Topic 9

Organisational culture
o What is Culture?

o Components of Culture

o Managing Organisational Culture

o Summary

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 Learning objectives

On completion of this topic, you should be

able to:

!" outline the diversity of definitions for

culture;

!" discuss and comment on different levels

and elements of culture;

!" explain the link between ‘external

environment’ and ‘culture’;

!" identify strategies and reasons for

managing organisational culture and the
constraints involved; and

!" state the benefits of having a unified

culture.

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Introduction

There has been increasing interest in the

notion of organisational culture since the
early 1980's. Not only are managers in
organisations interested in its effects but
they are also interested in maintaining or
changing cultures to increase the performance
of an organisation, or to cope with major
change.

With the ever-growing pressures for high

performance in organisations (in increasingly
competitive external environments)
organisational culture has been recognised as
a factor which can influence organisational
success.

The study of organisational culture is

relatively new and there is still a
considerable range of opinion about its
nature and relevance.

What is culture?

Unfortunately, there isn't one unanimously

accepted definition.

Culture has been interpreted in many ways.

One scholarly study in the field of
anthropology, from which the concept derives,
has listed 164 definitions.

Daft defines culture as ‘‘the set of key

values, beliefs, understandings, and norms
shared by members of an organisation’’.

Whilst this is a definition of culture much

of the literature is more specific and
prefers to use the term ‘organisational
culture’.

Organisational culture can be defined as:

‘‘the dominant values espoused by an

organisation’’,

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TOPIC 9: O r g a n i s a t i o n a l culture
 ‘‘the philosophy that guides an
organisation's policy toward employees
and customers’’,

‘‘the way things are done around here’’,

and

‘‘the basic assumptions and beliefs that

are shared by members of an
organisation’’.

These definitions are very similar to those

identified by Schein in his book
‘‘Organisational culture and leadership’’:

!" observed behavioural regularities;

!" norms that evolve in working groups;
!" dominant values espoused;
!" philosophy that guides an organisation;
!" rules of the game for getting along in
the organisation; and
!" feeling or climate that is conveyed in an
organisation.

A variety of definitions emerge though all

can be accepted as representativeaspects of
organisational culture. To some extent the
variation occurs because of the variety of
disciplines which influences analysis (e.g.
sociology, anthropology) and also the depth
at which culture is deemed to he embedded
into the
organisation (whether culture is seen as a
deep or shallow phenomenon).

These definitions uncover a central theme,

that is, organisational culture refers to a
system of shared meaning. This seems a
satisfactory definition but Schein and others
indicate that this may be an unsatisfactory
approach.

Schein defines organisational culture as:

‘‘the deeper level of basic assumptions

and beliefs that are shared by members of
an organisation that operate

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 unconsciously and that define in a basic
'taken-for-granted' fashion an
organisation's view of' itself and its
environment.’’

The essence of this definition is the

unconsciously accepted or underlying
assumptions which exist in an organisation.

In addition to defining culture in terms of

assumptions and beliefs, Schein accepts that
culture also exists at other levels. The
other two levels are values and artefacts.
These correspond more closely to the ‘shared
meanings’ type definitions, which are
commonly given for organisational culture.

Values are overt statements of what the

organisation finds important or unimportant.
These may or may not reflect the true
underlying culture. They may simply be
managerial desires which are not truly
reflected in the organisation's culture, that
is, espoused managerial values.

Artefacts are manifestations of the culture

(behaviour and physical features) which
express culture in a much more visible
manner.

Even though another writer in this field

Robbins proposes that culture implies the
existence of certain dimensions or
characteristics that are closely associated
and interdependent, he does not probe to the
deeper level of the underlying assumptions.

Schein states that it is the ‘taken-for-

granted assumptions’ which should be used to
analyse the culture and that culture should
be viewed as a property of an independently
defined social unit.

Components of culture

Much has already been said of the elements of

culture. As researchers have shown they
occur at three levels - artefacts, values and

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TOPIC 9: O r g a n i s a t i o n a l culture
 assumptions, the lowest level in Schein's
typology indicating the most deeply embedded
and significant cultural element. Some of
these manifestations are stories, rituals,
material symbols and language.

