Determinants of Organizational Culture and Climate

“Culture encompasses the behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a particular group of people that are passed on from generation to generation” (Santrock).

A culture is an idealized pattern of meanings, values, and norms differentially shared by the members of a society, which can be inferred from the non-instinctive behavior of the group and from the symbolic products of their actions, including material a artifacts, language, and social institutions.

Culture is the pattern of action and the ways of perceiving, feeling, and thinking acquired growing up in a particular group of people

Culture can be defined as the behaviours and belief characteristics of a particular social, ethnic,

          An organization, in its simplest form, is comprised of people brought together to achieve a common goal whether it be solving a problem, selling a product or providing a service. The existence of the organization is wholly dependent on the collective body of individuals involved and it is these individuals that are the driving force behind the success or failure of a company. The relationships that connect the people within the organization dictate how the culture is developed and perceived.

Culture/pg. 34: the language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and even material objects that characterize a group and are passed from one generation to the next.

Cultural Relativism – the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards, and not in comparison to another culture

The organization culture as a leadership concept has been identified as one of the many components that leaders can use to grow a dynamic organization. Leadership in organizations starts the culture formation process by imposing their assumptions and expectations on their followers. Once culture is established and accepted, they become a strong leadership tool to communicate the leader 's beliefs and values to organizational members, and especially new comers. When leaders promote ethical culture, they become successful in maintaining organizational growth, the good services demanded by the society, the ability to address problems before they become disasters and consequently are competitive against rivals. The leader 's success will depend to a large extent, on his knowledge and understanding of the organizational culture. The leader who understands his organizational culture and takes it seriously is capable of predicting the outcome of his decisions in preventing any anticipated consequences. What then is organizational culture? The concept of organizational culture has been defined from many perspectives in the literature. There is no one single definition for organizational culture. The topic of organizational culture has been studied from many perspectives and disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, organizational behavior, and organizational leadership to name a few. Deal defines organizational culture as values,

Culture is the aquired knowledge that people use to interpret, experience, and generate social behavior.

Culture is defined as “The ideas, attitudes, customs, beliefs, values and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society that are passed on from generation to generation” (Brentnall, A., n.d.).

Culture is a system of beliefs that are shared and communicated within a certain group of

Culture is described as the symbols that individuals, groups and societies use to make decision of daily life and to assure their values. Culture is a model of basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by a given organization as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaption and internal combination, which has worked well enough to think correctly and, so to instruct to new comers as the valid way to observe, consider and feel in relation to these problems. Culture consists of manner, mind-set, values, rituals, religious belief, law (written and unwritten), arts, ideas, custom, belief, ceremonies, social institutions, myths and legends, individual identity and behavior. Cultural pattern classifies are used to describe the dominant beliefs and values. Culture has been called the way of life for an entire society. It is a group or community living together and sharing a set of norms. Culture and society are coexistent. One does not or cannot exist without the other. Culture and society may have some common elements but the two are not the same; they are not identical.

Culture can be defined as “the sum total of the beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions, and artifacts that characterize human populations” or “the collective programming of the mind.

The definition of culture offered in one textbook is “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of society.”

Organizational culture is a vital aspect of any successful business or organization. A positive culture can help attract and retain loyal and committed employees, which, in turn, can strengthen relationships with customers and other partners. Just like any other asset, organizational culture must be monitored and nurtured to ensure that it reflects the organization and its