Organizational Culture & Employee Behavior: Case Study
Organizational Culture & Employee Behavior: Case Study
Organizational Culture & Employee Behavior: Case Study
EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOR
Case study
Spring 2015
ABSTRACT
Organizations are among the key units of the society. During their establishment
and development, a specific kind of organizational culture eventually appears. The
purpose of organizational culture is to improve solidarity and cohesion, and to
stimulate employees' enthusiasm and creativity to improve the organization’s
economic efficiency. In addition, organizational culture greatly influences
employee behavior.
The aim of this study is to find out how organizational culture affects employee
behavior. It is important to understand that in order to improve the organization’s
business management and let the organizational culture have the right impact on
employees.
The results of the study indicate that organizational culture mainly impacts
motivation, promotes individual learning, affects communication, and improves
organizational values, group decision making and solving conflicts.
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background 1
1.2 Statement of the problem 1
1.3 Overview of the thesis 2
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4
2.1 Research question 4
2.2 Research methods 4
2.3 Research framework 5
2.4 Data collection and data analysis 5
3 LITERATURE REVIEW 7
3.1 Organizational culture: an overview 7
3.2 Organizational culture and its dimensions 9
3.2.1 Power Distance 9
3.2.2 Individualism and collectivism 10
3.2.3 Masculinity and Femininity 11
3.2.4 Uncertainty avoidance 13
3.2.5 Long-Term Orientation 14
3.2.6 Indulgence versus Restraint 14
3.3 Organizational behavior 14
3.3.1 Individual level variables 15
3.3.2 Group level variables 15
3.3.3 Organizational system level variables 15
3.4 Organizational culture and organizational behavior 16
3.5 Advantages organizational culture has on behavior 17
4 CASE STUDY 19
4.1 Case Overview 19
4.2 Organizational culture 19
4.2.1 Symbols 20
4.2.2 Rituals 21
4.2.3 Values 23
4.3 Culture dimensions measurement 23
4.3.1 Power distance 24
4.3.2 Individualism and collectivism 25
4.3.3 Uncertainty avoidance 27
4.3.4 Masculinity and femininity 28
4.3.5 Long-term orientation 29
4.3.6 Indulgence and restraint 30
5 DATA ANALYSIS 31
6 CONCLUSION 39
7 DISCUSSION 41
7.1 Limitations 41
7.2 Validity and reliability 41
7.3 Suggestions for future study 42
REFERENCES 43
APPENDICES 45
LIST OF FIGURES
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Culture has been defined in many different ways and by many different theorists.
For instance, according to Geert et al (2010) “it is the collective programming of the
mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from
others”. Kotter and Heskett (1992) noted that culture is “a set of beliefs, values and
behaviors commonldy held by a society, being derived from social anthropology as
a framework for understanding ‘primitive’ societies”. Finally, Deal and Kennedy
(1982) defined culture in short as “the way we do things around here”.
Hence, in order to improve management and let an organizational culture have the
right effect on employees, it is important to understand how organizational cultures
affect employee behavior.
For an organization, employee is its basic constituent units, and culture is the
common value and code of conduct shared by the employees. It could give can
provide employees with a relaxed working environment with harmonious
interpersonal relationships in order to give full play to their ability. A corporate
culture allows employees to have a sense of mission and feel responsibility, and
work towards the overall goal of the company.
The competitiveness of enterprises is not only reflected in the technology, but also
in their corporate culture. A positive organizational culture can promote healthy
development of an enterprise, and actively mobilize the performance of employees,
2
and make them work with more enthusiasm. Moveover, it may improve production
efficiency. In short, the benefits of a positive organiziational culture are self
evident.
This study consists of six chapters. First, the research problem is in traduced. In
addition, this section provides a contextual background and outlines some of the
main aspects of organizational cultures and behavior. Finally, the importance of the
research problem is explained and the research question is introduced.
Chapter two explores the research approach adopted in this study, includes the
research question, defines the research method, and describes the research
framework, and data collection and analysis.
Chapter three presents a literature review, which introduces previous studies about
organizational culture, employee behavior in organizations, and the relations
among them.
Chapter four includes a case study on the effects of organizational culture. The
chapter presents an overview of the case company, discusses organizational culture
and introduces culture dimension measurement.
Chapter five introduces the data collection method and data analysis. Data will be
collected from interviews and observation. Some of the employees and supervisor
from management levels in the case company will be interviewed.
