Organizational behavior

assignment on
Organizational Culture

Submitted by: - Sagar gupta

Fd1 (ISBE-A)
 Index

 Definition of organisational culture

 Characteristics and functions

 Types of culture and culture cluster

 Cultural change and myth about organisational culture

 Impact of organisational culture in general and on

employee morale

 Corporate culture

 Case study

 Conclusion
So what we think is organizational culture?

A single definition of organizational culture has proven to be

very elusive. No one definition of organizational culture has
emerged in the literature. One of the issues involving
culture is that it is defined both in terms of its causes and
effect. For example, these are the two ways in which
cultures often defined.

 Outcomes- Defining culture as a manifest pattern of

behavior- Many people use the term culture to describe
patterns of cross individual behavioral consistency For
example, when people say that culture is “The way we
do things around here,” they are defining consistent
way is in which people perform tasks, solve problems,
resolve conflicts, treat customers, and treat employees.
 Process- Defining culture as a set of mechanisms
creating cross individual behavioral consistency- In this
case culture is defined as the informal values, norms,
and beliefs that control how individuals and groups in
an organization interact with each other and with
people outside the organization.

Both of these approaches are relevant to understanding

culture. It is important to know on what types of behavior
culture has greatest impact (outcomes) and how culture
works to control the behavior of organizational members.
We will address these two questions later in the module.
Basically, organizational culture is the personality of the
organization. Culture is comprised of the assumptions,
values, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of organization
members and their behaviors. Members of an organization
soon come to sense the particular culture of an organization.
Culture 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 than that of a hospital which is quite different than
that 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.

Corporate culture can be looked at as a system. Inputs

include feedback from, e.g., society, professions, laws,
stories, heroes, values on competition or service, etc. The
process is based on our assumptions, values and norms,
e.g., our values on money, time, facilities, space and people.
Outputs or effects of our culture are, e.g., organizational
behaviors, technologies, strategies, image, products,
services, appearance, etc.

The concept of culture is particularly important when

attempting to manage organization-wide change.
Practitioners are coming to realize that, despite the best-laid
plans, organizational change must include not only changing
structures and processes, but also changing the corporate
culture as well.

There's been a great deal of literature generated over the

past decade about the concept of organizational culture --
particularly in regard to learning how to change
organizational culture. Organizational change efforts are
rumored to fail the vast majority of the time. Usually, this
failure is credited to lack of understanding about the strong
role of culture and the role it plays in organizations. That's
one of the reasons that many strategic planners now place
as much emphasis on identifying strategic values as they do
mission and vision.

Characteristics of Healthy Organizational cultures

Organizations should strive for what is considered a
“healthy” organizational culture in order to increase
productivity, growth, efficiency and reduce employee
turnover and other counterproductive behavior. A variety of
characteristics describe a healthy culture, including:

 Acceptance and appreciation for diversity

 Regard for and fair treatment of each employee as well
as respect for each employee’s contribution to the
company
 Employee pride and enthusiasm for the organization
and the work performed
 Equal opportunity for each employee to realize their full
potential within the company
 Strong communication with all employees regarding
policies and company issues
 Strong company leaders with a strong sense of
direction and purpose
 Ability to compete in industry innovation and customer
service, as well as price
 Lower than average turnover rates (perpetuated by a
healthy culture)
 Investment in learning, training, and employee
knowledge

Additionally, performance oriented cultures have been

shown to possess statistically better financial growth. Such
cultures possess high employee involvement, strong internal
communications and an acceptance and encouragement of a
healthy level of risk-taking in order to achieve innovation.
Additionally, organizational cultures that explicitly
emphasize factors related to the demands placed on them
by industry technology and growth will be better performers
in their industries.

Elements of organizational culture may include:-

• Stated and unstated values.

• Overt and implicit expectations for member behavior.
• Customs and rituals.
• Stories and myths about the history of the group.
• Shop talk—typical language used in and about the
group.
• Climate—the feelings evoked by the way members
interact with each other, with outsiders, and with their
environment, including the physical space they occupy.
• Metaphors and symbols—may be unconscious but can
be found embodied in other cultural elements.

