ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES 1

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY JAMAICA

FACULTY: COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION & MANAGEMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR- ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES
NAME & ID #: KAYDEAN VASSELL 1705353
MOHNI MITCHELL 1407159
SCHOOL: SOBA
DATE OF SUBMISSION: APRIL 6, 2020
LECTURER: PRINCE OSWY GAYLE

QUESTION 6
GROUP ASSIGNMENT
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Table of Contents

Introduction...............................................................................................................................................3
What is an Organization?.........................................................................................................................4
What is Culture?.......................................................................................................................................4
Organizational Culture:............................................................................................................................4
The Characteristics of an Organizational Culture are:.............................................................................5
Strong versus Weak Organizational Structure.......................................................................................6
Culture as a Liability.................................................................................................................................7
Using the three forces to sustain a Culture............................................................................................10
Model of Culture.......................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................15
References.................................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
An organization culture characterizes the correct method to carry on inside the

association this culture comprises of shared beliefs and qualities built up by leaders and then

conveyed and strengthened through different strategies, ultimately shaping employees’

perception, practices and comprehension. This research consists of definitions of an organization,

culture, and organizational culture. The characteristics of organizational behavior will be given

as well. There will be a definition of what both strong and weak organizational culture means

and how a weak cultured Jamaican organization could be transformed into a strong one. We will

then look at culture as a liability, how they can be linked to both dependent and independent

variables of Organizational Behavior (OB), and also the extent to which we’ve seen these

elements in two Jamaican organizations. We will then move on to how the three forces are used

to sustain the culture of Jamaican organizations and then linked those forces to the OB dependent

variables. Lastly, a model of culture that was created from the research done.
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What is anOrganization?
An organization maybe defined as a group of people working together to achieve a

common goal or objective. Organization is the way toward distinguishing and gathering work to

be performed, characterizing and assigning duty and authority and setting up connections to

empower individuals to work most successfully together in achieving targets." In the expressions

of Allen, association is an instrument for accomplishing authoritative objectives [ CITATION

All58 \l 1033 ].

What is Culture?
Culture can be defined as the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs of a

particular group of people at a particular time.Culture in its broadest sense is developed conduct;

that is the totality of an individual's educated, gathered experience which is socially transmitted,

or more briefly, conduct through social learning[ CITATION Spe12 \l 1033 ].Culture is a term that

alludes to a huge and various arrangement of for the most part intangible aspects of social

life[ CITATION Col19 \l 1033 ].

Organizational Culture:
Organizational Culture refers to an arrangement of shared significance held by

individuals that recognizes the association from different associations[CITATION Rob15 \l 1033 ].

Organizational Culture can likewise be viewed as an association's direction towards its

representatives and clients, and incorporates composed and verbal circulated rules that control

the worker's conduct, included the part of stable beliefs values and standards created and shared

inside the association [ CITATION Mas17 \l 1033 ]. Organizational culture is the total of qualities

and rituals which fill in as paste to incorporate the individuals from the association [ CITATION
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Wat13 \l 1033 ]. Organizational culture is therefore seen as shared beliefs and values within the

organization which helps to shape the behavioral patterns of employees.Organizational culture

figures out what sorts of individuals are contracted by an association and what types are

forgotten about. Also, when new representatives are hired, the organization conditions new

workers and show them the status of how things are done in the association[ CITATION Sch12 \l

1033 ].

The Characteristics of an Organizational Culture are:

- Innovation and Risk Taking: How much workers are urged to be creative

and face challenges.

- Attention to detail: How much workers are relied upon to display exactness,

investigation, and attention to details.

- Outcome orientation: How much administration centers around results or

results as opposed to on the methods and procedures used to accomplish them.

- People orientation: How much administration choices mull over the impact

of results on individuals inside the association.

- Team orientation: How much work exercises are sorted out around groups as

opposed to people.

- Aggressiveness: How much individuals are forceful and serious instead of

nice.

- Stability: How much authoritative exercises accentuate keeping up business

as usual as opposed to development.

