Culture and Change

Question 1

Define values

Answer 1

Attitudes about what people think are important

Question 2

Define beliefs

Answer 2

Things that the group thinks are true or correct about the organization

Question 3

Define norms

Answer 3

Behaviour that is considered appropriate or true

Question 4

What are the four characteristics of organizational culture?

Answer 4

1. Consists of values, beliefs, and norms
2. Shared among organizational members
3. Way of life; tends to be stable over time
4. Has a strong impact on employee behaviour, satisfaction, and organizational performance

Question 5

How is the culture of the organisation reflected in the organisation?

Answer 5

The culture is reflected in how people behave at work; how people interact with each other, what leadership is like, etc.

Question 6

Explain how culture is like an iceberg

Answer 6

Most people understand the culture implicitly; most of it is not clearly visible to those outside the organization

Question 7

Explain what a strong culture is

Answer 7

A culture where all the group members understand the beliefs and values of the organization, and those beliefs and values have a strong influence

Question 8

Explain what a weak culture is

Answer 8

A culture where there is low consensus among all the members of the organization, and there is ambiguity about the beliefs and values of the organization

Question 9

What are the assets of strong cultures?

Answer 9

1. Better coordination and ingroup cooperation
2. More effective conflict resolution
3. Financial success

Question 10

Why might strong cultures succeed?

Answer 10

People are on the “same page”; there’s an overarching goal system to guide their behaviour

Question 11

What are the liabilities of strong cultures?

Answer 11

1. Resistance to change
2. Culture clash (difficult to merge two unique, strong cultures)
3. Pathology

Question 12

Explain how pathology is a liability of strong cultures

Answer 12

A strong culture that is ineffective, undesirable, unethical, unsafe, or irrelevant to the goals of the organization can be very detrimental

Question 13

What is the main contributor to culture?

Answer 13

Organizational leadership

Question 14

What are the three things that affect organizational leadership?

Answer 14

1. Founder or CEO
2. Management
3. Emergent leaders

Question 15

Explain how the founder or CEO can affect the organizational leadership

Answer 15

Organizations often exhibit the personality, beliefs, and values of the founder

Question 16

Explain how the management can affect the organizational leadership

Answer 16

What management pays attention to gets repeated and reinforced; managers serve as role models and their behaviour gets imitated

Question 17

Explain how the emergent leaders can affect the organizational leadership

Answer 17

Influential people not in formal leadership roles can shape the culture

Question 18

How is the culture learned by new members?

Answer 18

Socialization

Question 19

Define socialization in terms of culture

Answer 19

Merging individuals into “the way” things are done, shared attitudes, values, beliefs

Question 20

What are the seven steps through which socialization occurs?

Answer 20

1. Selecting & orientation of employees
2. Debasement and hazing
3. Training in the “trenches”
4. Reward and promotion
5. Exposure to core culture
6. Organizational folklore
7. Role models

Question 21

What are some clues and steps people can use to diagnose a culture? (5)

Answer 21

1. Observe interactions between org members
2. Identify the behaviours that are rewarded and punished
3. Identify the values of the founder/leader(s)
4. Analyse how decisions are made and how people behave, particularly when a situation presents potentially competing values
5. Examine artifacts

Question 22

What are the three types of cultural artifacts?

Answer 22

1. Symbols
2. Rituals
3. Stories

Question 23

What is the purpose of cultural artifacts?

Answer 23

Used to communicate, teach, and reinforce the beliefs, values, and norms of the culture

Question 24

How are cultural artifacts shown in strong cultures?

Answer 24

More people using or displaying artifacts and telling stories. They do rituals and traditions more frequently and with more devotion

Question 25

Define cultural symbols

Answer 25

Visible representations of values and/or beliefs

Question 26

Define cultural rituals

Answer 26

Behaviours that are engaged in repeatedly by organization members

Question 27

Define cultural stories

Answer 27

Narratives that are shared among organization members

Question 28

What are the 6 reasons that organizations may need to change?

Answer 28

1. Competition 2. World politics 3. Economic shocks 4. Technology 5. Info processing and communication 6. People

Question 29

What 6 things can change in an organization?

Answer 29

1. Products and markets 2. Goals and strategies 3. People (HR) 4. Job design 5. Structures and processes 6. Culture

Question 30

What are the three stages of Lewin's model of change?

Answer 30

1. Unfreeze 2. Change 3. Refreeze

Question 31

What happens when you change part of the company (i.e. what are the impacts on the organization)?

Answer 31

Changing one part of the company means you have to anticipate how the other parts of the company will change and how you can accommodate those changes

Question 32

Describe the "unfreeze" stage of Lewin's model of change

Answer 32

1. Show employees that there is a gap between the current state and the desired state. This will motivate people to engage change 2. Reduce the forces maintaining the status quo

Question 33

Describe the "change" stage of Lewin's model of change

Answer 33

1. Develop new behaviours; new values and attitudes | 2. Changing structures and processes, technology

Question 34

Describe the "refreeze" stage of Lewin's model of change

Answer 34

1. Stabilize the organization in a new state of equilibrium | 2. The change is reinforced by mechanisms like the culture, rewards, structures, leadership

Question 35

What are four factors that can inhibit cultural change?

Answer 35

1. Culture develops over many years and becomes part of how the employees think and feel 2. Selection and promotion policies guarantee survival of culture 3. Top management chooses managers likely to maintain status-quo 4. Artifacts that reinforce the culture remain present

Question 36

What are four factors that can facilitate cultural change?

Answer 36

1. The organization faces a dramatic crisis 2. Turnover in leadership 3. The organization is young and small 4. The organization has a weak culture

Question 37

List the 6 things that organizations can do to help ease change

Answer 37

1. Get leadership "on board" 2. Inform members ahead of time 3. Inspire members to accept/want change 4. Reward desired behaviours 5. Involve organizational members in decision making 6. Be a trustworthy organization