Morgan proposes four essential strengths of the

organizational culture approach:

• It focuses attention on the human side of organizational

life, and finds significance and learning in even its most
mundane aspects (for example, the setup in an empty
meeting room).
• It makes clear the importance of creating appropriate
systems of shared meaning to help people work
together toward desired outcomes.
• It requires members—especially leaders—to
acknowledge the impact of their behavior on the
organization’s culture. Morgan proposes that people
should ask themselves: "What impact am I having on
the social construction of reality in my organization?"
"What can I do to have a different and more positive
impact?"
• It encourages the view that the perceived relationship
between an organization and its environment is also
affected by the organization’s basic assumptions.
 Morgan says:

We choose and operate in environmental domains

according to how we construct conceptions of who we
are and what we are trying to do. . . . And we act in
relation to those domains through the definitions we
impose on them. . . . The beliefs and ideas that
organizations hold about who they are, what they are
trying to do, and what their environment is like have a
much greater tendency to realize themselves than is
usually believed.

FUNCTIONS OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

A growing organization cannot neglect its human side.
Employees are the real fortune makers who make the
organization a strong and growing unit. It becomes
necessary for management to nurture the spirit of oneness
and to develop an organizational entity. Organisational
culture performs four different types of functions.

(I) the fooling of organisational identify

No Organization can grow without strong commitment of its

employees to the cause of organization. Organisational
culture has its own ability to attract develop and keep
talented people.

(ii) Collective Commitment

Organisational development is the result of group efforts.

Culture is that invisible bond of emotions and feeling that
ties employees at various levels to develop collective
commitment.

(iii) Socialization of Members

The organizational culture develops uniform system of

promotions, remuneration and behavior patterns which can
socialize the employees without any group conflicts and
ideological clashes.

(IV) Desired Behavioral Pattern

The employees must understand their surroundings; they

should learn to behave according to basic philosophy of
business. No organization can succeed for a long if it has not
given proper understanding of its surroundings to its
employees.

Types of Culture:-
There are different types of culture just like there are
different types of personality. Researcher Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
identified the following four types of cultures.

Academy Culture

Employees are highly skilled and tend to stay in the

organization, while working their way up the ranks. The
organization provides a stable environment in which
employees can develop and exercise their skills. Examples
are universities, hospitals, large corporations, etc.
Baseball Team Culture

Employees are "free agents" who have highly prized skills.

They are in high demand and can rather easily get jobs
elsewhere. This type of culture exists in fast-paced, high-risk
organizations, such as investment banking, advertising, etc.

Club Culture

The most important requirement for employees in this

culture is to fit into the group. Usually employees start at the
bottom and stay with the organization. The organization
promotes from within and highly values seniority. Examples
are the military, some law firms, etc.

Fortress Culture

Employees don't know if they'll be laid off or not. These

organizations often undergo massive reorganization. There
are many opportunities for those with timely, specialized
skills. Examples are savings and loans, large car companies,
etc.

Some More Type Of Cultures Are:-

This Types of Organizational Culture Organisational culture
can vary in a number of ways. It is these variances that
differentiate one organization from the others. Some of the
bases of the differentiation are presented below:

1. Strong vs. weak culture: Organizational culture can be

labelled as strong or weak based on sharedness of the core
values amongorganisational members and the degree of
commitment the members have to these core values. The
higher the sharedness and commitment, the stronger the
culture increases the possibility of behaviour consistency
amongst its members, while a weak culture opens avenues
for each one of the members showing concerns unique to
themselves.
2. Soft vs hard culture : Soft work culture can emerge in an
organisation where the organisation pursues multiple and
conflicting goals. In a soft culture the employees choose to
pursue a few objectives which serve personal or sectional
interests. A typical example of soft culture can be found in a
number of public sector organisations in India where the
management feels constrained to take action against
employees to maintain high productivity. The culture is
welfare oriented; people are held accountable for their
mistakes but are not rewarded for good performance.
Consequently, the employees consider work to be less
important than personal and social obligations. Sinha (1990)
has presented a case study of a public sector fertilizer
company which was established in an industrially backward
rural area to promote employment generation and industrial
activity. Under pressure from local communities and the
government, the company succumbed to overstaffing,
converting mechanised operations into manual operations,
payment of overtime, and poor discipline. This resulted in
huge financial losses (up to 60 percent of the capital) to the
company.

