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Understanding Organizational Culture. Understanding Organizational Culture
An organization's culture is comprised of the set of values ...
... Understanding organizational behavior will allow employees to choose the organizational
culture that fits and adapt to changing organizational cultures. ...
... 404 ? 428). Cover to Cover Publishing, Inc Schachter, Debbie. (2005, June). The
Importance of understanding organizational culture. Information Outlook. ...
... Schermerhorn, 2005). One challenge of understanding organizational culture is
the comprehension of diversity in the workforce. Diversity, if ...
... on a respect for people and an understanding of human ... fully understand the concepts
of organizational behavior, organizational culture, diversity, communication ...
Submitted by vg12345 on May 10, 2008
Category: Business
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Understanding Organizational Culture
An organization's culture is comprised of the set of values, beliefs, assumptions, principles, myths, legends, and norms that define how people actually think, decide, and perform. In his book Organizational Culture & Leadership (2nd Edition, 1992, Jossey-Bass), Edgar Schein defines culture as . . ."a basic set of assumptions that defines for us what we pay attention to, what things mean, and how to react emotionally to what is going on, and what actions to take in various kinds of situations" (p. 22).
Schein's definition suggests that leaders who hope to implement a radical departure from the "norm" in an organization will need to influence and finally change the culture before leading a successful organizational change effort.
The Four Components of Every Organization
Organizations are comprised of four major components: physical (the visible aspects of the organization), infrastructure (the systems and processes for directing and managing work), behavioral (the daily actions and reactions of employees), and cultural (the underlying assumptions, values, beliefs and norms that shape daily behavior). While implementing change at the "higher" levels is possible, as the following graphic suggests, the durability of the change is short-lived without change at the underlying cultural level.
Strategies for Changing an Organization's Culture
In the article "Connecting Culture to Organizational Change" (Human Resources Magazine, March 1996, pp. 84-90), T. Galpin suggests that because changing the basic assumptions and beliefs of the underlying cultural is very difficult, the best approach for influencing specific aspects of a culture that you want to change involves targeting only those components that are most critical for implementing and sustaining the changes that concern you.
Galpin suggests targeting one or more of...
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