preview

Substance Of Organisational Culture Essay

analytical Essay
2275 words
2275 words
bookmark

What is the nature and substance of organisational culture and why does it matter?

This essay will set out to define what is organisational culture, examine the main attributes that characterise it and how cultural originate and develop within it. At the same time, this essay will also assess the importance of organisational culture to the financial performance and continued survivability of firms.

Organisational theorists, depending on their school of thought, hold differing conceptions of organisational culture. Most theorists attempt to use a variety of metaphors, or images, to bound, frame, and differentiate that category of experience referred to as an “organisation” (Smircich, 1983). The most common comparisons made of organisations …show more content…

In this essay, the author

  • Explains that the essay will define what is organisational culture, examine the main attributes that characterise it, and how cultural originates and develops within it.
  • Argues that organisational theorists use metaphors, or images, to bound, frame, and differentiate that category of experience referred to as an "organisation."
  • Argues that organisations, especially larger ones, possess a homogeneous culture. they argue that the nature of organisational culture is both controllable and manageable.
  • Explains that organisational culture is emergent and socially created by constant interactions of members with their environment as well as with each other.
  • Explains schein's model categorizes organisational culture into three main layers of manifestation: artefacts, beliefs, values, attitudes, and basic assumptions.
  • Explains that values, beliefs, and attitudes form the cognitive substructure of organisational culture. not all values hold equal weight within an organisation.
  • Explains that values and beliefs represent the espoused values of a culture, but there is always discrepancy between what is spouted and the actual underlying reasons for the behaviour of organisation members.
  • Argues that a good organisational culture is imperative to the survivability and profitability of an organisation.
  • Explains the importance of a good organisational culture, stating that it is valuable, rare, and imperfectly imitable.
  • Concludes that organisational culture is complex and inseparable from the organisation. it is fundamentally non-unitary and emergent.
  • Introduces frost, moore, louis, lundberg, c.c., martin, j, miller, k, shockley-zalabak, p, morley, d.d.

Organisational culture is emergent and socially created by constant interactions of organisational members with their environment as well as with each other. Looking at the former, Schein (1985) defines culture as learned solutions to problems that arise from positive problem-solving situations, be it problems of “external adaptation” or “internal integration”. Essentially, when confronted a problem that threatens the continuing survival of an organisation, members of the organisation would try out various responses until they discover one that most effectively remedies the situation. This solution, once accepted, is absorbed into the culture and becomes a cultural norm. For the latter, culture also emerges as a way for members to cope with environmental anxieties. For example, in order to cope with the stress of their occupational responsibilities and develop an effective way to communicate their points with each other, members of an organisation may develop their own jargon and language, which then becomes an implicit cultural …show more content…

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.

Bibliography

Frost, P. J., Moore, L. F., Louis, M. R., Lundberg, C. C. & Martin, J. (1991). Reframing Organizational Culture. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Miller, K. (2012). Cultural Approaches. In Organizational communication: Approaches and processes (6.th ed., p. 81 to 93). Boston, Mass: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Morley, D. D. & Shockley-Zalabak, P. (1991). Setting the Rules: An Examination of Organizational Founders’ Values. Management Communication Quarterly, 4, 422–449.
Peters, T. J. & Waterman, R. H. (1982). In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. New York: Harper &

Get Access