Managing organisational culture

A point of clarification on the issue of

managing culture is that it is often referred
to as changing the culture. As the concept of
organisational culture is structurally
complex, it will affect most of the aspects
of an organisation:

!" its strategy;

!" its structure, its processes;
!" its rewards and control systems; and
!" its daily routines.

An organisation tends to be motivated to

undergo a cultural change when it perceives
some form of crisis and will typically start
at the strategy, structure, and procedures
level. Management will then try to change its
culture to make it more conducive to the
achievement of organisational goals.

Some of the conditions or situational factors

that are necessary for, or will facilitate,
cultural change are:

!" a dramatic crisis;

!" leadership turnover;
!" life-cycle stage;
!" age of the organisation;
!" size of the organisation;
!" strength of the organisation; or
!" absence of subcultures.
and the process by which management carries
it out.

Cultural change is expected to match the

challenges set by the external environment

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and to aid in integrating the internal
environment of the organisation to meet those
challenges. Staff new to the organisation
will be socialised into the existing culture
of the organisation.

Another key factor in determining whether

organisational culture needs to be changed or
maintained will be how much the culture
supports, rather than impedes, in the
achievement of organisational goals.

A culture can be very strong, but may fail to

enhance the organisation's strategy if it is
incompatible. Similarly, a weak culture may
inhibit the achievement of the organisation’s
goals. It is a matter of determining whether
the culture existing in the organisation is a
positive or negative influence on the
organisation’s success.

The following factors can be assessed and

controlled in order to try to manage or
reinforce a culture:

• what managers pay attention to, or measure

or control;
• reactions to organisational crises;
• managerial role modelling;
• criteria for rewards;
• criteria for selection and promotion;
• organisational myths, ceremonies etc.;
• design of physical spaces, buildings;
• organisational design and structure;
• organisational systems and procedures; and
• the types of information generated.

If an organisation was under pressure to be

innovative and needs to create a competitive
advantage, then management might espouse and
reinforce new values relating to rewards,
selection and promotion by, for example,
rewarding and promoting creativity. Managers
may pay considerable attention to new ideas
which they previously ignored.

The general consensus in the literature seems

to accept that change is possible although
there is considerable diversity in opinion

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TOPIC 9: O r g a n i s a t i o n a l culture
 about how easy it is to bring about. Robbins
intimates that management’s actions can alter
those factors that created the current
culture, since cultures are learned, that is,
change the factors and you should be able to
change the culture. However, if we accept
Schein's definition of culture as the taken-
for-granted assumptions and beliefs of
members of the organisational culture or sub-
culture, then changing culture must be seen
as a slow evolution whereby espoused values
are adopted and eventually become unconscious
influences on people within the organisation.

This suggests that symbolic management,

changing values and manifestations of the
culture are surface actions which may or may
not result in a new culture. The success
ultimately depends on how deeply embedded the
culture becomes.

Certainly, cultures may be easier or more

difficult to change. To some extent this
will depend on the persuasiveness of the
culture and also on its depth. If the
culture is widespread throughout the
organisation it may actually enhance the
chances for change because of the relative
uniformity of culture within the
organisation.

Summary

This topic provides an introduction to

organisational culture. It attempts to
provide useful definitions of ‘culture’ and
‘organisational culture’ and then discusses
how the culture of an organisation is linked
to assumptions and belief and values and
artefacts.

Finally it provides some basic information

about how to implement a culture change
within an organisation.

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 Learning activities
To consolidate your understanding of this topic you should
complete these activities.

Activity 1
This topic discusses the idea of the
‘culture’ of an organisation. How would you
describe the ‘culture’ of your business or
organisation?

Hint: This activity is more about the

‘feeling’ of the workplace as you perceive
it. Is it a ‘good’ place to work? Why? Write
down a list of key words that describe the
culture of your organisation/ business.

Activity 2
How does the culture of the organisation
affect:
• your job performance?
• your job satisfaction?

Activity 3
Look up the mission statement or goal
statements of your organisation. Do these
have an affect on, or influence, the culture
of the organisation? Justify your answer.

Activity 4
When a customer walks in the door of your
organisation/ business, what do you think
the work environment tells him or her about
the culture of the organisation?

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