Lecture 8 slides Flashcards
(26 cards)
What is the organizational culture research so far?
- Research not logically aligned
- Solid predictive validity of measures
- No construct validity of measures → no thorough theoretical explanations
Climate
- What would I do, think, etc.
- Own opinion, own perception
- Perceptions of observable aspects
- it is relatively temporary and easily changed
Culture
- What would most people in the organization do, think, etc.
- Organizational informant
- Expected attitudes and norms within a group
- it is relatively stable, able to withstand and interconnected
Climate vs culture
- Climate → specific, mutable, individual perception
- Culture → fundamental, stable, an individual’s metaperception
- Climate is more ‘proximal’ to outcomes
- Climate is a manifestation of culture
Qualitative vs quantitative
- Social-cultural anthropology, ethnological approach, “organizations are cultures” (emic)
- Functionalistic approach, “organizations have cultures” (etic)
- Meaning/sensemaking vs behavior
Current issues for research
- No consistent theoretical framework, no construct-validated measures
- Thousands of studies on culture fail to
aggregate - “Culture wars” between qualitative/quantitative paradigm did not add
value→ well-argued combined use may add value
What is the focus for future research?
✓Integrate knowledge, develop a robust and comprehensive theory of organizational culture
✓ Include both psychological mechanisms and empirical qualitative approaches
✓ “Focus more narrowly on culture as the norms and values that guide behavior within organizations and act as a social control system.”
What influences culture?
Organizational culture is a system of social culture. Norms operate: informational descriptive and normatively. Norms depend on: content, consensus and intensity, which result in culture strength.
What are the typologies and profiles?
Fundamental human relations
* Etzioni’s (1975) coercive-utilitarian-normative organizations
Fundamental human collaboration
* Goffee and Jones’ (1998) corporate character
Fundamental drivers of success
* Cooke and Szumal’s Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI, thinking styles)
* O’Reilly and Chatman’s Organizational Culture Profile (OCP, social control)
* Cameron and Quinn’s Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI,
based on Competing Values Framework (CVF))
* Denison’s Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS, can be related to CVF)
Typology corporate character
It focuses on tasks and relationships within the company
- low solidarity and low sociability→ fragmented
- low solidarity and high sociability→ networked
- high solidarity and low sociability→ mercenary
- high solidarity and high sociability → communal
Organizational culture profile
Uses a questionnaire to measure 54 values. Participants have to divide all statements, with predetermined answer anchors and distributions. Have to distribute items from being least to most characteristic. It is an ipsative approach.
Values include:
- innovative
- aggressive
- outcome oriented
- stable
- people oriented
- team oriented
- detail oriented
What are competing values frameworks?
Built by analyzing indicators of factors related to organizational effectiveness!
▪ Behavior flows from the values and beliefs one holds
▪ Behaviors result in attitudes (of the actor and of observers) and outputs (effectiveness)
▪ Behaviors are means through which culture is related with desired effectiveness criteria
There are 3 dimensions: focus, structure and means-end.
OCAI
CVD is the underlying foundation. Contains 4 typologies:
- hierarchy control: stability and control and internal focus (integration)
- market complete: stability & control and external focus (differentiation)
- clan collaborate: flexibility & discretion and internal focus (integration)
- adhocracy “create”: flexibility & discretion and external focus (differentiation)’’’
Motivations?
collaborate = humane development & participation
create = innovation, vision, change and new resources
compete = aggressiveness, competition and client focus
control = control and efficient processes
Cultural dimensions
Cultural type = specific kind of culture
Culture strength = power or pre-eminence in affecting what happens
Cultural congruence = level of similarity of culture throughout the organization
What is the quality of CVF?
- consistently acceptable to good reliabilities of the types
- strong predictive validity of types
- sufficient convergent and divergent validit
How is OCAI measured?
Measured using a 6 item questionnaire (content dimensions) based on CVF:
▪ Dominant characteristics of the organization
▪ Organizational leadership
▪ Management of employees
▪ Organizational ‘glue’
▪ Strategic emphases
▪ Criteria of success
According to Cameron and Quinn (2011) particularly suitable for measuring strength, congruence and type. For each item, 100 points can be distributed.
Denison’s Organizational Culture Survey
This focusses on the relation with effectiveness. Most effective is when there is a strong mission, plus high scores on adaptability, involvement and consistency. It is based on different beliefs and assumptions:
- adaptability
- costumer focus
- creating change
- organizational learning
- mission
- strategic directions and intent
- goals & objectives
- vision
- consistency
- core values
- agreement
- coordination & integration
- involvement
- empowerment
- team orientation
- capability development
How can OCP be compared with OCAI?
OCP:
▪ Behavioral norms as manifestations of culture
▪ 54 descriptors that could characterize norms
▪ participants as organizational informants judge least to most characteristic norms
▪ Critical notes: Completeness/actual or desired/factor structure inconsistent
OCAI:
▪ Two orthogonal dimensions based on indicators of organizational effectiveness
▪ Four types, always including competing values
▪ six group of statements with four descriptions of what the organization looks like – role of respondent?
▪ Critical notes: Mix of constructs/competing values/wording items
How can quantitative typologies be evaluated?
Limitations:
- Oversimplification or too abstract to work with;
- Categorization and labeling debatable
- Levels of analysis question; integration bias
Strengths:
- simple to organize
- help to develop theory (identifies relations with outcomes, as a basis for deeper analysis or testing subcultures, comparing organizations, to improve acculturation/socialization)
Expectations of Hartnell et al?
- diagnonally opposed cultural types in the model are not or negatively related
- collaborate is negatively correlated with compete
- create is negatively correlated with control
Clan
- Human affiliation
- People behave appropriately when they have trust in, loyalty to, and membership in the organization.
- Attachment, affiliation, collaboration, trust, and support
- Teamwork, participation, employee involvement, and open communication
- Employee satisfaction and commitment
Adhocracy
- Change
- People behave appropriately when they understand the importance and impact of the task.
- Growth, stimulation, variety, autonomy, and attention to detail
- Risk-taking, creativity, and adaptability
- Innovation
Market
- Achievement
- People behave appropriately when they have clear objectives and are rewarded based on their achievements.
- Communication, competition, competence, and achievement
- Gathering customer and competitor information, goal-setting, planning, task focus, competitiveness, and aggressiveness
- Increased market share, profit, product quality, and productivity