Chapter six presents the results of the data analysis, findings and a conclusion to the
research question. The factors that influence the employee behavior in the case
company will be summarized to give an answer to the research question.
3
Finally, chapter seven outlines the limitations, the validity and reliability of the
study, and introduces suggestions for future studies.
• INTRODUCTION
• Background context about enterprise culture and behavior,
Chapter1 statement of research problem, overview of the research
• RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• Explores the research approach and includes the research question,
Chapter 2 research method, research framework, data collection and analysis
• LITERATURE REVIEW
• Previous studies about enterprise culture and behavior, culture
Chapter 3 dimensions, and the relationship among them
• CASE STUDY
• Case company overview, organizational culture, and culture
Chapter 4 dimension measurement
• DATA ANALYSIS
• Findings and the conclusion
Chapter 5
• CONCLUSION
Chapter 6
• DISCUSSION
• Limitations, validity and reliability, and suggestions for future
Chapter 7 studies
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this study, the research will be conducted using a qualitative research method.
When applying qualitative methods, the aim is to reach a thorough understanding of
the object of study based on people’s behavior, feelings and experiences. The data
is often collected by interviews rather based on statistics and numbers.
As the present study focuses on people, their behaviors and how organizational
culture affects their behavior, the research question cannot be answered on the basis
of numerical data. Thus, qualitative research methods are considered suitable for
the purposes of this study.
The hypothesis deduced by the researcher is that the employee behavior is affected
by the three levels of the culture: symbols, rituals, and values. In addition, values
consists with six culture dimensions, power distance, individualism and
collectivism, masculinity and femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term
orientation, and indulgence and restraint.
5
In this research framework, the concepts are based on the background information,
the literature review and the case study. The first concept is organizational culture.
It is a system of shared meanings that distinguishes the organization from other
organizations. This system of shared meanings represents an organizational core
value and has a close association with organizational behavior. In this study, the
term “enterprise culture” is synonymous with the widely used concept of
organizational culture.
The second key concept is culture dimension. It was coined by Professor Geert
Hofstede, and it aims to analyse how values in the workplace are influenced by
culture. It is also an important part of understanding organizational behavior.
The third key concept is organizational behavior. It defines how individuals and
groups behave in organizations. The purpose is to apply this knowledge in
improving an organization’s effectiveness.
Based on the second and third concept, concept four is the relationship between
culture dimensions and organizational behavior. It gives an idea of how enterprise
culture affects organizational behavior.
By applying these four concepts, this research framework can answer the research
question: How does organizational culture affects employee behavior?
This study is focused on identifying the factors in culture that affect employee
behavior. Thus, interviewing and observation are the primary data collection
method used in this study.
The interviews will hold conducted online and with different people in the company
to ensure reliability. The interview will be unstructured to allow flexibility.
Moreover, unstructured interview allows the interviewee to be comfortable and talk
freely. (James, 2012)
6
The interviewees will be selected randomly among the employees in case company
“JUNHE”. Since culture is the main factor that affects the employee behavior, the
researcher will ask questions related to cultures and values.
Since the researcher used to be an employees in the case company, and participated
numerous projects within groups and individually, observation will be quite fair.
The behavior of the case company’s employees will be observed according to three
levels: at an individual, a group, and an organizational level. The observation
sustained from the start to the end of their work in a day, including regular
lunchtime and breaks. The researcher will record their behavior as evidence for
further studies. In addition, the observation also covers the symbols and rituals
within the case company.
The observation and interview data will be interpreted and summarized according
to the three levels of the culture: symbols, rituals, and values. The researcher will
analyse the collected data by identifying the impacts from each level. In order to
interpret the values in cultures, the researcher will elaborate Hofstede’s cultural
dimensions theory from all the resources, and apply it in the case company to
identify the factors that affect employee behavior. Finally, the researcher will
analyse the case study to deduce a hypothesis and draw a conclusion.
7
3 LITERATURE REVIEW
There is no single definition for the concept of the organizational culture. Instead,
there are several. For instance, “the process of thinking helps in establishing one
member from another on the basis of cognitive thinking” (Geert, et al., 2010); “the
success guidance based upon different values and norm that makes culture effective”
(Schein, 2004); “the set of beliefs, behavior, norms and values helps in making
culture most effective” (Kotter, et al., 1992).
Even if there is no single definition for the concept of the organizational culture and
even if cultures are very different from one to another, commonalities do exist.