3. Formal vs informal culture: The work culture of an

organization, to a large extent, is influenced by the formal
components of organisational culture. Roles, responsibilities,
accountability, rules and regulations are components of
formal culture. They set the expectations that the
organisation has from every member and indicates the
consequences if these expectations are not fulfilled.

4. Power Culture
Within a power culture, control is the key element. Power
cultures are usually found within a small or medium size
organisation. Decisions in an organisation that display a
power culture are centralised around one key individual.
That person likes control and the power behind it. As group
work is not evident in a power culture, the organisation can
react quickly to dangers around it as no consultation is
involved. However this culture has its problems, lack of
consultation can lead to staff feeling undervalued and de-
motivated, which can also lead to high staff turnover.
5. Role Culture
Common in most organisations today is a role culture. In a
role culture, organisations are split into various functions and
each individual within the function is assigned a particular
role. The role culture has the benefit of specialization.
Employees focus on their particular role as assigned to them
by their job description and this should increase productivity
for the company. This culture is quite logical to organize in a
large organization.
6. Task Culture
A task culture refers to a team based approach to complete
a particular task. They are popular in today's modern
business society where the organization will establish
particular 'project teams' to complete a task to date. A task
culture clearly offers some benefits. Staff feels motivated
because they are empowered to make decisions within their
team, they will also feel valued because they may have been
selected within that team and given the responsibility to
bring the task to a successful end. NASA organizes part of
their culture around this concept i.e. putting together teams
to oversee a mission.
7. Person culture
Person cultures are commonly found in charities or non profit
organizations. The focus of the organization is the individual
or a particular aim.

What are the Culture Clusters?

 Constructive Cultures, in which members are

encouraged to interact with people and approach tasks
 in ways that help them, meet their higher-order
satisfaction needs.
 Passive/Defensive Cultures, in which members believe
they must interact with people in ways that will not
threaten their own security.
 Aggressive/Defensive Cultures, in which members are
expected to approach tasks in forceful ways to protect
their status and security.

The Constructive Cluster

The Constructive Cluster includes cultural norms that reflect
expectations for members to interact with others and
approach tasks in ways that will help them meet their higher
order satisfaction needs for affiliation, esteem, and self-
actualization.
The four cultural norms in this cluster are:

 Achievement
 Self-Actualizing
 Humanistic-Encouraging
 Affinitive

Organizations with Constructive cultures encourage

members to work to their full potential, resulting in high
levels of motivation, satisfaction, teamwork, service quality,
and sales growth. Constructive norms are evident in
environments where quality is valued over quantity,
creativity is valued over conformity, cooperation is believed
to lead to better results than competition, and effectiveness
is judged at the system level rather than the component
level. These types of cultural norms are consistent with (and
supportive of) the objectives behind empowerment, total
quality management, transformational leadership,
continuous improvement, re-engineering, and learning
organizations.
The Passive/Defensive Cluster
Norms that reflect expectations for members to interact with
people in ways that will not threaten their own security are
in the Passive/Defensive Cluster.
The four Passive/Defensive cultural norms are:

 Approval
 Conventional
 Dependent
 Avoidance

In organizations with Passive/Defensive cultures, members

feel pressured to think and behave in ways that are
inconsistent with the way they believe they should in order
to be effective. People are expected to please others
(particularly superiors) and avoid interpersonal conflict.
Rules, procedures, and orders are more important than
personal beliefs, ideas, and judgment. Passive/Defensive
cultures experience a lot of unresolved conflict and turnover,
and organizational members report lower levels of
motivation and satisfaction.

