Q.9. What do you
understand by the term organisational culture? What are its
different
types? (2013)
Ans. Organisational Culture: When we walk into an organisation and get a certain ‘feel’ of for it, whether it is fast moving and responsive, or whether it feels old and backward looking, this ‘feeling’ is referred to as ‘organisational culture’. Culture is about how the organisation organizes itself, it’s rules, procedures and beliefs make up the culture of the company. organisational culture is an idea in the field of organisational studies and management which describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values (personal and cultural values) of an organisation. It has been defined as “the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organisation and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organisation.
Types of Organisation Culture
There are six types of organizational culture as shown in the figure below:
(1) Power Culture ; Within a power culture, control is the key element. Power cultur is usually found within a small or medium size organisation. Decisions in an organisation that display a power culture are centralized around one key individual. That person likes control and the power behind it and has authority over the employees. As group work is not evident in a power culture, the organisation can react quickly to dangers around it as no consultation is involved. However, this culture has its problems like, lack of consultation can lead to staff feeling undervalued and de-motivated, which can also lead to high staff turnover.
(2) Role Culture : Common in most organisations today is a role culture. In a role culture, organisations are split into various key functions and each individual within the function is assigned a particular role. The role culture has the benefit of specialization. Employees focus on their particular role as assigned to them by their job description and this should increase the productivity of the company. This culture is quite logical to organise in a large organisation.
(3) Task Culture; A task culture refers to a team based approach to complete a particular task. They are popular in today’s modern business society where the organisation will establish particular ‘project teams’ to complete a task to date. A task culture clearly offers some benefits. Staff feels motivated because they are empowered to make decisions within their team, they will also feel valued because they may have been selected within that team and given the responsibility to bring the task to a successful end. NASA organises part of their culture around this concept i.e. putting together teams to oversee a mission.
(4) Person Culture: Person cultures is commonly found in charities or non-profit organisations. The focus of the organisation is the individual with a particular aim.
(5) Forward and Backward Looking Cultures : organisations that have an entrepreneurial spirit always embrace change and listen to staff and customers are said to be forward looking. Forward looking organisations are risk takersand do well because of it. We can argue that Dyson; the vacuum cleaner manufacturer embraces this culture. A backward looking culture does not embrace change and is led by rigid systems and old procedures. They do not take risk and because of it are usually left with a business not doing so well. UK store Marks and Spencers is said to be ‘backward looking’ i.e. slow to change.
Q.1O. What is organisational culture? What are the functions of organisational culture? What are the draw backs of culture? What types of behaviour does culture control?
Or What is organisation culture? What are its functions? (2012)
Ans. Organisational Culture : A single definition of organisational culture has proven to be very elusive. No one definition of organisational culture has emerged in the literature. One of the issues involving culture is that it is defined both in terms of its causes and effect. For example, these are the two ways in which culture is often defined: