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Lecture 9

Organizational

Culture

Dr. Bahareh Assadi

Organizational Culture

• (^) Organizational Culture - A system of shared

meaning held by members that distinguishes

the organization from other organizations.

• (^) Henry Mintzberg, professor at McGill University

said , “Culture is the soul of the organization—

the beliefs and values, and how they are

manifested. I think of the structure as the

skeleton, and as the flesh and blood. And

culture is the soul that holds the thing together

and gives it life force.”

Culture is a Descriptive Term

• (^) Organizational culture shows how employees perceive the characteristics of an organization, not whether they they like them. o (^) Does the culture encourage teamwork? o (^) Does it reward innovation? o (^) Is it inclusive? o (^) Does it stifle innovation? o (^) Does it empower employees? o (^) Is it competitive?

Cultures Function

The dominant culture expresses the core values a majority of members

share and that give an organization its distinct personality.

Dominant Culture - A system of shared meaning that expresses the

core values shared by a majority of the organization’s members.

Subcultures - Mini-cultures within an organization, typically defined by

department designations and geographical separation.

Organizational Climate

If you have worked with someone

whose positive attitude inspired you

to do your best, or with a lackluster

team that drained your motivation,

you have experienced the effects of

climate.

Eco, a noise-cancelling company. As a start-up, the organization was unconventional and flexible, and open to the iterative model of obtaining customer feedback and incorporating it quickly in the next version of its app. Samsung Electronics fosters a climate of creativity and idea generation. The company has “C-Labs” (creative labs) that support new ventures with financial support and opportunities for employees to showcase their work.

• (^) Describe some of your early experiences at SFU, and how they either reinforced or changed your pre-entry expectations. What did you expect the culture to be like? Was it as you expected or not?
• (^) Contrast your early experiences with your current knowledge of what the culture is like. How has long-term interaction changed your ideas about the culture of the university?

Organizational Culture

• (^) How do most global corporations manage multiple locations and thousands of employees? - (^) A strong organizational culture
• (^) CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Mark Hoplamazian was concerned with how he was going to introduce change to his employees after the global hotel company experienced significant growth in 2013.
• Hotels had been added to the brand, the organization was entering new areas of the hospitality industry, and he had to work with over 90 000 employees in 45 different countries.

• (^) Park Hyatt is the organization’s luxury brand. Andaz is a boutique category. Several of the other Hyatt brands are full-service hotels.
• (^) Despite the differences in the needs they serve, the company’s properties “share core values across the Hyatt brand: exceptional guest service, upscale amenities, popular food and beverage programs, and innovative interior designs that incorporate local art and style.”
• (^) These values needed to be communicated to all employees for the company to do well.

• (^) As Mark Hoplamazian, CEO of Hyatt Hotels, sought to give a better sense of the hotel’s culture to employees, he recognized that to some changes were needed.
• (^) Making meaningful and personal connections with guests, a core value, was difficult when associates had to divide their attention between the guest in front of them and the computer screen providing the information necessary to help that guest. - (^) Changing to a more user-friendly interface on various hotel operating systems allowed associates to engage more directly with guests.
• (^) One of the issues he found as he talked to employees was that scheduling of work hours was an annoyance. - (^) So the company developed an app so employees could schedule their work from their mobile phones.

Seven primary characteristics capture the essence of an organization’s culture:

1. Innovation and risk-taking - The degree to which employees are encouraged to be innovative and take risks.
2. Attention to detail - The degree to which employees are expected to work with precision, analysis, and attention to detail.
3. Outcome orientation - The degree to which management focuses on results, or outcomes, rather than on the techniques and processes used to achieve these outcomes.
4. People orientation - The degree to which management decisions take into consideration the effect of outcomes on people within the organization.
5. Team orientation - The degree to which work activities are organized around teams rather than individuals.
6. Aggressiveness - The degree to which people are aggressive and competitive rather than easygoing and supportive.
7. Stability - The degree to which organizational activities emphasize maintaining the status quo in contrast to growth.