Ch16

Question 1

Organizational Culture:

Answer 1

Refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations culture

Question 2

Organizational Culture Characteristics:

ITS OPAA

Answer 2

• Innovation and Risk taking: encouraged employees to take risk
• Attention to detail: employees are expected to pay close attention to details
• Outcome orientation: management focuses on results or outcomes rather than technique
• People orientation: management decision takes into consideration the outcomes on people within the organization
• Team Orientation: work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals
• Aggressiveness: people are aggressive and competitive rather than easy going
• Stability: organization maintaining status quo in contrast to growth

Question 3

Dominant Culture:

Answer 3

The main culture that is expressed core values are shared by majority of the organization

Question 4

Core Values:

Answer 4

Primary values of the organizational culture

Question 5

Sub-Culture:

Answer 5

Mini-cultures developed with-in the organization, usually defined by people working in similar or same departments

Question 6

Strong Cultures:

Answer 6

A culture in which the core values are intensely held and widely shared

• No need for micromanagement
• Greater commitment
• Greater influence and member behavior
• Reduces Turnover because of high agreement

Question 7

Culture VS Formalization

Answer 7

• Formalization: creates predictability, orderliness, and consistency.
• A strong organizational Culture: Achieves the same ends without the need of written documents. They also require less management within developing the rules/regulations to guide employee behaviors.

Question 8

Functions of a Culture:

Answer 8

• Boundary-defining role: it creates distinction between one organization and others
• Convey sense of identification for the organizational members
• Culture facilities commitment to something larger than individual self-interest
• Enhances the stability of the social system
  
  • Culture is the glue that holds the organization together by providing the standards for its employees.

Question 9

4 Positive Implications of a Culture

Answer 9

1. Culture Creates Climate: When a person encounters a positive climate for performance they will think about doing a good job more often and often support others
2. The ethical Dimensions of Culture:
   
   • Ethical Work Climate: the shared concept of right and wrong behavior in the workplace that reflects the true values of the organization and shapes the ethical decision-making of its members.
   • An organizations ethical climate powerfully influences the way its individual members feel they should behave.
3. Culture and Innovation: most innovative companies are often characterized by their open, unconventional, collaborative, vision-driven, accelerating cultures.
4. Culture Asset: there are many more cases of business stories due to excellent organizational cultures than there are of successful stories despite bad cultures and almost no success because of bad ones

Question 10

Culture as a Liability

Answer 10

• Institutionalize: A condition that occurs when an organization takes on a life of its own, apart from any of its members and acquires immortality
• Barriers to change: when shared values don’t agree with those that further the organization effectiveness. When an organization is going through changes its culture may not be appropriate.
• Barriers to Diversity: When hiring new employees who differ from the majority in race, age, sex
  
  • The management wants to demonstrate support for the differences these employees bring to the work place. A strong culture that condones prejudice, supports bias, or become insensitive to people who are different can undermine formal corporate diversity policies.
• Barriers to Acquisitions and Mergers: when management look at acquisition and mergers decisions the key factors were financial advantages and product synergy. All things being equal, whether the acquisition actually works seems to have much to do with how well the two organizations culture match up.

Question 11

Sustaining Culture:

Answer 11

• Founders
• Selection: Hiring people that share similar values (Knowledge, skills, abilities)
• Top Management: impact on culture; through words, behaviors, establishing norms, whether risk taking is desirable, freedom managers give employees, dress code, raises, promotion, and rewards.
• Socialization: A process that employees adapt to the organizations culture

Question 12

Creating Culture:

Answer 12

• Founders: Hiring and keeping employees that think/feel the same way they do
• They socialize employees to their ways of thinking/feeling
• Founders own behavior will encourage employees to identify with them and internalize their beliefs, values, and assumptions. When he has succeeded the founder has embedded culture.

Question 13

How employees learn about culture:

Answer 13

• Stories: that circulate around the organization, typically narratives, founders, rules, success etc.
• Rituals: something they repeat as an activity that express and reinforce the key values of the organization, what goals are the most important
• Symbols (Materials): something that shows which employee is important, the degree of egalitarianism top management desires, and the kinds of behavior that are appropriate
• Language: Many organization and sub units within them use language to help members to identify the culture, attest to their acceptance of it and help reserve it

Question 14

3 Stages of Socialization Process

Answer 14

• Pre-Arrival – getting there and what you think it will be like
• Encountering Stage – Start working
• Metamorphosis – Adapting to the job

Question 15

Advantage & Disadvantages of Matching People with Culture

Answer 15

• Advantage of matching people with culture is that if it’s a good match people will be satisfied with the job
• Disadvantage of matching people with culture will result in people quitting or leaving

Question 16

Creating an Ethical Organizational Culture

Answer 16

• Be a visible role model: employees will look to the actions of top management as a benchmark for appropriate behavior. (Send a positive message)
• Communicate ethical expectations: minimize ethical ambiguities by sharing an organizational code of ethics that state the organizations primary values and ethical rules employees must follow.
• Provide Ethical Training: set up seminars, workshops and training programs to reinforce the organizations standards of conduct, clarify what practices are permissible, and address potential ethical dilemmas.
• Visible reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones: appraise managers on how their decision measure up against the organizations code of ethics. Review the means as well as the ends. Visible rewards those who act ethically and punish who don’t.
• Provide Protective mechanism: provide formal mechanisms so employees can discuss ethical dilemmas and report unethical behavior without fear of reprimand.

Question 17

Creating a Positive Organizational Culture

Answer 17

• Building on Employee Strengths
• Rewarding More Than Punishing
• Emphasizing Vitality and Growth

Question 18

Wokr Spirituality

Answer 18

The recognition that people have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community

Question 19

Positive Org Culture Definition

Answer 19

Emphasizes building on employee strengths, rewards, more than it punishes, and emphasizes individual lvitality and growth

Question 20

Spirituality and Organizational Culture

BOST

Answer 20

• Benevolelnce - Sp Orgs value show kindness toward others and promoting the happiness
• Strong sense of purpose - Sp Orgs build their culture around meaningful purpose
• Trust and respect - Sp Orgs characteruzed by mutual trust, honesty, and openness
• Open-mindedness - Sp Orgs values flexible thinking and creativity