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Understanding Organizational Culture: A Key Leadership Asset

NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL VOLUME 29, NUMBER 4, 2011 1 Understanding Organizational culture : A Key Leadership Asset Fred C. Lunenburg Sam Houston State University _____ ABSTRACT Organizational culture is the set of shared beliefs, values, and norms that influence the way members think, feel, and behave. culture is created by means of terminal and instrumental values, heroes, rites and rituals, and communication networks. The primary methods of maintaining Organizational culture is through the socialization process by which individuals learn the values, expected behaviors, and social knowledge necessary to assume their roles in the organization.

NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL VOLUME 29, NUMBER 4, 2011 1 Understanding Organizational Culture: A Key Leadership Asset

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Transcription of Understanding Organizational Culture: A Key Leadership Asset

1 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL VOLUME 29, NUMBER 4, 2011 1 Understanding Organizational culture : A Key Leadership Asset Fred C. Lunenburg Sam Houston State University _____ ABSTRACT Organizational culture is the set of shared beliefs, values, and norms that influence the way members think, feel, and behave. culture is created by means of terminal and instrumental values, heroes, rites and rituals, and communication networks. The primary methods of maintaining Organizational culture is through the socialization process by which individuals learn the values, expected behaviors, and social knowledge necessary to assume their roles in the organization.

2 Sometimes an organization determines that its culture needs to be changed. The change cycle includes the following components: external enabling conditions, internal permitting conditions, precipitating pressures, triggering events, cultural visioning, culture change strategy, culture change action plans, implementation of interventions, and reformulation of culture . _____ How important is it for a leader to understand an organization s culture in order to bring about improved results? Every organization has a culture that can have a significant influence on the attitudes and behaviors of organization members.

3 The competencies and values of employees and leaders play a key role in determining the effectiveness and success of an organization. In this article, I examine the concept of Organizational culture and how cultures are created, maintained, and changed. I begin with a brief overview of what Organizational culture is followed by four distinct culture phenotypes. What is Organizational culture ? The concept of Organizational culture was first noted as early as the Hawthorne studies (Mayo, 1933; Roethlisberger & Dickson, 1939), which described work group culture .

4 It was not until the early 1980s, however, that the topic came into its own. Several books on Organizational culture were published, including Terrence Deal and Allan Kennedy s Corporate Cultures (1984), William Ouchi s Theory Z (1981), and Tom NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL 2_____ Peters and Robert Waterman s In Search of Excellence (1982). These books popularized Organizational culture , and researchers began in earnest to study the topic. Organizational theorists indicated that these cultures were real.

5 They acknowledged that organizations have personalities just like people. For example, organizations can be flexible or rigid, supportive or unfriendly, innovative or conservative. Organization theorists documented the important role that culture plays in the lives of organization members. When you tell people where you work, they will ask you: What is it like there? The description you give likely will have a lot to do with the organization s culture . In calculating your response to the question, you will describe the kinds of people who work at your school/school district.

6 You will describe the work atmosphere on a typical day. You will describe the facilities in your work-place and how you feel people are treated. You will describe what it is that defines success at your school/school district. These responses give clues that help outsiders understand what your school/school district s culture is really like. To provide you with a more complete Understanding of Organizational culture , it is necessary to define the concept in more detail. Definition and Characteristics The culture of an organization is all the beliefs, feelings, behaviors, and symbols that are characteristic of an organization.

7 More specifically, Organizational culture is defined as shared philosophies, ideologies, beliefs, feelings, assumptions, expectations, attitudes, norms, and values (Schein, 2011). While there is considerable variation in the definitions of Organizational culture , it appears that most contain the following characteristics: Observed behavioral regularities. When organization members interact, they use common language, terminology, and rituals and ceremonies related to deference and demeanor. Norms. Standards of behavior evolve in work groups that are considered acceptable or typical for a group of people.

8 The impact of work-group behavior, sanctioned by group norms, results in standards and yardsticks. Dominant values. An organization espouses and expects its members to share major values. Typical examples in schools are high performance levels of faculty and students, low absence and dropout rates of students, and high efficiency. Philosophy. Policies guide an organization s beliefs about how employees and clients are to be treated. For example, most school districts have statements of philosophy or mission statements. Rules. Guidelines exist for getting along in the organization, or the ropes that a newcomer must learn in order to become an accepted member.

9 FRED C. LUNENBURG _____3 Climate. This is an overall atmosphere that is conveyed in an organization by the physical layout and the way in which members interact with clients or other outsiders. None of these characteristics can by itself represent the essence of Organizational culture . However, the characteristics taken collectively reflect and give meaning to the concept of Organizational culture . Steinhoff and Owens (1989) have developed four distinctive culture phenotypes that demonstrate how these characteristics can be mixed to create highly diverse Organizational cultures likely to be found in public schools (see Table 1).

10 Table 1 Four Distinctive culture Phenotypes Family culture This school can be described using metaphors such as family, home, or team. The principal in this school can be described as a parent (strong or weak), nurturer, friend, sibling, or coach. In this school, concern for each other is important as well as having a commitment to students above and beyond the call of duty. Everyone should be willing to be a part of the family and pull their own weight. The school as family then is nurturing and friendly, often cooperative and protective. Machine culture This school can be described using the metaphor of the machine.


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