Organisational Culture

Question 1

What are the two contrasting management styles discussed?

Answer 1

Hard vs soft management styles

Hard management focuses on control, monitoring, and evaluation, while soft management emphasizes trust, commitment, and autonomy.

Question 2

Who argued that organizational culture changed the relationship between managers and employees?

Answer 2

Peters and Waterman

They suggested that management should shift from a command-and-control approach to one based on shared values and culture.

Question 3

What are the two determining factors in Deal and Kennedy’s categorization of corporate cultures?

Answer 3

• Organisations’ level of associated risk
• Speed of feedback on decisions/strategies

Question 4

What is the mainstream argument regarding organizational culture?

Answer 4

Culture is something an organisation has; Peters and Waterman (In search of excellence)
- OC is a management tool in aligning stratedgy with company goals.

Advocated by Peters & Waterman and Deal & Kennedy, culture is seen as a controllable asset aligned with strategy and goals.

Question 5

What belief is associated with a strong, unified culture?

Answer 5

Leads to high performance

Question 6

What criticism did Business Week (1984) have about ‘excellent’ companies?

Answer 6

They later performed poorly, suggesting a strong unified culture does not necessarily lead to excellence.

Question 7

What did Willmott (1993) criticize about Peters and Waterman’s work?

Answer 7

Lacked critical investigation

It accepted management claims at face value, ignoring employee interpretations of culture.

Question 8

What did Tom Peters admit regarding his research methods?

Answer 8

They ‘faked the data’

This means that the ideas were based on instinct rather than scientific research.

Question 9

Who criticized the oversimplification of culture in management theories?

Answer 9

Meek (1988)

He argued that culture is richer and more complex than what management can control.

Question 10

What is Linda Smircich’s (1983) view on organizational culture?

Answer 10

Culture is something an organization is

She proposes that culture is integral to the organization, formed through shared meaning and interaction.

Question 11

What does the alternative view of culture reject?

Answer 11

The idea of a single, harmonious culture

Instead, it sees multiple, contested realities within organizational culture.

Question 12

Linda Smirchich’s critique of Peters and Waterman:

Answer 12

1. objectivation of OC; reduces OC to a managerial tool through their structural-functionalist argument (reduces OC to managerialist possession, and can only thus be reinforced with a top-down approach)

• instead argued that OC was something an organisation was- the shared set of values and culture that was integral to the association.

Question 13

Wilmotts’ critique of Peters and Waterman:

Answer 13

• the book accepted managerialist views at face value, ignoring employees’ views.

Question 14

4 basic OC typologies:

Answer 14

1. Work hard/ play hard
2. Tough guy macho
3. Process culture
4. Bet-your- company culture

Question 15

give e.gs of companies that fit with each model:

Answer 15

1. sales & manufacturing
2. stockbrockers, construction
3. govt bureucracies
4. oil companies, pharmaceutical companies

Question 16

what 3 levels does Schein’s (2010) cultural iceberg include?

Answer 16

1. artifacts and behaviours
2. espoused beliefs
3. basic underlying assumptions

Question 17

give a summary of each tier:

Answer 17

1. artifacts and behaviours- visible things that a company does
2. espoused beliefs- established by senior managerial positions and endorsed by the collective group.
3. underlying assumptions - stragegic solutions by the company , ie. quality / health and safety

Question 19

how can altering an organisational structure change its values?

Answer 19

changing its structure affects its goals and principles, thus affecting both the espoused and underlying beliefs.
- ie. self-management teams can create greater creativity through autonomy, leading to potentially greater innovation.

Question 20

who built on Schein’s ideas?

Answer 20

Hatch, through her cultural dynamic model (1993)

Question 21

what does the Hatch Cultural dynamic model do?

Answer 21

focuses on the interplay with artefacts and symbols with beliefs and values.
- adds symbols and symbolic behaviour as a more dynamic + complex approach to OC

Question 22

what are the different tiers of Hatch’s cultural dynamic model?

Answer 22

manifestion, realisaion, symbolisation and interpretation.

Question 23

quick summary on what each of these tiers refer to

Answer 23

1. manifestation:
   how assumptions become beliefs- ie. assumption that employees are hard-working , manifests into empowering practices where people can feel good about an organization.

Question 24

2- realisation

Answer 24

how values are translated into artifacts- ie. rites , stories, rituals

Question 25

3- symbolisation

Answer 25

how these artefacts can symbolise something more to the employee - ie. a certificate may symbolise a promotion.

Question 26

4- interpretation

Answer 26

assumptions influence how artefacts are experienced- ie. the feelings/ thoughts when receiving an award.

Question 27

what did Peters and Waterman argue?

Answer 27

mainstream view- OC used as a managerial technique in aligning values with corporate stragedy.

Question 28

what are the critiques of Peters and Waterman:

Answer 28

1. Big Business week (1984) - released that the 'successful' companies in the 'search for excellence' later performed poorly. Welmett's arguments: 1. Lack of empirical application- data leaked as fake, and basic beliefs and values not measurable, thus difficult to be changed. 2. reinforcing coercive control - if used as a management technique, then this means employers are cultural engineeers, and o.c cannot be applied in a bottom-top approach. 3. o.c form of management control - whereby individuals internalise corporate values and beliefs. - does not fully account for tensions ; ie. April Wright investigation (2016) into Australian emergency ward; found that employees were dealing with tensions in effiency and humanistic care, particularly when applying this to managerial practices. - nurses had to invest time into the more important values. 4. Linda Smirchoch- stated that his argument reduces OC to belonging to management, denies the ability for bottom-to-top influence.

Question 29

give an example of Wilmott's critiques in real world cases:

Answer 29

Enon- 2001 bankruptcy due to accountancy scandal - company used Eschein's model of artefacts with training and internal performance reviews, to establish corporate values of 'Integrity, excellence and Communication'. - scandal displayed an idealogical cover up, where leaders were using these values to cover up their own immoral procedures.

Question 30

give a mainstream critique of Hatch's cultural dynamic model:

Answer 30

1. impractical and too vague to apply- dynamic processes are not measurable. 2. Assumes cultural harmonity , that all employees interpret symbols + artefacts in the same way.

Question 31

give a criticist's critique on Hatch's cultural dynamic model:

Answer 31

- does not fully account for power-dynamic considerations, whilst opening up the possibility of a bottom-top approach, does not FULLY ENGAGE WITH THE THEMES OF POWER , DOMINANCE AND CONTROL.