What Is Organizational Culture

What is Organizational Culture?
The contemporary definition of Organizational Culture includes “the dominant leadership style, the
language and symbols, the procedures and routines, and the definitions of success that characterizes an
organization” (Schein, 1992; Cameron & Quinn, 1999). Culture is a specific collection of acceptable
values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization. It controls the way people
inside the organization interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization.
In many ways, Culture is like personality. In a person, the personality is made up of the values, beliefs,
underlying assumptions, interests, experiences, upbringing, and habits that influence a person’s
intuitions and instincts.
An organization’s culture makes up all the life experiences each employee contributes to the
organization. Culture is primarily influenced by the organization’s founder, senior executives, and other
managerial staff. That is because of their roles in decision-making and strategic direction. Nevertheless,
every employee also has a significant effect on the culture that is developed at work.
Despite its contradictory characteristic, every organization has a culture, whether by default or by
design. Building a strong and healthy organizational culture is not just about a good compensation
package, a conducive work environment, and a few team-building activities; it is about anchoring
everything that we do in a certain philosophy or set of beliefs and values.
Managing Organizational Culture
An organization which values work-life balance would see it exemplified in all of its processes and
structures. A simple example would be how meetings are conducted (do meetings allow for conference
calling to accommodate telecommuters? are meetings constantly called at 4.30pm not allowing
people to leave office on time?), how are rewards and recognition conferred (do people who work
overtime get bigger bonuses and promotions?). Simply put, do our policies match our stated values?
Many business owners would like to become an “employer of choice” and aspire to the “Top 100 Best
places to work”. But how? By building an on-site gym with free massage and yoga classes? That would
only serve as short-term motivators for employees. Many studies have shown that what employees
really want is a workplace that not only provides those types of benefits but also creates an
environment where people feel valued, respected and where they feel like they make an important
contribution. Think about it, if you treat people with disrespect, provide no recognition or positive
reinforcement; a nice massage may take the sting out for a while but quickly the pain returns.
Hence, building a strong and healthy organizational culture should essentially include more than a few
perquisites that create a nice appearance from the surface. What really matters is what people will find
when they dig below the surface.
In the past two decades, the concept of organizational culture has gained widespread acceptance as a
roadmap to understanding human systems. We now consider each aspect of organizational culture as
an important environmental condition affecting the system and its subsystem. Globalization, increased
competition, mergers, acquisitions, alliances, and various workforce categorizations have created a
greater need for organizational culture. Thus, it has become a critical element for the organization’s
overall development.
Key Elements of Organizational Culture:
 It compassionately focuses attention on the human side of organizational life and finds
significance and understanding even its most ordinary aspects.
 It clarifies the importance of creating appropriate systems of shared values to help people work
together toward desired outcomes and better productivity.
 It requires members, especially leaders, to acknowledge the impact and consequences of their
actions on the organization’s culture. For example, the airline industry.
 Organizational culture is possibly the most critical factor determining an organization’s capacity,
effectiveness, and continuity. It also contributes significantly to the organization’s brand image
and brand promise. For example, Apple and its products.
 Organizational Culture creates energy and momentum. The energy will penetrate through the
organization and create a new momentum for success.
The relevance of organizational culture mentioned above asserts the consideration that, in this
competitive and globalized corporate scenario, there is a huge need of organizational development
strategy at various workforce departments, as this can improve the company’s culture and consequently
the output.
Influencing the Culture of Your Organization
There are four primary ways to influence the culture of an organization.
1. Emphasize what’s important. This includes the vision of the organization, posting the mission
statement on the wall, talking about accomplishments to inspire and setting goals by repeating
what you want to see in the workplace.
2. Reward employees with incentives whose behaviors reflect what’s important.
3. Discourage behaviors that reflect what’s unimportant. Avoid punishments or cause prolonged
discomfort. Rather, you want to counsel the employee from continuing unwanted behaviors by
giving them constructive feedback, verbal and written warnings, or firing them.
4. Role model the behaviors that you want to see in the workplace. This is perhaps the most
powerful method to influence behaviors in the workplace. For example, if you want to see more
teamwork among your employees, then involve yourself in teams more often.
To some extent, we can compare culture to natural forces such as winds and tides. These elements are
always there in the background; sometimes unnoticed, sometimes obvious. Endowed with immense
power, they can even damage plans and restrain progress. They can’t really be tamed or fundamentally
altered. Instead, if you respect them and understand how to make the most of them, if you work with
them and tap into their hidden power, they can become a source of energy and be the wind beneath the
wings.
Organizational Culture Assessment
The best way to start is to introspect with a series of questions:

What are the most important emotional forces that determine what your people do?
What few behavior changes would matter most in addressing strategic and operational directives?
Who are the authentic informal leaders you can enlist?
And what can you and your fellow senior leaders do differently to invoke and reinforce those critical
behaviors?
Conclusion
Of course, you shouldn’t anticipate dramatic results overnight. You should envision an evolution, not a
revolution. One of the challenges of working with culture is that it changes gradually; that’s the bad
news. What about the good news? If you approach culture with respect and intelligence, as a milieu in
which you and your enterprise live, you can use it to speed up your competitive momentum. There’s no
better time than the present tostart.

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What is Organizational Culture?

Managing Organizational Culture

Influencing the Culture of Your Organization

There are four primary ways to influence the culture of an organization.

2. Reward employees with incentives whose behaviors reflect what’s important.

Organizational Culture Assessment

The best way to start is to introspect with a series of questions:

Who are the authentic informal leaders you can enlist?

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