Introduction
Basically, organizational culture is the personality of the organization. It is one of those terms that are difficult to express distinctly, but everyone knows it when they sense it. For example, the culture of a large, for-profit corporation is quite different from that of a hospital, which is in turn quite different from of a university. You can tell the culture of an organization by looking at the arrangement of furniture, what they brag about, what members wear, etc. -- similar to what you can use to get a feeling about someone's personality.
A number of studies have shown that organisational culture does make difference with respect to long-term performance. For this to happen, the culture must be rare, adaptable and non-imitable. Even though Organisational culture is manageable, the direction and impact will not always be subject to full control. This will imply that many leaders need to rethink how they view the organisation, how they set the strategic direction, and how they manage people processes in their organisation.
This assignment will focus on organisational culture in AstraZeneca, Lund, Sweden.
Theories of organisational culture
Organisational researcher originally focused strongly on the surveying of the corporate climate, but in the 1980s, the organisational climate concept was to some extent replaced by concept of organisational culture. Climate was redefined as the visible expression of organisational culture. Organisational culture is said to mean, for example, an organisation’s values, an organisation’s generally accepted system of meaning or an organisation’s operating philosophy.
According to Schein’s theory, organisational theory, organisational culture is defined as “A ...
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...ow they view the organisation, how they set the strategic direction and how the manage people process in their organisation.
This assignment also shows that organisational culture makes a difference. There is a time and place fro everything. Now it is perhaps the time for many leaders to move from the past years “build to sell” activities towards a “build to last” philosophy involving capitalising on the intangible assets and the cultural side of the organisation. Leaders have to build cultures that endure and adapt through multiple generations of leaders and product cycle. And finally, they have to preserve the core of the organisational culture as an anchor point in changing and uncertain time.
References
1. www.astrazeneca.com
2. Brown, A., Organisational Culture, second edition.
3. Schein, Edgar, Organisational culture and leadership, Second edition.
The culture of an organization is embodied in its vision as well as the actions and attitude of its employees. Managers can sometimes sustain the skeleton of the company culture but it takes a leader to invigorate it and keep it healthy. A manager works hard at keeping the “old” culture and a leader works even harder at ensuring the culture is innovative and breathing in each of its employees. Bo...
Improving an organization’s culture can often be a challenging undertaking for any organization as a whole and for their individual team members on any level. On the other hand, it can make a world of difference for each stakeholder such as the organization, the individual team members, and most importantly the customer. Furthermore, when one speaks of organizational culture it is often referring to the shared beliefs and values that the organization as a whole project. Thus, when an organization’s culture is aligned with its beliefs, values, mission statements, and goals, than one can assume that organization is on the right track. It is also important to note that not just because all elements are aligned that the organization’s culture is
In a survey conducted by the management consulting firm Bain & Company in 2007, worldwide business leaders identified corporate culture as important as corporate strategy for business success (HR Focus, Sep, 2007). In addition, culture, or shared values within the organization, may be related to increased performance. Researchers found a relationship between organizational cultures and company performance, with respect to success indicators such as revenues, sales volume, market share, and stock prices (Kotter, 2008). At the same time, it is important to have a culture that fits with the demands of the company’s environment (Arogyaswamy & Byles, 1987). For example, if a company is in the high-tech industry, having a culture that encourages innovativeness and adaptability will support its performance. However, if a company in the same industry has a culture characterized by stability, a high respect for tradition, and a strong preference for upholding rules and procedures, the company may suffer as a result of its culture. In other words, just as having the “right” culture may be a competitive advantage for an organization, having the “wrong” culture may lead to performance difficulties, may be responsible for organizational failure, and may act as a barrier preventing the company from changing and taking risks.
A good culture is an important factor in a successful business. If a company has a good culture, it can significantly affect not only the employee’s performance, but the performance of the company as a whole. Most companies these days already have a defined culture. For example, Wal-Mart’s culture is that they strive for excellence by having “everyday low prices.” They set their culture of excellence and then work as a team to achieve that. With FedEx, it is “quality driven management,” meaning that FedEx’s main focus is on conducting management that drives high quality. There are many different concepts/values of culture that will be discussed in this paper: individualism vs. collectivism, power
Culture is one of the most complicated words in the English language (Williams, 1983). The word organization culture was introduced by Pettigrew (1979) however the term was widely spread due to the work of Deal and Kennedy (1982). It was at the beginning of the 1980s after the publication of the Business Week article on corporate cultures when various scholars began paying attention to the concept of organization culture and since then thousands of definitions came to life. The term is used to describe the pattern of values, norms, attitudes, shared believes and assumptions that may have not been articulated but that shape the way employees behave and how things get done in an organization. (Armstrong, 2014).
This essay gives a basic idea of what organizational culture is, and emphasis on the controversial issues of managing organizational cultures. As there are various definitions for organizational culture, and none of them are universally agreed. Therefore, for an easier understanding by readers, the definition of organizational culture given in this essay focusing on levels of culture, and will be discussed t together with Schein's(1983) framework. Before talking about managing organizational cultures, the types will be introduced first. Because, there are some descriptions about managing different types of organizational cultures, in the following content.
