There is a wide agreement that organizational culture refers to a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes an organization from the other organizations. On a closer analysis, this is a set of characteristics that the organization values.
- Individual initiative: responsibility, freedom and independence that individuals have
- Risk tolerance: the degree to which employees are encouraged to take initiative, and risk taking
- Direction: to what extent the organization creates clear objectives and performance expectations
- Integration: the degree to which units within the organization are encouraged to operate in a coordinated manner
- Management support: whether managers provide clear communication, assistance and support to their subordinates
- Control: the number of rules and regulations, the amount of direct supervision that is used to oversee and control employee behavior
- Identity: the degree to which members identify with the organization as a whole rather than with their particular work group or field of professional expertise
- Reward system: to what extent the reward allocations (salary increases, promotions, experience) are based on employee performance criteria in contrast to seniority, favoritism, like and dislike and so on
- Conflict tolerance: the degree to which employees are encouraged to air conflicts and criticism openly
- Communication patterns: the degree to which organizational communications are restricted to the formal hierarchy of authority.
How employees learn culture?
Culture is transmitted to employees in a number of values, beliefs and behavior, for example:
- Leadership
Following the leader, patterns of life - Length of time
Attitudes and behavior patterns are more deeply rooted in long serving employee - Interaction with colleagues
- Culture keys Discipline, Trust, Support, Stretch stimulate employees to strive for challenges and raise their expectation
(Source: Essentials of Organizational Behavior, S.P. Robbins)
