Organization of Business

Resit Assignment

Organizational Culture
Table of Contents

Literature Review ................................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 3

Essay ............................................................................................................................................................ 6

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 6

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 9

References .............................................................................................................................................. 10

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction
‘Organizational Culture’ has continued as a recurrent topic of emphasis and study that
has encompassed fields of management, those related to HR and others that are focused upon the
behavior of individuals as well as groups within organizational entities (Sun, 2009). In fact,
‘organizational culture’ as a dominant research variable as often been argued as a factor that is
interlinked with behavior, company performance, company success and also in many cases
culture is set to differentiate one business corporation from the other (Ahmad, 2012).
Nevertheless, culture for business corporations is often defined or explained in terms of its
strength where some corporations are argued to possess a highly strong culture whereas others
are denoted as having a mild or weak form of culture (Mujeeb & Ahmad, 2011; Coleman, 2013).

Before discussing a ‘strong culture,' it is necessary to understand literature definitions of

‘organizational culture’ and its explanation. Manetje & Martins (2009) defined it as, the
comprehensive collection of the beliefs and the applied set of principles that govern the way in
which think, behave and act at the organization. Likewise, Sun (2009) defined it as the collective
tendency of behavior and action scene within an organization that commonly reflects how people
within the business behave or react towards any situation or event. Alternatively, Green (2012)
contended that the term organizational culture explains what exactly is approved as the norm of
human behavior and their action and also stated that since invariably all the values or principles
are highly different between companies it makes the organizational culture also highly different
in each case. Consequently, researchers who have examined ‘Organizational Culture’ have often
defined it to represent unique elements/characteristics applicable to a given business corporation.
Researchers such as, Ahmad (2012) and also Coleman (2013) argued that culture for a given
corporation would be delineated in terms of its business policies, the accepted practices and also
the extent to which people consider specific events or actions as right or wrong.

Consequently, ‘Strong Culture’ has been presented as one having hallmarks of the people
having a clear understanding about the applicable organizational culture and showing these
within all of their behavior or actions within the given corporation (Coleman, 2013).
Alternatively, Tsai (2011) explained that under conditions of strong culture within any given

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organizational unit that would be clear understanding of the values that are expected on part of
every given organizational personnel

Alternatively, ‘Strong Culture’ has been argued to be connected with organizational

personnel and managers having a clear idea and wanting to take actions and ensure their
behavior is compliant with the core set of organizational values (Tsai, 2011; Ahmad, 2012). In
other words, Khan & Shabbir (2013) explained strong culture is very essentially characterized by
having immense efforts and attempts by the people to try and comply with the expectations or
beliefs of the company. Moreover, researchers like Mujeeb & Ahmad (2011); Coleman, (2013)
clearly specified that under strong culture, there was highly limited necessity for specifying any
direction or policy for controlling personnel-related behavior or conduct because it would
already be clear to them what was required and they would not need additional direction on how
to behave or her to perform within the organizational unit.

Alternatively, French (2011) differentiated cultures found amongst organizations

regarding categorizing them as strong or otherwise those that are essentially weak. He argued
that an organizational unit that had a characteristically weak culture would definitely lack
similarity in terms of thought, action and practice amongst its personnel. Tsai (2011) argued that
weak form of organizational cultures would see a highly limited and lacking set of behavior,
understanding and also practice amongst the different categories of workers or employees since
each one would have a differentiated idea of what exactly is the company’s existing
organizational culture.

Regarding potential benefits are argued to arise from strong culture, most researchers
such as French (2011) as well as Wilson (2013) confirmed greater clarity amongst the personnel
on what exactly they need to do, that there would be higher levels of unity and similarity of
thinking and practice leading to lower number of conflicts when there was an organizational unit
or corporation with highly similar or a strong form of culture. Therefore, such strong forms of
culture were regarded by them to be hallmarks of highly successful organizational entities of
corporations. Likewise, Khan & Shabbir (2013) argued that organizational units would most
likely work together in unison when there is the presence of strong culture due to the reason that
they all would feel similar items or points are important.

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 Nevertheless, French (2011) as well as Coleman, (2013) also cautioned that in some
cases the characteristic presence of a highly strong form of culture could be the reason that drives
high level of rigidity and inflexibility to be prevalent amongst all levels of organization and
therefore make it very restricted in terms of flexibility.