Organizational culture can be defined as a system of shared beliefs and values that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members. It includes routine behaviors, norms, dominant values, and a feeling or climate conveyed. The purpose and function of this culture is to help foster internal integration, bring staff members from all levels of the organization much closer together, and enhance their performance.
...tion. Organisational culture provides as opportunities as well as issues for companies. If culture combines with organization’s strategic and operating targets, it can stimulate improvement of performance and efficiency. At the same time dissimilarity of organisation culture and targets may lead for pernicious results (Katzenbach Center, 2013). Thus, organisational culture affects practically on all aspects of the company and it’s exceptional for every organisation and also one of the arduous objects to change (Business Dictionary, 2013. Hence, applying of culture within organisation include analysis of complex of features as beliefs, ideologies and values of company. According to Investopedia (2013) organisational culture define as: ‘The beliefs and behaviors that determine how a company's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions’.
Organizational Culture. Asree, Zain, and Razalli define organizational culture as “the set of common norms and values shared by the people of an organization”, which significantly influence how an organization “communicates with, develops, empowers and involves its staff” (2010, p. 504). In regards to the definition and the operations culture influences, the importance of culture on how an organization listens to employees is clear. Therefore, leaders of an organization must understand the organization’s culture and mold the culture to emphasize service and care for both employees and the
This classification of business culture does not imply a type of culture is positive or negative, however depicts the influence culture has over its members. Studies have indicated that organisations with strong cultures are often indicative of excellent management (Peters & Waterman, 1982). Strong organisational cultures express clear messages about what qualities are important to a business. These shared values are beneficial to organisations as they improve communication and decrease disagreements, improving efficiency during the decision making process (Sathe, 2003). Furthermore, members of strong cultures are able to strongly identify with the culture. This is an asset to an organisation as being able to identify oneself to a culture creates a sense of belonging within employees. This improves commitment to a business which inturn improves overall business performance. It is also argued that there is a link between an organisations culture type and economic performance which can be seen through Starbucks and AIG. Flamholtz and Randle (2012), asserted that Starbucks, who are renowned for having a strong positive culture whose employees exhibit consistent messages about the firm’s priorities, experienced high levels of economic success. However, AIG’s dysfunctional corporate culture exhibiting contradictory messages in regards to the business’ main concerns, almost led the firm into bankruptcy in 2008. Thus demonstrating, how a strong organisational culture can contribute towards the success of a
Organizational culture is the key to organizational excellence and leadership is a function to create and manage culture (Chen 1992). Organizational researchers have become more aware of the importance of understanding and enhancing the cultural life of the institution. "This study is one of a group of companies with high-performance in North America, interest in organizational culture is an important element in organizational success. Tesluk et al (1997). Looking at the" soft "of the organization, the researchers claim that" the organizational culture may be suitable for a means to explore and understanding of life at work, and make them more humane and more pronounced (Tesluk et al, 1997), and the graves (1986) also stressed the importance of corporate culture, and the need for research strategies and methods of investigating the various elements and processes of the organizational culture. He argued the culture that meets the basic needs of belonging and security in an attempt to describe this gathering that culture is "the only thing that distinguishes one company from another gives them coherence and self-confidence and rationalises the lives of those who work for it. Standard that may seem random, is to enhance the life to be different, and safe to be similar, and culture is a concept that provides the means to achieve this compromise (p. 157).
It is a “pattern of beliefs, values and learned ways of coping with experience” (Brown 1994) that manifests itself into three layers: artefacts at the shallowest, values and beliefs in the middle and basic assumptions at the deepest. It is inseparable from the organisation that cannot be easily manipulated as it is fundamentally non-unitary and emergent. Finally, organisational culture is important as it is one of the main determinants as to whether a firm can enjoy superior financial and a comparative advantage over firms of differing cultures.
The reason organizational culture was ignored as an important factor in accounting for organizational performance is that it encompasses the taken-for-granted values, underlying assumptions, expectations, collective memories, and definitions present in an organization. It represents “how things are around here.” It reflects the prevailing ideology that people carry inside their heads. It conveys a sense of identity to employees, provides unwritten and often unspoken guidelines for how to get along in the organization, and it enhances the stability of the social system that they experience. Unfortunately, people are unaware of their culture until it is challenged, until they experience a new culture, or until it is made overt
The concept of organizational culture is one of the most debated topics for researchers and theorists. There is no one accepted definition of culture. People even said that it is hard to define culture and even more change it. It is considered a complex part of an organization although many have believed that culture influences employee behavior and organizational effectiveness (Kilmann, Saxton, & Serpa 1985; Marcoulides & Heck, 1993; Schein, 1985a, 1990).
Organisational culture is one of the most valuable assets of an organization. Many studies states that the culture is one of the key elements that benefits the performance and affects the success of the company (Kerr & Slocum 2005). This can be measured by income of the company, and market share. Also, an appropriate culture within the society can bring advantages to the company which helps to perform with the de...