Organisational Culture and

School Improvement
Session 4
Creating and Maintaining Organisational
Culture
Organizational Culture

• What is Organizational culture?

• It is a set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit
assumptions that a group holds and that determines
how it perceives, thinks about and reacts to its various
environments
Organizational Culture
Characteristics
• Passed on to new employees through the process
of socialization
• Influences our behavior at work
• Operates at different levels
How Cultures Emerge

Top
Management Behaviors Results Culture
• Agrees on • Employees • Financial • Strong culture
shared behave in ways performance emerges
assumptions of that are • Traditions are
human behavior • Market share
consistent with maintained
• Develops a shared values • Employee
commitment • Socialization
shared vision of and
practices for
cultural values assumptions
new employees
Organizational Rites and
Ceremonies POSSIBLE
TYPE EXAMPLE CONSEQUENCES

Rites of passage Basic training, U.S. Army Facilitate transition into new
roles; minimize differences in
way roles are carried out
Rites of degradation Firing a manager Reduce power and identity;
reaffirm proper behavior

Rites of Mary Kay Cosmetics Enhance power and identity;

enhancement Company ceremonies emphasize value of proper
behavior

Rites of integration Office party Encourage common feelings

that bind members together
Methods of Maintaining
Organizational Culture
Methods of Maintaining Organizational Culture
•What managers and teams pay attention to
•Reactions to organizational crises
•Managerial role modeling
•Criteria for rewards
•Criteria for selection and promotion
•Organizational rites, ceremonies, stories

Recruitment of Removal of
employees who Organizational employees who
fit the culture Culture deviate from
the culture
A Conceptual Framework for
Understanding Organizational Culture
 Requirements for Successfully Changing
Organizational Culture
❖ Understand the old culture first
❖ Support employees and teams who have ideas for a better culture
and are willing to act on those ideas
❖ Find the most effective subculture in the organization and use it
as a model
❖ Help employees and teams do their jobs more effectively
❖ Use the vision of a new culture as a guide for change
❖ Recognize that significant cultural change takes time
❖ Live the new culture
Framework of Types of Cultures

Flexible Clan Entrepreneurial

Culture Culture
Formal
Control
Orientation
Bureaucratic Market
Culture Culture
Stable

Internal External
Forms of Attention
What is a Bureaucratic Culture?

Bureaucratic culture is a formal organization

structure whose members share common
attitudes, values, beliefs, orientations, and
sentiments which are distinguished from others.
Attributes of a Bureaucratic Culture

❖ Long-term concerns are predictability, efficiency,

and stability
❖ Members value standardized goods and services
❖ Managers view their roles as being good
coordinators, organizers, and enforcers of written
rules and standards
❖ Tasks, responsibilities, authority, rules, and
processes are clearly defined
What is a Clan Culture?
A clan culture is people-focused in the sense that the
company feels like one big happy family. This is a
highly collaborative work environment where every
individual is valued and communication is a top
priority.
Attributes of a Clan Culture
❖ Members understand that contributions to the
organization exceed any contractual agreements
❖ A clan culture achieves unity with a long and
thorough socialization process
❖ Members share feelings of pride in membership, as
well as feelings of personal ownership of a
business, a product, or an idea
Attributes of a Clan Culture
❖ Peer pressure to adhere to important norms is
strong
❖ Success is assumed to depend substantially on
sensitivity to customers and concern for people
❖ Teamwork, participation, and consensus decision
making are believed to lead to success
What is an Entrepreneurial Culture?
Entrepreneurial culture has been defined as the
attitude, values, skills, and power of a group or
individuals working in an institute or an organization
to generate income.
 Attributes of an Entrepreneurial Culture
❖ There is a commitment to experimentation,
innovation, and being on the leading edge
❖ This culture does not just quickly react to changes
in the environment—it creates change
❖ Effectiveness depends on providing new and
unique products and rapid growth
❖ Individual initiative, flexibility, and freedom foster
growth and are encouraged and well rewarded
What is a Market Culture?
A market culture is a culture in which the goal is to
get down to business, get work done, and achieve
results. This is often a competitive environment,
even among coworkers. The purpose of being at
work in a company with this type of culture is to
make as much profit and capture as
much market share as possible.
Attributes of a Market Culture
❖ Contractual relationship between individual and
organization
❖ Independence and individuality are valued and
members are encouraged to pursue their own
financial goals
❖ Does not exert much social pressure on an
organization’s members, but when it does,
members are expected to conform
Attributes of a Market Culture
❖ Superiors’ interactions with subordinates largely
consist of negotiating performance–reward
agreements and/or evaluating requests for
resource allocations
❖ Has a weak socialization process
❖ Few economic incentives are tied directly to
cooperating with peers
❖ Often tied to monthly, quarterly, and annual
performance goals based on profits
 SOME OTHER CULTURES
What is a Adhocracy Culture?

