Organisational Culture As A Management Tool

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Leadership and Human Resource Management - Miscellaneous, grade: 72%, University of Bradford (School Of Management), course: Organisational Behaviour, language: English, abstract: This assignment aims at discussing whether a strong organisational culture which can be used as a tool of management control helps to both motivate staff and improve company performance and should therefore be encouraged. Organisational culture can be defined as “the basic values, ideologies and assumptions which guide and fashion individual and business behaviour.” (Wilson and Rosenfeld 1990, p.229). Following Schein, organisational culture can be subdivided into three levels, representing the visibility to the observer. Most visible are the culture’s artefacts or surface manifestations, including organisational structure, processes, physical environment, technology and products, employees clothing, manners of address as well as language and company myths. These and other artefacts can be discovered while interacting with the organisation as an employee, customer or other stakeholder. The second level are espoused beliefs and values. The companies set of values normally establishes over a long period emerging from the founders and managements own mindset. These values are (or better should be) adopted by all employees as a part of their own values and beliefs and are also manifested as stated company values. The third and most in-depth level of organisational culture are the underlying basic assumptions. They evolve when beliefs and values become treated as reality, though they are never visible to an observer and can be described as the company’s own culture (Schein 2004). An important factor, when looking at organisational culture is the similarity or differences of the management’s and the employee’s view of corporate culture. A high match of organizational culture levels results in a strong organisational culture whereas differences in both groups’ mindsets lead towards a weak culture. Important thereby is not only a match of the culture’s manifestations, which only leads to a superficial strong culture, much more significant is sharing of the same values and underlying assumptions (Hartog and Verburg 2004). In a strong organisational culture, common thinking and views between employers and employees may eventually result in a better working atmosphere, an alignment of the workforce and ultimately in better performance (Deal and Kennedy 2000). Weak corporate cultures on the other hand are marked by less shared values, beliefs and assumptions and are less stringent in its thinking but are therefore also more open to changes and fluctuations. [...]

The questionable practices and policies of many businesses are coming under scrutiny by consumers and the media. As such, it important to research new methods and systems for creating optimal business cultures. Organizational Culture and Behavior: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a comprehensive resource on the latest advances and developments for creating a system of shared values and beliefs in business environments. Featuring extensive coverage across a range of relevant perspectives and topics, such as organizational climate, collaboration orientation, and aggressiveness orientation, this book is ideally designed for business owners, managers, entrepreneurs, professionals, researchers, and students actively involved in the modern business realm.

Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture provides a framework, a sense-making tool, a set of systematic steps, and a methodology for helping managers and their organizations carefully analyze and alter their fundamental culture. Authors, Cameron and Quinn focus on the methods and mechanisms that are available to help managers and change agents transform the most fundamental elements of their organizations. The authors also provide instruments to help individuals guide the change process at the most basic level—culture. Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture offers a systematic strategy for internal or external change agents to facilitate foundational change that in turn makes it possible to support and supplement other kinds of change initiatives.

In today’s digital environment the workplace is characterised by individuals creating information perhaps independently of formal systems, or establishing new systems without knowledge of information management requirements. This book explains and explores the concept of organisational culture, specifically within the domain of information management. It draws on the author's wide-ranging practical experience in different workplaces and uses research findings from cross-cultural studies of information management. Uses research findings from cross-cultural studies of information management Provides tools to develop practical and realistic solutions to real-world problems Draws on the author’s wide-ranging practical experience in different workplaces.

Regarded as one of the most influential management books of all time, this fourth edition of Leadership and Organizational Culture transforms the abstract concept of culture into a tool that can be used to better shape the dynamics of organization and change. This updated edition focuses on today's business realities. Edgar Schein draws on a wide range of contemporary research to redefine culture and demonstrate the crucial role leaders play in successfully applying the principles of culture to achieve their organizational goals.

This book introduces an innovative new digital approach to speed up cultural change in organisations and reduce failure rates through use of the Culture Acceleration Tool and Methodology (CATM). Including real life case studies, the book demonstrates the possibility of a higher success rate with organisational culture change management.