Definitions and characteristics of organizational culture in the workplace

Managing Organizational Culture

Organizational Culture: Definitions and Characteristics

Whenever people from different backgrounds with different beliefs, values, and norms converge as a group, a new culture is created that gives the group a distinct characteristic and dynamic. What happens, in effect, is the formation of an organizational culture that is unique from other cultures because it has a specific setting and specific set of people with a common goal in mind. More often than not, convergence of people from different backgrounds occurs in organizations and institutions, such as schools, public gatherings, and more commonly, in the workplace.

Indeed, the formation of a unique culture in a business organization is a different phenomenon altogether, since different people would have to work towards achieving a common goal. This may be increasing production targets, meeting a specified deadline, improving a process that would increase profitability of the company; whatever the business goal or objective, employees or members of the organization agree to achieve this goal through their respective roles and functions in the organization.

Organizational culture is noticeably easier to describe than define. This is because organizational culture is never the same in organizations, and its highly dynamic nature makes it susceptible to everyday changes, therefore the culture is changed almost immediately after a new one has been created. Thus, researchers and managers alike, in centering their efforts to understanding organizational culture, must include in their approach an 'exploratory' attempt to determine all extant cultures in an organization. Further, all dimensions surrounding each culture's nature and dynamics must be uncovered to further enable the researcher or manager evaluate the dynamicity of his/her organization.

LaGuardia (2008) presented an interesting "definition" of organizational culture by identifying it based on what it is and what it is not. For the researcher, organizational culture is finite ("not encompassing"), "lack broad links in understanding each other," "dynamic," "easy to adapt," and "interpretive" (58). Interestingly, describing organizational culture as finite and dynamic seemed to be contradicting descriptors; however, upon closer analysis, what LaGuardia meant was that given the finite or limited setting from which the culture is created or formed, it is highly dynamic and changes everyday, still within the same setting (within the organization). Further, organizational culture is 'interpretive,' which means that this concept is highly dependent on the individual's subjective understanding of the culture as s/he has witnessed it, either as an insider or outsider in the organization.

Dixon and Dougherty (2010) further expounded on the concept of organizational process by describing it as a dynamic process. For the authors, organizational culture "emerges as human beings interact with each other and give meaning to the symbols that surround them. Because the interactions of humans are individual, the resulting culture of organization is equally distinct" (7). Just like LaGuardia, the authors did not recommend a specific definition of organizational culture, as arriving at a definition would defeat the essence of the concept itself. Thus, in the discussions in this paper, organizational culture would be, at best, describe rather than defined. More specifically, this paper will discuss multiple descriptions of organizational culture as deemed appropriate in the cases and examples presented in this paper.

II. Why manage organizational culture?

Ultimately, in the business/corporate setting, the challenge is not on defining or describing organizational culture, but mainly on how to manage these cultures given their nature and dynamics. Managing different cultures in one setting is not challenging -- it is difficult. What the manager would like to know, however, is that in the process of managing these cultures, would there be a resulting effect that will benefit the organization? Intuitively, managers know that effective handling of groups with different cultures in an organization would be beneficial, but empirical evidence supporting this may not be readily available to him/her. Thus, in this paper, the rationale for managing cultures in organizations is explicated, specifically, the overall effect cultural management would have on the organization in the short- and long-term.

Looking at extant literature on organizational culture and its management in businesses and organizations, two important resultant changes emerged. From most studies, managing organizational culture meant increased improvement in employees' functional competencies. This means that a relationship is established linking organizational culture management with improvements on the manner by which employees carry out their roles, functions and responsibilities in the organization. Another dimension that emerged is the increased employee morale as a result of effectively handling organizational cultures. Moreover, improvement functional competencies and increased employee morale are also linked inasmuch as these factors are directly linked with organizational culture management. The sections that follow look at each factor and its relationship with organizational culture.

a. Effects on Functional Competency

One of the challenges that organizational culture presents to businesses is defining and describing the nature and dynamics of each. Thus, attempts to develop a standardized and quantitative instrument to determine and measure organizational culture have been ongoing for most scholars and researchers on organizational culture per se. One of the interesting developments in organizational culture research is the creation of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) that provides standardized measures that identify, for management, the organizational culture of their companies in general. Once this culture is identified, companies and businesses will then use this characteristic as a guide in developing employee-oriented programs and process improvements based on this identified culture.

Using self-assessment/self-report surveys (also called Organizational Culture Survey Instrument or OCSI), the BSC developed looked at four (4) prevalent themes/characteristics that consistently emerged across companies and organizations specializing on specific fields of expertise. The proponent of the research, Deem (2010), identified these themes as follows: Learning and Growth, Internal Perspective (Process Improvements), Customer Perspective (Customer Satisfaction) and Financial Perspective (Performance Improvement) (34). Further establishing organizational culture's relevance to businesses, the study tested the BSC against concepts that are related to organizational culture. The study found out that BSC significantly and positively related to (employee) involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission trait (36-7). An important caveat that Deem mentioned in his report, however, is that the BSC will only be useful and appropriate for organizations that support the abovementioned organizational concepts.

The BSC is a useful tool for managers who would like to evaluate organizational culture objectively, and would like to create management decisions in the same manner. The BSC, however, is more than just a tool that characterizes the organization's business culture; it is also just as useful in determining the functional competencies of the groups it identified as having a distinct culture in the organization. Through the four themes mentioned earlier, management would know whether their organization is Learning and Growth-driven, Process Improvement-driven, and so on.

Liu (2009) presented a good case in illustrating how characteristics of an organization can indirectly influence culture creation and improving employees' functional competencies in the organization/company. Like Deem, Liu developed her own thematic groupings in determining organizational culture formation in the context of new services development (NSD) companies. NSD is a rapidly emerging industry as more companies are offering more service- and knowledge-based products, particularly for professional employees (like engineers, accountants, medical professionals). These thematic groupings that emerged were the following: market orientation, learning, innovative supportive, and customer communication. Statistical analyses of these different kinds of culture showed that in the NSD industry, 'innovative supportive' and 'customer communication' cultures were identified to significantly contribute to improved NSD performance (374-6).

From these results in Deem and Liu's studies, a preliminary conclusion can be drawn about organizational culture: that it contributes to improving employee performance, especially when cultures are clearly identified from the onset of the study.

III. Managing Organizational Culture: Synthesis and Recommendations

Discussions and review of extant literature on organizational culture and its management highlighted how the concept of organizational culture is linked to numerous factors critical to the eventual evolution of an effective organization/company. In order to achieve organizational effectiveness, the company must be able to ensure that it is sustainable and has continuity. However, continuity and sustainability will only be possible if the company/organization will manage its internal cultures effectively, and this will only become possible if managers will be able to identify, describe, and understand these cultures and use them to the organization's advantage or benefit.

Taylor (2008) recommended that to ensure organizational effectiveness through its internal cultures, programs should aim to ensure that there is a good 'person-to-job' fit on all employees joining the organization. That is, intervention should begin as early as the individual's application to the organization, wherein subjective fit is assessed based on the individual's perception of "adaptability" and "sense of mission" as a potential member of the organization. The author asserts that "organization culture starts as early as recruitment," and if a subjective fit is identified early at the recruitment stage, organizations/companies are ensured that the individual will be highly likely to have good functional performance and high level of morale and psychological commitment to the organization (504-5).