Chapter three organizational culture and values

3.1 Definition and characteristics of culture

3.1.1 Culture defined
Culture is a highly misunderstood and misused concept, thus the need for an explanation:
Culture refers to the following ways of life, including but not limited to:
 Language: the oldest human institution and the most sophisticated medium of expression.
Arts & Sciences: the most advanced and refined forms of human expression.  
 Thought: the ways in which people perceive, interpret, and understand the Spirituality :
the value system transmitted through generations for the inner well-being of human
beings, expressed through language and actions.
 Social activity: the shared pursuits within a cultural community, demonstrated in a
variety of festivities and life-celebrating events.  
 Interaction: the social aspects of human contact, including the give-and-take of
socialization.
 Culture is a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes
and influences perception and behavior.
 Culture must be studied "indirectly" by studying behavior, customs, material/tools,
artifact/work of art, language, etc.
 Culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions […] that are
learned through a process of socialization. It is a shared pattern that helps to distinguish
the members of one category of people from another (Hofstede, 1984).
 Culture is the collective fingerprint of our identity. Cultural differences exist, but no
culture is globally superior or inferior to another (Usunier & Anne-Lee 2009).
 Culture is an earned and shared human patterns or models for living; day-today living
patterns. These patterns and models pervade all aspects of human social interaction.
Culture is mankind’s primary adaptive mechanism
 Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values,
attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe,
and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of
generations through individual and group striving.
 A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and
symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed
along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
 For the purposes of this course, however, culture can simply be defined as a shared
and learned behavior, values and beliefs at different levels.

What is the purpose of studying culture?

─ Reasoning why people act the way they do?
─ Understanding other ethnicities
─ Understand why beliefs of groups exist
 ─ Identify similarities and differences of cultural groups
─ People’s symbolic communication, their belief systems, their principles of life and their
living are derivatives of culture.
─ The importance of culture lies in its close association with the living of the people.
─ To deal with different cultures of the world we need to know about the characteristics of
culture.
─ One’s culture plays an important role in shaping the principles of the individual’s life.
The cultural values of an individual have a deep impact on his/her attitude towards life.
─ Cultures shape an individual’s thinking and influence his/her mindset
─ It is definitely because it gives an individual a unique identity.
─ The culture of a community gives its people a character of their own.
─ Culture shapes the personality of a community.
─ The language that a community speaks, the art forms it hosts, its staple food, its customs,
traditions and festivities comprise the community’s culture.
─ The importance of culture cannot be stressed enough as it is an integral part of living.
3.1.2 Functions and characteristics of Culture
Functions
─ Culture keeps the society organized.
─ It reveals the concept of good and bad to the members of the society.
─ It maintains unity among the masses.
─ Culture provides patterns for social interaction.
─ Culture helps to perform religious rituals.
─ Culture gives identity to a nation.
─ Culture fulfills the basic needs of the masses.
─ Culture helps to create adjustment with geographical conditions.
─ Culture provides standards for differentiating right and wrong.
─ Culture provides the knowledge and skills needed for survival
─ Culture helps people identify with others and make them feel a sense of belonging.
− People even within the same culture carry several layers of mental programming within
themselves.
Characteristics
Culture is Learned:
─ Culture is learned through language.
─ Babies learn language from birth and through language they acquire culture
Culture is Shared:
─ Culture is shared by the members of a society. 
─ A group with common language and custom shares a culture
─ Culture is an established pattern of behavior – members of a certain society act in a fairly
uniform manner because they share mutual beliefs, customs and way of doing.
Culture is socially transformed:
It is transformed from one generation to another through the medium of language both verbal
and non-verbal.
Culture is Mutually constructed
It is mutually constructed through a constant process of social interaction. Many person interact
with one another to develop culture. Culture is a product of social through the mutual inter-
stimulation and response of people with one another.
Culture is Constantly changing
Culture is stable yet dynamic – it is preserved and accumulated highly stable and continuous.
Culture is also changing. Culture grows and accumulates with the passing of time.
Culture is varied
All people have varied cultures – human groups of different societies have different cultures; all
peoples have their own cultures which vary in numerous ways.
Culture is a Group Product
It results from the spontaneous accumulation of human’s experience in living with other humans.
Every generation puts its imprint upon the culture of subsequent one.
Culture is not about individual behavior
It is about groups which refer to a collective phenomenon of shared values and meanings.

