Organization Culture

Culture may carry an indelible pattern of behavior. Every person carries with him or
herself patterns of thinking, feeling, and potential acting which were learned
throughout their lifetime. Much of it has been acquired in early childhood, because at
that time a person is most susceptible to learning and assimilating. It becomes then
difficult to unlearn what has been learnt than learning for he first time.

Culture is the software of the mind or mental programming, but does not mean people
are programmed like computers, a person’s behavior is only partially predetermined by
her of his mental programs.

The sources of one’s mental programs lie within the social environments in which one
grew up and collected on’ life experiences. The programing begins within the family, it
continues within the neighborhood, at school, in youth groups, at the workplace and in
the community. This shapes attitude and behavior such as politeness or being rude.

A customary term for such mental software is culture. The word has several meanings,
all derived from its Latin source which refers to the tilling of the soil. In most Western
languages, ‘culture’ commonly means ‘civilization’ or ‘refinement of the mind’ and in
particular the results of such refinement, like education, art, and literature. This is
culture in the narrow sense and called as “culture one”. In social anthropology, culture is
a catchword for all those patterns of thinking, feeling. Not only those activities
supposed to refine the mind but also the ordinary and menial things in life such as
greeting, eating, showing or not showing feelings, keeping certain physical distance from
others, making love or maintaining body hygiene are categorized in ‘culture two’.

Culture two is a collective phenomenon, because it is partly shared with people who live
or lived within the same social environment which is where it was learned. It is the
collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or
category from another. Culture is learned, not inherited. It is derived from one’s social
environment.

Culture should be distinguished from human nature on one side, and from an
individual’s personality on the other, but the borderline between human nature, culture
and between culture and personality could be very thin. Human nature is what all
human beings have in common, it represents the universal level in one’ mental software.
It is inherited with one’s genes, within the computer analogy, the ‘operating system’
which determines one’s physical and basic psychological functioning. Personality of an
individual, on the other hand, is her/ his unique personal set of mental programs which
(s)he does not share with any other human being. It is based on traits which are partly
inherited with the individuals unique set of genes and partly learned.

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Symbols, heroes, rituals, and values

Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, objects that carry a particular meaning which is
recognized by those who share the culture. Heroes are persons, alive or dead, real or
imaginary, who possesses characteristics which are highly prized in culture who thus
serve as the models of behavior. Rituals are collective activities, technically superfluous
in reaching desired ends, but which, within a culture is considered as socially essential,
and they are therefore carried out for their own sake. Symbols, heroes, and rituals have
been subsumed under the term practices.

Values are among the first things children learn not consciously but unconsciously.
Development psychologists believe that by the age of 10, most children have their basic
value system firmly in place, and after that changes are difficult to make. Because they
were acquired so early in our lives that many values remain unconscious to those who
hold them. They can only be inferred from the way people act under various
circumstances.

In interpreting people’s statements about their values it is important to distinguish

between the desirable and the desired, how people think the world ought to be versus
what people want for themselves. What distinguishes the desirable from the desired is
the nature of the norms involved. Norms are the standards for values that exist within a
group or category of people. In the case of the desirable, the norm is absolute, pertaining
to what is ethically right. In the case of desired, the norm is statistical, it indicates the
choices actually made by the majority. The desirable relates more to ideology, the
desired to practical matters.

Layers of culture

Almost every individual belongs to a number of different groups or categories of people

at the same time, and unavoidably carry several layers of mental programming within
themselves:
 A national level according to one’s countries
 A regional/ethnic/religious culture
 A gender level
 A generation level
 A social class level
 For those who are employed, an organizational or corporate level
according to the way employees have been socialized by their work of the
organization

Dimension of national culture

What problems are common to all societies? Alex Inkeles and Daniel Levinson in a
broad survey found that following issues qualify as a common problem with regard to
functioning of societies, of groups within those societies: They are

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 1. Relations to authority
2. Conception of self, in particular
The relationship between individual and society, and
The individual’s concept of masculinity and femininity
3. Ways of dealing with conflicts, including the control of aggression and the
expression of feelings.