Hofstede (2010) introduced an onion model to cover the total concept of culture,
including four aspects: symbols, heroes, rituals, and values. In Figure 2, those
aspects represent the skins of an onion, indicating that symbols represent the
surface and value the deepest manifestation of the culture with heroes and rituals in
between.
Heroes are persons who carry characteristics that are highly recognized. Heroes are
immortal, and they can serve as models for showing the correct values.
8
Rituals include social behavior, discourse, and the way language is used. Rituals are
collective activities that are used to express kinds of emotions such as respect.
Within a culture, rituals are considered socially essential.
The core of culture, according to Figure 2 is formed by values. Values mainly refer
to fundamental beliefs, values, ethics and spirits of an organization.
Symbols
Heroes
Rituals
Values
Robbins (2010) outlines seven primary characteristics that capture the essence of an
organizational culture as follows: (1) Innovation and risk taking. Employees are
encouraged to be creative and take risks which produce creativity. Innovation is
also a form of productivity. (2) Attention to detail. Employees are expected to be
attentive. Details always determine success or failure. (3) Outcome orientation.
Management focuses on final outcomes or the processes used to achieve those
goals. (4) People orientation. The consideration in management decisions tends to
affects people within the organization. (5) Team orientation. A work event is
organized among teams or individuals. (6) Aggressiveness. A person is aggressive
and competitive or easy-going during work. (7) Stability. Organization is looking
forward to maintaining the status quo or keeps growing.
9
Power distance
Individualism
Uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity
A sixth dimension was added in the 2010, based on Michael Minkov's analysis of
the World Values Survey data. This new dimension is called Indulgence versus
Restraint.
Table 1 summarizes the key differences in the workplace between small- and
large-power-distance cultures.
Table 2 summarizes the key differences in the workplace between collectivist and
individualist cultures.
Collectivism Individualism
The internet and email are less attractive The internet and email hold strong
and less frequently used. appeal and are frequently used to link
individuals.
Table 3 summarizes the key differences in the workplace between feminine and
masculine cultures.
Femininity Masculinity
More leisure time is preferred over more More money is preferred over more
money leisure time
In a strong uncertainty avoidance culture, people prefer rules, regulations, and the
conservative legal order, and do not like adventure and innovation. In order to avoid
risks, they prefer stable jobs, a secure life, avoidance of conflict, and have a lower
tolerance for deviant persons and ideas. In contrast, in a week uncertainty
avoidance culture, conflicts and competitions are acceptable.
Table 4 summarizes the key differences in the workplace between weak and strong
uncertainty avoidance cultures.
There should be no more rules than There is an emotional need for rules,
strictly necessary. even if they will not work.
Tolerance for ambiguity and chaos. Need for precision and formalization.
Belief in generalists and common sense. Belief in experts and technical solutions.
14
Indulgence relates to a society that allows relatively free gratification of basic and
natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. Restraint relates to a
society that suppresses gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict
social norms.
Robbins (2010) categories the study into three domains: individuals, groups and
organization structures.
Individuals are the basic units with the same direction, but each is different in terms
of personality, education and experience. The challenge of an effective
organization is to successfully match tasks. According to Ashim Gupta (2010), in
an ideal situation, in order to approach tasks efficiently and conflict freely,
managers should identify the tasks first, and then assign them to people who have
the required skills. During this process, the most obvious characteristics that affect
us include age, gender, abilities, personality characteristics, perception, values, and
attitudes. These characteristics are examined in Robbins’s (2010) study. He
summarizes the individual level variables that affect employee behavior:
biographical characteristics, abilities, values, attitudes, personality, emotions,
perception, individual decision making, learning and motivation.
for future growth. Just as people’s behavior in groups is more complicated than the
sum total of individuals acting on their own, so is organizational behavior more
than the sum total of its member groups. The structures of an organization, the
organizational culture, and the practices all have an impact on the organization
system level variables. (Harrison Dia, 2004)
Culture plays numerous roles within an organization. In the first place, it gives
organization identities, which means it creates boundaries between one
organization and others, as well as individuals. Further, culture could transform
individual self-interests into something bigger which coincides with an
organization’s goal. Additionally, since culture regulates the behavior of the
employee by providing appropriate standards, it enhances the organizational
system level. Finally, culture acts as a behavioral mechanism that guides and shapes
the attitudes and behavior of employees. (Robbins, 2010)
A study provided by Kotter and Heskett (1992) gave a good example on the
relationship between organizational culture and organizational behavior. In their
study, their conclusion can be categorized into two: a contingency model and a
universal model. The contingency model indicated that better performing
organizations have strong cultures, but only if the culture fits the organization's
environment. In contrast, the universal model outlined that if an organization wants
to behave well in the long term, it must have a culture focused on three
constituencies: customers, employees, and stockholders.
