination of
the organization's internal condition and ability to control. The cohesion of the
organization, coordination and control can be generated by "rigid connections" like the
system of discipline, but not as good as more effective by "internal binder" like shared
values, beliefs, and codes of conduct.

The constraint function

Excellent organizational culture has the binding effect on the thinking and behavior of
each employee. After a long period of construction of organizational culture, formed
written or convention rules and regulations, ethics and codes of conduct to regulate the
behavior of employees, by this measure, it achieve the controlling of thinking and
behave of workers.

Barriers and Problems Identified Related to Organizational Culture:

1. The project planners in an organization face too many commitments to which
they have to be receptive to proposed adjustments in design.
2. There is lack of consistency in the quality of the project documents and weak,
ineffective guidelines for their preparation.
3. Absence of common standards for project quality and of a mechanism for
assuring it.
4. There is inadequate attention to adopting a consultative and participatory
approach in working with partners and stakeholders.
5. Insufficient internal staff allocations and poor use of professional and technical
capacities to supervise project appraisal, design, management and monitoring.
6. Insufficiency in integrating organizational processes and the needs of project
planning and implementation

The various act of demonstration of organizational culture are:-

i) Behaviors
Typical organizational Behaviors form the most observable level of culture, and
consist of behavior patterns and outward manifestations of culture, such as perks
provided to executives, dress codes, the level of technology utilized (and where it
is utilized), and the physical layout of work spaces. Some notable characteristic
behaviors may have considerable longevity – such as rites, ceremonies,
organizational myths, and “shop talk.”

ii) Values
Values underlie and, to a large extent, determine behavior, but they are not
directly observable (as behaviors are). There may be a difference between stated
and operating values (the values the organization espouses, and those that are
actually “in use”). Organizational values are frequently expressed through
norms–characteristic attitudes and accepted behaviors that might be called “the
unwritten rules of the road”–and every employee quickly picks them up.

iii) Fundamental Assumptions

To really understand culture, we have to get to the deepest level: the level of
fundamental assumptions. An organization’s underlying assumptions grow out of
values, until they become taken for granted and drop out of awareness. These
 levels may be viewed like an iceberg, with the most immediately visible level at
the top, while the others are generally submerged or implicit.

3. Using Hofstede’s cultural dimension framework (attached herewith), how would

you describe the culture of your present organization? Explain. Those who are not
currently employed, using Hofstede’s cultural dimension framework, how would
you describe the culture of your OM Classroom?

My present organization “Makura Creations Pvt.Ltd.” is a sole proprietory firm. The

theory of motivation, attitude and behavior highly persist in the organization. Speaking of
the organization it is a tech company. As it is a sole proprietor there are three levels
informally segregated on the basis of the work performed. The employees come from
different cultural background and with different capabilities. They are hired based on an
informal interview and their capability as per the job requirement. They are given on the
job training.
With this brief introduction of the company the Hofstede’s cultural dimension in the
organization can be described as follows:

● Power Distance: This dimension expresses the degree to which the less
powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed
unequally: beliefs about the appropriate distribution of power in society. The
fundamental issue here is how a society handles inequalities among people.
People in societies exhibiting a large degree of Power Distance accept a
hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further
justification. In societies with low Power Distance, people strive to equalize the
distribution of power and demand justification for inequalities of power. China and
Saudi Arabia are countries with a high Power Distance index.

● Individualism: It measures the degree to which an employee maintains its

unique attributes and the degree to which she becomes integrated into collective
groups. In the organization there are various tasks which an individual has to
perform and various tasks that has to be performed in groups. There is diversity
among the individuals. At the group level this differences have caused a lot of
problems which lead to communication gap between the workers thus leading to
conflicts where one worker doesn’t want to work with another. To handle this
both positive and negative reinforcement methods have been used.

● Masculinity: The Masculinity/Femininity dimension is about what values are

considered more important in a society. The Masculine side of this dimension
represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and
material rewards for success. Society at large is more competitive. Its opposite,
femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak
 and quality of life. Society at large is more consensus-oriented. In the business
context Masculinity versus Femininity is sometimes also related to as “tough
versus tender” cultures. Japan is considered to be a very masculine country,
whereas Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden are considered
highly feminine.

● Uncertainty Avoidance: It measures the employees comfort with unstructured

environments. The leadership form in the organization is autocratic. And being in
manufacturing and packaging sector, no such creativity is required. The job of
the employees is very routine task. As such when some problem arises the upper
level is mostly responsible of handling and solving it.

● Long-Term Orientation: It measures long-term values like perseverance and

thrift, against short term values like respect for tradition, fulfillment of social
obligations, avoiding personal embarrassment. The firm is oriented towards
present and future. Although the firm does looks at its past so that it does not
repeat the mistakes does in the past. The firm has future plans to expand and at
present is working towards its goals to achieve what it desires in the future.

4. How are you contributing to the making of OM classroom culture and how are you
being impacted from it ?

As there is low instability evasion in our class, I minimize my enthusiastic creation by

being quiet and thinking about circumstances before talking. I express interest when I
find contrasts. Because of high power separation I recognize the pioneer's energy i.e.,
our instructor energy to impact our evaluating based upon our execution. I am mindful of
the way that if there should arise an occurrence of any late submission of assignments I
need to confront the teacher and request a reason. As there is low independence I how
regard for age, societies, foundation and intelligence of the class individuals including
the teacher. I normally want to work in a team. I regard conventions, society of the class
and present change gradually. I ask till I am not clear around a theme or topic. The
presence of high long haul introduction in our OM classroom, I indicate regard for
customs and societies of classroom. I don't show luxury or act point less; I abstain from
doing anything that would make another "lose face." Since the nature of learning relies
on upon two way correspondence I am focused on learning.

5. How is your OM Instructor contributing to the making of OM classroom culture

and how is he being impacted from it?
Whenever I imagine of a classroom atmosphere I see myself in a chaotic scene. One of
the most common concerns of teachers is how to manage a classroom full of students.
After all, if the classroom is in chaos, how can learning take place?, and our class was
filled with chaos factors. In our class our OM instructor Mr. Madan Lal Pradhan
understood the role of culture in student development. According to me our OM
instructors believes that the role of culture does not mean learning endless facts about a
great many cultures, but rather coming to see how culture shapes beliefs about learning
and education. When teachers understand cultural differences, they begin to re-examine
and redesign their classroom organization and management in many fruitful ways. As a
result, teaching and learning become easier . This was indeed achieved by Mr. Madan
Lal Pradhan. Throughout his sessions I’ve never found myself in chaos or bored. His
interpersonal skills are extremely remarkable.

Both classroom organization and classroom management have the ultimate goal of
making the classroom environment hospitable for learning. The fundamental task of
classroom management is to create an inclusive, supportive, and caring environment.
How students communicate and interact with each other and the teacher, is also a key to
an inclusive, supportive, and caring environment. Mr. Madan Lal Pradhan always kept a
sort of democratic environment in the classroom.Whether be it take home assignments
like “Coaching the Caterpillar to fly” or in class group works like “Whether Leaders are
Born or Made”, he has always formed both type of work that would help us to compete in
this real world.

Concluding, our Organization Management class taught several real life practical
lessons that would help us to be on the top of our organization or to take our
organization to the top. The culture was friendly and helped us learn many new things
and concepts.