All cultures regardless of time, location or size have the following components:
─ Symbol
─ Language
─ Values
─ Norms including folkways, mores and laws
─ Religion
─ eating,
─ Dressing.
─ music
─ customs and traditions
─ arts and literature
─ Social organizations
─ Gender
Symbol
Symbol is anything that stands for something else and has a shared meaning attached to it. In
other words, a symbol is anything that caries a particular meaning recognized by people who
share culture. Symbol can mean different thing in different culture (gustures). Language,
gestures image, sounds, physical objects, events and elements of the natural world can serve as
symbols as long as people recognize that they convey a particular meaning
Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning which is only
recognized by those who share a particular culture. New symbols easily develop, old ones
disappear. Symbols from one particular group are regularly copied by others. This is why
symbols represent the outermost layer of a culture.
Language
Establish groups’ identity and sense of unity among those who speak it. When more than one
language is spoken within a small area may cause problem. Language is an organization of
formal and non-formal symbols into a standardized system.

Surprise Fear Disgust

Religion
It greatly influences people’s lifestyles. It is a system of shared beliefs about the holy. Ethical
systems such as moral principles or values that shape and guide behavior are often products of
religion. Religion could be mainly grouped as follows:
– Monotheistic – the belief that there is only one god
– Polytheistic – the belief that there is more than one gods (many gods)
 – Animistic – the belief in divine forces of nature
– Atheistic – the belief that there is no god
Values
Values represent personal or socially preferable modes of conduct or states of existence that are
enduring. Values are shared beliefs about what is good or bad, write or wrong, desirable or
undesirable. A cultural group could have – religious value. Political value, economic value,
gender related value, age related value… The core of a culture is formed by values. They are
broad tendencies for preferences of certain state of affairs to others (good-evil, right-wrong,
natural-unnatural).
Norms
Norms are shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situation in order to
enforce cultural values. Norm could include folkways, mores and laws. Folkways are norms that
do not have great moral significance attached to them – the common customs of everyday life.
How many times a week should a person shower? How many times a day should an adult person
eat? Example for folkways are:
a) Rules for eating, Eating habits…
— Clean right hand and common plate – Ethiopia, India…etc

—
 b) sleeping,
c) removing your hats indoors,

d) rules for dress…

Mores – are norms that have great significance attached to them. Examples could include:
– working for a living,
– standing up at during the national anthem or pledge of allegiance,
 – not using profanity during a religious service,
– respecting the limitations of others whether it be physical or mental,
– Telling the truth.
Laws – are written rules of conduct that are enacted and enforced by the government. By
definition, the violation of these norms is considered a criminal act.
Eating habits
— Beef, pork, horse/donkey eaten by many society
— Christians keep horses, dogs and cats as pets
— Pork not eaten by Muslims for religious reasons
— Some eat “ Everything that moves” – Chinese perhaps
— Fish is neutral
Dress codes
Adapt to local customs. Dressing depends on culture, customs, traditions and climate.