17
The third aspect is the cohesive effect of the organizational culture. When a certain
organizational value is recognized by the employees, it becomes social glue.
Through this impact, employees will generate a sense of loyalty to the enterprise.
looking for the sense to work and to establish social behavior. Through this process,
employees can form common values and behaviors.
A radiation effect is the fifth aspect. Enterprise culture not only affects inside an
organization, but also has an impact on society through various channels. People
understand the deeper values of an organization through symbols, advertising,
architecture, products and services. There are many channels to radiate this to
society for instance media and public activities.
The sixth and final aspect is innovation. Excellent enterprise culture provides a
working environment that inspires innovation, encourages difference, and tolerates
failure. The most typical example is Google; innovation has become Google’s
Survival Guide.
In addition, Schein (2004) states that leaders’ success depends on sending and
shaping correct contents about their priorities, values and beliefs. Once the culture
is established and accepted, it will become a strong leadership tool. It will associate
the leaders with the beliefs and values of an organization and its members and helps
leaders to guide them.
19
4 CASE STUDY
The case company JUNHE is one of the oldest law firms in China, and it is
dedicated to providing first-class business and litigation legal services on the global
scale. JUNHE’s headquarters is in Beijing, and it has offices in Shanghai,
Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian, Haikou, Hong Kong, Silicon Valley and New York.
The company has six hundred employees, and the working languages include
Chinese (including Mandarin, Shanghai dialect, Cantonese), English, Japanese, and
Korean.
Since the case company is a partnership law firm, the highest authority is the
partner conference. Under the partner conference is the management committee,
which is the executing agency for the partner conference. It is also responsible for
daily management. In addition, there are nine parallel departments including the
business management department, the research department, the training department,
the marketing department, the financial department, the human resource
department, the administration, the IT department, and the culture and
entertainment department.
The researcher chose the company to be the study case because the researcher
worked there as an intern for a year. The permission to investigate the cultural
influences on employees was given by the head of administration.
By summarizing Deal and Kennedy’s (1982) theory and Hofstede’s (2010) theory,
the researcher divides organizational culture into three levels (see Figure 3). The
20
most superficial level is symbols. This level of the culture is visible, and that is why
this part of the culture can be observed easily. The middle level is rituals. Rituals
cannot be observed directly, but the middle level reflects the standards and
constrains of organizational behavior. The core level is represented by values, and
this part is the invisible side of culture, which includes attitudes, beliefs, interaction
and other concealed features of culture.
Symbols
Rituals
Values
4.2.1 Symbols
A symbol within an organization is any object that stands for ideas, visual images,
beliefs, or actions. Usually, symbols formed with words, sounds, gestures, or
images and are used to convey ideas and beliefs. At management level, symbols are
mainly reflected in the following aspects: organizational logo, charity, office design,
and media. This is the highest concentration of external corporate culture symbols.
(Rafaeli;ym., 1999)
The representative factors of symbols in the case company are the logo and charity.
The organizational logo states the first impression of the organization. It is the first
information provided by the organization and shared with others. The basic
organizational logo of the case company is JUNHE (see Figure 4). It comes from
21
one of the teachings of Confucius: Cohered by true hearts. It is the founder’s spirit,
but also is the common spirit of the organization. A logo is a sign of an
organization or its services, and it is a legally protected brand. Speaking from the
perspective of management, a logo is an important part of the whole organization.
That is, on the one hand, a logo is an important feature of the product or services. In
order to expand market share, gain greater efficiency, certain logo awareness could
help a lot. On the other hand, a trademark carries out a company's vision.
4.2.2 Rituals
Rituals are the regular culture interaction models and normative manners formed in
long-term culture activities. They provide a code of conduct for certain situations,
for instance in terms of language and dress code. Different rituals reflect the
different characters and traditions within an organization. Obviously, rituals
demonstrate the effectiveness of an enterprise in the construction and development
of their own culture. (De, 2007)
22
The case company has a very systematic code of conduct consisting of several
aspects. Office dress code lists the standards of dressing in each situation. For
instance, when meeting with customers, an employee should wear a suit, and shorts
and jeans are forbidden. According to office rituals, employees should be civilized,
polite, enthusiastic and friendly during office hours. They should use polite
language when work at the front desk and answering the phone. Office security is
another aspect. It outlines that employees should keep their personal belongins
safely. In addition, employees should not leak confidential files and data which
have information about the firm or customers. Employees also owe a duty to update
their personal information to the human resource department once it has changed.