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Strong versus Weak Organizational Structure

In a strong organizational culture, the organization’s core values are both intensely

held and widely shared [CITATION Rob15 \l 1033 ]. A strong culture within an organization also

significantly influences people’s behavior on the job as well as ensure that the values are clear as

they expect the members within to care about those values. With strong cultures within an

organization, staff alignment can be seen as an advantage as it also results in the organization

being more effective. However, even though good comes out of a strong organizational culture

there’s also bad, such as short-term success.

A weak organizational culture is one that produces side effects, for example, an

absence of inspiration by the individuals from the association. Weak cultures give practically no

technique actualizing help since there are no traditions, convictions, values, basic securities or

conduct standards that administration can use as switches to activate promise to executing the

picked strategy [ CITATION Ess18 \l 1033 ]. Weak culture serves as a loose reference for members

without it influencing their behavior. It is also seen as hazardous as individuals feel no feeling of
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basic reason or qualities, the individuals within the organization find it difficult to convey, decide

and get along and be beneficial when everybody has a totally different understanding and

perspective of everything.

The way in which we would transform a weak culture of Kingston Public Hospital is by

implementing beliefs and values that the employees within the organization should follow (such

as compassion for others, being caring, being kind, honesty, work as a team and look out for

each other). We would also create symbols that have meaning to the hospital and also the

employees, traditions that the employees and Top management should start following, set

expectations for the employees and reward them when these expectations are met such as awards

(years of service awards, best employee of the month, compensations e.t.c) and use techniques

that are easy to follow so that the hospital itself can stand on its own and known for their

uniqueness.

Culture as a Liability
This means that the shared values do not agree with those that further the organizations

effectiveness. Culture as a liability looks at four characteristics:

- Institutionalized organization; when the organization is known for its value and not for

the product it produces.

- Barriers to change; when the shared values don’t agree with those that further the

organization effectiveness.

- Barriers to Diversity; hiring new members of staff that are of diverse backgrounds to

assimilate but the diverse behaviors diminish because the strong culture of the

organization are not adaptable to diversity policy that the organization may wish to

implement.
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- Barriers to Acquisition & Merger; when the two organization acquired all assets and

liability of the organization to achieve a common goal but the cultures do not match up as

a result failed as an entity [ CITATION Rob15 \l 1033 ].

The organization that was chosen by us is the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTECH).

Based on research done we discovered that the University’s culture does have the characteristics

where culture is a liability. The University is seen as institutionalized based on the fact that it

was recently accredited by the UCJ. According to UTECH, the fact that they are now being

recognized internationally they are no longer seen for the courses that are offered, but are now

seen as a gateway for more greatness. People prefer to know that the degree that they pursue, are

accredited and valued for use upon completion of program. People are not so perturbed by the

quality of education received but the value added.

Barrier to change at the UTECH also affects the culture. Whenever cash transactions are

needed at a specific department for instance the medical center, payment must first be made at

accounts. This is seen as an inconvenience to students because if accounts’ or the paymaster’s

systems are down, the student is forced to leave the compound to find another payment office or

company to complete their transactions. If the quota that is assigned to a student is finished, that

student has to endure a timely process before being allowed to continue printing. They’d have to

go to accounts, make payments, then go back to SCIT, allow the assistant there upload the

payments (at this time an assistant might not be available) then find an available computer before

printing.

Barrier to diversity at UTECH can contribute to culture as a liability. If an older

supervisor retires, and a new employee assumes that position, that new supervisor is challenged

to implement new strategies such as the use of technology or other new ideas that can help
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transform the organization. This is so because of the strong culture that the members of staff are

used to, they are used to a certain way of doing business. As such, the organization or

department now has conflicts among its members whether due to digital divide or other issues

which can negatively impact the organization. Improper infrastructure for the disabled can also

negatively impact the organization, especially at the shared facilities where there is limited

access to the upper floors.

Each financial year the Jamaican government suffered a loss with Air Jamaica and was

unable to maintain the countries’ only Airline. According to Jones (2004), the last time Air

Jamaica made a net profit was in 1974 of $US 250,000 under President Guillermo “Bigge”

Machado (a Jamaican President). As a result, an acquisition and merge was made that Caribbean

Airlines Limited (CAL) which is a Trinidad based Airline, take full ownership of Air Jamaica.

