Culture is hard to define; even within the English dictionary it has four definitions. ‘the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively,’ ‘the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society,’ ‘Biology the cultivation of bacteria, tissue cells, etc. in an artificial medium containing nutrients,’ ‘the cultivation of plants.’(Oxford Dictionary, 2010) The most relevant to the culture spoken about in this blog is the second quote.
Organisation culture can be defined as ‘a body of learned behaviour, a collection of beliefs, habits and traditions, shared by a group of people and learned by people’ (Hofstede, 1984). This quote is very similar to the second from the Oxford dictionary and can be related to many organisations. T.G.I Fridays is an American restaurant and has been brought overseas keeping the American culture. The decoration in the restaurant is very American with objects from traditional sports and American history, the television is of American activities such as surfing, rodeo and baseball. The food on the menu is mostly meat and it comes out in large portions and with refillable drinks an American idea that is slowly spreading into the British culture. The load and bolshie birthday singing is how the Americans are stereotyped and it seems it is correct! The music is country and helps set the atmosphere of being in America itself. Starbucks is an American Company that has introduced its own culture into the coffee shop, when ordering the size of your espresso, frappuccino or mocha it will be ‘ tall, grande or venti’ This is a measuring system introduce by themselves a culture of their own. As a customer to these places you will feel a sense of their culture through the atmosphere an behaviour of the employees. However the culture is not only important to the customers but even more so to the employees, the culture is the atmosphere they have to work in.
The organisational Iceberg (French and Bell, 1990)divides formal organisation and Informal organisation, the formal aspect being those that are easy to see and understand such as the mission statement and goals of the company and the informal being the unwritten attitudes and beliefs of the company that will take a while to discover and come to terms with.
As an employee you can see the top of the iceberg straight away which you would most probably discover while researching the company before an interview and then the rest of the iceberg is not seen until after you have been employed and are working within the organisation.
A very similar theory is the ‘Onion Theory’ (Schein, 1992) this theory is the same in that it is represented in layers and the outer layer refers to the top of the iceberg and formal organisation, however this theory is split into three layers:
· The outer layer being the formal, visible aspects such as Mottoes, dress code and dress code. E.g The dress code of T.G.I.’s is braces with badges on them and the red and white striped shirt.
· The middle layer being a mix of formal and informal, values and beliefs such as teamwork, integrity and community. E.g The community built around Cadbury’s for its workers
· The inner layer is the informal and basic assumptions, the roots of the organisation and its history. E.g. The Body Shop is against animal testing for all its products.
Four Types of Culture (Handy,1993)
· Power Culture
· Role Culture
· Task Culture
· Person Culture
Power culture is usually found in small or medium organisations where one individual is in control. In a culture like this teamwork is rare and therefore one person will react quickly and make fast decisions. There are few rules and processes put in place to follow and initiative is needed. Although speed is important in most organisations it can leave employees exhausted and demotivated leading to high staff turnover.
Role culture is very popular in companies today and is typical of a bureaucratic organisation. The employees are divided in to functions and within that team each individual is assigned a particular role. This type of culture is very specific and employees work to their job description which increases productivity.
Task culture is very useful in project based companies. Employees are in a team which encourages motivation from bouncing ideas off one another. There is lots of flexibility in this sort of culture as a task is set and it is up to the team how they achieve the task. The employees are able to make decision and have responsibility while working within a team.
People culture is based around an individual; the organisation exists to serve the interest of those within it. It is often in organisations such as a charity or barristers and architects.
An organisation may change its culture due to new technology, growth, new market services, new services or new employees for example new chief executive. It may also be hard to categorise a company into just one of these cultures as its employees may often have a specific role however on occasions have to work with a team all working on the same task. Also there may be a power culture because one individual is dictating to a team of workers underneath them on the hierarchy however the roles may be specific and they do work individually on their specialised job but again this is a mixture of two cultures.
In conclusion there are many theories that define culture within the work place. French and Bell define it in a way that splits the company into two sections which most people will have experienced when starting a new job and slowly understand the company culture more and more as time goes on. Schein’s theory describes culture in three layers and can be related to many companies. Once again it is very similar to French and Bells iceberg theory in the fact you cannot truly discover a company’s culture until being employed there a while. Handy’s theory however is very different and defines culture through the way the employees work, whether it is in a team individually or a mixture of both. All companies have a culture and as a customer you may see parts of the culture or feel the atmosphere however once an employee within the company the culture is a lot more obvious and the way in which the company is structured and works is culture on its own.
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An excellent blog Victoria well done!
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