The Aggressive/Defensive Cluster

The Aggressive/Defensive Cluster includes cultural norms
that reflect expectations for members to approach tasks in
ways that protect their status and security.
The Aggressive/Defensive cultural norms are:

 Oppositional
 Power
 Competitive
 Perfectionist
Organizations with Aggressive/Defensive cultures encourage
or require members to appear competent, controlled, and
superior. Members who seek assistance, admit
shortcomings, or concede their position are viewed as
incompetent or weak. These organizations emphasize finding
errors, weeding out “mistakes,” and encouraging members
to compete against each other rather than competitors. The
short-term gains associated with these strategies are often
at the expense of long-term growth.

Factors and elements influencing organisational

culture

Elements that can be used to describe or influence

Organizational Culture:

The Paradigm: What the organization is about; what it

does; its mission; its values.

Control Systems: The processes in place to monitor what is

going on. Role cultures would have vast rulebooks. There
would be more reliance on individualism in a power culture.

Organizational Structures: Reporting lines, hierarchies,

and the way that work flows through the business.

Power Structures: Who makes the decisions, how widely

spread is power, and on what is power based?

Symbols: These include organizational logos and designs,

but also extend to symbols of power such as parking spaces
and executive washrooms.
Rituals and Routines: Management meetings, board
reports and so on may become more habitual than
necessary.

Stories and Myths: build up about people and events, and

convey a message about what is valued within the
organization.
These elements may overlap. Power structures may depend
on control systems, which may exploit the very rituals that
generate stories which may not be true.
The two main reasons why cultures develop in organizations
is due to external adaptation and internal integration.
External adaptation reflects an evolutionary approach to
organizational culture and suggests that cultures develop
and persist because they help an organization to survive and
flourish. If the culture is valuable, then it holds the potential
for generating sustained competitive advantages.
Additionally, internal integration is an important function
since social structures are required for organizations to exist.
Organizational practices are learned through socialization at
the workplace. Work environments reinforce culture on a
daily basis by encouraging employees to exercise cultural
values. Organizational culture is shaped by multiple factors,
including the following:

 External environment
 Industry
 Size and nature of the organization’s workforce
 Technologies the organization uses
 The organization’s history and ownership

Organizational values, role models, symbols and rituals

shape organizational culture. Organizations often outline
their values in their mission statements, although this does
not guarantee that organizational culture will reflect them.
The individuals that organizations recognize as role models
set, by example, the behavior valued by the organization. In
addition, tangible factors such as work environment act as
symbols, creating a sense of corporate identity.
The founding of an organization is a critical period in the life
of the organization and the development of its culture. An
organization’s founder or chief executive has an influential
impact on the development of the organization’s culture
since that person is likely to have control in hiring people
with the same values and influence the choice of strategy.
By screening candidates for a cultural fit, organizations
select those employees that will be able to uphold the
organizational culture. Additionally, leaders embed culture in
organizations by what they pay attention to, measure, and
control; how they react to critical incidents and crises; the
behaviors they model for others; and how they allocate
rewards and other scarce resources.
Additionally, the legacy of an organizational founder may be
reflected in the culture long after that person leaves through
the processes of cultural transmission (e.g. rites, stories)
where the culture perpetuates itself. The values of founders
and key leaders shape organizational cultures, but the way
these cultures affect individuals is through shared practices.

What Types of Behavior Does Culture Control?

Using the outcome approach, cultures are described in terms
of the following variables:
Innovation versus Stability- The degree to which
organizational members are encouraged to be innovative,
creative and to take risks.
Strategic versus Operational Focus- The degree to which the
members of the management team focus on the long term
big picture versus attention to detail.
Outcome versus Process Orientation- The degree to which
management focuses on outcomes, goals and results rather
than on techniques, processes, or methods used to achieve
these results.
Task Versus Social Focus- The relative emphasis on effect of
decisions on organizational members and relationships over
task accomplishment at all costs
Team versus Individual orientation- The degree to which
work activities are organized around teams rather than
individuals
Customer Focus versus Cost Control- The degree to which
managers and employees are concerned about customer
satisfaction and Service rather than minimizing costs
Internal verses External Orientation- The degree to which
the organization focuses on and is adaptive to changes in its
environment.