Finally, the case company provides benefits for every employee, such as birthday
gifts, annual physical examination, and cultural and sports activities.
Rituals are also reflected in some other details, such as e-mail specifications, paper
mail format, usage of conference rooms, and the environment of the office.
Compared to the symbolic level, rituals regulate the behavior of employees more
directly through a system, which provides a code of conduct to be observed in
organizational joint activities. In the case company, each job has clear rules and
procedures. The rules and procedures constraint the behavior of the employees and
ensure the entire organization operates orderly and efficiently. In addition, there are
some personalized regulations that better reflect the characteristics of a company's
management and culture and affect employee behavior. For example, in order to
improve the level of business, the case company has established “JUNHE FUNDS”
to support employee training and study abroad. Every employee can apply for funds
to study abroad.
4.2.3 Values
Values can be understood in terms of binaries, for example, evil versus good, dirty
versus clean, dangerous versus safe, and forbidden versus permitted. To better
understand the case company’s cultural values, the researcher applies Hofstede’s
culture dimension theory to measure the target company's cultural values. Figure 5
below shows the relations between dimensions and a given value.
Power
Distance
Indulgence Individualism
and and
Restraint Collectivism
Value
Long-term Uncertainty
orientation Avoidance
Masculinity
and
Femininity
A given value is the stable element in culture. The present research on values starts
from the measurement of values. Measuring values from people’s behavior is
unclear and ambiguous, since values are affected by various factors. The six
common problem areas listed by Hofstede represent the dimensions of culture in
order to determine its influence of organization. A dimension is an aspect of culture
which can be measured and managed.
24
Before the researcher discovers the cultural influence of values in the case company,
interviews and observations give some clues to understand the target company’s
culture.
To better understanding the power distance in the case company, the researcher has
categorized power distance according to four aspects involving organizational
structure, communication, decision making, and leadership. Interviews and
observation will give some hints about how power distance appears within the
company.
Since the case company is a partnership law firm, the highest authority is the
partner conference. Under the partner conference is the management committee,
which is the executing agency for the partner conference. This is illustrated in
Figure 6. It is helpful for the researcher to identify and evaluate power distance
through the structure.
Partner
Conference
Management
Committee
The structure of the company is very simple. It has three vertical levels: the partner
conference, the management committee, and the departments on the third level. It
seems that the case company is highly centralised, and top managers make all the
decisions and lower-level managers merely carry out the top management’s
directives. Because of the case company’s unique management strategy, the partner
conference has central authority. Still, the partner conference leaves a great amount
25
order to measure this dimension, the researcher categorized it into two parts:
working conditions upon individual work and group work, and conflict solving.
Working conditions contain individual factors and group factors. This involves
personal time, freedom, challenge, training, physical condition, use of skills, and
communication. Personal time is time left outside work for employees’ family life.
On the other hand, Freedom, then again, refers to the idea that employees should
have freedom to adapt their own approach to their jobs. Challenge refers to the idea
that their jobs should be challenging enough, so that employees can feel a sense of
achievement. Training relates to the notion that there should be training
opportunities available, so that employees can improve their skills or learn new
skills. Physical conditions, on the other hand, refer to an organizations work spaces;
for example, good ventilation and lighting, and adequate work space. Use of skills
relate to the idea that employees should be able to fully use their skills and abilities
in their jobs. Finally, communication refers to the notion that employees should
communicate with each other. It also means that there are different means and
media for communication, for example email, telephone and face-to-face
communication.
Based on the observation, the researcher noticed that personal time and freedom
were not much concerned by the employees in the case company. Generally,
personal time is corretaled with the amount of work, and sometimes employees
have to sacrifice their personal time to work overtime Most of the employees are
fine with this, since they can shift the overtime hours to another day. For example,
if an employee has worked for one hour of overtime, he/she can transfer that hour to
the next day as a regular work hour. In addition, freedom is another factor the case
company’s employees are not concerned with. Instead of freedom, the employees
prefer to be told what to do.
