LESSON 8

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND

CULTURE THEORY
 Every company has its own culture, just as each individual has their own
personality. Organizational culture refers to set of common assumptions, values, and ideas
that guide how individuals behave in the workplace. The value placed on a collection of
qualities, such as risk orientation and attention to detail, an organization’s culture.

Organizational culture encompasses an organization’s expectation, experiences,

philosophy, and values, which are expressed in the organization’s self-image, inner
workings, interactions with the outside world, and future expectations. It is founded on
shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that evolved over time
and are accepted as valid. it’s also known as corporate culture, and it manifest itself in the
following ways:
1. The organization’s business practices, as well as how it handles its employees, customs, and the
general public.
2. The degree to which individuals have freedom in making decisions, developing new ideas, expressing
themselves.
3. The flow of power and information through the organization’s hierarchy
4. How committed are employees to the company’s goals?

It affects the organization’s productivity and performance and provides guidelines on customer care and
service, product quality and safety, attendance, and punctuality, and concern for the environment.
It also includes production method, marketing and advertising strategies, and the development o new
products. Every organization’s culture is distinct, and changing it is one of the most difficult things to do.
 STRONG AND WEAK CULTURES

Belief, behavioral guidelines, traditions, rituals are all

important aspects of an organization’s culture. The strength or
weakness of a culture is determined by the presence or absence of
these components. The degree of agreement among its people about the
value of specific ideas, behavioral rules, customs, and rituals
determines a culture’s strength. These are the factors that influence
how things are done in culture.
 WEAK CULTURE

A culture is weak if its members are unaware of its beliefs,

behavioral conventions, customs, and rituals, or if there is a
misalignments between proclaimed values and behavior. This can
occur due to multitude of factors. Weak cultures work against an
organization’s success since employees have no idea what the
organization stand for or how things are actually done (rather than how
policy suggests they should be done.
 STRONG CULTURE

When there is coherence around ideas, behavioral rules, customs, and rituals, a culture is
deemed strong. Strong cultures often express their values, behavioral conventions, customs, and
ritual in public displays so that employees can use these cultural factors to make decisions across the
company. Culture that are strong include:
1. There should be more than one great leader who articulates values, behavioral rules, traditions,
and rituals that are aligned with customer demands, strategic direction, and competitive
conditions.
2. Organizational commitment to conducting business in accordance with the culture’s directives.
3. The organization’s unwavering dedication to supporting its main stakeholders – business
partners, suppliers, employees, consumers, and stakeholders (if any) – as well as the
community, society, and environment.
Characteristics of a weak culture
Weak cultures, on the other hand, frequently produce poor results. Weak cultures also have a number pf
harmful traits that might stymie an organization’s capacity to reach to reach its objectives and succeed.
These are the characteristics:

1. Narrow/Isolated Thinking: this traits is visible when a company refuses to explore outside of itself
for best practices and methods. These organizations employees assumes they know everything. This
kind of introspection can keep a company from making the required procedural and cultural
adjustments.
2. Resistance to change: when a company is unexpectedly presented with a quickly changing
environment, this traits becomes apparent. The company prioritizes maintaining the status quo,
avoiding risk, and avoiding errors. Instead of focusing on innovation and success, the culture’s
leadership permits these variables to infiltrate and immobilize the organization.
3. Political Internal Environment: Issues and challenges are settled along power lines in a politically
charged cultured. Change is stifled by vocal support or resistance, personal lobbying, and the building
of alliances interested in a specific outcome. Because it sacrifices the organization’s best interest for the
personal desires/self-interests of certain actors, this type od internal environment causes low
performance.
4. Unhealthy Promotion Practices: when a company promotes a loyal or long-time employee to
management who is hardworking and good at day-to-day operations but lacks leadership abilities, and
the capacity to think strategically, this feature is evident. This form of promotion can leave a business
unable to construct a long-term vision, develop new competencies, or develop new strategy.
Characteristics of a Strong Culture
Strong culture are conducive to great environment. results-oriented high performance cultures tend to create
an environment where there is a positive pressure to perform. There are lot of healthy features that increase
organizational performance in a high-performance culture, such as:

1. Culture-reinforcing tools: Ceremonies, symbols, language, behavioral guidelines, and regulations are
examples of these. These strategies are used by strong cultures to get amazing results from ordinary
individuals. Ceremonies and symbols are used in strong cultures to underline the company’s ideals.
Ceremonies and symbols assist in the recognition and celebration of high-performing employees as
well as the development of an emotional bond among all employees. Slogans and policies help to
express the company’s core principles and offer a common understanding among employees.
2. Intensely People Oriented: strong culture show compassion for their employees in a variety of ways.
These are some of them.
• Employees are treated with dignity and respect.
• Providing employees with adequate freedom to succeed and contribute
• Manager at all level should be held responsible for the growth and development of those who report to
them.
• To promote high-performance behavior , a whole spectrum of rewards and punishments are used.
• Clearly defining performance expectations for all personnel.
3. Results oriented: employees that thrive and meet performance goals are identified and rewarded in
high-performance organization, which devote more time and resources. Employees performance date
is collected, analyzed, and interpreted using controls. Employees that do exceptionally well are
selected and rewarded using quantitative metrics of achievements.
4. Emphasis on achievements and excellence: high-performance cultures fostera competitive
environment in which everyone strives to be the best. Management seeks methods and policies, as
well as the required resources, in order to motivate employees to perform at their best.