 |
|
UNIVERSITY OF NATIONAL AND WORLD ECONOMY
COURSEWORK
The essence of corporate culture
Sofia,
19/05/2010
Contents
2. Organization - Relevant Dimensions of Culture
3. Consequences of Cultural Differences
4. Sources of Organizational Culture
6. Types of Organization Culture
9. How Employees Learn Culture
12. The Value of an Ethical Corporate Culture
1. Cross - cultural studies
The term "cross-cultural" emerged in the social sciences in the 1930s, largely as a result of the Cross-Cultural Survey undertaken by George Peter Murdock, a Yale anthropologist. Initially referring to comparative studies based on statistical compilations of cultural data, the term gradually acquired a secondary sense of cultural interactivity. The comparative sense is implied in phrases such as "a cross-cultural perspective," "cross-cultural differences," "a cross-cultural study of..." and so forth, while the interactive signification may be found in works like Attitudes and Adjustment in Cross-Cultural Contact: Recent Studies of Foreign Students, a 1956 issue of The Journal of Social Issues. Usage of "cross-cultural" was for many decades restricted mainly to the social sciences. Among the more prominent examples are the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP) established in 1972 "to further the study of the role of cultural factors in shaping human behavior," and its associated Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, which aims to provide an interdisciplinary discussion of the effects of cultural differences.
…………………………………………….
6. Types of Organization Culture
One approach to characterizing the organization culture is terms of modal personality are suggested by Kets de Vries and Miller in The Neurotic Organization (1984). Neurotic people exhibit extreme psychological tendencies and behaviors, leading to problems that affect them and others. These problems, however, are not so extreme as to justify taking them out of society. The idea of the neurotic organization is similar. These are organizations in trouble, but still operating, and headed by executives or groups of executives with neurotic tendencies. When organizations are highly centralized and the dominant coalition is very powerful, the visions, beliefs, and action of neurotic managers are translated through managerial decisions into secondary strategies and modes of implementation that reflect the organization’s culture.
Kets de Vries and Miller (1984) have related five types of neurotic personalities to organization culture. The dramatic executive personality leads to a charismatic organization culture. A suspicious personality is linked to a paranoid culture. A depressive orientation is related to an avoidant culture and a detached personality is associated with a politicized, organization culture. Bureaucratic cultures are related to compulsive personalities.
Kets de Vries and Miller also point out that sometimes the causality is not from the manager’s personality to the culture, but in the other direction. The organization situation could lead a manager to become a neurotic. For example, a failing organization may induce a relatively normal person to become excessively depressed.
A healthy organization will have a mixture of personality types, none of which will be both dominant and extreme. Extreme cultures are different from normal ones only by a matter of degree. Further, the processes that lead to less extreme cultures- they are simply more extreme and intense.
…………………………………………………
Every organization has its culture. This culture may be quiet different, even though the firms operate in very similar market and technological environment, and are very powerful forces in determining behavior patterns of members. Organization culture manifests itself as a set of rituals, myths, and symbols that come to embody important information.
In today's global economy, managers must be able to identify and work with the many types of cultures that exist simultaneously within an organization or a business network.
Successful managers in the new global business reality will be able to deal with multiple cultural differences. Those who are truly effective will also understand that these multiple cultures exist simultaneously. Not only are there national cultures, there are ethnic, religious, and professional cultures – to name just a few. However, rather than considering cultural differences as a problem with which one must cope, practitioners can take this new understanding of reality as a challenge to develop special skills that will help them deal with this multicultural context and handle the differences in sensitive and synergistic ways. If they can do this, they have a chance to be a step – or more – ahead of the competition.
…………………………………………….
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Curtis C. V., Strategic finance - The Value of an Ethical Corporate Culture, 2006, 21-22p.
2. Eric Van den Steen, On the Origin of Shared Beliefs (and Corporate Culture), 2004, 42p.
3. Robbins S. P., Organizational Behavior, Fourth Edition, 1989, 599p.
4. Tosi H. L., Rizzo J. R., Managing organization behaviors, second edition, 1990, 805p.
5. www.cultureship.com - Corporate Culture - relationships, values and the promise of excellence.
Òåìàòà å ðàçðàáîòåíà 19. 05. 2010 ã.
Íå ñúäúðæà òàáëèöè.
Êëþ÷îâè äóìè:
corporate culture, cultural differences, types of organization culture, managing culture, ethical corporate culture, healthy organization, business network
]]>