The researcher also asked the interviewees to select those factors that would be
important to their present job. Most interviewees chose “challenge” as the most
important factor. Training, physical conditions, and communication were preferred
as well. The interviewees told that most employees treat their job as a “job”, dot
have to emphasize the sense of missions. To the employees, a pleasant working
27
Rules are set to prevent uncertainties in the behavior of other people. In the case
company, the rules are relatively consistent with the company's interests and
corporate culture. In the case company’s management handbook, it is mentioned
that the rules and regulations are people oriented. The partner conference will also
continue to advocate this positive, cohesive culture that encourages employees to
participate.
Technology, from the most primitive to the most advanced, helps people to avoid
uncertainties caused by nature. The case company has developed ways to alleviate
uncertainties through particular software and equipment. The software contains an
outsourced enterprise business management solution. This solution comes with a
variety of built-in capabilities. It gathers financial management, client and matter
management, risk management, and business development into one system. The
software has helped the case company to solve various unpredictable challenges.
Furthermore, based on the contents of work, the case company provides equipment
for each employee. The equipment includes a desktop, a laptop, and a cell phone.
The devices are preconfiged, and the employees have no permission to install,
uninstall, or operate any software or hardware unrelated to their job.
Challenging work refers to valuable work with certain difficulty; employees need
to work seriously, hard, and creatively to complete it. The completion of such work
allows an employee to get psychological rewards. Challengs at work can inspire
employees’ potential abilities, enhance self-confidence, and an employee can feel a
sense of accomplishment and achievement. Challenging work can also motivate
employees to acquire knowledge and skills, and enhance their abilities. Challenging
work is the most effective way to inspire employees.
In all orgnizations, profit is the ultimate goal. In order to approach that, strategies
are necessary. Long-term orientation or short-term orientation was defined from the
beginning of the organizational strategy. In addition, long-term orientation and
short-term orientation are also reflected in interpersonal relationships, investments,
and market shares.
In the case company, the researcher noticed that employees’ actions are restrained
by various norms and prohibitions. Also, any type of indulgence is never performed
during work time. Especially, in front of the customers, self-restraint is more
favoured and trusted.
31
5 DATA ANALYSIS
The aim of this study is to find how organizational culture affects employee
behavior. Organizational culture was into divided three parts: symbols, rituals, and
values. It is noteworthy that values were categorized according to six dimensions:
power distance, collective and individual, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and
femininity, long-term orientation, indulgence and restraint. The hypothesis, that
employee behavior is affected by symbols, rituals, and the six dimensions of values,
is tested through interviews and observation in the case company.
Symbols and rituals are measured based on observation. Put simply, symbols and
rituals play a role that has the responsibility to transmit organizational culture to
employees. Rituals are activities or standards that express and enhance the key
values of an organization. Symbols, then again, represent the vision, motivation,
and values of an organization. Thus, employees can learn organizational culture
through these different forms.
In order to investigate how values impact the case company, the same questions
were handed over to employees from different levels of the company. On the
management level, the head of the administration was interviewed. On the
subordinate level, two employees from the IT department accepted to be
interviewed as a group. Answers by the management level and subordinate level
were as follows.
Power distance
1. Try to think of those factors that would be important to you in your present
job. (Personal time, Freedom, Challenging work, Training, Physical
conditions, Use of skills, Communication)
Head of administration: Challenges
IT employees: Challenges, Physical conditions, Training
2. When there is disagreement and you need to present your own viewpoint,
what will you do?
Head of administration: If it does not interfere with my interests, I will not
have too much involvement. However, depending on the particular
situation, I may provide my proposal.
IT employees: Finding compromise solutions.
The questions were asked to determine the cultural impacts on individualism and
collectivism. All of the interviewees chose “challenge” as one of their work goals.
Challenge enhances an employee’s independence from the organization. If an
organization continuously gives an employee unchallenging work it may appear
that the organization cares for the employee. However, this is not true. Essentially,
this means the organization does not give the employee opportunities to develop
and progress. Thus, the employee will always remain at the same level. On the
contrary, accepting challenging work relates to improvement. An employee will
learn in order to complete such work and improve his or her knowledge and skills.
