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Culture: Culture, Values And Influence Of Organizational Culture

Decent Essays

An organization is an entity comprising multiple people, such as an institution or association and is linked to an external environment. Culture is a way of life of people - the values, beliefs, behaviors and symbols they accept and practice and pass from one generation to another. Organizational culture therefore is a system of values, beliefs, behaviors and symbols that governs how people should behave in organizations. This is a relatively stable element of an organization that greatly influences its members or employees on how they should act within the organization - work ethics, habits, skilss, even up to dress codes.

Organizations create their cultures by two ways, first, because of its founders, and second, because of the external environment it is in. The impact of the founders is the most important in creating an organizational culture. Organizational cultures do not form suddenly or spontaneously, it starts with a founder's idea, from which he creates a core group of founders who share the same vision and goals for his company. It is this vision and goals that is continually taught to the other members that will be brought …show more content…

An organization's culture is composed of relatively stable elements rooted on values. However, cultures are bound to change with major changes in the organization, such as financial crisis, increased competition, change of leadership. An organization must be resilient to change to be able to continually adapt to its environment. A change in the organizational structure greatly impacts culture. If in the past the heads impose strict rules to be followed, but the next leaders allow for a more lax work environment, then it calls for some sort of change. If an organization undergoes some crisis, measures must be taken to adapt to the problems. Organizations with an adaptive culture generally persist longer than those that do not, and have a higher stability and better

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