Chapter 11- Organizational Culture and Control
Japanese culture reflects what?
An obsession with rules that can excel at turning chaos into order
Adaptability culture encourages what?
1) entrepreneurial values 2) norms 3) beliefs that support the capacity of the organization to detect, interpret, and translate signals from the environment into new behavior responses.
Technology is often used to?
Control the flow and pace of work or monitor employees, such as by measuring the number of minutes employees spend on the phone calls or how many key strokes they make at the computer.
All effective control systems involve the use of what?
Feedback, to determine whether organizational performance meets established standards
If little agreement exists among employees of an organization about the importance of specific values and ways of doing things, the culture is said to be:
Weak
Ceremonies, stories, sayings, and rites are all considered what?
Symbols, because they symbolize deeper values
Define rites and ceremonies
The elaborate, planned activities that make up a special event and are often conducted for the benefit of an audience
Some control strategies apply to the top levels of an organization, where the concern is for what?
The entire organization or major divisions
In organizations with a high degree of social capital, relationships are based on...
Trust, mutual understandings ,shared norms, and values that enable people to cooperate and coordinate their activities to achieve goals
Define rite of integration
creates common bonds and good feelings among employees and increases commitment to the organization
A high level of social capital...
enables frictionless social interactions and exchanges that help facilitate smooth organizational functioning
Define customer service indicators
measure such things as how customers view the organization as well as customer retention and satisfaction
Define internal integration
members develop a collective identity and understand how to work together effectively.
Define sayings
mottoes or mantras that encapsulate key cultural values, such as Walmart's " Save Money, Live Better"
Define stories
narratives based on true events that are frequently shared among employees and told to new employees to inform them about an organization
How does a bureaucratic culture succeed?
by being highly integrated and efficient
Accomplishing internal goals does what?
enables the organization to maintain strong relationships with customers, be a leader in quality and reliability, and provide innovative solutions to emerging customer needs
A strong culture that encourages responsiveness and change
enhances organizational performance by: 1) energizing and motivating employees 2) unifying people around shared goals and a higher mission 3) shaping and guiding behavior so that everyone's actions are aligned with strategic priorities
Define hierarchical methods
explicit rules, policies, and procedures for employee behavior
When standards are met, employees are given what?
extrinsic rewards
Define rite of passage
facilitates the transition of employees into new social roles
Define business process indicators
focus on production and operating statistics, such as order fulfillment or cost per order
Define potential for learning and growth
focuses on how well resources and human capital are being managed for the company's future. Measurements include such things as employee retention, business process improvements, and the introduction of new products.
Define clan culture
has a primary focus on the involvement and participation of the organization's members and on rapidly changing expectations from the external environment
What keeps people from performing their job up to standard?
self-discipline and self-control
one of the most important thing mergers do is...
shape organizational culture to meet strategic goals because culture has a significant impact on performance
Define Symbols
something that represents something else
In a clan culture, the important value is...?
taking care of employees and making sure they have whatever they need to help them be satisfied as well as productive
Subcultures typically includes
the basic values of the dominant organizational culture plus additional values unique to members of the subculture
What does structure, size, strategy, and technology represent?
the formal organization
What does culture represent?
the informal organization
Recall that culture exists at two levels
1) the underlying values and assumptions 2) the visible artifacts and observable behaviors
Cultures serve two critical functions in organizations, what are they?
1) to integrate members so that they know how to relate to one another 2) to help the organization adapt to the external environment
What do extrinsic rewards consist of?
1) wages 2) benefits 3) possibly promotions up the hierarchy
Jack Welch under General Electric's leadership wanted managers to exhibit the following cultural values in addition to " making their numbers"
1) Have a passion for excellence and hate bureaucracy 2) be open to ideas from everywhere 3) "Live" quality, and drive cost and speed for competitive advantage
What are the 4 organizational outcomes based on relative attention that managers pay to cultural values and business results?
