Organizational Culture

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Organizational Culture

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.

However, there seems to be a widely held misconception that throughout an organization or within a specific division there is only one uniform culture that exists. This definition does not seem adequate because it fails to recognize that in many organizations there are quite often groups that are unique of the dominant culture. They may have values that are not consistent, or outwardly reject the culture as a whole, yet at the same time they are still able to maintain their position within the firm. In addition, it has been a personal experience that in many organizations strong organizational culture can in fact be negative, and in fact actually damage the performance of their employees. The perception is due to the fact that in many organizations the culture can act as a barrier to the employee to gain status within the organization.

This perception may have also had a lot to due with the nature of the position that was held at the company. This company seemed to fit the criteria and meet the description of a “Fortress Culture”. This may have been the result of the fact that it business was in the highly competitive field of financial services. The management was very preoccupied with figures such as sales, growth and earnings, and they treated the staff as a commodity that could easily be replaced. As a contract employee there was little in the way of job security and essential no possibility to be rewarded for good performance. The theory is inadequate because it does not recognize the fact that in many businesses today, firms no longer retain all of their staff on a full-time basis. It simply assumes that many of the individuals are full time staff members and at least have short-term job certainty. It fails to recognize the fact that by having many individuals that are working in organizations as part time or contract staff is not really given the opportunity, or they do not wish to becom...

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...and intensity. Sharedness refers to the degree to which the organizational members have the same core values. The intensity is the level of commitment that the members of the organization make to the core values. Two major factors, orientation and rewards affect the degree of sharedness. In order for people to share the same cultural values they must know what these values are. This can be directly linked to their orientation and training programs. However, it is also significantly affected by rewards. When organizations offer promotions, raises, recognition, to those who adhere to the core values, it helps other individuals within the organization understand what the values are.

The degree of intensity can also be connected to the reward structure. When individuals realize that they will be rewarded for doing things the “Corporate Way” their desire to do so increases dramatically. Therefor, as the theory suggests if individuals, like contract staff or part-timers, did not feel part of the reward structure, because they did not receive the perks of the position or equal pay. In addition, these members of the organization did not also receive any non-financial rewards either.

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