Organizational culture can be defined as the collective behavior of
people within an organization and the meanings behind their actions.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Define culture and it's conceptual development within the context of organizations and
innovation
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
Culture is inherently intangible, and a static definition of culture struggles to encapsulate the
meaning and implications of its rolein an organization.
One way to define culture is simply as the overarching mentality and expectation
of behavior within the context of a given group(e.g., an organization, business, country, etc.).
Corporate culture is usually derived from the top down (i.e., upper management sets the tone)
and comes in the form of expectation and consistency throughout the organization.
Culture can be manipulated and altered depending onleadership and members. Instilling positive
culture that promotes effective employee behavior is a manager's primary task.
While there are many models for and perspectives on defining culture within an organization,
models such as Geert Hofstede's, Edgar Schein's and Gerry Johnson's are useful in properly
framing a comprehensive definition.
TERM [ edit ]
culture
The beliefs, values, behavior, and material objects that constitute a people's way of life.
Give us feedback on this content: FULL TEXT [edit ]
Culture is inherently intangible, and a static definition of culture struggles to encapsulate the
meaning and implications of its role in an organization. One way to define culture is simply
as the overarching mentality and
expectation of behavior within the context
of a given group (e.g., an organization,
business, country, etc.). Culture provides a
guiding perspective on how individuals
within that group should act, and what
meaning can be derived from those
actions. Expectation,
traditions, value, ethics, vision,
andmission can all both communicate and
reinforce a given group culture. Above all
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else, culture must be shared internally; otherwise it loses its form.
Culture in Business
Corporate culture is usually derived from the top down (i.e., upper management sets the
tone) and comes in the form of expectation and consistency throughout the organization. All
employees and managers must uphold these culturalexpectations to generate a
working environment that correlates to cultural expectations. The shared assumptions should
be implicit in behavior and explicit in the mission, vision and ethics statements of the
organization. Consistency between expectation and action is key here.
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Even small things, such as the way an office space is set up, can set the tone for organizational culture.
Culture and Adaptability
Culture can be manipulated and altered, depending onleadership and members. Let's take
the simple example of a car dealership. Selling cars is usually a commission business, where
the salesperson is a central success factor. Many car dealerships find that competition is
an effective cultural component and embed that into the organization. This is easily
accomplished with the right tools. A car dealership owner may hire specifically for
competitiveness, making it clear that this is the type of individual they want to hire. The
owner can create high variable salary and low fixed salary so that high performers are much
more highly prized and rewarded than ineffective salespeople. The owner could give out
awards at the end of each quarter to the most successful salesperson. The list could go on and
on, but the important consideration here is how strategy and culture can be intertwined to
evolve together.
Perspectives on Culture
Culture is a deeply important element of organizations and societies that is studied
extensively in a variety of disciplines. This has generated more definitions of culture and how
to go about empirically measuring it than could be touched upon in one overview. However, a
few important perspectives for a business manager include:
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory - Postulates that cultural differences to be aware
of include different perspectives on power distance, masculinity (vs. femininity),
individualism (vs. collectivism), avoidance of uncertainty, long-term orientation, and
indulgence.
Schein's Cognitive Levels of Organizational Culture - Edgar Schein believes that culture
can be viewed most simply via artifacts (e.g., facilities, dress code, etc.), more acutely
through values (e.g., focus on quality, loyalty or other central values) and most complexly
through tacitassumptions (i.e., unspoken rules of behavior and other intangible
expectations that are very difficult to observe and measure).
Gerry Johnson's Cultural Web - This includes the elements of culture, which is an
important aspect of how we define it. Johnson underlines the paradigm, control system,
organizational structure, power structure, symbols, stories, and myths as central
determinants of what a given organizational culture stands for.
While each of these theories is complex, all together they help create a clearer picture of what
exactly culture is and how it applies to managers and organizations.