1) Quadrant A- High performance, low cultural values: represents managers meet performance goals but fail to uphold cultural values. 2) Quadrant B- High performance, high cultural values Managers achieve performance goals and uphold desired cultural values 3) Quadrant C- Low performance, Low cultural values Managers do not meet performance goals or uphold cultural values 4) Quadrant D- Low performance, High cultural values Managers do not meet performance goals but do uphold cultural values
Four areas that contribute to a firm's long term success...
1) a learning and growth culture 2) internal processes 3) customer service 4) financial performance
what are the 4 categories of culture?
1) adaptability 2) achievement 3) clan 4) bureaucratic
What contributes to internal standards that provides self-control?
1) empowerment of employees 2) effective socialization 3) training
A balanced Scorecard contains 4 major perspective which include:
1) financial performance 2) customer service 3) internal business processes 4) the organization's capacity for learning and growing
Every organization has two sides a work which include:
1) formal structures and systems 2) informal values, norms, and assumptions of the corporate culture
There are two different approaches to evaluating and controlling team or individual performance and allocating rewards. What are these 2 approaches?
1) one approach is focused primarily on how people do their jobs 2) the second approach focuses on the outcomes people produce. As well as to pay less attention to what people do rather than to what they accomplish
With decentralized control
1) power is more dispersed and is based on knowledge and experience as much as formal position. 2) The organizational structure is flat and horizontal, with flexible authority and teams of workers solving problems and making improvements 3) the culture is adaptive, and managers recognize importance of organizational culture for uniting individual, team, and organizational goals for greater overall control
What are the observable aspects of Organizational Culture?
1) rites and ceremonies 2) stories and sayings 3) symbols 4) organizational structures 5) power relationships 6) control systems
Mangers can use the scorecard to...
1) set goals 2) allocate resources 3) plan budgets 4) determine rewards
Managers can use strategy maps to...
1) set goals 2) track metrics 3) assess performance 4) make changes as needed
Cycle of Control
1) setting strategic goals for departments or the organization as a whole 2) establishing metrics and standards of performance 3) comparing metrics of actual performance to standards 4) correcting or changing activities as needed
What are the Levels of Corporate Culture?
1) surface level: observable symbols, ceremonies, stories, slogans, behaviors, dress, physical settings 2) deeper values: underlying values, assumptions, beliefs, attitudes, feelings
Cultures can be assessed along many dimensions, such as...
1) the extent of collaboration versus isolation among people and departments 2) the importance of control and where control is concentrated 3) whether the organization's time orientation is short range or long range
What are 2 specific dimensions associated with organizational culture?
1) the extent to which the competitive environment requires flexibility or stability 2) the extent to which the organization's strategic focus and strength are internal or external
The 4 cultural categories relate to...
1) the fit among cultural values 2) strategy 3) structure 4) the environment *** each can be successful depending on the needs of the external environment and the organization's strategic focus
Studies by consulting firms such as Hay Group and Mckinsey & company suggest that performance declines in about...
20% of acquired companies after acquisition. some experts estimate 90% of mergers never live up to expectations
Define balanced scorecard (BSC)
A comprehensive management control system that balances traditional financial measures with operational measures relating to a company's critical success factors
Define High-performance culture
A culture that: 1) is based on a solid organizational mission or purpose 2) embodies shared adaptive values that guide decisions and business practices 3) encourages individual employee ownership of both bottom-line results and the organization's cultural backbone
Organizational culture generally begins with...?
A founder or early leader who articulates and implements particular ideas and values as a vision, philosophy, or business strategy
What type of approach does they bureaucratic culture support?
A methodical approach of doing business
The company Amazon reflects aspects of what kind of culture?
Achievement culture, with its emphasis on competitiveness, assertiveness and achieving growing sales and market share
Define OKR's
All important areas of the business, managers track metrics in such areas as 1) customers satisfaction 2) product quality 3) employee commitment and turnover 4) operational performance 5) innovation 6) corporate social responsibility
Define decentralized control
Based on values and assumptions that are almost opposite to those of hierarchical control
Why are most managers today shifting away from bureaucratic cultures?
Because of a need for greater flexibility
A strong culture reflects
Clear values and social norms-- this is, people know what is expected. There is generally little differentiation among people within the culture and a low tolerance for deviation from the norm.
