I found out that corporate culture is all about the way and behaviour a company and its employees and management communicate and interact without having the work stuff in the topic. Simply, it is how employees talk, mingle, and relate to one another as personal acquaintance or through closeness outside work. Corporate culture refers to the beliefs and behaviours between employees that determine how a company's employees and management interact and handle not business related. This also defines the way the organization works through time and observations.
As I have mentioned in the past chapters, I worked for 10 days in SM Department Store during Christmas break (one of our opportunities as an SM scholar) so basically, I tried to interact with the regulars and fellow scholars during work, not talking about the work, but talking about life and stuff. So, I discovered that there is ‘seasonal’ workers and ‘regular’ ones so I was sad for those who will leave after few months but also surprised that they still created a bond with one another regardless of their situation. I noticed that SM corporation values healthy work environment and work relationships based on how the set-up in the employees’ lounge where in it feels homey and comfortable to talk freely and do their own thing so I think the corporate culture of SM is nice and very open for friendships and even romantic relationships to take place.
Classify the organization’s culture using the typology model (below). Explain your classification decision; and
Organization’s culture is the behaviour of the members of an organization regarding sharing value and beliefs that can be communicated in different methods. There are no rules in determining how an organization behave because we are all unique and different from one another so this organizational culture, based on the model, is showcasing the uniqueness of different industries and at the same time, their classifications and similarities through putting them in quadrants as basis of what they value most, their methods in shaping their work relationships and behave based on how the organization works.
As we all know, SM Corporation, specifically chain of malls in the Philippines and many other industries under it. SM depends on satisfying their valued customers to have an effective and solid financial performance; thus, it is an organization that caters satisfaction with their service. Based on my opinion, it falls under both quadrant ii and iii. Quadrant II because it is a huge business and it if can’t afford risk taking, then, it will not be as powerful as it is now. SM already set the standard high for their competitors and their industry as a whole that they always have to be one step ahead of others to set the trend and the bar for others. It is also under Quadrant III because every sales matter to them. The members must always get things done the way they do it and execute the task properly to avoid making mistakes that would cause downfall for their reputation. Businesses are result oriented knowing that their main goal is always to make profit and that means they have to be in their best state to achieve success.
Describe the seven key characteristics that capture the essence of the organization's culture.
Innovation (Risk Orientation)- Companies with cultures that place a high value on innovation encourage their employees to take risks and innovate in the performance of their jobs.
Attention to Detail (Precision Orientation)- This characteristic of organizational culture dictates the degree to which employees are expected to be accurate in their work.
3. Emphasis on Outcome (Achievement Orientation)- Companies that focus on results, but not on how the results are achieved, place a high emphasis on this value of organizational culture.
Emphasis on People (Fairness Orientation)- Companies that place a high value on this characteristic of organizational culture place a great deal of importance on how their decisions will affect the people in their organizations.
Teamwork (Collaboration Orientation)- Companies that organize work activities around teams instead of individuals place a high value on this characteristic of the organizational culture.
Aggressiveness (Competitive Orientation)- This characteristic of organizational culture dictates whether group members are expected to be assertive or easy going when dealing with companies they compete within the marketplace.
7. Stability (Rule Orientation)- A company whose culture places a high value on stability is rule-oriented, predictable, and bureaucratic in nature. These types of companies typically provide consistent and predictable levels of output and operate best in non-changing market conditions.
Contrast organizational culture and job satisfaction.
Based on the definition of Organizational culture earlier, it means behaviour and ways adopted by employees of a certain organization, which affect its work relationship and total culture during work and their work connections. It can be broad and can greatly affect Job satisfaction. Job satisfaction lies on the organizational culture. This is one great factor to determine the employees’ opinion and feelings regarding their working environment, relations among colleagues, earnings, and promotion opportunities. If one organizational culture brings positive perception and outcomes, then the workforce would ultimately feel satisfied and it will also contribute to better performance of the people.
List the factors that maintain an organization's culture.
There are many factors that can contribute to helping the culture of an organization stay active. In my opinion, the most effective is by daily application and for it to be obvious so the new employees or member would easily learn it from it. Also, the sex of the employee also affects the organization culture. Organizations where male employees dominate the female counterparts follow a culture where late sitting is a normal feature. The male employees are more aggressive than the females who instead would be caring and soft hearted.
The nature of the business also affects the culture of the organization. Stock broking industries, financial services, banking industry are all dependent on external factors like demand and supply, market cap, earning per share and so on. When the market crashes, these industries have no other option than to terminate the employees and eventually affect the culture of the place. Market fluctuations lead to unrest, tensions and severely demotivate the individuals. The management also feels helpless when circumstances can be controlled by none. Individuals are unsure about their career as well as growth in such organizations.
