Organisational Culture

Organisational Culture

Organisation culture can be defined as a society or group of people following shared behaviours and attitudes. The society or group will also have certain values they must also follow. Fox (2006) defines organisation culture as the “social adhesive that assists in holding an organisation together.”

Provide some examples of the ‘visible’ aspects of culture in an organisation of your choice? To gain this information use your own work experience or base it on a company from The Eden Centre.

There is a theory called the three layers of culture which Schein (1992) created. It consists of three levels which are a basic assumption, values and beliefs and visible aspects of culture. The basic assumption is the fundamentals of the business, that all people should be treated well no matter what level they are at. The values and beliefs level is that it is more in depth with views that are not easily seen such as a businesses ambition and strategy. The visible aspects or artefact of culture is what you can actually see in the organisation. For example, the lay out of an office and the uniform. Smart (2010) describes visible aspects as what we can see, listen and feel in the organisation.

Having gone to the Eden centre and visiting two organisations, there were many visible aspects of culture to take from. The companies visited was orange and 02. It may be because of the time of the day or other reasons, but from my trip to the two stores, I saw visible aspects such as orange was relatively more quiet than 02, and so therefore in my opinion, the atmosphere was not as friendly. There uniform was plain black which for me, gave a bad feel about it. When I first walked into the shop, there was no real communication, no one came up to me and offered any help until later, and so their general pace of work seemed satisfactory. However, when there was communication they seemed friendly and happy to talk to me.

After I visited Orange, I went to 02 to compare the two companies. 02 was busier than orange and there was more of a welcoming feel. There uniform was also in a shirt but in a different colour. Most of the staff were busy but they seemed very approachable and the environment seemed better. After talking to other customers, they quickly moved on to me and so I was not waiting too long. This means that their general pace of worked seemed respectable.

Explain what Handy meant by the following in your own words:

Charles Handy had a theory on culture that consists of four different culture types. A power culture, a role culture, a task culture and a person culture. These show how cultures can influence a organisation. Handy then gave each culture a name to do with a Greek god.

A power culture

This culture is gives importance to the central powerful figures, this is because the central powerful figure will have the power to make decisions. The power cultures believes that being closer to the centre of an organisation means you can have more influence on the business and therefore can dictate. Others will not have much of a say in the organisation and as a result, there are few rules and regulations in the power culture. This type of culture depends on individuals rather than on groups. Personal communication is a key characteristic in this culture. Since there is central powerful figures, an example of someone's organisation would be Richard Branson. This is because he is the main person that makes decisions and is the central power figure of his organisation.

A role culture

Role culture is normally a bureaucratic organisation. Trowler (2008) refers to this culture like a Greek temple, this is because it relies on the “temples pillars, functions and specialities.” In this culture, position in the hierarchy determines who has the main power and work is decided on rules and regulations. Even if someone has more knowledge and experience they do not have a impact on the decision out of their role and responsibilities. Roles are formally defined with the help of job descriptions and organizational charts. Once people have their job description, they must work to the job description. An organisation that represents this role culture may be John Lewis. This is because staff and employees will have certain jobs to full fill and they will have to follow there job descriptions and stick to their role.

A task culture

This culture is for a project based company, so it is mainly used for just one project. The task cultures most important influence, is the tasks itself, to accomplish the task. There is no real leader in this culture, however, some influence may be based on a persons knowledge. Another key factor of this culture is the use of teamwork, individuals and others are ranked lower than the task. This is so that everything will revolve around the task and therefore it shows its importance. This culture brings together individuals that will collaborate in teams to finish the task. Task culture will rely on teamwork to produce the goods. Another advantage of this culture is the flexibility of it. This is because adjustments can be made without difficulty and individuals can swap there roles according to there expertise. Individuals are also more independent and have freedom because their role will be what they know best and so they can be create with their knowledge. An organisation that might link with this culture is the Apple. This is because they have big projects such as the Iphone.

A person culture

This culture is attentive around the person who has an interest in the selected job, there is no hierarchy and only exists with individuals that have a certain interest in it, for example organisations that follow this type of culture are occupations such as architects and barristers. This is because it is the occupation that they have decided to choose and focus in.Brooks (2009) defines a person culture as an individual being a key feature to this culture, and that individuals respect and expertise is its main influence.

What do you think are the problems of trying to classify culture into one of the four types described above?

There are problems of trying to classify culture to one of the four cultures. This is because of different views of dissimilar cultures inside the organisation. For example, Tesco's will have different departments which may have different culture roles. The finance may have power culture and checkout staff a different culture. Marketing may take on the role of the task culture and so may groups working on specific projects. This shows that an organisation as many cultures and would be hard to choose one culture that represents the whole business. This is not just Tesco's, but companies such as B&Q and Marks and Spencer. Therefore, it would be very difficult to classify culture into one of the cultures of Handys. Many organisations may even ignore the four cultures completely and not have the cultures in the business. They may choose not to have one individual with the most power and therefore neglects the power culture.

Summary on findings in conclusion and evaluation.

This topic was engaging because I found out a lot about organisational culture. I never took into account so many visible aspects when I walk into stores before this topic. I learnt about different theories and understand the meaning of organisational culture. I believe that different environments will have different cultures and organisations may wish to change their culture for reasons such as for new technology and growth of the company. I do not think the 02 and Orange evaluation was fair, this is because it might have been the time of day that is what was affecting the outcome, or simply them certain staffs. Others may be different.

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