Organizational culture can be defined as the group norms, values, beliefs and assumptions practiced in an organization. It brings stability and control to the firm. The organization is more stable and its objective can be understood more clearly.
Organizational culture helps the group members to resolve their differences, and overcome barriers and also helps them in tackling risks.
Elements of Organizational Culture
The two key elements seen in organizational culture are −
Visible elements− These elements are seen by the outer world. Examples, dress code, activities, setup, etc.
Invisible elements− These inner elements of the group cannot be seen by people outside the group or firm. Example, values, norms, assumption examples Now let us discuss some other elements of organizational culture. They are −
Stories− Stories regarding the history of the firm, or founder.
Rituals− Precise practices an organization follows as a habit.
Symbol− The logo or signature or the style statement of a company.
Language− A common language that can be followed by all, like English.
Practice− Discipline, daily routine or say the tight schedule everyone follows without any failure.
Values and Norms− The idea over which a company is based or the thought of the firm is considered as its value and the condition to adopt them are called norms.
Assumptions− It means we consider something to be true without any facts. Assumptions can be used as the standard of work, which means the employees prepare themselves to remain above standard.
Different Types of Organizational Culture
The culture a firm follows can be further classified into different types. They are −
Mechanistic and Organic culture
Authoritarian and Participative culture
Subculture and Dominant culture
Strong and Weak culture
Entrepreneurial and Market culture
Mechanistic and Organic Culture
Mechanistic culture is formed by formal rules and standard operating procedures. Everything needs to be defined clearly to the employees like their tasks, responsibility and concerned authorities. The communication process is carried out according to the direction given by the organization. Accountability is one of the key factors of mechanistic culture.
Organic culture is defined as the essence of social values in an organization. Thus there exists a high degree of sociability with very few formal rules and regulations in the company. It has a systematic hierarchy of authority that leads towards the free flow of communication. Some key elements of organic culture include authority, responsibility, accountability and direct flow towards the employee.
Authoritarian and Participative Culture
Authoritarian culture means the power of one. In this culture, power remains with the top-level management. All the decisions are made by the top management with no employee involvement in the decision-making as well as the goal-shaping process. The authority demands obedience from the employee and warns them of punishment in case of mistake or irregularity. This type of culture is followed by military organizations.
In participative culture, employees actively participate in the decision-making and goal-shaping process. As the name suggests, it believes in collaborative decision-making. In this type of culture, employees are perfectionists, active and professional. Along with group decision-making, the group problem-solving process is also seen here.
Subculture and Dominant Culture
In the subculture, some members of the organization make and follow a culture but not all members do. It is a part of organizational culture, thus we can see many subcultures in an organization. Every department in a company has its own culture that gets converted into a subculture. So, the strength and adaptability of organizational culture are dependent on the success of the subculture.
In the dominant culture, the majority of subcultures combine to become a dominant culture. The success of the dominant culture is dependent on the homogeneity of the subculture, that is, the mixture of different cultures. At the same point in time, some cold war between a dominant culture and a minor culture can also be seen.
Strong and Weak Culture
In a strong culture, the employees are loyal and have a feeling of belongingness towards the organization. They are proud of their company as well as of the work they do and they slave towards their goal with proper coordination and control. Perception and commitment are two aspects that are seen within the employees. In this culture, there is less employee turnover and high productivity.
In a weak culture, the employees hardly praise their organization. There is no loyalty towards the company. Thus, employee dissatisfaction and high labour turnover are two aspects of this culture.
Entrepreneurial and Market Culture
Entrepreneurial culture is a flexible and risk-taking culture. Here the employees show their innovativeness in thinking and are experimental in practice. Individual initiations make the goal easy to achieve. Employees are given freedom in their activities. The organization rewards the employees for better performance.
Market culture is based on the achievement of goals. It is a highly target-oriented and completely profit-oriented culture. Here the relationship between the employees and the organization is to achieve the goal. The social relationships among the workers are not motivating.
How to Create an Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is created with the combination of certain criteria that are mentioned below −
The founder of the organization may partly set a culture.
The environment within which the organization's standards may influence its activities to set a culture.
Sometimes interchange of culture between different organizations creates different new cultures.
The members of the organization may set a culture that is flexible to adapt.
New cultures are also created in an organization due to the demands of time and situations.
The culture of an organisation can change due to the composition of the workforce, merger and acquisition, planned organizational change, and the influence of other organizational cultures.
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