Define Legends
Events that are historic and may have been embellished with fictional details
The score card can be applied to...
For-profit and non-profit organizations
Balanced scorecard has evolved into a system that...
Helps managers see how organizational performance results from cause-effect relationships among these four mutually supportive areas
The Hierarchical approach to control is strongly evident in what?
Many Japanese
What does OKR's mean?
Objectives and Key results
To identify and interpret culture requires that...?
People make interferences based on observable artifacts
Explain what lower-level managers do?
They focus on the performance of people at the department level, who must meet goals and standards if the organization is to attain its overall goals
One type of rite that appears in organizations is...?
a rite of passage
Culture provides people with...?
a sense of organizational identity and generates in them a commitment to beliefs and values that are larger than themselves
Define Artifacts
can be used by leaders to shape culture, and they can also be studied to interpret culture *** However, artifacts may be hard for outsiders to decipher accurately. An award ceremony in one company might have a different meaning than it does in another country.
Control relies on what?
centralized authority, the formal hierarchy, and close personal supervision
Define achievement culture
characterized by emphasis on a clear vision of the organization's purpose and on the achievement of goals, such as sales growth, profitability, or market share, to help accomplish the purpose.
Define adaptability culture:
characterized by strategic focus on the external environment through flexibility and change to meet customer needs.
If widespread consensus exists among employees of an organization about the importance of specific values and ways of doing things, the culture is said to be:
cohesive and strong
In Corporate Culture and Performance, John Kotter and James Heskett provided evidence that....
companies that intentionally managed cultural values outperformed similar companies that did not
When subcultural values become too strong and outweigh the corporate cultural values...
conflicts may emerge and hurt organizational performance
Managers rely instead on shared goals and values to...
control employee behavior
Define power relationships
deciphering who influences or manipulates or has the ability to do so
control is also a major issue at the lower, operational level where...
department managers and supervisors focus on the performance of teams and individual employees
Define Subcultures
develop to reflect the common problems, goals, and experiences that members of a team, department, or other unit share.
Achieving learning and culture goals within an organization will help the organization build what?
efficient internal business processes that 1) promotes good relationships with suppliers and partners 2) improve the quality and flexibility of operations 3) excel at developing innovative products and services
Define bureaucratic culture
has an internal focus and a consistency orientation for a stable environment
Define control systems
inner workings of how the organization controls people and operations. This includes things such as: 1) how information is managed 2) quality control systems 3) methods of financial control 4) reward systems 5) how decisions are made 6) whether managers apply behavior to outcome control related to employee activities
Define Hierarchical control
involves monitoring and influencing employee behavior through extensive use of 1) rules 2) policies 3) hierarchy of authority 4) written documentation 5) reward systems 6) and other formal mechanisms
Define culture
is the set of values, norms, guiding beliefs, and understandings that is shared by members of an organization and taught to new members as the correct way to think, feel, and behave
Stories keep alive the....
primary values of the organization and provide a shared understanding among all employees
Define strategy map
provides a visual representation of the key drivers of an organization's success and shows how specific outcomes in each area are linked
Responsibility for quality control rests with what?
quality control inspectors and supervisors rather than with employees
Define external adaptation
refers to how the organization meets goals and deals with outsiders
Define culture strength
refers to the degree of agreement among members of an organization about the importance of specific values
Define the financial perspective
reflects a concern that the organization's activities contribute to improving short-and long-term financial performance. It includes traditional measures such as net income and return on investment.
Managers want a corporate culture that:
reinforces the strategy and structural design that the organization needs to be effective within its environment
Define decentralized control
relies on cultural values, traditions, shared beliefs, and trust to create compliance with organizational goals
Cultural values can typically be identified in what?
rites and ceremonies
Define social capital
the quality of interactions among people and whether they share a common perspective.
When cultural values aren't connected to business performance,
they aren't likely to benefit organization during hard times
Successful companies are...
those in which managers are evaluated and rewarded for paying careful attention to both cultural values and business performance.
The Balanced scorecard (BSC) and strategy map are techniques primarily used by?
top executives and upper-level managers
Define Heroes
who serve as models or ideals for upholding cultural norms and values