Arts and literature

Teach about a culture’s values, Promote cultural pride and unity, which can be transferred using
literatures, music and other arts that reflect the culture of the society.
Social organizations
They are things that all cultures have in common. What might some of those be? Social
organizations occurs when a culture organize its member in to small group. Some of those social
cultures may include: Families, Friends, Religious groups, Social classes, Occupation and
Interest groups.
Cultural change
 Culture is always changing as people adds new techniques to the old, constantly modifying and
improving them, discarding what no longer seems useful and acceptable. The changes that occur
within the society are brought about by discovery and invention, while the changes originating
from outside are a result of culture borrowing. Cultures can be changed over time due to
meeting environmental crises, responding to intrusion/imposition by outsiders and evolving
internal behaviors and values. Due to that, results may be beneficial or disastrous
William Ogburn’s concept of cultural lag refers to the fact that cultural elements change at
different rates, which may disrupt a cultural system. Three phenomena promote cultural change.
− Inventions, the process of creating new cultural elements.
− Discovery, recognizing and understanding an idea not fully understood before.
− Cultural change
Mechanisms of cultural change:
− Internal changes – are innovations – ultimate source of culture change
− External changes – are culture diffusion – which refers to spreading of a cultural
element from one culture to another. This is responsible for the greatest amount
3.1.3 Different views/perspectives on culture
Culture Lag
It refers to the gap between the material and non-material culture. Prof. Hofstede conducted the
most comprehensive study on 'how values in the work places are influenced by culture' by
analyzing a large data base of employees value scores collected from 1967-73 from more than 50
countries and developed a framework that identifies five primary dimensions.
— Power Distance
— Uncertainly Avoidance
— Individualism
— Masculinity
— Long-term orientation
According to him, power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of
institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed
unequally. The degree of inequality among people which the population of a country considers
as normal: from relatively equal (that is, small power distance) to extremely unequal (large
power distance)” (Hofstede, 1993, p. 89).

Leaders from high power distance countries :

− Do not appreciate significant participation and interaction with employees.
− Employees can’t feel free to contribute their thoughts, opinions and
recommendations,
− Leaders do not respect and utilize contributions of employees
 − If the employee views the leader as omnipotent and unquestioningly correct in all
things, it is unlikely that he or she will provide an opinion let alone challenge a
leader’s position
Implication of High power distance
 Concern for hierarchy and inequality
 Managerial jobs are reserved for elites
 Managers must be authoritarian – they should look as powerful as possible
 Decisions are made at the top
 Centralized decision making
Leaders from low power distance countries:
− Much more likely to acknowledge the capabilities of their employees to assume
these tasks and complete them successfully.
− member is viewed as having an important role regardless of his or her social or
economic position, or his or her position in the societal or organizational
hierarchy
− Empower employees share in both planning and decision making which will
ultimately lead to more decentralized organizations that embrace power sharing.
Power distance example in the case of negotiation
− Send only highly qualified and older managers when negotiating with high power
distance country
− Age and seniority is seen as signs of wisdom
− E.g., Asian cultures
− Respect titles and formality of behaviors
− E.g., Germany, Italy and Mexico

