Ch.4. Organizational Culture

ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR
ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
1
Definition & Meaning
Organizational Culture refers to a system of
shared meaning held by members that
distinguishes the organization from other
organizations.
Organizational Culture shows how

employees perceive the characteristics of
an organization’s culture, not whether they
like them – it’s a descriptive term.
2
Importance of Organizational Culture
1. Culture decides the way employees interact at their
workplace.
2. Organizational Culture brings all the employees on a

common platform.
3. It extracts the best out of each team member of the

organization.
4. Promotes healthy competition at workplace.
5. Represents certain predefined policies which guide the

employees and give them a sense of direction at
workplace.
3
Characteristics of Organizational Culture
1. Innovation & risk taking – degree to which employees
are encouraged to be innovative & take risks.
2. Attention to detail – degree to which employees are
expected to exhibit precision, analysis and attention to
detail.
3. Outcome orientation – degree to which management
focuses on results /outcomes rather than on techniques
& processes used to achieve them.
4. People orientation - degree to which management
decisions take into consideration the effect of outcomes
on people.
5. Team orientation - degree to which work activities are
organized around teams rather than individuals.
6. Aggressiveness - degree to which people are aggressive
& competitive rather than easygoing.
7. Stability - degree to which organizational activities
emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to
growth.
4
Types of Culture
Strong vs weak culture : Organisational culture can be
labelled as strong or weak based on –
• sharedness of the core values among organisational
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
• a weak culture opens avenues for each one of the
members showing concerns unique to themselves
5
Types of Culture
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.
• 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.
6
Functions of Organizational Culture
1. Boundary-defining role – it creates distinctions between
one organization and others.
2. Conveys a sense of identity for organization members
3. Facilitates commitment to something larger than

individual self-interest.
4. Enhances stability of social system.
5. Social glue – helps hold the organization together by

providing standards for what employees should say and
do.
6. Sense-making and control mechanism that guides and 7

Types of Culture
Formal vs informal culture : The work culture of an
organisation, 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.
• Informal culture has tangible and intangible, specific and
non – specific manifestations of shared values, beliefs,
and assumptions.
• This part of organisational culture comprises of artifacts,
symbols, ceremonies, rites, and stories.
8
Creating a Positive Organizational Culture
Positive Organizational Culture emphasizes on –
• Building on Employee strengths
• Rewarding more than punishing
• Emphasizing individual vitality and growth
9
Workplace Spirituality
Workplace spirituality recognizes that people have an
inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful
work in context of community.
Organizations that promote a spiritual culture recognize

that people have both a mind and a spirit, seek to find
meaning and purpose in their work, and desire to
connect with other human beings and be part of a
community.
10
Reasons for growing interest in Spirituality –
• Counterbalance pressures and stress of a turbulent pace
of life.
• People look for anchors to replace lack of faith and to fill
a growing feeling of emptiness.
• Job demands have made the workplace dominant in
many people’s lives, yet they continue to question the
meaning of work.
• The desire to integrate personal life values with one’s
professional life.
• An increasing number of people are finding that the
pursuit of more material acquisitions leaves them
unfulfilled.
11
Characteristics of Spiritual Organization –
• Strong sense of purpose - cultures built around a
meaningful purpose.
• Trust and respect – mutual trust, honesty and openness
• Humanistic work practices – flexible work schedules,
group- and organization-based rewards, narrowing of
pay and status differentials, guarantees of individual
worker rights, employee engagement and job security.
• Toleration of employee expression – allow people to be
themselves – to express their moods and feelings
without guilt or fear of warning.
12

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ORGANISATIONAL

Organizational Culture shows how

2. Organizational Culture brings all the employees on a

3. It extracts the best out of each team member of the

4. Promotes healthy competition at workplace.

5. Represents certain predefined policies which guide the

2. Conveys a sense of identity for organization members

3. Facilitates commitment to something larger than

4. Enhances stability of social system.

5. Social glue – helps hold the organization together by

6. Sense-making and control mechanism that guides and 7

Positive Organizational Culture emphasizes on –

• Building on Employee strengths

• Rewarding more than punishing

• Emphasizing individual vitality and growth

Organizations that promote a spiritual culture recognize

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