Organizational
Culture - Features & Types
Important Features
of OC
1. Innovation and
Risk Taking:
‘Innovation is
the way of life in Microsoft.’ ‘Innovation is the key characteristic of
Gillette Company.’ Companies encourage the employees to be innovative and risk
takers at different degrees.
2. Attention to
Detail:
‘Employees in
the Boston Consultancy Group are expected to be precise, analytical and pay
attention to even the minor details.’ Thus, organisations require their
employees to be precise, analytical and pay attention to the minute details at
different degrees.
3. Outcome
Orientation:
‘Coromandal
Cements expects its employees to improve their performance at least by 5% every
year irrespective of the approaches they follow.’ Thus, the organisations
require their employees to pay attention or the results.
4. People
Orientation:
‘Hewlett and
Packard announced one day unpaid holiday for every nine working days and
avoided lay-off.’ Thus, the organisations take the effect of its decisions on
the employees.
5. Team
Orientation:
“Global
Solutions repeats: “We Work.” It does mean that the activities are designed
around teams but not individuals. Thus, we today find team jobs rather than
individual jobs.
6. Aggressiveness:
The employees
of State Bank of India were not allowed to be aggressive whereas the employees
of IDBI Bank are expected to be aggressive and competitive. Thus,
aggressiveness is the level to which the employees are expected to be
competitive rather than easy-going.
7. Stability:
Most of the
Indian Universities still have the status quo strategy of maintaining the
traditional values and beliefs of ‘Guru and Shishya’ parampara of Gurukulas.
8. Radical Change:
In contrast to
the stability strategy, most of the organisations after 1991 have the growth,
diversification and conglomerate diversification strategies. It is the degree
at which the organisational activities emphasise growth and diversification.
9. Customer
Orientation:
Pizza Huts
build up relationship with the customers and then adapt aggressive marketing
strategies. It is the degree to which the management decisions take into
consideration the effect of outcomes on customers of the organisation.
Various
Types of Organization Culture:
Normative
Culture: In such a culture, the norms and
procedures of the organization are predefined and the rules and regulations are
set as per the existing guidelines. The employees behave in an ideal way and
strictly adhere to the policies of the organization. No employee dares to break
the rules and sticks to the already laid policies.
Pragmatic
Culture: In a pragmatic culture, more
emphasis is placed on the clients and the external parties. Customer
satisfaction is the main motive of the employees in a pragmatic culture. Such
organizations treat their clients as Gods and do not follow any set rules.
Every employee strives hard to satisfy his clients to expect maximum business
from their side.
Academy
Culture: Organizations following academy
culture hire skilled individuals. The roles and responsibilities are delegated
according to the back ground, educational qualification and work experience of
the employees. Organizations following academy culture are very particular
about training the existing employees. They ensure that various training
programmes are being conducted at the workplace to hone the skills of the
employees. The management makes sincere efforts to upgrade the knowledge of the
employees to improve their professional competence. The employees in an academy
culture stick to the organization for a longer duration and also grow within
it. Educational institutions, universities, hospitals practice such a culture.
Baseball
team Culture: A baseball team
culture considers the employees as the most treasured possession of the
organization. The employees are the true assets of the organization who have a
major role in its successful functioning. In such a culture, the individuals
always have an upper edge and they do not bother much about their organization.
Advertising agencies, event management companies, financial institutions follow
such a culture.
Club
Culture: Organizations following a club
culture are very particular about the employees they recruit. The individuals
are hired as per their specialization, educational qualification and interests.
Each one does what he is best at. The high potential employees are promoted
suitably and appraisals are a regular feature of such a culture.
Fortress
Culture: There are certain organizations
where the employees are not very sure about their career and longevity. Such
organizations follow fortress culture. The employees are terminated if the
organization is not performing well. Individuals suffer the most when the
organization is at a loss. Stock broking industries follow such a culture.
Tough
Guy Culture: In a tough guy
culture, feedbacks are essential. The performance of the employees is reviewed
from time to time and their work is thoroughly monitored. Team managers are
appointed to discuss queries with the team members and guide them whenever
required. The employees are under constant watch in such a culture.
