Management Skills 2

Session 3
The Context of Culture in
Management
 Culture?
• Countries have their own cultures
– What identifies national cultures?

– How many levels of culture are there?

– Can we manage culture?

 Organisations and Cultures
• Do organisations have their own cultures?

• What signifies different cultures?

• Examples of organisations and their cultures?

 Some Definitions of Culture
• 1. a. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts,
beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and
thought
• b. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression
of a particular period, class, community, or population: Edwardian
culture; Japanese culture; the culture of poverty
• c. These patterns, traits, and products considered with respect to a
particular category, such as a field, subject, or mode of expression:
religious culture in the Middle Ages; musical culture; oral culture.
• d. The predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the
functioning of a group or organization.
 Organisational Culture - What Do We
Mean?
• Roger Harrison (1972)
– ‘The ideologies, beliefs and deep-set values which
occur in all firms .., and are the prescriptions for
the way in which people should work in those
organisations’
• Alternative
– The way we do things around here
– The Glue that holds the organisation together
 Harrison and Handy
• Power Culture
• Task Culture
• Role Culture
• Person Culture
 Power Culture
• It is like a web with a ruling spider. Those in the web
are dependent on a central power source (the
spider)
• .Rays of power and influence spread out from a
central figure or group
• In a Zeus organization (netwroks), power derives
from the top person, and a personal relationship
with that individual matters more than any formal
title or position. e.g. small entrepreneurial
companies and political groups;
 Role Culture
• Often referred to as a bureaucracy - controlled by
procedures, role descriptions and authority
definitions
• Co-ordination is at the top. Job position is central
- value predictability and consistency may find it
harder to adjust to change
• An Apollo culture creates a highly structured,
stable company--a bureaucracy - precise job
descriptions, usually with a single product;
efficiency is determined upon meeting deadlines
 Task Culture
• It is very much a small team approach - the network
organisation - small organisations co-operating
together to deliver a project
• Emphasis is on results and getting things done;
individuals empowered with discretion and control
over their work- flexible and adaptable
• The Athena culture emphasizes talent and youth,
continuous team problem-solving (NASA) e.g.
consultancies
 People Culture
• The individual is the central point; if there is a
structure it exists only to serve the individuals within
it
• The culture only exists for the people concerned; it
has no super-ordinate objective; end to have strong
values about how they will work; very difficult for the
organisation to manage
• A Dionysus "existential" organization exists so that
individuals can achieve their purposes: e.g.
university, a medical practice other professional
groupings
 Factors Influencing Culture
• History
• Primary function and technology
• Goals and objectives
• Size
• Location
• Management and staffing
• The environment
 The Organisational Iceberg
• Formal Aspects • Informal Aspects
– Goals – Beliefs & assumptions
– Technology – Perceptions
– – Attitudes
Structure
– – Feelings ( anger, fear,
Policies & Procedures
liking, dislike etc)
– Products / services
– Values
– Financial resources
– Informal interaction
– Group norms
– Norms
 Theory X & Theory Y (McGregor)
• Theory ‘X’
– The average person dislikes
and will avoid work
– Most people must be
coerced into work
– The average person prefers
to be directed and avoid
responsibility; lacks
ambition; wants security,
above all.
• Theory ‘Y’
– Work is as natural as play
or rest
– If committed, most people
will give heir best without
the necessary for coercion
– The average person enjoys
proper responsibility
– Imagination/ingenuity
– /creativity are widely, not
narrowly, distributed in the
population
 Culture - Anthropology
• Shared Beliefs
• Values
• Attitudes
• Expectations of appropriate behaviour
 Effect of Structure on People - (R.
Stewart)
• “People modify the working of the formal organisation, but
their behaviour is also influenced by it. The method of work
organisation can determine how people relate to one
another, which may affect both their productivity and morale.
Manages, therefore, need to be conscious of the ways in
which methods of work organisation, may influence people’s
attitude and action.”

• “The reality of Management”

 Formal Organisational Structures
• Grouping of activities
• Responsibilities of individuals
• Reporting relationships
• Levels of authority
• Span of control
• Systems of communication
• degree of delegation of authority
 Divisions of Work
• By:-
– Major purpose or function
– Product or service
– Location
– Plus considerations including:-
• Nature of work, time when work is required and the
customer.
 Culture and Change
• Very Strong Cultures can be a Weakness as
well as a Strength to the organisation
• Organisational changes requires a change in
culture
• Culture changes is difficult to do by education
more effective through step change.
 Culture & Micro Cultures

Substructure

Corporate Culture

The Macroculture
( Nationality, race,
religion, ethics,
economics

Matthews 1995
 Summary
• All organisations have a culture
• Is culture essential to bind the organisation
together?
• Is culture essential for success; why?
• Is culture a barrier to change?