Cultural change
There are a number of internal and external factors which
are responsible for cultural change in an organisation.
Composition of the workforce: Overtime, the people
entering an organisation may differ in important ways from
those already in it, and these differences may impinge on
the existing culture of the organisation.
Mergers and acquisitions: Another source of cultural change
is mergers and acquisitions, events in which one
organisation purchases or otherwise absorbs another. In
such cases, rare consideration is given to the acquired
organization’s culture. This is unfortunate because there
have been several cases in which the merger of two
organisations with incompatible cultures leads to serious
problems, commonly known as culture clashes. In such
cases, the larger and more powerful company attempts to
dominate the smaller acquired company.
Planned organisational change: Even if an organisation does
not change by acquiring another, cultural change still may
result from planned changes. One important force in planned
organisational change is technology. Technology affects the
behaviour of people on the job as well as the effective
functioning of organisations.
Cultural Change Programme
1. A cultural change programme involves the following
steps:
2. Identify the basic assumptions and beliefs and
challenge them if necessary.
3. Define or re-define the core values - stated or unstated.
4. Analyse the organisational climate.
5. Analyse the management style.
6. Plan and implement what aspects of the culture need to

be changed and what aspects should be maintained or

reinforced.

Specific approaches to achieve a cultural change are:

1. Recognition to facilitate integration, to create

departments or jobs which are responsible for new

activities or to eliminate unnecessary layers of
management.
 2. Organisation development to improve the effectiveness

with which an organisation functions and responds to

change.
3. Communication to get the messages across about the

values and to achieve the objectives.

4. Training to help form new attitudes to such matters as
customer service, quality, productivity, managing and
motivating people.
5. Recruitment to set out deliberately to change the type
of people recruited.
6. Management by objectives to ensure that managers

know what they are expected to do.

7. Performance management to ensure that managers,

supervisors and staff are assessed on the basis of the

results they achieve and that performance
improvement programmes are used to capitalise on
strengths or overcome weaknesses.
8. Reward management to enhance the cultural
assumption that rewards should be related to
achievement by introducing performance-related bonus
schemes and remuneration systems.

Myths about the organisational culture:

1. Organisational culture is same as organisational
climate: In management literature there is often
ambiguity about the two concepts – organisational
culture and organisational climate. As explained earlier,
 organisational culture is a macro phenomenon which
refers to the patterns of beliefs, assumptions, values,
and behaviors reflecting commonality in people working
together. However, organisational climate is a micro
phenomenon and reflects how employees in an
organisation feel about the characteristics and quality
of culture like morale, goodwill, employee relations, job
satisfaction, and commitment at the organisational,
department or unit level. It refers to the psychological
environment in which behaviour of organisational
members occurs. It is a relatively persistent set of
perceptions held by organisational members about the
organisational culture. Another viewpoint about climate
is that various variables get subsumed under the
concept of climate, whereas has unique indicators like
symbols, rites, myths, and stories.
2. Culture is same as ‘groupthink’: Since culture refers to
shared assumptions and beliefs, it is likely to cause
confusion. Groupthink refers to group members hiding
any differences in how they feel and think and behave
in a certain way. The phenomenon of groupthink is
mostly used in a face – to – face situation when dealing
with small groups. Culture, on the other hand, is a
much larger phenomenon characterised by historical
myths, symbols, beliefs, and artifacts.
3. Culture is same as organisation: Culture is a result of
sustained interaction among people in organisations
and exists commonly in thoughts, feelings, and
behaviour of people. Organisations on the other hand,
consist of a set of expectations and a system of reward
and punishment sustained by rules, regulations, and
norms of behaviour.
4. Culture is a social structure: Social structures in
various collectives exhibit tangible and specific ways in
which people relate to one another overtly. However,
culture operates on a system of unseen, abstract, and
emotionally loaded forms which guide organisational
members to deal with their physical and social needs.
Impact of organisational culture:

