Three Theories on Organisational Culture - Example

Organisational Culture Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Introduction Organisational culture can be defined as the behaviour of humans that drives an organisation and also other features such as beliefs, habits, vision working language, values, norms, symbols and systems, which also drives the organisation (Fairholm, 2009). In addition, organisational culture incorporates collective assumptions and behaviours that new organisational members have to learn as a way of feeling, thinking and perceiving. This means that organisational culture affects the means in which groups and people interact with clients, with each other, and with the stakeholders. Thus, organisational culture creates an environment in which individuals reacts to various situations in appropriate manner and it is usually as a result of shared mental assumptions (Parker, 2006). Nevertheless, the organisational culture may have its positive and its negative especially when it comes to large organisations that operates in different environments. Numerous theorists and authors have presented theories and models on what constitute organisational culture. Thus, the aim of this paper is to analyse three theories on organisational culture presenting how such views affects an organisation. This theories include Hofstede’s dimensions of culture, Schein"s layers of culture and Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner Research. Hofstede’s dimensions of culture Hofstede’s dimensions theory aims at describing the effects of societal culture on the members’ values, and how these diverse values affects behaviour through the utilisation of factor analysis approach (Hofstede, 1984). The theory has played an important role in different environment and has been utilised in different research paradigm especially in the fields of international management, cross-cultural psychology, and cross-cultural communication (Hofstede, 2001). The theory originated from analysing a hundred thousand employees of IBM from fifty different countries across through three unique regions with the aim of finding aspects that can influence business behaviour (Minkov, 2007). From the analysis of the findings, Hofstede found out that cultural differences exist in nations and regions, and he realised the weight of multiculturalism and international awareness played an important role within an organisation. Cultural difference within regions are reflected by social action, thinking and physiological factor that affects behaviour. Thus, he relates culture to regional groups and ethnic, but also profession, organisations, family, to society and national political systems, sub-cultural groups and even legislation. From the analysis of the research that he carried out, Hofstede in totality identified five dimensions of culture that helped him to understand regional and national cultural groupings: Power distance – Social inequality is common in different societies and is usually addressed differently. Within an organisation, there is also inequality in terms of power that can be identified as boss-subordinates relationship is common and Hofstede states that it is how inequality in the society is addressed (Hofstede, 1984). Usually there is acceptable degree in difference in levels of power. The employees in most instances tend to reduce the power distance between the bosses and themselves but the boss on the other hand try to enlarge this distance or maintain it (Hofstede, 2001). A low score of this analysis indicate that every employee should be equal and a high score indicates that some employees should yield more powers compared to other people. This means that in some organisations power is controlled by the management without considering the views and aspirations of other employees within the organisation. Power distance is common in most organisations and across the world. Uncertainty avoidance – this aspect identifies uncertainty about the future. The society usually copes with such scenarios through law, technology and even religion, and Hofstede views that some organisations deals with these aspects using rituals, law and technology or drastically through non-rational and rational approaches (Hofstede, 1984). Examples of rituals according to Hofstede include reports and memos, certain areas of accounting system, nomination of expert and certain control and planning systems (Hofstede, 2001). Thus, the organisation culture within is usually understand through defining and understanding when uncertainties occurs (Minkov, 2007). Moreover, real life uncertainties may include retrenchment that occurs when organisations are not operating efficiently. Most manufacturing organisations and banks have retrenched their employees. Individualism vs. Collectivism – this can generally be defined as the disagreement between collective and personal goals. An employee within organisation expectations is usually defined by individualism and collectivism (Hofstede, 1984). Collectivist societies may be viewed as those organisations that show responsibility to its employees while individualistic society’s champions individual aspect such as competition between the employees, between organisations (Hofstede, 2001). It generally means that individualism allows people to champion themselves and champion for people close to them such as family members while collectivist societies champions the views of the entire society with the aim of fostering a cohesive and lifelong organisation (Minkov, 2007). For example, people in America champion individualism while Saudi Arabian people champions collectiveness. Masculinity vs. Femininity – this component brings into consideration emotional roles between the two genders within an organisation: the male and the female. Some values