The culture of the organization is also affected by its goals and objectives. The strategies and procedures designed to achieve the targets of the organization also contribute to its culture. Individuals working with government organizations adhere to the set guidelines but do not follow a procedure of feedback thus forming its culture. Fast paced industries like advertising, event management companies expect the employees to be attentive, aggressive and hyper-active.
3 stages /steps the socialization process in the organization;
1. The Pre-Arrival Stage- We all know that before someone applies for a job, he or she needs to have knowledge about the core values of the company prior arriving. The first part is a selection process, which is used by the hiring company to hire people who can adequately perform the job but also to select people who will fit well into the culture of the company. In job seeking, candidates must be able to understand the basic values and vision the company adheres to be suited for the position as early as possible. The employee will learn about the organization through literature, interviews and other people in the pre-arrival stage. The company is expecting the potential employees to have basic facts about the organization to determine if they are really passionate to get the job and if they are selected, they are readily up for the position.
2. The Encounter Stage- The second phase is the Encounter stage wherein employees are starting to encounter the real deal when it comes to their work and start to pinpoint the difference between their expectations and the reality they face. The chosen candidates have already proved to be chosen and the next process is the actual experience of the corporate culture and gaining experiences and work relationships. After the research is the actual socialization process of working with new people and getting along with the rules.
3. Metamorphosis- This is the last stage of socialization. Just like the title, it is the process of changing one’s perception, behaviour, and commitment on their work. After being oriented and put to the test, employees would soon develop deeper understanding to how things flow and at the same time, they can develop shift of opinion, standard and approach to certain issues based on the corporate culture discovered in the process. Metamorphosis is the impact of all the socializations experienced first hand by an employee that affects how he or she acts in the workplace.
How can culture be transmitted to employees? Provide examples for each.
How Employees Learn Culture Employees learn the organizational culture through a number of avenues.
o Stories- These are narrative of significant events or people including such things as the organization’s founders, rules breaking, reactions to past mistakes, and so forth. Basically, in an organization, myths and gossips are relevant and information are passed to through stories of employees and this is one way to transmit culture. Once cultural values are reinforced through narratives to new employees, they would attain the cultural values and be able to apply it in their standard work.
o Rituals- Corporate rituals are repetitive sequences of activates that express and reinforce the values of the organization, what goals are most important, and which people are important and which ones are superfluous. So rituals are doing things the way they always do it, thus, planting corporate values to new employees by enacting repeated scenarios in the workplace. It is first hand experiencing the daily, routine activities in an organization.
o Material symbols- Symbols communicate organizational culture by unspoken messages. Not everything needs to be communicated by voicing it out. Corporate cultures can also develop symbols that signal the members without speaking it up. The power of material symbols lies on the orientation of new employees about the values of an organization, how they view equality, chain of command and their management through feelings and unspoken expressions.
o Language- Lastly, organizations and units within organizations use language as a way to identify members of a culture. By learning this language, members attest to their acceptance of the culture and their willingness to help to preserve it. Language is all about identifying and segregating members from another by certain characteristics.
Explain how an ethical culture can be established
Culture is created by the members of the organization and through the passage of time. Ethical culture can be established by demonstrating what an organization values the most. The principles that matter and the behaviours that are needed to have an effective management. Ethical culture is implemented and understood by communication in all ways and directions and through role models such as managers to orient new members in how things work and done in an organization. Ethical culture are developed as the management wants the success of the entity, they also need to develop the people who works in it by helping them mature and grow in their relationship with their colleagues and their work performance. Management wants their expectations into reality, thus they establish strong ethical culture for strict standard of ethical acts.
8. What is a positive organizational culture and what key variables are used in creating it?
A positive organizational culture is defined as an key determinant to determine whether an organizational culture is successful in building employee strengths so that employees can develop and grow during their time at an organization. It is related to ethical organizational culture because the better the ethical culture, it is more likely that the employees would have positive impact in their job satisfaction and performance. A positive organizational culture also equates to a potential and effective working force which adds to the purpose of positive and healthy work relationships and comfortable environment where workers can do better.
Just like the recipe for creating functional organizational culture, positive organizational culture also depends on the management’s application of establishing transmission of culture and also selecting the best candidates for the job, engaging with the members, hearing their opinions and giving them proper rewards for doing good at work.
What is the relationship between national culture and a global organization’s organizational culture?
The relationship between the two are that the composition of the organizational culture certainly reflects the national values. Both are interrelated and we all know that a nation is formed in a smaller scale compared to worldwide or global scale organizations thus, national culture can be more independent on the global because it is a composition of global culture. The language, symbols, behaviours, myths constitute the visible forms of manifestation of institutional culture, bearing the marks taken from the values of national culture. National culture influences global culture.