Research suggests that numerous outcomes have been

associated either directly or indirectly with organizational
culture. A healthy and robust organizational culture may
provide various benefits, including the following:

 Competitive edge derived from innovation and

customer service
 Consistent, efficient employee performance
 Team cohesiveness
 High employee morale
 Strong company alignment towards goal achievement

Although little empirical research exists to support the link

between organizational culture and organizational
performance, there is little doubt among experts that this
relationship exists. Organizational culture can be a factor in
the survival or failure of an organization - although this is
difficult to prove considering the necessary longitudinal
analyses are hardly feasible. The sustained superior
performance of firms like IBM, Hewlett, Proctor and Gamble,
and McDonald's may be, at least partly, a reflection of their
organizational cultures.
Culture has a significant impact on an organization’s long-
term economic performance. The study examined the
management practices at 160 organizations over ten years
and found that culture can enhance performance or prove
detrimental to performance. Organizations with strong
performance-oriented cultures witnessed far better financial
growth. Cultural traits such as risk taking, internal
communications, and flexibility are some of the most
important drivers of performance, and may impact individual
performance.
Culture contributes to the success of the organization, but
not all dimensions contribute the same. It was found that the
impacts of these dimensions differ by global regions, which
suggests that organizational culture is impacted by national
culture. Safety climate is related to an organization’s safety
record.
Organizational culture is reflected in the way people perform
tasks, set objectives, and administer the necessary
resources to achieve objectives. Culture affects the way
individuals make decisions, feel, and act in response to the
opportunities and threats affecting the organization.
Job satisfaction was positively associated with the degree to
which employees fit into both the overall culture and
subculture in which they worked. A perceived mismatch of
the organization’s culture and what employees felt the
culture should be is related to a number of negative
consequences including lower job satisfaction, higher job
strain, general stress, and turnover intent.
It has been proposed that organizational culture may impact
the level of employee creativity, the strength of employee
motivation, and the reporting of unethical behavior, but
more research is needed to support these conclusions.
Organizational culture also has an impact on recruitment
and retention. Individuals tend to be attracted to and remain
engaged in organizations that they perceive to be
compatible. Additionally, high turnover may be a mediating
factor in the relationship between culture and organizational
performance. Deteriorating company performance and an
unhealthy work environment are signs of an overdue cultural
assessment.
IMPACT OF ORGANISATIONSAL CULTURE ON EMPLOYEE
MORALE

The nature of corporate culture that exists in a company is

going to decide the degree to which the desired results from
the employees are obtained. The common perceptions of
the individual members about the organisation determines
the types of the organisational culture, individuals with
realm of universal truths and are broad enough to
accommodate any variety of circumstance.

An organisation culture consists of two primary components.

(I) the primary value of the organization.

(ii) The existing management style and systems.

These two components significantly determine the degree to

which the desired result from the employees is obtained.
The value system to which the employees support directly or
indirectly or by their behaviour indicates the direction in
which organizations are likely to move in the future. A
strong culture is a powerful lover for guiding behaviour. It
helps the employees to do their job better.

The essence of the organizational culture can be stated in its

five characteristics namely.

(i) Individual autonomy

(ii) Organisational Structure
(iii) Reward organisation
(iv) Consideration
(v) Conflict

Organisationals culture is concerned with how employees

perceive each of the five characteristics slated above
whether it may be positive or negative. An effective culture
is a system of informal rules that spell out how employees
are behaving most of the time. It also enables people to feel
better about what they do, so they are more likely to work
harder. It provides a sense of common direction and
guidelines for day to day behaviors.

Corporate culture:
Corporate culture has been defined as the personality of an
organisation. It encompasses the company's goals and
dominant ideologies. It is a system of shared values that
interact with a company's people, organisational structure
and control system to produce behavioural norms. The
interest in corporate culture is derived from the
organisational behaviour specialists and from the empirical
studies.