34
1. Try to think of those factors that would be important to you in your present
job. (Earnings, Recognition, Advancement, Challenge, Cooperation, Living
area, Employment security)
Head of administration: Earnings
IT employees: Earnings, Recognition, Challenge, Cooperation
In Table 7, the interviewees’ answers vary. The question was asked to determine
the cultural impacts on masculinity and femininity. Note that the work goal
challenge was also associated with the individualism dimension. The other goals
are associated only with masculinity and femininity. For the given answers, all of
the interviewees select earnings as an important aspect. The reasons they select
earnings could be summarized as follows. Firstly, let talents come to the fore, to
reward outstanding employees. A good earning system ensures the strong become
stronger and encourages the weak to keep pace with the strong. It also attracts
talented employees. Finally, employees work harder when the interests of a
company and an individual are interrelated.
Uncertainty avoidance
3. How long do you think you will continue working for JUNHE?
Head of administration: At least 5 years.
IT employees: A year or two, for future development.
Questions 1 in Table 8 relate to the degree of job stress. The answer from the head
of administration points out that there is not too much pressure in present job.
However, the IT employees told that they feel tense when facing unknown bugs,
and when fixing a system, since system tests might be insufficient. Occupational
stress is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, appropriate occupational stress
can motivate employees to work hard. On the other hand, too much pressure will
lead to a series of adverse reactions, for example job dissatisfaction, boredom, no
sense of responsibility, and result in reduced efficiency.
The answers from 2 to 6 in the table all indicate strong an uncertainty avoidance in
the organizational culture. According to the answers, the case company has created
many regulations, procedures and practices to deal with uncertainty. The decisions
are usually based on a decision-making procedure. Additionally, they believe that
most problems can be solved with regulations. The interviewees have no intention
to leave the company in the short term. They are all motivated by the job
achievements. Moreover, employment security also plays a role. From the
organizational management perspective, uncertainty avoidance affects the
organizational structure.
1. Try to think of those factors that would be important to you in your present
job. (Thrift, Respect for tradition, Protecting one’s “face”, Achievement,
Self-discipline)
Head of administration: Achievement, self-discipline
IT employees: Freedom, Rights, Achievement, Self-discipline
4. Focus is on the “bottom line” (the results of the past month, quarter, or year)
or market position?
Head of administration: Market position
IT employees: Both.
The answers for question 2 to 4 point toward the idea that long-term orientation is
deeply rooted in case company. It also reflected in company’s strategies. Instead of
short-term profits, the case company focused on long-term objectives and market
positions. Besides company’s objective, interpersonal relationship also influenced
by long-term orientation. All of the interviewees prefer to develop a personal
network at work place.
1. Happiness: “taking all things together, would you say you are very happy,
quite happy, not very happy, or not at all happy.”
Head of administration: Quite happy.
IT employees: Quite happy.
strict norms?
Head of administration: Leisure should be curbed and restrainted.
IT employees: Leisure should are relatively free.
Table 10: Interviewee's answers from question theme indulgence and restraint
The question 1 and 2 in Table 10 indicated that the attitudes about the well-being
upon case company’s culture. Generally interviewees feel quite happy at present
job. It follows that they have adapted to the present work, norms, rules, wages, they
feel satisfied with the job. Though occupational stress happens, but it also promotes
them to make progress. All this predicts relatively quite happiness. The answer goes
rather differ on question 2. One interviewee agrees that leisure should be curbed
and restrained, but the others do not agree.
In fact, there is no evident support that indulgence and restraint have impact on
people’s behavior in the workplace. It all related to that employee could act as
he/she pleases; indulges in leisurely and fun-related activities. Since the activities
are all beyond the work, it should not take into account.
39
6 CONCLUSION
The literature review of this thesis shows that there are three levels in
organizational behavior. The first level is individual behavior, the second level is
group behavior, and the third level is organizational system level. The individual
behavior includes biographical characteristics, ability, values, attitudes,
personality, emotions, perception, individual decision making, learning and
motivation. The group behavior consists with communication, leadership and trust,
group structure, conflict, power and politics. The organizational system level
involves organizational culture, human resource policies and practices, and
organization structure and design.
However, the case study found that not every behavior was affected by the
organizational culture. Still, some part of employee behavior has a strong
correlation with culture. The three levels of the organizational culture include
symbols, rituals, and values; each level has unique impacts on behavior. Symbols
have impacts on motivating employees, and delivering a company’s vision and
values to its employees. Rituals set behavior standards and enhance the key values
to employees. Meanwhile, symbols and rituals stand for a mean of cultural
dissemination.