The Trinidad government had a better budget and was able to maintain the airline. This was short

lived as the Jamaican government repurchased sixteen percent of CAL’s shares. Therefore, there

was a cultural barrier because one organization was known for their crippled finances and the

other knew how to increase profits.

Culture as a liability can be affected by the both the dependent and independent variables

of OB. With barriers to diversity, not all members of staff are adaptable to diversity. In some

organizations older employees may feel threatened by newer younger employees, because they

may fear that they would be replaced by them. As well as, accepting persons of a diverse

background. When these actions are noted in the company it can affect turnover and absenteeism

because employees may feel dissatisfied with the treatment they receive from their colleagues.

Barriers to change, if employees do not want to explore new ideas and change within the

company then it can affect productivity as well as deviant workplace behavior because while
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newer employees may be ok with the change, the employees that were with the company from

the beginning may find an issue with the change, and so the change might not be made because

of them. This would then cause the newer employees to be defensive against the older

employees.

Institutionalization can be seen when an organization’s member work productively

together as a group to complete the task they were given. The efficiency that the organization is

known for will still stand just because they worked together as a group to complete the job.

Based on experience that both researchers faced, it can be said that on a scale the

University of Technology, Jamaica is 70% using culture as a liability within the organization as

it relates to institutionalization, barriers to change, and barriers to diversity. The once known Air

Jamaica was also using culture as a liability to a significant extent as it related to barriers to

acquisition and merger.

Using the three forces to sustain a Culture

Once a culture is in place, there are practices within the organization that act to maintain it by

giving employees a set of similar experiencesThe known forces to sustain culture within an

organization are:

- Selection Practice.

- The Action of Top Management

- Socialization Methods.

Selection Management would look at identifying and hiring individuals who could make

the organization successful and also meet the standards of the organization. In hiring, the values

should coincide with that of the organization, that way the selection process will in turn sustain

the culture of that organization and can therefore be seen as a two-way street (Robbins & Judge,

2013). In order to sustain an organizations culture using this force, the manager would first
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identify the prospective applicants by narrowing down the selection process to those who fit the

organizations characteristics. After which they would then interview the best applicants, this step

would seek the applicants with specific traits or behaviors that ties in with the values and norms

of the company.

The Action of Top Management is responsible for establishing norms that will filter

down to the employees in the organization. The conduct of top management through direct and

indirect actions impact the attitude or behavior of the employees, this will determine what is

desirable or not. Some of these actions may include rewards or awards for their staff. So in order

for an organization to maintain this force, management would have to set examples as they are

the leaders of the organization and the employees look up to them. If they don’t set examples as

managers, then the employees would do as they please and that could in turn ruin the reputation

of the organization.

Socialization Methods process is having employees adapting to the organizations

culture as it is vital to the growth of the organization. As such adaptability can only be done

through socialization and allowing new employees to adjust to such environment to make it apart

of their social norm [ CITATION Lit14 \l 1033 ]. To sustain this force, the leaders in the organization

could set up a program where they have mentors for the new members of staff. These mentors

would be older employees of the organization who would assist in the adjustment of the new

employees to the organization.

With our general experience in applying for different jobs within Jamaica, we can say

that a few Jamaican organizations strongly use the three forces to sustain their organizations

culture. There’s only a handful of organizations who actually just hire employees for hiring sake,
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some actually think about the culture and reputation of their organization before employing some

individuals. We believe that at times that is why some people do not get the job when they apply.

The three forces to sustain an organization’s culture namely selection management,

action of top management and socialization methods can impact all the OB dependent variables

(productivity, absenteeism, turnover, deviant workplace behavior, citizenship behavior and job

satisfaction).

Selection Management can affect productivity in a sense that if the right employees are

not selected for the organization, there will be little to no effort put into the work needed to be

done. This can cause productivity to decrease. When the wrong candidate is selected for a

position and their personality does not fit with the other members of that group, this can result in

the deviant behavior of that employee which would then lead to conflicts within the organization.