The corporate culture underlines much of the way in which

things get done in the organisation. It encompasses the
company's goals and dominant ideologies. Environmental
influences will make a strong impact on the corporate
culture. The organisation has to survive and thrive in an
external environment which could be turbulent or steady.
Against this background, corporate culture is created by
organisational members with the values, philosophy, beliefs,
assumptions and norms, with the top management playing a
dominant role.

Corporate culture contains assumptions about the nature of

the business and its markets and customers, the way in
which business should be carried out, how work should be
organised, the sort of people the organisation needs and
how they should be treated. Among the factors that affect
corporate culture are work groups, organisational
characteristics, supervision, and administration.

Culture influences behaviour in three areas:

 Corporate Values: Belief in what is best or good for the

organisation and what should or ought to happen. They
 are expressed by reference to both ends (goals) and
means (action plans for achieving goals).
 Organisational Climate: The working atmosphere of the
organisation as perceived and experienced by its
members. This will encompass how people feel about
and react to the characteristics and quality of the
corporate culture and its values.
 Management Style: It is the way in which managers
behave and exercise authority. They may be autocratic
or democratic, tough or easygoing, formal or informal.
It also describes the way in which managers behave.

Corporate culture vs organisational culture:

Corporate culture is the total sum of the values, customs,
traditions, and meanings that make a company unique.
Corporate culture is often called "the character of an
organization", since it embodies the vision of the company’s
founders. The values of a corporate culture influence the
ethical standards within a corporation, as well as managerial
behavior.
Senior management may try to determine a corporate
culture. They may wish to impose corporate values and
standards of behavior that specifically reflect the objectives
of the organization. In addition, there will also be an extant
internal culture within the workforce. Work-groups within the
organization have their own behavioral quirks and
interactions which, to an extent, affect the whole system.
Roger Harrison's four-culture typology, and adapted by
Charles Handy, suggests that unlike organizational culture,
corporate culture can be 'imported'. For example, computer
technicians will have expertise, language and behaviors
gained independently of the organization, but their presence
can influence the culture of the organization as a whole.
Organizational culture and corporate culture are often used
interchangeably but it is a mistake to state that they are
different concepts. All corporations are also organizations
but not all organizations are corporations. Organizations
include religious institutions, not-for-profit groups, and
government agencies. There is even the Canadian Criminal
Code definition of "organized crime" as meaning "a group
comprised of three or more persons which has, as one of its
primary activities or purposes, the commission of serious
offences which likely results in financial gain." Corporations
are organizations and are also legal entities. Organizations
often have very differing cultures as well as subcultures.

Conclusion

Culture helps the organization to accomplish what it desires

to achieve. The corporate culture as a management
programme has great motivating impact to motivate
employees to improve their own and organizational
performance. Culture spans the range of management
thinking and organizational culture has been one of the most
enduring buzzwords of popular management. Why? What is
the appeal of the concept? Organizational culture is
apparently unifying and this strongly appeals to
management’s concern with projecting an image of the
organization as a community of interests. Perhaps most
importantly culture penetrates to the essence of an
organization – it almost analogous with the concept of
personality in relation to the individual and this acute sense
of what an organization is – its mission, core values – seems
to have become a necessary asset of the modern company.
There is the vexed question of whether or not organizational
culture can be managed. Academics interested in
understanding and analyzing culture tend to say no. While
there may be no definitive answer to the question, the
critical and the managerial sides of the debate and inform
and renew each other so it remains important to explore
both.

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_culture
http://www.indianmba.com/Faculty_Column/FC905/fc905.html
http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/35552/1/Unit-21.pdf
http://managementconsultingcourses.com/Lesson35OrganisationalCulture.p
df

http://www.new-paradigm.co.uk/Culture.htm

http://www.citehr.com/32846-organisation-culture.html

http://managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm

http://www.learnmanagement2.com/culture.htm

http://www.new-paradigm.co.uk/Culture.htm

http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/foundation-human-
skills/18714-organisational-culture-ready-made-projct.html

http://www.soi.org/reading/change/culture.shtml