Drawing on Appropriate Theory & Examples (I.E. Published Research, Case Studies and Personal Examples) Discuss the Extent to Which Managers Can Influence the Culture of an Organisation?

Armstrong (1999) cites the work of Furnham and Gunter (1993) defining culture as ‘the commonly held beliefs, attitudes and values that exist in an organisation. Put more simply, culture is ‘the way we do things around here’.

All Organisations posses a distinct form of culture with some having more than a single culture. This culture is usually very difficult to measure, change and most especially change.

“Organisations need strong culture”. Consider this statement in relation to how we understand and make sense of culture in the post-bureaucratic era.

Culture within an organisation is a system of shared values, beliefs and norms of individuals in the organisation and how the value consensus creates a way in which people behave. The shared values have a strong influence on the individuals in the organisation and dictates how a person acts, dresses and performs in their job. A unique culture is developed and maintained by an organisation which provides guidelines and boundaries, through informal means, for the behaviour of the people within the organisation.

Cultural organization is unique and configures their norms, beliefs, values, and behavioral characteristics into the individual and groups that unite to get things accomplished. Patterns begin to evolve and become a rule of basic assumption; whether it is a new idea, one recently discovered or under development by a certain group as they learn to cope with internal integration and external adaptation problems. Cultural characteristics are hard to define because culture is multi-dimensional with integrated components that intertwine at different levels and ever-changing which takes time to establish and therefore time to change it also. Culture becomes the fabric or social glue that unites its participants, this will counteract any processes that are different becomes an unavoidable side-effect of life in an organization. Mutual understandings and a shared system of meanings becomes the basis of communication in a cultural organization. Functions of a society need to be fulfilled with a certain amount of satisfaction or culture can impede the efficiency of that organization. Problems with this concept arise when trying to categorize culture or when, why, or how corporate culture should be changed or finding the best, healthiest or most desirable one.

Coined as “the way we do things around here” (Deal and Kennedy, 1983, p. 501), culture encompasses how an organisation is run, its “personality”, and the norms, values, beliefs and attitudes (Armstrong, 2010) that reflect the organisation’s mission, aims and goals.

An organisation’s culture relates to a set of shared beliefs and values that has been agreedby the entire group and thus representing the company’s unique identity. They reflect theorganisation’s core values which are learned, re-learned and passed on to new members.These include the way people communicate with one another, how information isexchanged, the procedures and processes followed etc. Roger Harrison defined four typesof organisational culture depending on the level of centralisation and formalisation. Thisis indicated in the figure

The Organisational Cultural Model helps you to categorise organisational cultures in a handy and operational way. Consisting of six autonomous dimensions or variables and two semi-autonomous dimensions. Geert's research has shown that organizational cultures differ at six different levels - Means-oriented vs. Goal-oriented , Internally driven vs. Externally driven

Organisational culture can be defined as a collection of beliefs and norms shared by individuals and groups in an organisation. It is those norms that control the way they do things and the way they relate with themselves and with their customers. The culture of an organisation can be perceived and felt but, may not be easily explained. Culture is developed and transferred in conscious ways and unconscious ways from one generation to another.

Management within an organisation has the ability to re-shape, re-engineer, re-organise and change their organisation and organisational culture, the majority of organisation’s today, have the ability to change their culture, however, at the same time, it is a very difficult and demanding task. This is where the four main functions of managing come into play; planning, controlling, leading and organising. Robbins at al (2009, p.94) defines organisational culture as “a system of shared values, principles, traditions and ways of doing things that influence the way organisational members act.” This essay will further look into how and if an organisation’s culture can be changed, weighed up

This is a problem, because without a reliable definition (or definitions) of culture, we cannot understand its connections to other key elements of the organization. Nor can we develop adequate approaches to analyzing, preserving and molding cultures. If we can define what organizational culture is, it gives us an understanding on how to help solve problems and even to create and evolve better cultures

There is a ‘great diversity of opinion concerning what the phrase ‘organisational culture ' refers to ' (Brown, A. 1995 p.5), as organisations have their own way of expressing the values and goals that the employees and

Culture exists in all organisations whether it is in a small organisation or a big multinational organisation. Between organisations, culture may differ based on national cultures and time zones and this is what creates a different identity in each organisation. “Culture always mirrors the mutual perception that comes from the lessons people learn as they adapt and survive together over time. Thousands of interlocking routines interweaved together the fabric of the firm and translate timeless knowledge into timely action on a daily basis” Hooijberg, R., Lane, N. and Lief, C. (2012). The culture of an organization represents predefined policies/practices, which guides the employees on how things are usually done and what to prioritise

1b) Organisational culture is its personality. Or ‘Culture is a popular explanatory concept frequently used to describe a company, a rationale for people’s behaviour, a guideline for action, a cause for condemnation or praise, or a quality that mistakes a company ‘what it is’ (Kunda, 1992).’ (Wilson F. M., 2010). Each organisation has unique culture that impact in that way organisation operates. Types of culture: Power culture – centralisation of power is the key function and there is a central power source and influence spread out from centre. ‘Ford’ organisation was regarded to be the most representative of power culture. Role culture – typical bureaucratic organisation, which is divided onto layers of offices and officials. This type organisation can be arranged following to functions of marketing, human relations, finance, etc. Task culture – is job or project oriented and is placed for completing a specific task. Team culture very well determines in the task way in which the work is organised. Bringing 2

The classic Phrase by Mckinsey organisation, “the culture is how we do things around here” is taken as reference by many great people. It’s true that culture exist in an organisation which influences the work being done and also affects the success or failure of the project.