Bus610 – Organizational Behavior
Unit 1 - Organizational Culture Analysis
Dr. Charles Nichols
Shannon Robertson
January 26, 2015
Archaeologists live for curios. As they uncover these sections of the past, a shred of fabric, a silver pot, a disintegrating divider, an ancient keeping in touch while they gradually start, piece by piece, to construct their understanding of a culture long gone.
These curios are keys to the past. Without them, we know little or nothing whatsoever of the individuals who went before us. With antiquities, be that as it may, we come to comprehend the convictions, qualities, traditions, and practices of these individuals. To put it plainly, we come to comprehend their culture.
As any classicist will let you know, antiques are key in understanding culture. If not for a little curio called "the Rosetta Stone," case in point, we may even now be scratching our heads at those clever drawings on Egyptian dividers. Also if not for those "clever drawings" themselves (i.e., hieroglyphics), we may not know a thing about ancient Egypt.
Corporate Culture or Corporate Wish
Pretty much as the Egyptians and other ancient civilizations had remarkable cultures, your business has a culture. This culture is comprised of the convictions, qualities, traditions, and practices of your organization 's representatives.
Corporate culture is a genuine article. The inquiry is not, "Do we have a culture?"—trust me, you do—but instead, "Have we characterized our
“Culture consists of the symbols, rituals, language, and social dramas that highlight organizational life, including myths, stories, and jargon. It includes the shared meanings associated with the symbols, rituals, and language. Culture combines the philosophy of the firm with beliefs, expectations, and values shared by members. It contains the stories and myths about the company's founder and its current leading figures. Organizational culture consists of a set of shared meanings and values held by a set of members in an organization that distinguish the organization from other organizations. An organization's culture determines how it perceives and reacts to the larger environment (Becker, 1982; Schein, 1996). Culture determines the nature
Many people visit museums to view antiquities. They enjoy seeing these relics of the ancient world as a way of understanding past cultures and sometimes connecting with their own heritage. This evidence was found in the passage, “Returning Antiquities to Their Countries of Origin” by Joyce Mortimer paragraph 1. Cultural artifacts should not be returned to their region of origin because some people don’t have enough money to travel to China or Brazil to go look at ancient artifacts from the past. So they should bring these ancient trinkets to places like America and Canada so people around the world can study different cultures to learn more about the life around use.
To understand the organizational culture of a company, one needs to start by looking at the history. Lakeshore Learning Materials was born from a divorced mother of three named Ethelyn Kaplan, who took a dream and a chance by moving her family to California in 1954 to open a toy store. When she started noticing that teachers were interested in her material, Ethelyn realized that she needed to expand her business into educational materials. 60 years later, Lakeshore Learning Materials has grown into a company with over 2000 employees, 60 retail stores throughout the United States and growing. Lakeshore Learning Materials is currently headed by Ethelyn’s grandsons, Bo and Josh Kaplan. Under the supervision of Bo and Josh, Lakeshore continues to be a leader in the Educational Materials, yet still able to keep the family culture that their grandmother started. Highest quality customer service and hard work are the core values that shape Lakeshore’s Organizational Strategy. These high expectations aren’t hard for employees at Lakeshore because the company is so loved by everyone that works there, that they give nothing less than the best.
When we study old cultures we learn how people adapt to their environment and cope with natural disasters. We learn how patterns of immigration affect languages and why civilizations thrive or die out. Studying the remints of culture, help us understand how people lived long ago, and helps us understand our own civilization. However, not all of the world heritage sites are ancient ruins; also included are Australia’s modern Sydney Opera House, the Tower of London, in England, The Statue of Liberty, in New York Harbor, and other recognizable structures. These are all impressive places of outstanding value to people around the world.
So many people see history as something dry and lifeless but in reality it is a study that is full of life. There is no better way to see this than through the lens of archaeological artifacts. The people of the past are intrinsically a part of these objects. They were shaped by human hands; some were used in everyday life while others only meant to be appreciated as art. In any case, they show the vitality of history which can sometimes be obscured by the centuries. I want to work with a collection that deals with archaeological artifacts, and ideally I would like to work with objects of Greek or Roman origins. One day I would like the opportunity to create an exhibit where the viewer can see how the objects relate to a whole as well as their own individual characteristics. I want others to have the same sort of experience I had while walking through the Byzantine and Christian Museum; I want them to have a moment of connection to the past and see how alive history can be. I am especially interested in the courses that the Museology program offers which teach the proper methods to curate archaeological collections. The experience of working with the objects in the Burke Museum will benefit my goal of curating a
The current organizational culture type of my organization is Clan, based on the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument. Schein’s Three-Layer Organizational Model has three levels: artifacts, adopted behaviors and basic assumptions. Artifacts are made up of things that can be seen and felt. My organization has a relaxed dress code, which is considered a normal value for our organization. The office is in our family home, which provides a warm and welcoming atmosphere. We have several special dinners each year to celebrate our business. Outsiders would easily recognize these artifacts, and therefore these artifacts are a part of the work culture of my organization.
