Whether Organisational Culture can be Managed
Introduction
The main aim of every organisation is increase demand for the goods and services it offers. To achieve this goal, organisations employ certain ethics that control their attitudes, beliefs, experiences and values. This ethical characteristic of an organisation is known as its 'organisational culture'. In their book Strategic Management, Hill and Jones (2001) define organisational culture as the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organisation, and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organisation. In their opinion, it also includes beliefs and ideas about what kind of goals members of an organisation should pursue, and ideas about the appropriate kind or standards of behaviour organisational members should use to achieve these goals. From organisational values develop organisational norms; guidelines or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behaviour by employees in particular situations, and which control the behaviour of organisational members towards one another (Hill and Jones, 2001: 21).
Ogbonna and Wilkinson (2003) state that the services offered by any organisation can only be marketed when there is an interaction between a particular unit of the organisation and the consumers. The relationship between the staff of an organisation and the consumers strongly influences the acceptance of the service offered by the company. It is therefore important to study the organisational culture of every organisation so that it may be improved if need be. Some approaches to organisational culture are more analytical, concentrating more on the cultural behaviour of the organisation rather than relating different culture types to the organisation. This approach emphasises the historical context of the culture of the organisation and relates it to the way it affects the behaviour of staff. According to Linstead et al. (2004:67), this is a 'rich' approach to
The main aim of every organisation is increase demand for the goods and services it offers. To achieve this goal, organisations employ certain ethics that control their attitudes, beliefs, experiences and values. This ethical characteristic of an organisation is known as its 'organisational culture'. In their book Strategic Management, Hill and Jones (2001) define organisational culture as the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organisation, and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organisation. In their opinion, it also includes beliefs and ideas about what kind of goals members of an organisation should pursue, and ideas about the appropriate kind or standards of behaviour organisational members should use to achieve these goals. From organisational values develop organisational norms; guidelines or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behaviour by employees in particular situations, and which control the behaviour of organisational members towards one another (Hill and Jones, 2001: 21).
Ogbonna and Wilkinson (2003) state that the services offered by any organisation can only be marketed when there is an interaction between a particular unit of the organisation and the consumers. The relationship between the staff of an organisation and the consumers strongly influences the acceptance of the service offered by the company. It is therefore important to study the organisational culture of every organisation so that it may be improved if need be. Some approaches to organisational culture are more analytical, concentrating more on the cultural behaviour of the organisation rather than relating different culture types to the organisation. This approach emphasises the historical context of the culture of the organisation and relates it to the way it affects the behaviour of staff. According to Linstead et al. (2004:67), this is a 'rich' approach to
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