Organizational Culture And Control

Title: Organizational Culture and Control , By: Wilson, Fiona M., Organizational Behaviour, 1999 Database: Business Source Premier

Section: Power, Control and Resistance Organizational Culture and Control

Contents CULTURE IS A POPULAR explanatory concept frequently used to describe a company, a rationale for people's behaviour, as a guideline for action, a cause for condemnation or praise, or a quality that makes a company ‘what it is’ (Kunda, 1992). Organizational culture is defined by Hofstede (1991:262) as The ‘the collective Language of programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one organization from another’. Since the late 1970s a vast body of literature Redundancy has looked at the importance of organizational culture for organizational outcomes (Smircich and Calas, 1987). For some the emphasis has been on improving efficiency, growth, and success (e.g. Ouchi, 1981; Peters and Waterman, 1982). Peters and Waterman, in looking for excellence in Breaking the organizational culture, place considerable emphasis on the importance of Boundaries positive reinforcement, rewarding desirable behaviour. At IBM a senior of Personal manager Time at adopted the practice of writing out a cheque as a reward for achievements he observed as he wandered about the organization. It is Work? thought that positive reinforcement is practised in many Japanese, British, French organizations often ‘with considerable influence on employee motivation and performance’ (Morgan, 1986). Well-known examples of companies Culture andwho claim to have changed their culture are British Airways, who attempted Change to change the emphasis on flying routes to an emphasis on company service, and Nissan, who claimed they achieved an entirely new sentiment and identification from their labour force (Ackroyd and Crowdy, 1990). STOP Interest in culture was sparked by Japanese business success, which was thought to arise from competitive advantage secured through national and corporate culture (Ouchi, 1981; Pascale and Athos, 1982). Through the 1970s MachoJapanese industry managed to establish a solid reputation for quality, reliability, Managersvalue, and service—attributes that others wished to emulate. A large and profitable literature has capitalized on the idea that culture can be are Not diagnosed Working and changed to improve organizational effectiveness. Deal and Kennedy (1982: 15) claim, for example, that with a strong culture ‘a company can gain as much as one or two hours of productive work per employee per day’. The prescriptive view shows how organizational culture can be designed and managed through the ‘hearts and minds’ of employees. The Culture and ideal employees are those who have internalized the organization's goals and Gender values and no longer require rigid control. The trend has been towards a ‘normative control’ (Etzioni, 1961), an attempt to direct the efforts of employees by controlling the underlying experiences, thoughts, and feelings that guide their actions (Kunda, 1992: 11). Inherent conflict can be STOP transformed into cooperation in the interests of both employee and employer. Through education, personal development, growth, and maturity employees become better, healthier people, saved from alienation and conflict. As Johnson Jobs thatand Gill (1993: 33) note, it is not clear whether the organizations Deal andDo? Kennedy and Peters and Waterman observed developed in the way Women they have through chance and spontaneity (social control) or through conscious intent (administrative control). Culture and Hierarchy

Discussion Point

Beauty!

Culture and Masculinity

A Small Practical Problem and Norms of Behaviour in a Gliding Club

STOP

Computing and Culture

Culture and Race

Other Aspects of Culture

Example 1

Example 2

Questions for Further Work