Organizational culture: the set of shared values and norms that controls organizational members’ interactions with each other and with people outside the organization * Can be a source of competitive advantage * Can be used to increase organizational effectiveness * Based on enduring values embodied in organizational norms, rules, standard operating procedures, and goals * People draw on these cultural values to guide their actions and decisions when faced with uncertainty and ambiguity * Important influence on members’ behavior and response to situations
Recognizing Differences in Organizational Cultures * Many mergers between companies have failed because of differences in their organizational cultures * Merger teams now exist to help smooth the transition between the two cultures
How is an Organization’s Culture transmitted to its members: * Socialization: the process by which members learn and internalize the values and norms of an organization’s culture. * Role orientation: the characteristic way in which newcomers respond to a situation * Institutionalized role orientation: results when individuals are taught to respond to a new context in the same way that existing organizational members respond to it * Individualized role orientations: results when individuals are allowed and encouraged to be creative and to experiment with changing norms and values
Collective vs. individual * Collective tactics: provide newcomers with common learning experiences designed to produce a standardized response to a situation * Individual tactics: each newcomer’s learning experiences are unique, and newcomers can learn new, appropriate responses for each situation
Formal vs. informal * Formal tactics: segregate newcomers from existing organizational members during the learning process * Informal tactics: newcomers learn on the job, as members of a team
Sequential vs. random