Bet
your company Culture: Organizations which
follow bet your company culture take decisions which involve a huge amount of
risk and the consequences are also unforeseen. The principles and policies of
such an organization are formulated to address sensitive issues and it takes
time to get the results.
Process
Culture: As the name suggests the
employees in such a culture adhere to the processes and procedures of the
organization. Feedbacks and performance reviews do not matter much in such
organizations. The employees abide by the rules and regulations and work
according to the ideologies of the workplace. All government organizations
follow such a culture.
Different Types of Organizational Culture
The culture a firm follows can be further
classified into different types. They are −
·
Mechanistic and Organic culture
·
Authoritarian and Participative culture
·
Subculture and Dominant culture
·
Strong and Weak culture
·
Entrepreneurial and Market culture
1. Mechanistic and Organic Culture
Mechanistic culture is formed by formal
rule and standard operating procedures. Everything needs to be defined clearly
to the employees like their task, responsibility and concerned authorities.
Communication process is carried according to the direction given by the
organization. Accountability is one of the key factors of mechanistic culture.
Organic culture is defined as the
essence of social values in an organization. Thus there exists a high degree of
sociability with very few formal rules and regulations in the company. It has a
systematic hierarchy of authority that leads towards free flow of
communication. Some key elements of organic culture include authority,
responsibility, accountability and direct flow towards the employee.
2. Authoritarian and Participative Culture
Authoritarian culture means power of
one. In this culture, power remains with the top level management. All the
decisions are made by the top management with no employee involvement in the
decision making as well as goal shaping process. The authority demands
obedience from the employee and warns them for punishment in case of mistake or
irregularity. This type of culture is followed by military organization.
In participative culture, employees
actively participate in the decision making and goal shaping process. As the
name suggests, it believes in collaborative decision making. In this type of
culture, employees are perfectionist, active and professional. Along with group
decision making, group problem solving process is also seen here.
3. Subculture and Dominant Culture
In subculture, some members of the
organization make and follow a culture but not all members. It is a part of
organizational culture, thus we can see many subcultures in an organization.
Every department in a company have their own culture that gets converted to a
subculture. So, the strength and adaptability of an organizational culture is
dependent on the success of subculture.
In dominant culture, majority of
subculture combine to become a dominant culture. The success of dominant
culture is dependent on the homogeneity of the subculture, that is, the mixture
of different cultures. At the same point of time, some cold war between a
dominant culture and a minor culture can also be seen.
4. Strong and Weak Culture
In a strong culture, the employees are
loyal and have a feeling of belongingness towards the organization. They are
proud of their company as well as of the work they do and they slave towards
their goal with proper coordination and control. Perception and commitment are
two aspects that are seen within the employees. In this culture, there is less
employee turnover and high productivity.
In a weak culture, the employees hardly
praise their organization. There is no loyalty towards the company. Thus,
employee dissatisfaction and high labor turnover are two aspects of this
culture.
5. Entrepreneurial and Market Culture
Entrepreneurial culture is a flexible
and risk-taking culture. Here the employees show their innovativeness in
thinking and are experimental in practice. Individual initiations make the goal
easy to achieve. Employees are given freedom in their activity. The
organization rewards the employees for better performance.
Market culture is based on achievement
of goal. It is a highly target-oriented and completely profit-oriented culture.
Here the relationship between the employees and the organization is to achieve
the goal. The social relation among the workers is not motivating.
Various Types of Organizational Cultures
a. Strong
Culture – Refers to a culture that holds and shares the core values of the
organization deeply and extensively.
b. Dominant
Culture – Expresses the core values accepted and followed by the majority of
the employees of the organization.
c. Sub-Culture
– Refers to the mini-cultures or small cultures within an organization. For
example, the culture prevalent in a particular department of an organization is
sub-culture.
d.
Counter Culture – Refers to the culture, which does not match with the values
of the organization. Counter culture can be seen at the time of mergers and
acquisitions when the employees of acquired organization may have cultural
values that are conflicting with that of acquiring organization.
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