The culture which an organisation possesses distinguishes it from one organisation to another. In fact it is the shared meaning held by the members which distinguishes it. The culture of an organisation has a certain bearing on its members.
An organisation culture may be dominant or weak. In a dominant culture all the members share the core values of the organisation whereas in a weak culture the core values are not followed by a large number of employees.
Cultures also create a distinction between one organisation and another. It creates a sense of identity for its members as well as a commitment towards the organisation which is larger than the individual’s interest. In short it guides and shapes the behavior of its members.
Organisation cultures are varied. If today Japan is one of the forerunners in manufacturing, it is on account of its strong work culture amongst the employees. Similarly people of Holland are more friendly and desire that all their colleagues at the work place complete the same amount of work in an organisation. If in the first case it is more of a competitive culture, in the second it is a collaborative culture.
The question which is often asked is what creates an organisational culture. Well, it starts off with the philosophy of its founders who have a certain vision, besides values and beliefs. They select employees who think in the same manner as they do, or else they indoctrinate them to think in the same way as they do. This helps to ensure that their vision remains and is maintained. Apart from the selection they also develop norms which are followed by the employees. These norms are usually based on the values and beliefs of the founder members.
Now whenever a new employee joins an organisation, he or she will enter the organisation with certain values, attitudes and expectations. It is then that the employee is told about the norms of the organisation and the need to follow them. Even if there is a conflict in the employee as to the norms of the organisation he or she will resolve it and become comfortable with his job. They will not only have learned the norms of the organisation but also learned to accept them. This process of new employees who join the organisation and learning to accept and adapt to the norms of the organisation is termed as socialisation.
The result of socialisation is that employees become more productive and committed towards the organisation and turnover or employees leaving the organisation becomes lesser. Yet for those employees who cannot adjust to the new norms of an organisation, they will leave the organisation.
Company culture can be also termed as the personality of the company. It will include a variety of elements such as work environment, company mission, values, ethics, expectations, goals, and many more. If a company has a team based culture then it will have all the employees working for a common cause or goal. This will diminish competitiveness amongst the employees as they work together. Then there are companies which are more traditional and follow a formal management style. This may bring in a culture wherein meeting deadlines, targets and the like are given importance. This will result in cut throat competition among the employees as they strive to be one up over the other. This could put a strain of resources especially if they are shared. For example if two employees require a particular machine to accomplish a task, and if only one machine is available then it will result in severe competition amongst the employees.
Further there are companies which have a casual workplace without many rules and regulations. They function on creativeness of the employees and are ready to give time to the employees to achieve their tasks. Such organisations can be said to have faith in their employees and have confidence in their abilities. Many ad companies function in this manner and have got excellent results.
To sum up the different cultures, one can say that basically that there are four types of cultures, the clan culture where the working environment is one of a friendly nature, where involvement and development are ranked high, the adhocracy culture which is a dynamic and creative working culture where new products developed is seen as a success, the market culture which is driven by targets and deadlines and competition. Market penetration and stock are the definitions of success in a market culture. The style is based on competition. And finally we have the hierarchy culture which is a culture wherein the norms and behaviors are laid down well in advance for the employees to follow. Formal rules and policies keep the organisation together. Their long term goals are stability and results.