The term "culture" has been used more and more recently but what exactly does it mean? Some have even regarded culture as "the most central problem of all social science" (Malinowski, 1939). According to Merriam Webster (2016), culture is defined as the arts and other manifestations of human achievements. If culture was as simple as Merriam-Webster defines it then the lives of anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists would be much easier. As we know, culture varies greatly across religion, countries, and some cases in just states; the difference between the north and the south. We can conclude that culture is a set of shared thoughts, values, and cognitions (Geertz, 1973). With culture in itself varying tremendously based on values and location, then surely organizational culture is no simple concept either. The term "organizational culture" has just recently become to be used more (Barley, 1988). Though there may be disagreements on defining culture universally, researchers tend to agree that culture is of vital importance in an organizational context, whether that organization is a company or a government (Kilmann, Saxton, & Serpa, 1986).
Ancient artifacts tell us much to all of what we know about our worlds past, these crucial remnants of past cultures allow us to physically see what was essential and valued by these ancient peoples. Artifacts tell us about suspicions, beliefs, everyday life and everything in between — without these crucial remnants of culture, we could not even begin to understand what was before us. Although these artifacts are useful for learning and understanding ancient civilizations, there is much debate about the morality of other countries buying and “owning” these historical pieces. Every civilization, past and present leaves behind a cultural trail everywhere it goes thus making exploration of different countries so very easy.
In Reading the Past, Ian Hodder argues that Processual, or New, Archaeology is flawed and that we must look at approaches used before its adoption and integrate parts of those approaches into the study of archaeology. He points out that Symbols in Action helped him to develop three ideas regarding how to do this. First, we must consider that material culture has meaning. Second, that the individual is important to the development of theory in archaeology; and finally that archaeology is most closely related to history and should consider that in its approach.
From my personal understanding, the artifacts, archaeology, museums, pictures and such that I will be exposed to, shares a story. A story of various moments of time that convey how life was back then, and how it relates, presently. Not only does this course theme pique my curiosity, but it will enable me to alter my perception, with a new set of lenses. This course will be immensely didactic by having me develop a better understanding of artifacts, archeology, museums, and all through inspection, questioning of rightful possession, value, and lastly its purpose. This will correlate with how I will think and write to improve my writing skills. In other words, this course will be the pillars to the temple of my writing and thoughts. Never had I perceived everyday objects as an artifact before, until I got a taste of this course. This indicates that taking this course will expand my mind further, along with a plentiful amount to write
The seven commandments are a list of rules painted on the side of the barn, which state the laws for the animals about what they can and can’t do. The first commandment to change in the story is the 7th commandment which states that all animals are equal. This commandment changes because some animals are valued over others, and other animals receive food, and others are left to starve. For example the pigs would take the milk and apples for themselves and just tell the other animals that the pigs needed the food in order to keep the pigs in good health because they were the smartest, and would be able to prevent Jones from coming back. “Now if there was one thing that the animals were completely certain of, it was that they did not want Jones
Great discussion post this week! You have chosen some great artifacts from each era. All are great advanced designs for each era and truly fascinating to look at as well. Between the Saqqara Bird, The Morgan Crusader Bible, and The Gutenberg Press you can see each era’s culture through the artifacts and how they do all differ. It is funny to notice though that the Ancient Era and the Renaissance Era artifacts that you have chosen are both made out of wood. Even though these periods are during two different times, wood was still used and carved for both artifacts. This was something I just thought when looking at the images you have provided. I also wanted to mention that the artifact you have chosen for the Ancient Era is similar to what I have chosen as well. I chose the Shabti dolls, which is similar to the artifact you have chosen, although the Saqqara Bird’s purpose is still not really known. Anyway, there are many differences between all three artifacts. All three are beautifully crafted, but in three different and unique ways for each era. The Saqqara Bird is smoothly crafted and rather simple where the Bible and printing press from the other two eras are more detailed and elaborate. You can see the changes in time through the artifacts and the skills and culture through each. The printing press is a huge advancement and just goes to show you the culture during this time period. The bird and the Bible also show the spirituality and faith and even religion of each era, while the printing press does not. The manuscript that you have selected is also made and written by hand in this era and the printing press in the next era shows how all that can now be done by machine. All three artifacts are created differently because of the changes in each time frame. You can see how the artifacts advance and how the cultures have evolved as well and what was really important during each era. It seems like in the ancient era the afterlife was a huge concern and belief for these people, while during the middle era it has more of a focus on religion and sharing that, while in the Renaissance era it was more focused on advancements and production created from the printing press. Contemporary human creative expression can
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE, or CORPORATE CULTURE, comprises the attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an organization. It has been defined as "the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization.
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,
Hofstede (2003) defined culture as "the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another". Corporate culture refers to the intangible aspects of companies, including the interactions at an interpersonal level, and values, morals and ethics which permeate the way that decisions are made and polices are implemented (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2011). Just as when one undertakes international travel, and sees different cultures where there are different attitudes and traditions, one can also observe different