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Chapter 16 Organizational Culture Page 587
1.
II. Developing a Positive Culture
A. Introduction
organizational culture.
2. A positive organizational culture emphasizes building on employee
growth.
B. Building on Employee Strengths
1. Although a positive organizational culture does not ignore problems, it does
C. Rewarding More Than Punishing
1. Although most organizations are sufficiently focused on extrinsic rewards
cheaper) rewards such as praise.
2. Part of creating a positive organizational culture is “catching employees doing
something right.”
D. Emphasizing Vitality and Growth
cogs in the machine.
E. A positive culture recognizes the difference between a job and a career.
F. Limits of Positive Culture
1. Not a panacea for all companies.
2. All cultures don’t value being positive.
3. There may be benefits to establishing a positive culture, but an organization
also needs to be careful to be objective and not pursue it past the point of
effectiveness.
III. Spirituality and Organizational Culture
A. What Is Spirituality?
about God or theology.
2. Workplace spirituality recognizes that people have an inner life that
nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context
of community.
B. Why Spirituality Now? (Exhibit 16-5)
model.
3. But just as we’ve now come to realize that the study of emotions improves our
understanding of organizational behavior, an awareness of spirituality can help
meaning and purposefulness in work surfaced now?
5. Summarized reasons in Exhibit 16-5.
C. Characteristics of a Spiritual Organization
Chapter 16 Organizational Culture Page 588
1. The concept of workplace spirituality draws on our previous discussions of
values, ethics, motivation, and leadership.
2. Although research remains preliminary, several cultural characteristics tend to
be evident in spiritual organizations.
a. Benevolence.
b. Strong sense of purpose.
c. Trust and respect.
d. Open-mindedness.
D. Achieving Spirituality in the Organization
1. Many organizations have grown interested in spirituality but have had trouble
putting its principles into practice.
2. Several types of practices can facilitate a spiritual workplace, including those
that support work–life balance.
E. Criticisms of Spirituality
1. Critics of the spirituality movement in organizations have focused on three
issues.
a. First is the question of scientific foundation. What really is workplace
spirituality?
b. Second, are spiritual organizations legitimate? Do organizations have the
right to impose spiritual values on their employees?
c. Third is the question of economics: are spirituality and profits compatible?
2. As you might imagine, there is comparatively little research on workplace
spirituality.
3. An emphasis on spirituality can clearly make some employees uneasy.
a. Critics have argued that secular institutions, especially business firms,
have no business imposing spiritual values on employees.
IV. The Global Context
A. We considered global cultural values (collectivism–individualism, power distance,
and so on) in Chapter 5. Here our focus is a bit narrower.
1. How is organizational culture affected by a global context?
2. But that doesn’t mean organizations should, or could, be blissfully ignorant of
local culture.
B. Organizational cultures often reflect national culture.
private offices.
2. However, the culture of many U.S. airlines does not reflect the same degree of
informality.
3. If U.S. airlines were to merge with AirAsia, they would need to take these
cultural differences into account.
influence comes a reputation.
2. Some ways in which U.S. managers can be culturally sensitive include talking
Chapter 16 Organizational Culture Page 589
in a low tone of voice, speaking slowly, listening more, and avoiding
discussions of religion and politics.
against corporate culture.
1. Many strategies for improving ethical behavior are based on the values and
beliefs of the host country.
2. U.S. managers endorse the supremacy of anonymous market forces and
implicitly or explicitly view profit maximization as a moral obligation for
business organizations.
highly unethical.
4. That means doing special favors for family and friends is not only appropriate
but also may even be an ethical responsibility.
5. Managers in many nations also view capitalism skeptically and believe the
interests of workers should be put on a par with the interests of shareholders.
V. Summary and Implications for Managers
A. Exhibit 16-6 depicts organizational culture as an intervening variable.
B. Employees form an overall subjective perception of the organization based on
factors such as degree of risk tolerance, team emphasis, and support of people.
C. This overall perception becomes, in effect, the organization’s culture or
“misfits” have considerably higher turnover rates.
3. Understand that employees’ performance and socialization depend, to a
considerable degree, on their knowing what to do and not do. Train your
employees well and keep them informed of changes to their job roles.
EXPANDED CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. What Is Organizational Culture?
A. Definition of Organizational Culture
1. Organizational culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by
characterize the organization.
Chapter 16 Organizational Culture Page 590
3. Research identifies six primary characteristics that capture the essence of an
organization’s culture:
a. Adaptability.
b. Detail orientation.
i. Degree to which employees are expected to exhibit precision, analysis,
and attention to detail.
c. Results/Outcome orientation.
i. Degree to which management focuses on results rather than on
processes used to achieve them.
d. People/Customer orientation.
e. Collaboration/Team orientation.
i. Degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather
than individuals.
f. Integrity.
i. Degree to which people are aggressive and competitive.
dimensions.
5. Another common culture framework groups organizations into one of four
types, each which has its own assumptions, beliefs, values, artifacts, and even
criteria for effectiveness:
a. “The Clan.” A culture which is based on human affiliation. Employees
value attachment, collaboration, trust, and support.
value communication, competence, and competition.
d. “The Hierarchy.” A culture which is based on stability. Employees value
communication, formalization, and routine.
6. The differences between these cultures are reflected in their internal vs.
external focus and their flexibility and stability.
and hierarchies are internally focused and stable.