The Adhocracy Culture is based on

energy and creativity. Employees are
encouraged to take risks, and leaders are
seen as innovators or entrepreneurs. The
organization is held together by
experimentation, with an emphasis on
individual ingenuity and freedom.
Attributes of a Adhocracy Culture
• Adhocracy cultures value individuality in
the sense that employees are encouraged
to think creatively and bring their ideas to
the table.
• It falls within the external focus and
differentiation category, new ideas need to
be tied to market growth and company
success
Attributes of a Adhocracy Culture
• Adaptive mindset

• Flexible working conditions

• On-trend innovation

• Dynamic production
What is a Hierarchical Culture?
It is an organizational culture that focuses on the
development and maintenance of stable
organizational rules, structures, and processes,
by implementing a hierarchical system of power
and management.
Attributes of a Hierarchical Culture
• clear lines of authority and reporting within
the business.
• clearer understanding of employee roles and
responsibilities.
• accountability for actions or decisions at
different management levels.
• clear career paths and development prospects
which can motivate employees.
 Organizational Uses of Culture
❖ Organizational culture has the potential to enhance
organizational performance, individual satisfaction,
and a variety of expectations, attitudes, and
behaviors in organizations
❖ If an organization’s culture is not aligned with the
changing expectations of internal and/or external
stakeholders, the organization’s effectiveness can
decline

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 Organizational Uses of Culture
❖ Organizational culture and performance are
related, although the evidence regarding the exact
nature of this relationship is mixed
❖ Organizational culture affects employee behavior
and performance
❖ Assessing which attributes of an organization’s
culture need to be preserved and which ones need
to be modified is a constant organization need

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 Relationship Between Culture
and Performance
❖ Organizational culture can have a significant impact
on a firm’s long-term economic performance
❖ Organizational culture will probably be an even
more important factor in determining success or
failure of firms during the next decade

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 Relationship Between Culture
and Performance
❖ Organizational cultures that inhibit strong
long-term financial performance are not rare; they
develop easily, even in firms that are filled with
reasonable and intelligent people
❖ Although tough to change, organizational cultures
can be made more performance enhancing if
managers understand what sustains a culture

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 Effects of Organizational Culture on
Employee Behavior and Performance
❖ Allows employees to understand the firm’s history
and current methods of operation
❖ Fosters commitment to corporate philosophy and
values
❖ Serves as a control mechanism for employee
behaviors
❖ Certain cultural types may produce greater
effectiveness and productivity

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 Guidelines for Managing Cultural
Diversity
❖ Organization members must:
❖ Understand the nature of diversity and value a variety of opinions
and insights
❖ Recognize the learning opportunities and challenges presented by
the expression of different perspectives

❖ The organizational culture must:

❖ Foster expectations for high standards of performance and ethics
for everyone
❖ Stimulate personal development
❖ Encourage openness
❖ Make workers feel valued

❖ The organization must have a well-articulated and widely

understood mission

Chapter 15: Cultivating OrganizationalThe

Culture 30
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 Steps in Socialization

7. Role model to
sustain culture
6. Rituals, taboos,
rites, and stories to
reinforce culture
5. Adoption of Removal of employees
cultural value policies who deviate from culture

4. Rewards that
sustain the culture

3. Training to develop
capabilities consistent
with culture
2. Challenging early
work assignments
Removal of candidates
1. Careful selection who do not “fit” culture

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Possible Outcomes of the Socialization
Process
Successful socialization is Unsuccessful socialization is
reflected in: reflected in:
❖ Job satisfaction ❖ Job dissatisfaction
❖ Role clarity ❖ Role ambiguity and conflict
❖ Low work motivation
❖ High work motivation
❖ Misunderstanding, tension,
❖ Understanding of culture, perceived lack of control
perceived control
❖ Low job involvement
❖ High job involvement
❖ Lack of commitment to
❖ Commitment to organization organization
❖ Tenure ❖ Absenteeism, turnover
❖ High performance ❖ Low performance
❖ Internalized values ❖ Rejection of values

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