This later affects job satisfaction, when an employee is doing more than they are expected and

not rewarded or recognized by their employer, they will feel like their efforts are going to waste,

as a result, employees would start putting in less work. Absenteeism would then be an effect of

job satisfaction because once employees are demotivated it is more likely for them to be absent

from work.

Action of top management, if an employee is not recognized while completing their task

as expected then they will want to leave and go to another organization where they are being

recognized. If employee’s deviant behavior which in most cases lead to constant conflicts within

the organization which is unhealthy for the company and the other employees, they can be fired.

Harassment from a manager can also impact the absenteeism of an employee. If managers are

recognizing employee’s efforts and rewarding them, then employees would be motivated to go
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above and beyond their expectations and what their duty entails. This will then lead to an

increase job satisfaction which will then lead to an increase in productivity in the organization.

Socialization methods could impact deviant workplace behavior of an employee, if new

employees are not adaptable to the culture of the organization, it can affect how they

communicate with members of the company as well as the behavior of such employee. Turnover

can also be impacted in a sense that an employee does not feel welcomed or needed they would

leave and find an organization that makes them feel worthy. When an employee’s objectives and

the organizations objectives intertwine, it will result in productivity and job satisfaction because

both are working for a common goal. Both the employee and the organization would then be

satisfied. When employees are satisfied they will want to go above and beyond for the

organization to complete task that are not even in their job description.
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Model of Culture

Adaptability to Culture

Shaping of Behavior

Perception
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Barriers to Change Barriers to

Diversity
Institutionalization
Barriers to Acquisition& Mergers

Culture

Conclusion
As we conclude, an organizational culture is the glue that holds the organization together.

The organizational culture is associated with the values, beliefs, and morals that the leaders

upholds to maintain the organizations status. These cultures can be identified as weak or strong

organizational cultures. Weak organizational culture can be classified as fundamental beliefs that

are not clearly defined, imparted or generally acknowledged by those working for the
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organization while a strong organizational culture is a set of habits, standards, desires, traditions,

images, qualities and systems that significantly impacts the conduct of its members. The research

also states how we would transform a weak culture to a strong one at a hospital of our choice.

Secondly, the research evaluated how culture can be a liability and its characteristics

namely; institutionalization, barriers to change, barriers to diversity and barriers to acquisition

and mergers. Institutionalized organization; when the organization is known for its value and not

for the product it produces. Barriers to change; when the shared values don’t agree with those

that further the organization effectiveness. Barriers to Diversity; hiring new members of staff that

are of diverse backgrounds to assimilate but the diverse behaviors diminish because the strong

culture of the organization are not adaptable to diversity policy that the organization may wish to

implement. Barriers to Acquisition & Merger; when the two organization acquired all assets and

liability of the organization to achieve a common goal but the cultures do not match up as a

result failed as an entity [ CITATION Rob15 \l 1033 ].

Thirdly, we spoke on how the three forces may be used to sustain a culture. These forces

are selection process, actions of top management and socialization and how they impact the

Organizational Behavior dependent variables. These dependent variables are productivity,

absenteeism, job satisfaction, turnover deviant workplace behavior and citizenship behavior.

References

Allen, L. (1958). Management and organization. New York : McGraw-Hill.

Cole, N. (2019). So What Is Culture, Exactly? ThoughtCo., https://www.thoughtco.com/culture-

definition-4135409.

Essays, U. (2018). Distinguishing strong from weak organizaational culture.

Jones, P. (2004). Air Jamaica And Government Spending.

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Little, W., & McGivern , R. (2014). Introduction to Sociology 1st canadian Edition. BCcampus.

Maseko, T. (2017). Strong vs. Weak Organizational Structure: Assessing the Impact Employee

Motivation . Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review 7 .

Robbins , S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2013). Organizational Behaviour 15th ed. Pearson Education

Inc.

Schmitz, A. (2012). An Introduction to Organizational Behaviour. Creative Commons .

Spencer-Oatey, H. (2012). What is Culture? Global PAD Core Concepts,

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/globalpad/openhouse/interculturalskills.

Watkins, M. (2013). What is Organizational Culture? And Why should we care?