7. A review of the prior studies conducted on clans, adhocracies, and market
committed to clan cultures.
8. Further, market clans tend to be the most innovative, although all three tend to
produce equally quality products and services.
B. Culture Is a Descriptive Term
1. Organizational culture is concerned with employees’ perception of the
characteristics of the culture—not whether they like them.
Chapter 16 Organizational Culture Page 591
2. Research has sought to measure how employees see their organization.
a. Does it encourage teamwork?
b. Does it reward innovation?
c. Does it stifle initiative?
3. Organizational culture differs from job satisfaction.
a. Job satisfaction is evaluative.
b. Organizational culture is descriptive.
C. Do Organizations Have Uniform Cultures?
1. Most organizations have a dominant culture and numerous sets of subcultures.
2. Dominant culture expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of
the organization’s members.
3. Subcultures tend to develop in large organizations to reflect common
problems, situations, or experiences that members face.
4. Most large organizations have a dominant culture and numerous subcultures.
However, sometimes the subcultures can be so strong that they subtly reject
that “official” culture and do not conform.
a. If organizations were composed only of numerous subcultures,
organizational culture as an independent variable would be significantly
less powerful. It is the “shared meaning” aspect of culture that makes it
such a potent device for guiding and shaping behavior.
b. That’s what allows us to say, for example, that the Zappos culture values
customer care and dedication over speed and efficiency and to use that
information to better understand the behavior of Zappos executives and
employees.
D. Strong Versus Weak Cultures
1. Strong culture: core values are intensely held and widely shared.
2. The more members who accept core values and the greater their commitment
to those values, the stronger the culture is.
3. A strong culture should more directly affect organizational outcomes because
it demonstrates high agreement about what the organization represents.
4. Such unanimity of purpose builds cohesiveness, loyalty, meaning, and
organizational commitment.
a. For example, when there is a high cultural consensus and intensity
involvement.
II. What Do Cultures Do?
A. Cultures can be positive or negative for organizations.
1. The Functions of Culture:
a. Boundary-defining role.
c. Facilitates the generation of commitment.
d. Enhances the stability of the social system.
Chapter 16 Organizational Culture Page 592
e. Culture serves as a sense-making and control mechanism; guides and
shapes attitudes and behavior of employees.
more difficult.
3. When formal authority and control systems are reduced, culture’s shared
meaning points everyone in the same direction.
4. Employees organized in teams may show greater allegiance to their team and
its values than to the values of the organization.
redundant.
a. This is because sometimes leadership behaviors can be redundant with
cultural values and as such, have less of an effect on organizational
outcomes.
b. However, when the leadership provides something that is lacking in the
missing.
i. For example, a transformational leader in a bureaucratic, hierarchical
culture would be more effective than a transactional leader in the same
type of culture.
7. Individual–organization “fit”—that is, whether the applicant’s or employee’s
B. Culture Creates Climate
1. Organizational climate refers to the shared perceptions organizational
members have about their organization and work environment.
a. These perceptions are directed at the policies, practices, and procedures
they experience.
the sum of the individual parts.
c. Recent theory also suggests that there is a difference between espoused
(i.e., adopted on-the-surface) and enacted (i.e., actually put into practice)
cultural values, beliefs, and assumptions that have implications for how
climate emerges.
see being enacted.
d. Climate, then, is a function of what employees perceive is being rewarded.
i. Furthermore, research in Australia suggests that when there is
alignment between espoused and enacted organizational values,
Chapter 16 Organizational Culture Page 593
employees have higher organizational commitment.
diversity, and customer service.
3. A person who encounters a positive climate for performance will think about
doing a good job more often and will believe others support his or her success.
4. Someone who encounters a safety climate for diversity will have higher job
satisfaction, organizational commitment, and better health and will be more
prone to engage in safety behaviors.
5. Climate influences the habits people adopt.
the job.
b. Climates can also interact with one another to produce behavior. For
example, a climate of worker empowerment can lead to higher levels of
performance in organizations that also have a climate of personal
accountability.
C. The Ethical Dimension of Culture
the ethical decision making of its members.
b. Research indicates that ethical cultures espouse clear ethical standards,
with ethical behavior role modeled by leadership, and with employees
who are capable of and committed to behaving ethically.
c. Employees and managers are open to discuss ethical issues and are
reinforced for their ethical behavior.
a. Each explains the general mindset, expectations, and values of the
managers and employees in relationship to their organization.
b. Organizations often progress through different categories as they move
through their business life cycle.
Chapter 16 Organizational Culture Page 594
b. They are positively associated with turnover intentions, workplace
bullying, and deviant behavior.
behavior.
e. Recent research also suggests that ethical climates have a strong influence
on sales growth over time, when there is also a customer service climate to
support it.
6. Studies of ethical climates and workplace outcomes suggest that some climate
have an instrumental ethical climate.
c. Industries with missions of benevolence are likely to have a caring
climate, even if they are for-profit as in an environmental protection firm.
7. However, we cannot conclude that instrumental climates are always bad, or
that caring climates are always good.
are acceptable.
8. The Ethical Climate Index (ECI) is one new way researchers are seeking to
understand the context of ethical drivers in organizations.
a. By measuring the collective levels of moral sensitivity, judgment,
motivation, and character of our organizations, we may be able to judge
