OBA Essay Plans- Culture
1. Is organisational structure the major factor affecting the culture of organizations? How
are organisational cultures created, developed and changed?
2. Critically assess the role of organisational structure in shaping organisational culture.
3. What are the major factors affecting the culture of organisations? How are
organisational cultures created, developed and changed?
4. What is the role played by national culture in leaders’ efforts to influence organisational
culture?
Introduction
An organisation’s structure is the system that outlines how activities within the
organisation are directed in order to achieve organisational goals. These activities can
include rules, roles, and responsibilities.
Brown (1998): the study of culture has origins in anthropology and sociology
There are numerous definitions about culture:
o Hofstede (1980)- culture is the values and beliefs which provide people with a
programmed way of seeing
o Legge (1994)- Culture is a set of shared meanings, or taken for granted
assumptions
o Tylor (1871)- culture is a complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art,
morals, law, customs and any other capability acquired by man
Focusing on the exact definition of culture is unproductive as each author provides a
slightly nuanced definition. In general, culture refers to the patterns of beliefs, values
that have developed during the course of an organisation’s history which tend to be
manifested in its material arrangements and members’ behaviour
What is more insightful is analysing the factors that influence organisational culture and
what it in itself impacts.
Barney (1986): each organisation also has a culture which is valuable, rare and
imperfectly imitable and is influenced by the nature of the organisation’s structure.
Meek (1988): socially emergent view of culture- sees it as something an organisation is
rather than has; the product of shared symbols, emerging through social interaction.
o Culture cannot be created, discovered or destroyed by management, but can
only observed through social reproduction.
Debate is on seeing culture as a ‘root metaphor’, which cannot be changed, or a
variable.
While I agree that culture is something that the organisation is, the arguments of
organisational change theorists such as Dyer and Morgan provide convincing evidence
that some agents are in a better position than others to attempt to influence culture.
o The leaders and managers within organisation- ability manipulate the
organisational structure which subsequently affects the culture.
o BUT there are many intervening variables that influence ability of leaders to
change culture e.g. National cultures, power balances, history
P1: Evaluating the idea of culture- Schein (1954)- 3 Layer Perspective
We must first understand the components which make up an organisation’s culture.
, Schein (1954): three layer model for organisational culture: the artefacts, the values, and
the basic assumptions.
o Artefacts- most visible manifestations of organisational culture.
Include a company’s logo and mission statement.
Hampden-Turner (1990) looked at Volvo’s logo of hands holding at the
wrists to highlight a culture of cooperative relationships within the
organisation.
Corporate architecture is an artefact of organisational culture as it
influences how humans interact with each other, communicate and
perform work tasks. Individual offices for university academics reflect the
individual autonomy of this work culture as opposed to offices with open
floor plans, which reflect a culture of collaboration.
Language is an artefact: Schein (1985): ‘good service’, ‘high quality’, and
‘excellence’ all mean different things in different organisations
o Values- the moral principles which govern behaviour and determine what people
think ought to be done
Martin (1983) discusses how stories, the narratives drawn from the
institution’s history, are important indicators of informal rules,
consequences of deviance, social categories and status.
Norms of behaviour- what is appropriate and what is not
Norms on which individuals command respect e.g. Tech company-
respect based on expertise, Manufacturing- respect based on
length of service, Bureaucracies- respect based on formal position
o Schein (1985) argues that when a value is taken for granted and is seen to work
reliably, social validation may transform into an unquestionable belief and are
then considered basic assumptions.
A culture may be defined in terms of its basic assumptions.
These assumptions are based on the perception of the nature of reality,
how the truth is determined, the nature of human nature, such as Theory
X or Y, the nature of human activity, such as striving for proactive
achievers or just ‘being’, and the nature of human Relationships, such as
individualism or collectivism.
Assumptions are harder to change
Schein’s model: physical and social construction of an organisation is a manifestation of
the basic assumptions of the firm.
o Hatch (1993) builds on this model by adding ‘symbols’ to the consideration and
hence makes the interconnections between the various elements of culture focal
to the analysis of how culture exists.
P2: Evaluating the idea of culture- Goffee & Jones (1996)- 2 factor model
Goffee & Jones (1996) see culture as community; the
outcome of how people relate to each other.
Components that make up culture are sociability, the
non-instrumental friendliness among members, and
solidarity, the community’s ability to pursue shared
objectives regardless of personal ties.