Masculinity
Masculinity refers to a tendency within the society to emphasize the traditional gender roles.
Hofstede differentiates between characteristics that are considered to be traditionally masculine
versus those that are considered to be traditionally feminine. He identifies tough values like
assertiveness, performance, success and competition with the male role, while he identifies more
tender values like quality of life, maintaining warm personal relationships, service, care for the
weak, and solidarity with the female role (Hofstede, 1993, p. 90). Some examples include: Japan,
Mexico, Germany, UK, US, Arab Countries, France, Korea, Portugal, Denmark, and Sweden.
Short VS Long term
“On the long-term side one finds values oriented towards the future, like thrift (saving) and
persistence. On the short-term side one finds values rather oriented towards the past and present,
like respect for tradition and fulfilling social obligations” (1993, p. 90). It refers to a basic
orientation towards time that values patience. Work Centrality – how important is work?
For leaders of today’s and tomorrow’s businesses, the ability to connect people and build
successful teams in a cross-cultural environment is a crucial competency. How do modern
leaders create effective collaboration between members from different cultures? How do they
build trust in each other? How do they install a sense of belonging together within the company?
Understanding how to create people alignment is crucial for today’s leaders. People alignment is
more than just aligning functions and tasks. The essence of people alignment is creating a sense
of relatedness. A sense of relatedness builds mutual trust between people. People that sometimes
literally come from different worlds. This requires not just an operational focus, but also a
mental focus. Successful leaders understand the importance of creating cross-cultural
understanding and trust in their company. They understand their behavior individually and as
leadership team sets an example for others. They also understand that it is part of their role to
show how they build successful cross-cultural relationships themselves.
3.2 Organizational Culture and values
3.2.1 Culture: An Empirically Based Abstraction
Culture as a concept has had a long and checkered history. Anthropologists have used it to refer
to the customs and rituals that societies develop over the course of their history. In the past
several decades, some organizational researchers and managers have used it to describe the
norms and practices that organizations develop around their handling of people or as the
espoused values and credo of an organization. This sometimes confuses the concept of culture
with the concept of climate, and confuses culture as what is with culture as what ought to be.
Thus managers speak of developing the “right kind of culture,” a “culture of quality,” or a
“culture of customer service.” Suggesting that culture has to do with certain values that managers
are trying to inculcate in their organizations. Also implied in this usage is the assumption that
there are better or worse cultures, stronger or weaker cultures, and that the “right” kind of culture
would influence how effective organizations are. In the managerial literature, there is often the
implication that having a culture is necessary for effective the organization.
Researchers have supported some of these views by reporting findings that certain cultural
dimensions do correlate with economic performance, but this research is hard to evaluate
because of the many definitions of culture and the variety of indexes of performance that are
used (Wilderom. Glunk, and Maslowski, 2000). Consultants and researchers have touted
“culture surveys” and have claimed that they can improve organizational performance by helping
organizations create certain kinds of cultures, but these claims are often based on a berry
different definition of culture than the one I will be arguing for here ) Denison, 1990; Sackman
and Bertelsman, 2006). As we will see, whether or not a culture is “good” or “bad,”
“functionally effective,” or not, depends not on the culture alone but on the relationship of the
culture to the environment in which it exists.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of culture as a concept is that it points us to phenomena that
are below the surface, that are powerful in their impact but invisible and to a considerable degree
unconscious. Culture creates within us mindsets and frames of reference that Marshak (2006)
identified as one of a number of important covert processes. In another sense, culture is to a
group what personality or character is to an individual. We can see the behavior that results, but
we often cannot see the forces underneath that cause certain kinds of behavior. Yet, just as our
personality and character guide and constrain our behavior, so does culture guide and constrain
the behavior of members of a group through the shared norms that are held in that group.
Culture as a concept is thus an abstraction. If an abstract concept is to be useful to our thinking,
it should be observable yet increase our understanding of a set of events that are otherwise
mysterious or not well understood. From this point of view, I will argue that we must avoid the
superficial models of culture and build on the deeper, more complex anthropological models.
Those models refer to a wide range of observable events and underlying forces, as shown in the
following list.