for the masculine community include assertiveness, competitiveness, ambition and power, materialism while the feminine cultures values quality of life and relationships (Hofstede, 1984). In those cultures that champion masculine, the roles between the genders are less fluid and more dramatic and in those cultures that champion feminine in that female and male shares the same values emphasises on caring and modesty (Hofstede, 2001). This is exemplified by the fact that certain cultures do not appreciate the contribution of women towards sustainability of organisations. Those organisations that champions feminine approach have better values and in most instances, they will receive positive ratings from their clients (Minkov, 2007). Long vs. Short-term orientation - the difference between long and short-term dimensional orientation is for the long term, the society or organisation searches for virtue while for the short term, the society or organisation searches for absolute truth (Hofstede, 2001). It generally means that those organisations that have short-term orientation are usually thinking normatively, they respect traditions, focused in obtaining quick results, and they do not save for the future. On the other hand, those organisations that have long-term orientation understand that the truth is based on context, situation and time (Minkov, 2007). Thus, they utilise traditions to analyse and change conditions, they aim at investing and saving, they achieve goals because of perseverance, and thriftiness. Culture within organisation or society is usually a source of conflict rather than synergy. Differences between cultures usually are a disaster and nuisance and should be addressed strategically. Groups of people are usually different but people believe that inside the people, there are similarity (Hofstede, 1984). This is attributed to assuming different country cultures share different attribute but this assumption leads to misinterpretations and misunderstandings between affected persons (Minkov, 2007). Understanding Hofstede theory plays an important role in those organisations that operates across the world and is found in different cultures (Hofstede, 2001). For example, an organisation operating in United States of America should utilise a different strategy when they want to operate in Middle East, for example (Minkov, 2007). In Middle East, the culture championed is that of collectivism while the culture that is championed in United States of America is that of individualism (Hofstede, 1984). Moreover, in Middle East, the society champion masculinity while in most organisations in United States champion feminine approach towards organisational culture. Thus, Toyota utilises the approach in Middle East to appeal to its customers. Schein’s layers of culture Schnein defines organisational culture as a collection of uniform and enduring beliefs, traditions, values, practices and customers that are shared by members within an organisation, new recruits learns it, and these features are transmitted from one generation to another of employees (Fairholm, 2009). The Schein’s model that defined organisational culture has three important levels, which are artefacts and behaviour, espoused values and assumptions (Schein, 2011). These three levels usually define features that are visible to an observer (McLean, 2005). The model is based on the fact that culture is the most difficult attribute that can be changed and in most cases, organisational culture outlasts the services, products offered, leadership and founders of the organisation. Thus, Schein model analysis organisational culture from the view of an observer based on the three attributes. The first important attribute is that of artefacts, which can be felt, seen and heard by any observer. Some of the features include in the artefacts are offices, facilities, visible awards and recognition, furnishings, members dressing style, interaction between the organisational employees and the outside world, mission statements, company slogans and other important operational creeds. This means that artefacts relay cultural meaning through physical components (Fairholm, 2009). Therefore, physical, verbal and behavioural artefacts are the manifestations of the surface of an organisational culture (McLean, 2005). Regarding behaviour, factors such as rituals, and the contents of stories, myths, and sagas identifies organisational history and lays ground on understanding organisation believes and values (Schein, 2011). On the other hand, myths, stories and language are verbal artefacts examples and are usually represented in terms of ceremonies and rituals. Lastly, physical artefacts are represented by the art exhibited by the members and technology within the organisation. The second aspect is the value that is championed by organisation’s members. Values are defined by ways in which members view specific aspects of organisation culture e.g. customer service and loyalty. This level expresses personal and local values with the organisation. The basic assumptions and beliefs that may include individuals’ impressions about the organisational culture in terms of supportiveness and trustworthiness are usually expressed at this level. These features are usually ingrained within the organisation and in many instances, drive employees into ensuring that the organisation becomes successful or not. The last level is where the tacit assumptions of an organisation are found. Within this level, some elements that are not visible or felt by the organisation members are illustrated (McLean, 2005). Moreover, these elements within the organisation may be seen as a taboo and it is infrequently discussed (Fairholm, 2009). This generally means that these ‘unspoken rules’ exists but without the organisational membership knowledge (Schein, 2011). Hence, those employees who have enough experience within these unspoken rules become acclimatised and thus, there invisibility is reinforced. At this level, minimal information is available and thus it is difficult to analyse it (Opie, 2008). The Schein’s organisation culture theory is important in understanding different views and nature of organisational behaviours and has a deeper knowledge of the culture (Fairholm, 2009). In addition, understanding organisational culture requires interpersonal skills, which will help in knowing the culture at different levels of an organisation, and hence assumptions can be identified (Schein, 2011). Moreover, organisational culture is not easily changed but with the help of understanding this organisation culture model, it provides premise of understanding it (McLean, 2005). The following illustration summaries the Schein’s organisation culture theory: Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner Research These two authors and thinkers who have worked with numerous organisations have developed a cultural model that has seven dimensions. These dimensions define and cover the way people operate and work. These include: Universalism vs. Particularism – this dimension defines on how people judge other people’s behaviour. For example, the universalist analysis behaviour mostly based on rules while a particularist bases analysis on personal backgrounds (Conrad & Poole, 2012). This means that a universalist state that rules must be followed whatever the circumstances while a particularist view that what is right in one situation may be wrong in another situation. Individualism vs. collectivism – the individualist culture views an individual as the end component and anything done champions the views of an individual while collectivist culture sees the end is the community or a group (Cahill, 2006). Within organisational culture, certain activities may be viewed in terms of a group while other activities in terms of an individual. For example, an individual can be punished for his or her shortcomings but when it comes to teamwork, the group in totality should be appreciated. Neutral vs. Emotional – this dimension illustrates the importance of relationships and feelings. In a society, which has neutral culture, feelings are subdued or controlled while emotional cultures illustrate their emotions plainly (Conrad & Poole, 2012). This means that in the case of neutral culture, rationality and instrumentality are important. However, it is important to ensure that both situations are expressed within an organisation. Sometimes, a person who expresses himself emotional expects an answer that is emotional in nature. Specific vs. Diffuse – this dimension generally tries to explore on how people separate their private live to their working live (Heidtmann, 2011). In specific cultures, the life of the individual in terms of family and work is widely recognised while in the diffuse oriented culture, the family and work are linked closely. Achievement vs. Ascription – this dimension tries to define an individual based on status such as origin, religion or based on personal performance. In achievement based culture, title of an individual is not important but it is based on the competence of an individual (Conrad & Poole, 2012). Thus, the status of an individual is based on personal performance and some of the person’s contribution to the organisation can be challenged by any one and respect is based on skills and knowledge. In ascription based culture, everything in the organisation is based on title and what is encouraged include hierarchy and seniority (Heidtmann, 2011). Sequential vs. Synchronic - this defines whether tasks are completed one after another or several tasks are done at the same time. Sequential based culture bases its activities on time in that after completion of one task, the next one is started etc. but in the case of synchronic culture, the past, present and future are interlinked into shaping current and future processes (Heidtmann, 2011). This means that in the case of sequential approach towards an organisation, any event that occurs may contribute to delaying certain tasks while in the case of synchronic culture, numerous tasks are done concurrently and thus delay on one task may not affect the way other tasks are completed. Internal and external control – this is based on whether the organisation or an individual is controlled by the environment or the environment controls the organisation (Conrad & Poole, 2012). Internal control is when an organisation determines what it wants to achieve and have the capacity to define its destination while external control is when the environment determines the course of an organisation (Heidtmann, 2011). For example, internal components such as employees and products determine the internal control of an organisation while external components such as government controls and competition defines the direction in which a company can take. Conclusion Organisational culture defines how employees and other people behaviour towards or in an organisation. Different factors such as vision, values, systems and structure determines how an organisation operates and how it is viewed. Hofstede presented a model that incorporates five elements that defines how an organisation operates in different environment. Schein presents a three element based model that is used by observers to view and organisation while Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner presented a seven dimensional model that is used to analyse an organisation. All these group of theorists tries to breakdown the components of an organisation, explaining certain behaviour, and the contribution of these behaviours towards an organisation. 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