Lim Sei Kee @ cK
Institutionalization
 When an organization takes on a life of its own, apart
from any of its members, and acquires immortality.
 Operates to produce common understandings among
members
about
what
is
appropriate
fundamentally, meaningful behavior.
and,
Organizational Culture
 A system of shared meaning held by members that
distinguishes the organization from other organization.
 Characteristics:
 Innovation and risk taking
 Attention too detail
 Outcome orientation
 People orientation
 Team orientation
 Aggressiveness
 Stability
 Dominant Culture – expresses the core values that are
shared by a majority of the organization’s members.
 Subcultures – mini cultures within an organization,
typically defined by department designations and
geographical separation.
 Core values – the primary or dominant values that are
accepted throughout the organization.
 Strong culture – a culture in which the core values are
intensely held and widely shared.
Culture’s functions
o Controlling behavior
o Defining boundaries
o Conveying identity
o Promoting commitment
Culture as a liability
 Barriers to change
 Barriers to diversity
 Barriers to Acquisition and Mergers
Culture begins
 Founders hire and keep only employees who think
and feel the same way they do
 Indoctrinate(train) and socialize these employees
to their way of thinking and feeling
 Founders’ own behavior acts as a role model that
encourages employees to identify with them and
thereby internalize their beliefs, values and
assumptions.
Keeping a culture alive
 Selection practices
 Actions of top management
 Socialization methods – process that adapts
employees to the organization’s culture
Socialization process
Outcomes
Prearrival
Encounter
Metamorphosis
• Productivity
• Commitment
• Turnover
Prearrival – the period of learning in the socialization process that
occurs before the new employee joins the organization.
Encounter – the stage in the socialization process in which a new
employee sees what the organization is really like and confronts the
possibility tat expectations and reality may diverge.
Metamorphosis – the stage in the socialization process in which a new
employee changes and adjusts to the job, work group and organization.
How organization cultures form
Philosophy of
Organization’s
founders
Selection
Criteria
Top
Management
Socialization
Organization
Culture
How employees learn culture
 Stories
 Rituals – repetitive sequences of activities that
express and reinforce the key values of the
organization, which goals are most important, which
people are important, and which are expendable.
 Material Symbols
 Language
An ethical organizational culture
 Be a visible role model
 Communicate ethical expectations
 Provide ethical training
 Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones
 Provide protective mechanisms
A customer-responsive culture
 Shaping customer-responsive cultures
 Type of employee themselves
 Low formalization
 Empowerment
 Good listening skills
 Role clarity
 Exhibit organizational citizenship behavior
A customer-responsive culture
 Managerial Action
 Selection
 Training and socialization
 Structural Design
 Empowerment
 Leadership
 Performance evaluation
 Reward system
Spirituality and organizational
culture
 Spirituality – the recognition that people have an inner life
that nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the
context of community.
 Characteristics –
 Strong sense of purpose
 Focus on individual development
 Trust and respect
 Humanistic work practices
 Toleration of employee expression