 Observed behavioral regularities when people interact: The language they use, the
customs and traditions that evolve, and the rituals they employ in a wide variety of
situations (for example, Goffman, 1959, 1967; Jones and others, 1988; Trice and
Beyer, 1993; Van Maanen, 1979b).
 Group norms: The implicit standards and values that evolve in working groups, such
as the particular norm of “a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay” that evolved among
workers in the Bank Wiring Room in the Hawthome studies (for example, Homans,
1950; Kilmann and Saxton, 1983).
 Espoused values: The articulated publicly announced principles and values that the
group claims to be trying to achieve, such as “product quality” or “price leadership”
(for example, Deal and Kennedy, 1982, 1999).
 Formal philosophy: The broad policies and ideological principles that guide a
group’s actions toward stockholders, employees, customers, and other stakeholders
such as the highly publicized “HP Way” of the Hewlett-Packard Co. (for example,
Ouchi, 1981; Pascale and Athos, 1981; Packard, 1995).
 Rules of the game: The implicit, unwritten rules for getting along in the organization,
“the ropes” that a newcomer must learn to become an accepted member, “the way we
do things around here” (for example, Schein, 1968, 1979; Van Maanen, 1976, 1979b;
Ritti and Funkhouser, 1987).
 Climate: The feeling that is conveyed in a group by the physical layout and the way in
which members of the organization interact with each other, with customers, or with
other outsiders (for example, Ashkanasy, and others 2000; Schneider, 1990; Tagiuri
and Litwin, 1968).
 Embedded skills: The special competencies displayed by group members in
accomplishing certain tasks, the ability to make certain things the get passed on from
generation to generation without necessarily being articulated in writing (for example,
Argyris and Schon, 1978; Cook and Yanow, 1993; Henderson and Clark, 1990; Peters
and Waterman, 1982; Ang and Van Dyne, 2008).
 Habits of thinking, mental models, and/or linguistic paradigms: The shared
cognitive frames that guide the perceptions, thought, and language used by the
members of a group and are taught to new member in the early socialization process
 (for example, Douglas, 1986; Hofstede, 1991, 2001; Van Maanen, 1979b; Senge,
Roberts, Ross, Smith, and Kleiner, 1994).
 Shared meanings: The emergent understandings that are created by group members
as they interact with each other (for example, Geertz, 1973; Smircich, 1983; Van
Maanen and Barley, 1984; Weick, 1995, Weick and Sutcliffe, 2001; Hatch and
Schultz, 2004).
 “Root metaphors” or integrating symbols: The ways that groups evolve to
characterize themselves, which may or may not be appreciated consciously, but that
get embodied in buildings, office layouts, and other material artifacts of the group.
This level of the culture reflects the emotional and aesthetic response of members as
contrasted with the cognitive or evaluative response (for example, Gagliardi, 1990;
Hatch, 1990; Pondy, Frost, Morgan, and Dandridge, 1983; Schultz, 1995).
 Formal rituals and celebrations: The ways in which a group celebrates key events
that reflect important values or important :passages” by members such as promotion,
completion of important projects, and milestones (Trice and Beyer, 1993, Deal and
Kennedy, 1982, 1999).
All of these concepts and phenomena relate to culture and/or reflect culture in that they
deal with things that group members share or hold in common, but none of them can usefully be
thought of as the culture of a country, organization, occupation, or group. You might wonder
why we need the word culture at all when we have so many other concepts such as norms,
values, behavior patterns, rituals, traditions, and so on. However, the word culture adds several
other critical elements to the concept of sharing. The concept of culture implies structural
stability, depth, breadth, and patterning or integration.
Structural stability
Culture implies some level of structural stability in the group. When we say that something is
“cultural” we imply that it is not only shared but also stable because it defines the group. After
we achieve a sense of group identity, which is a key component of culture, it is out major
stabilizing force and will not be given up easily. Culture is something that survives even when
some members of the organization depart. Culture is hard to change because group members
value stability in that it provides meaning and predictability.
Depth
Culture is the deepest, often unconscious part of a group and is therefore less tangible and less
visible. From this point of view, most of the categories used to describe culture listed earlier can
be thought of as manifestations of culture, but they are not the “essence” of what we mean by
culture. Note that when something is more deeply embedded that also lends stability.
Breadth
A third characteristic of culture is that after it has developed, it covers all of a group’s
functioning. Culture is pervasive and influences all aspects of how an organization deals with its
primary task, its various environments, and its internal operations. Not all groups have cultures
in this sense, but the concept connotes that if we refer to “the culture” of a group, we are
referring to all of its operations.
Patterning or Integration
The fourth characteristic that is implied by the concept of culture and that further lends stability
is patterning or integration of the elements into a larger paradigm or “Gestalt” that ties together
