Culture: Organizational Culture Essay

Submitted By kkukkiikk
Words: 1074
Pages: 5

“Organisational culture comprises the deep, basic assumptions and beliefs, as well as the share values that define organisation membership, as well as the members' habitual way of making decisions....”

According to the quotation above, the definitions of organisation are as various as cultures existing in the society. one of it was defined by Schein in 1992, he said that culture is a pattern of basic assumptions which the members in group learn about external adaptation and internal integration for efficiently making decisions, solving problems within organisation and distributing practical cultures to the next generation. Therefore, it can be inferred that organisational culture basically relies on three sources. Firstly, beliefs, values and assumptions of leaders seems to be the most important one embedding as a norm and shared values to link all members together. Secondly, participation of decision-making among leaders and employees. Finally, new beliefs and national cultures are able to influence organisational cultures. functionalist approaching to organisational culture as a role of values is also crucial. It can be the key to determine organisation behavior. The organisational values can be divided into two types; Terminal values and instrumental values. Firstly, terminal values are desirable states of existence of the ultimate thing the individuals want to achieve. The organisation should consider this value during the recruitment to match employees in the right positions. It also includes happiness, self respect and freedom of members within the organisation. The second is instrumental values as a core values to desire what processes and methods individuals choose to reach their goals. Regarding to the different cultures in each organisation, there have been cultural contrasts between companies. For example, the difference between Japanese and the U.S. companies, in terms of a decision making, Japanese firms seem to decide and make decisions slower than those in American due to its corporate hierarchy and a conservative decision-making process. Thus, Japanese' companies may possibly able to minimise their errors and to be consistency at all levels. Additionally, American companies' roles are very individualised, while those in Japan may accept individual contribution only in creating success for the whole group (Hashimoto, 2010). These differences in organisation culture are determined by four factors; characteristics of members, organisational ethics, organisational structure and property right system. As mentioned earlier that the organisational cultures may base on its members behaviors and the company structure. Moreover, the ways of making decision and work environment are also related to property rights and organisational ethics. For example, Google Inc. has been supporting high levels of employees engagement by collecting feedbacks through employees survey and communications. That seems to improve worker performance and reduce recruitment costs (Bloomberg, 2009). However, there seems to be no right nor wrong for each type of cultures, it depends on which cultures suit the organisation most. Another vital theory is Schein's model of Organisational culture which consists of three vertical levels; artifacts, values and assumptions (Tharp, 2009). The first level is artifacts, these seems to be at the surface such as dress code and products which can be easily recognised but hard to understand. Then values is beneath artifacts which consists of conscious strategies, philosophies and goals. It based on how much ethic and conscience employers have to promptly lead their workers as an employee professionalism. Finally, basic assumptions are the core of culture, shapes values and artifacts and formed around deep dimensions of human such as the nature of human and human relationships. Leaders are the most powerful position of bring beliefs and guidances to members on how they perceive, think and feel about