Based on the values of people in over 50 countries who worked in the local subsidiaries
of IBM employees in different countries cultural differences were revealed:

1. Social inequality, including relationship with authority

2. The relationship between the individual and the group,
3. Concepts of masculinity and femininity, the social implications of having been born
as a boy or girl,
4. Ways of dealing with uncertainty, relating to the control of aggression and th
expression of emotions

The problem areas provided by Inkeles and Levinson and empirically found in the IBM
data represent dimensions of culture. A dimension is an aspect of a culture that can be
measured relative to other cultures.

The basic problem areas correspond to dimensions which Hofstede names power
distance(from small to large), collectivism versus individualism, femininity
versus masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance(from weak to strong).
Together they form a four dimensional (4-D) model of differences among
national cultures.

Each country in this model is characterized by a score on each of the four dimensions.
More recently, a fifth dimension of differences an among national cultures was
identified, opposing long term orientation in life to a short-term orientation.

Cultural differences according to region, religion, gender, generation, and

class

Regional, ethnic, and religious cultures account for differences within countries, ethnic
and religious groups often transcend political country borders. Gender differences are
not usually described in terms of cultures. If we recognize that within each society there
is a men’s culture which differs from women’s culture, this helps to explain why it is so
difficult to change traditional gender roles. Women are not considered suitable for jobs
traditionally filled by men, not because they are technically unable to perform these
jobs, but because women do not carry the symbols. Do not participate in the rituals or
foster the values dominant in men’s culture and vice versa.

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Organization Cultures

Organizational or corporate cultures have been a fashionable topic since the early 1980s.
At that time, the management literature began to popularize the claim that the
‘excellence’ of an organization is contained in the common ways by which its members
have learned to think, feel and act. Corporate culture is a soft holistic concept with,
however, presumed hard consequences. It is often called the ‘psychological’ assets of an
organization which can be used to predict what will happen to its financial assets on five
years’ time.

Organization sociologist has stressed the role of the soft factor in organizations for more
than half a century. Using the level ‘culture’ for the shared mental software of the people
in an organization is a convenient way of re-popularizing these sociological views. Yet
organizational cultures are phenomenon per se, different in many respects from
national culture.

Administrative Culture

Administrative culture must be the culture of administrators, most specifically the

culture of those participants whose activities are restricted to the administrative
environment.

Administrative culture is associated with the dominant values and norms in public
organizations. These influences interpersonal relations both within and beyond the
organization, thus impacting performance and outcomes for the wider society.
Administrative culture defines what acceptable and legitimate behavior is and therefore
provides a framework for behaving, acting, and forming preferences.

Social factors which may impact culture:

Inequality in society- measuring the degree of inequality in society

Some people have more power than others, some people are given more status and
respect than others. Inequality is measured by power distance.
Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of
institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is
distributed equally. Family, schools, the community, organizations are the places where
power distance is visible among people where they work.

Differences between small and large power distance societies and work place:

Small power distance Large Power Distance

Inequalities among people should be
minimized Inequalities among people are expected
and desired

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 Parents treat children as equals Parents teach children obedience.
Students treat teachers as equals Students give teachers respect, even
outside the class
Children treat parents and older Respect for parents and older relatives
relatives as equals s a basic and life-long virtue
Superiors and subordinates consider
Superiors and subordinates consider each each other as existentially unequal- the
other as existentially equal, the hierarchical system
hierarchical system is just an inequality of
roles, established for convenience, and
roles may be changed,
Superiors should be accessible to Visible signs of status contribute to the
subordinates authorities of bosses.

Individualism and Collectivism

Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose,
everyone is expected to look after him or herself and his or her immediate family.

Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onward are
integrated into strong, cohesive in –groups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue
to protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

Some differences:

Collectivist Individualist
Use the word ‘I’ is avoided Use the word ‘I’ is encouraged.
On personality test people score more
introverts On personality test, people score more
extrovert
Showing sadness in encouraged, and Showing happiness is encouraged, and
happiness is discouraged sadness is discouraged.
Slower walking speed Faster walking speed
Consumption patterns show dependence Consumption patterns show
on others self-supporting styles
Social network is primary source of Media is primary source of information
information
People with disabilities are a shame on the People with disabilities should participate
family and should be kept out of sight as much as possible in normal life.
Students speak up in class only when
sanctioned by the group Students are expected to individually speak up
in the class.
In group customers get better treatment Every customer should get the same
treatment.
Patriotism is the ideal Autonomy is the ideal

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 Harmony and consensus in society are Self-actualization by every individual is an
ultimate goals ultimate goal.

Individualism and collectivism in the work place

Employed persons in individualist culture are expected to act according to their own
interests, and work should be organized in such a way that this self- interest and
employer’s interest coincide.

In collectivists culture, an employer never hires just an individual, but rather a person
who belongs to an in-group. The employee will act according to the interest of this in-
group, which may not always coincide with his or her individual interest: The hiring
process in a collectivist society always takes the in-group into account, hiring relatives,
first of all of the employer, also of other persons already employed by the company.

Masculinity versus Femininity

A society is called masculine when emotional gender roles are clearly distinct, men are
supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on material success, whereas women are
supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.

A society is called feminine when emotional gender roles overlap, both men and women
are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life. The most
feminine scoring countries were Sweden, Norway, Latvia, the Netherlands, Denmark.

Masculinity and Femininity in the family and work place.

Feminine Masculine
Relationship and quality of life are Challenge, earnings, recognition, and
important advancement are important.
Both men and women should be Men should be assertive, ambitious, and
modest tough.
Parents share earning and caring roles The standard pattern is that the father
earns, and the mother cares.
Average student is the norms, praise Best student is the norm, praise for
for weak students excellent students
Failing in school is a minor incident Failing in school is a disaster
Friendliness in teachers is appreciated Brilliance in teachers is admired.
Men and women partly study the same Men and women study different subjects
subjects
Rewards are based on equality Rewards are based on equity
People work in order to live People live in order to work
Welfare society ideal, help for the Performance society ideal, support for the
needy strong

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 Permissive society Corrective society
Government aid for poor countries Poor countries should help themselves.
Many women are in elected positions Few women are in elected political
positions.

Avoidance of uncertainty

Uncertainty avoidance is defined as the extent to which the members of a culture feel
threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations. This feeling is, among other
manifestations, expressed through nervous stress and in a need for predictability, a
need for written and unwritten rules.

Differences :

Weak uncertainty avoidance Strong uncertainty avoidance

Uncertainty is normal feature if life, and
each day is accepted as it comes
Low stress is low anxiety
Family life is relaxed
If country is affluent, satisfaction with
family life
Fewer people feel unhappy
People have fewer worries about health
and money
Teachers involve parents
Risky investments
There should be no more rules than strictly
necessary
Top managers are concerned with strategy
Work hard only when needed
Citizens trust politicians, civil servants,
and the legal system
Refugees should be admitted
It is seen as a threat and must be fought
High stress is high anxiety
Family life is stressful
If country is affluent, worried about cost of
raising children.
More people feel unhappy
People have more worries about health
and money
Teachers inform parents
Conservative investments
There is an emotional need for rules,
even if they will not work.
Top managers are concerned with daily
operations
There is an emotional need to be busy
and an and inner urge to work hard.
Citizens are negative toward
politicians, civil servants, and the legal system
Immigrants should be sent back

Reference:

Cultures and Organizations- Software of the mind , Intercultural Cooperation and Its
Importance for Survival.
Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede, and Michale Minkov