Organizational Culture - Week 9

                                                   Organizational Culture

Organization Culture is a System of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations. These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organization develops and maintains a unique culture, which provides guidelines and boundaries for the behavior of the members of the organization (study.com, 2017).

Organization Culture is composed of seven characteristics that range in priority from high and low. Every Organization has a distinct value for each of these characteristics. Members of the organization make judgments on the value their organization places on these characteristics and then adjust their behavior to match this perceived set of values (study.com, 2017).

Characteristics of Organization Culture 

Four Types of Organizational Culture 

  Clan Culture 

This working environment is a friendly one. People have common, and it’s similar to a large family. The leaders are seen as mentors or maybe even as father figures. The organization is held together by loyalty and tradition. There is great involvement. 

 Adhocracy Culture

This is a dynamic and creative working environment. Employees take risks. Leaders are seen as innovators and risk taker. Experiments and innovation are the bonding materials within the organization. 

 Market Culture 

This is a results-based organization that emphasizes finishing work and getting things done. People are competitive and focused on goals. Leaders are hard drivers, producers, and rivals at the same time. They are tough and have high expectations. The emphasis on winning keeps the organization together. Reputation and success are the most important. 

 Hierarchy Culture 

This is a formalized and structured work environment. Procedures decide what people do. Leaders are found in their efficiency-based coordination and organization. Keeping the organization functioning smoothly is most crucial. Formal rules and policy keep the organization together. The long-term goals are stability and results, paired with the efficient and smooth execution of tasks (ocai.online.com, 2017).

Three Levels of Organization Culture

Organization Culture as “the basic tacit assumptions about how to world is and ought to be that a group of people share and that determines their perceptions, thoughts, feelings and their overt behavior.

1.Artifacts

These “artifacts” are the surface, those aspects which can be easily discerned, yet are hard to understand.

2. Espoused Values 

Beneath artifacts are “espoused values” Which are conscious strategies, goals, and philosophies 

3. Basic Assumptions and Values 

The core or essence of culture is represented by the basic underlying assumptions and values, which are difficult to discern because they exist at a largely unconscious level. Yet they provide the key to understanding why things happen the way they do. These basic assumptions from around deeper dimensions of human existence such as the nature of human, human relationships, and activity, reality, and truth (csus.edu, 2017).

Reference

study.com, 2017, organization culture, May 28 2018, <https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-culture-material-and-nonmaterial-culture.html>

Ocai, 2017, organizational culture assessment instrument online, May 28 2018, <https://www.ocai-online.com/>

csus.edu, 2016, organizational culture, May 28 2018,<https://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sablynskic/ch18.htm>