Conclusion

Therefore, organizational culture is cumulatively concerned about the general as well as

the overall set of behaviors and assumptions and it may either take a strong form under which the
same values/practices are to be important amongst all personal. Alternatively, it may take weak
form where there are different views held by the personnel on what exactly is important or
required from them as part of the cultural framework of activity

(900 Words)

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 ESSAY

Introduction
‘Organizational Culture’ has probably been the most emphasized and examined subject
within the field of organizational behavior related studies (Sun, 2009). In simple words, any
conceptualization of organizational culture often deals with the dimensions of ‘collective’
behavior as well as associated components of values and attitudes. It is highly common to see
organizational units wherein the characteristic traits/features of its culture are very evident in all
the behavior, action or decisions that are made within the organization (Wilson, 2013). The
degree to which such clarity exists regarding organizational culture is measured in terms of its
strength. There are two opposites that are considered to exist as far as organizational culture is
considered which is either that of being ‘strong’ or otherwise that of being ‘weak.' Each of these
potential categories of culture has a distinct outcome and may be argued to have a separate role
from the other. The purpose of this essay on the strength of organizational culture is to consider
in particular what role does strong culture have within an organization (French, 2011).

Most definitions of ‘Strong Culture’ make it evidently clear that a strong culture is
reflected in the strength of the extent to which certain organizational based values or otherwise
central beliefs are widespread and showcased amongst all of the personnel. Correspondingly,
when the central cultural dimensions like beliefs or corporate values are very widespread among
all of the personnel, then it becomes a case of having a strong culture. For example, if values of
honesty and integrity are centrally desired organizational values and if all of the staff make sure
that they are honest and work with integrity with all of the given corporation’s stakeholders like
suppliers, customers, etc. then it is a case of having strong organizational identity since the
desired behavior is very widespread amongst all personnel (French, 2011).

‘Clarity’ is a major point in favor of possessing strong cultures since it signifies a culture
where each person knows what is desired or wanted by the corporation. For example, if the
managers and directors of a business corporation continuously focus on the performance of
employees then all of the business policies, as well as business practices in such a corporation,
will be solely focused on performance. Therefore, under a strong form of culture with clearly

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defined and specified values, there will be a high level of clarity to make it clear to the personnel.
In this way, strong culture arguably plays a very vital role in guiding staff/workers (Sun, 2009).

‘Flexibility’ within the organizational entity may also be argued to be a role essayed on
the part of the strong culture. Undoubtedly, when there is mutual and common understanding
amongst managers and employees about what is important or what values or behaviors are
desired then there is a very limited need for having many control structures or business
policies/practices (Wilson, 2013). In other words, organizational entities do not need to have a
high level of controlling policies because all the decisions itself will be towards what is desired
or preferred by the collective all of the organization because it is a case of a strong organizational
culture, where everyone knows what is required on what should be focused upon (French, 2011).

‘Collective thought and action’ also becomes highly probable role to be essayed under
strong forms of organizational culture (Coleman, 2013). When culture is strong, the central
meaning is that everybody shows the same set of desirable behavior/action, and there is a limited
deviation. For instance, in certain organizations like South-West Airlines, the culture is highly
supportive of giving the customers and overall positive flying experience (French, 2011).
Therefore, the collective efforts by the airline staff and officers at South-West Airlines are all
devoted towards the same main point of customer support and service. In other words, if an
organization like southwest airlines did not have a strong culture being based on customers then
some of the airline employees may not feel customers are important but they may consider
themselves important, and therefore, their decisions would go against business practices of the
airline.

“Leadership thought and action” is another valuable role supported by strong culture. A
strong culture found within organizational units will give leaders a clear description and
viewpoint of exactly what they should focus on as leaders (Sun, 2009). For instance, in those
organizational entities wherein employee growth and progression is important or part of its
culture then it is relevantly clear to leaders within such an organizational entity that they should
be trying to develop the potential and capabilities of the employees because it is part of the
culture itself (French, 2011). So, regarding strong culture, it does get defined that these should be
prevalent and present for guiding those at the top of the organization. Walmart Inc., which is a
hugely popular and similarly hugely successful retailer, has been consistently emphasizing

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values of transformational leadership or those of making organizational employees work up to
the highest level of their own performances (Coleman, 2013). Therefore, in Walmart Inc. It is
very clear to the managers that they should try to practice transforming their employees through
the key characteristics of such a leadership style.

