Organizational Culture

What is organizational culture? * Organizational culture- The system of shared actions, values, and beliefs that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members * External adaptation- Involves reaching goals and dealing with outsiders regarding tasks to be accomplished; methods used to achieve the goals; methods of coping with success and failure. * Important aspects of external adaptation * Separating eternal forces based on importance * Developing ways to measure accomplishments * Creating explanations for not meeting goals
External adaptation involves answering important goal-related questions regarding coping with reality * What is the real mission? * How do we contribute? * What are our goals? * How do we reach our goals? * What external forces are important? * How do we measure results? * What do we do if specific targets are not met? * How do we tell others how good we are? * When do we quit? * Internal integration- Deals with the creation of a collective identity and with finding ways of matching methods of working and living together * Important aspects of working together * Deciding who is a member and who is not * Developing an informal understanding of acceptable and unacceptable behavior * Separating friends from enemies
Internal integration involves answering important questions associated with living together * What is our unique identity? * How do we view the world? * Who is a member? * How do we allocate power, status, and authority? * How do we communicate? * What is the basis for friendship? * Subculture- A group of individuals with a unique pattern of values and philosophy that are not inconsistent with the organization’s dominant values and philosophy * Counterculture- A groups where the pattern of values and philosophies outwardly reject those