the various elements and resides at a deeper level. Culture implies that rituals, climate, values,
and behaviors tie together into a coherent whole, and this pattern or integration ultimately
derives from the human need to make our environment as sensible and orderly as we can (Seick,
1995). Disorder or senselessness makes us anxious, so we will work hard to reduce that anxiety
by developing a more consistent and predictable view of how things are and how they should be.
Thus: “Organizational cultures, like other cultures, develop as groups of people struggle to make
sense of and cope with their worlds” (Trice and Beyer, 1993,p.4).
How then should we think about this “essence” of culture, and how should we formally
define it? The most useful way to arrive at a definition of something as abstract as culture is to
think in dynamic evolutionary terms. If we can understand where culture comes from, how it
evolves, then we can grasp something that is abstract, that exists in a group’s unconscious, yet
that has powerful influences on a group’s behavior.
Any social unit that has some kind of shared history will have evolved a culture. The
strength of that culture depends on the length of time, the stability of membership of the group,
and the emotional intensity of the actual historical experiences they have shared. We all have a
commonsense notion of this phenomenon, yet it is difficult to define it abstractly. The formal
definition that I propose and will work with builds on this evolutionary perspective and argues
that the most fundamental characteristic of culture is that it is a product of social learning.
A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external
adaptation & integration, and that has worked well enough to be considered valid, and therefore,
to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, & feel in relation to those
problems (Schein, 1997:12). Simply stated, organizational culture refers to the shared values and
beliefs that enable members to understand their roles & the norms of the organization. Simply
stated, organizational culture refers to the shared values and beliefs that enable members to
understand their roles & the norms of the organization.
Values and beliefs –
e.g.: Employees--- We care about each other encourage growth & recognize accomplishments.
Customers--- Our first priority is to satisfy our customers. Quality--- We do the right things right
the first time. Improvement--- We do the right things even better the next time.
− Integrity--- We are committed to the highest standards of ethical behavior.
− Teamwork--- Together, we make it happen.
− Leadership--- Leaders are inspiring and lead by example. Leadership exists at all
levels.
− Measurement--- Our performance measures are customer-focused, outcome-
based, comprehensive and clear.
Benefits of Culture
 - Culture supplements rational management
− Culture facilities induction and socialization
− Culture promotes accepted code of conduct
− Culture contribute to organizational diversity
− Culture is important b/c it can and does affect all aspects of an organization’s activities.
− Culture is the organizational equivalent of a human personality.
Specifically, culture can have an influence on employee motivation; The attractiveness of the
organization as an employer & hence the rate of staff turnover; Employee morale and ‘goodwill’;
Productivity and efficiency; The quality of work; The nature of the employee & industrial
relations; The attitude of employees in the workplace; Innovation & creativity.
3.2.2 The organizational Culture of the FDRE- MOND
 It is our duty to be ready at any time to protect our people and the constitutional system from
any danger.
 Readiness to pay whatever required by the Nation and the organization (patriotism) to
accomplish our mission.
 Demonstrate great compassion and care to our comrades and people wherever we deploy.
 Promote members participation in key national and organizational issues and purposes.
3.2.3 MOND Core Values
 Selfless Service
 Ethical personality
 unreduced democratic thinking
 Duty achievement excellence
Selfless service
 Constitutional loyalty
 Life scarification to secure people and country (belongingness to our people,
country and political system)
 Patriotism
 Courage/commitment
 Initiative
 Professionalism
 Obey law, rules and regulation
 Compassion/empathy

Good personality
 Moral/courage
 Tackling corruption/free from corruption
 Responsibility
 Transparency and accountability
 Dignity (respect yourself and other)
 Keeping secrete or Confidential issues of
 o Your country
o Your own organization
o Your peer
o Your subordinate
Unreduced Democratic thinking
 Strong believe in people
 Democratic and human rights
 Believe in team work and command decision
 Participatory approach
 Believe in diversity of
 Peoples ,nations and nationalities
 Cultures
 Religious
 Respect elected civilian authorities
 Believe in majority rule (Decision)
 Free exchange of ideas
 Democratic relationship

High Result/ Excellence Duty achievement at any situation

 Proper and efficient utilization of resources
 Scientific thinking (reasoning, Justification)
 Outstanding initiative
 Innovation
• Service Quality
• Self development
Effective and efficient achievement of duty
• Prediction/visionary
• Readiness
The importance of values in Military leadership
• They are principles
• They are standards what we want to achieve
• They support/provide direction to be key and effective leader
• Values are peculiar character in every military or nation