Likewise, consistent decision-making amongst all organizational levels also directly

transpires due to a strong form of organizational culture being prevalent (Coleman, 2013). First,
strong cultures involved a replicated series of characteristic traits or values seen amongst a
majority of the workforce such that each one identifies and understands what is important or
critical, and this allows them to take consistent decisions and show consistent behavior. For
example, if the organizational climate is repeatedly emphasizing aggressive business growth than
all of the managers will take and support business decisions in which the company will attempt
to grow such as may be a business acquisition in which all the company members agree that this
is a good choice and agree with this decision (French, 2011). Secondly, since principles and
values of the culture or highly repeated on a regular basis within the organization it will enforce
a high degree of similar business policies irrespective of differentiated operating units. For
instance, at multinational corporations such as Nike Inc. the same principles of customer focus
and high-quality products and services are emphasized upon in the head office as well as the
branches of the organization leading to consistency (Sun, 2009).

Alternatively, “strong culture” is highly desired as a means of a corporation avoiding the

several negative repercussions that come when it has “weak culture.” A primary characteristic of
organizational units that have a weak climate is that there will not be a clear definition of
objectives or company values. For example, if the company does not define values such as “open
communication” or otherwise that of having “collaboration” it will be impossible for
organizational staff to understand how they had to think and behave at the work front or
workplace because they have no reference point or culture (Wilson, 2013). For example, under
the form of culture it may be possible that different employees will act very differently whereas
some may show a positive customer orientation other may not show these and so behavior and
action within the company will be highly differentiated under different cases (Sun, 2009).

Therefore, when consistency is preferred and thoughts and actions are required to be
guided within the collection of business related decisions and actions then it is necessary for any

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given organizational entity to foster and focus upon having the requirement of strong culture
whereby high degree of clarity exists. Although, many argue strong culture brings in high level
of inflexibility and may not be desirable, yet there is only limited evidence or circumstances
under which weaker culture may be said to be desired. In fact, weaker culture has many major
limitations that prevent organizations from successfully displaying clarity amongst its personnel
so in the case of the culture of the employees are highly likely to go around without clarity and
taking decisions that are uncertain and differentiated from each other and therefore may be
largely detrimental to the business operations and activities (Wilson, 2013).

Conclusion
Conclusively, “organizational culture” is argued to be a strong characteristic under
circumstances of it being widely evident, understood and displayed amongst a majority of the
organizational personnel. Correspondingly, a weak form associated with culture is where there is
limited clarity or rather there is ambiguity in understanding what is being preferred, desired and
what should be focused upon. So, it is concluded about the strong culture that the primary onus
remains upon making it clear what should be done or what values are important without
expressly stating these within policies and practices. In other words, a strong culture is one that
collectively guides all of the thoughts and actions are seen in the workplace or at the work
organization progressively without compromising upon these. Moreover, strong cultures will not
only unify collective action but also guides leaders at all levels and in this way it also lays the
basis for having consistent decisions and business actions to take place. Therefore, strong
culture, as seen under most circumstances has been widely favored and preferred as a means of
each organization being able to define important central values and collective desirable trends or
traits.

(1800 Words)

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 References

Ahmad, M. S. (2012). Impact of organizational culture on performance management practices in

Pakistan. Business Intelligence Journal, 5(1), 50-55.

Coleman, J. (2013) Six components of a great corporate culture. Available at:

https://hbr.org/2013/05/six-components-of-culture (Accessed: 14 June 2016).

Cui, X., & Hu, J. (2012). A literature review on organization culture and corporate performance.
International Journal of Business Administration, 3(2), 28.

French, R. (2011). Organizational behaviour. John Wiley & Sons.

Green, T. J. (2012). TQM and organisational culture: How do they link?. Total Quality
Management & Business Excellence, 23(2), 141-157.

Khan, A. R., & Shabbir, L. (2012). Impact of organizational culture on organizational

performance: an overview. Interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business, 3(9),
975.

Manetje, O., & Martins, N. (2009). The relationship between organisational culture and
organisational commitment. Southern African Business Review, 13(1), 87-111.

Mujeeb, E., & Ahmad, S. (2011). Impact of organizational culture. International Management
Review, 7(2), 52.

Sun, S. (2009). Organizational culture and its themes. International Journal of Business and
Management, 3(12), 137.

Tsai, Y. (2011). Relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job
satisfaction. BMC health services research, 11(1), 1.

Wilson, F. M. (2013). Organizational behaviour and work: a critical introduction. Oxford

University Press.

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