The effectiveness and success of an organization is not solely measured by profitability, it can also be measured by the way business is done and how the company is perceived by both its employees and the external community. These processes and formed impressions are functions of organizational culture which may be defined in several ways.
The organization itself has an invisible quality – a certain style, a character, away are doing things – that may be more powerful than the dictates of any one person or any formal system.
culture is: A pattern of basic assumptions – invented, discovered, or developed by a group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration – that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. For our purposes, organizational culture consists of the shared values and assumptions of how its members will behave, or more specifically it can be defined as shared philosophies, ideologies, values, beliefs, assumptions, expectations, attitudes, and norms
It includes the following dimensions:
Observed behavioral regularities when people interact, such as organizational rituals and ceremonies, and the language commonly use
The norms shared by working groups throughout the organization, such as ‘Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen’, from Ritz–Carlton
The dominant values held by an organization such as ‘service quality’ or ‘price leadership’ The philosophy that guides and organization’s policy towards employees and customers
The rules of the game for getting along in the organization, or the ‘ropes’ that a newcomer must learn in order to become an accepted member
The feeling or climate conveyed in an organization by the physical layout in which its members interact with customers or other