In addition, values as the core level of the organizational culture have the most
significant impact on employee behavior. Values include six dimensions, and each
dimension represents the different aspects of organizational culture. The first
dimension is power distance. Power distance in culture reflects the organization
structure and design. It also has impacts on communication, attitude expression and
decision making. The second dimension individualism and collectivism have
impacts on the working goals upon individual and group work, such as individual
learning, ability, and values. It also shows the impact on conflicts solving. The third
dimension, masculinity and femininity, indicates that the pursued working goals are
based on gender characteristics. Those working goals show the third dimension has
impact on motivation. It is worth noting that reward system, which belongs to
human resource and practices, is also affected by the dimension of masculinity and
femininity. The fourth dimension, uncertainty avoidance, shows this part of culture
40
not only could motivate employee by job stress and challenge, but also could defeat
an employee with it. The fifth dimension is long-term orientation. The research on
it shows the effects on motivation, individual learning, and group decision making.
The sixth dimension, indulgence and restraint, outlines the employee’s attitude of
well-being. Yet there is no evidence that this dimension has an impact on employee
behavior.
All in all, the organizational culture’s impacts are mainly reflected in motivation,
promote individual learning; communication; and enhance organizational values;
group decision making; and conflict solving.
41
7 DISCUSSION
7.1 Limitations
The aim of this study was to find out how organizational culture affects employee
behavior.
Because of limited resources and time, only three employees were interviewed: the
head of administration and two people from the IT department. Due to the limited
number of interviewees, all aspects might not have been covered.
Another limitation is that the questions asked during the interview did not cover all
sides of organizational culture, and there was not much time for further questions.
The data might not be collected completely and may lead to ambiguity. In addition,
observations are subjective, and it is difficult to compare the outcome from
different people.
The reliability of this study is measured according to the interviews and observation
conducted in the case company. The case company is one of the oldest law firms in
China with a strong organizational culture. On the other hand, the researcher
interviewed three employees in the case company under the permission of the head
42
Validity in research declares how truthful the research results are. Golafashani
(2003) defined validity as it is measured for demonstrating whether the research is
truly processed as it is intended to be.
In this study, the data were collected by interviews and observations. Although,
considered the researcher has worked in the case company, the process of data
collection is quite fair without any personal judgement. Furthermore, the research
result strongly supported the researcher’ assumption, and therefore the study is
valid.
The studies correlated with the cultures that have influenced on people’s behaviors
within an organization could be further investigated. As mentioned earlier, the fact
that the number of interviews were limited due to constraint time and resources; the
questions in interviews may not cover all aspects of the organizational culture.
Therefore, further studies on culture could pay more attention in identifying all
aspects of organizational culture. Moreover, further studies could also take other
factors into account, such personalities and ethnic culture.
43
REFERENCES
Published References
Deal, T.E. & Kennedy, A. (1982), Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of
Organizational Life, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Geert Hofstede & Gert Jan Hofstede & Michael Minkov (2010). Cultures and
Organizations.
Innes, James (2012). The interview book: your definitive guide to the perfect
interview.
Electronic References
Harrison Dia (2004). Assessing Individual and Group Behavior. Retrieved from:
http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/5050_Harrison_Chapter_3.pdf
Irina Nicolau, Adina Musetescu (2012). The influence of lifelong programs on the
organizational culture and Performance. Retrieved from:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187704281201470
Sonja Treven & Matjaž Mulej & Monty Lynn (2008). The impact of culture on
organizational behavior. Retrieved from:
https://www.efst.hr/management/Vol13No2-2008/2-Treven%20Mulej%20Lynn.p
df
45
APPENDICES
Interview sheet
Author: Tianya LI
Date of interview:
Interviewee’s position:
1. Try to think of those factors that would be important to you in present job.
Personal time
Freedom
Challenging work
Training
Physical conditions
Use of skills
Communication
2. When there is disagreement and you need to present your own viewpoint, what
will you do?
46
Try to think of those factors that would be important to you in present job.
Earnings
Recognition
Advancement
Challenge
Manager
Cooperation
Living area
Employment security
3. How long do you think you will continue working for JUNHE?
1. Try to think of those factors that would be important to you in present job.
Persistence
Thrift
Respect for tradition
Protecting one’s “face”
Freedom
Rights
Achievement
47
Self-discipline
4. Focus is on the “bottom line” (the results of the past month, quarter, or year) or
market position?
1. Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, quite happy, not
very happy, or not at all happy?
2. Leisure should are relatively free based on human nature or restraint and
regulated by strict norms?