Principles of Management Homework

EACH OF US HAS A UNIOUE PERSONATIW thAt iNf IUCNCES act and inieract. An oi'ganizatian has a personaiity too-we call the way we it CULTUBE Iture ! l"lcre 's what Y0U need'to know about organizational cu E l-t Ortine what organizational culture m is and explain why it's important. @ Crnrre is perceived. lt's not some- thing that can be physically touched or seen, but employees perceive it on the basis of what they experience within the organization. s _qsoq@ @ Crnrre is descriptive. lts concerned with how members perceive or describe the culture, not with whether they like it @ crnrre is Even though indi- viduals may have different backgrounds or work at different organizational levels, they tend to describe the organization's culture in similar terms. ,r.! li lI il i.it, i :l.r:aI f.i !: :i I .:; ;i j!; i 1,.: ;.; l Tle siareil,r:irel, prirlples, raiiiilrr. eril l,rays ll Jciril lhh!,ls lirat irilLrriIJ. lhe rfa,l !f!3rilaiiur.i nteniref$ a.t E What ls 0 rga n )zati ona I Gu ltu re? Google has created a creative and innovative culture at their headquarters in Cahfornia with an android googleplex, bikes, and bringing your dog to work. E!

o i E sooF o 45 '" Dimensions of Organizational Cu lture Exhibit 2-4 ffi ffi i that binds them into a community and reminds i tfrem of "who we are." I i describe equipment, key personnel, customers, _ ] suppliers, processes, products. ffi H I E # ffi M @ m @ How Can Culture Be Described? The seven dimensions (shown in Exhibit 2-41:33 . Bange from /ow(not typical of the culture) to high (especially typical of the culture). o Provide a composite picture of the organization's culture. An organization's culture may be shaped by one particular cultural dimension more than the others, thus influencing the organization s personality and the way organizational members work. For example: -Applebfocus is product innovation (innovation and risktaking). The company "lives and breathes" new product development and employees' work behaviors support that goal. -Southwest AL7lrnes has made its employees a central part of its culture (people orientation) and shows this through the way it treats them. ; Usually reflects the vlsion or mission of founders. i gqlr-a]lnal,stories: narrative tales of significant I events or people. Founders project an image of whatthe organization Gorporate rituals: repetitive sequences of activities should be and what its values are. I that express and reinforce important organizational I values and goals. Founders can "impose" their vision on employees because of new organization's small size. f-lrMaterial symbols or artifacts. layout of facilities, i how employees dress, size of offices, materlal perks i provided to executives, furnishings, and so forth. : special urr*yn.rr, *iqr. termslo Where Does Culture Come From? How Do Employees Leam the Culture? How Does 0rganizational Culture Affect Managers? Ambrosia Humphrey, vice president of talent at Hootsuite, understands the power of organizational cul- ture and how it affects her as a manager. Nurturing and nourishing the company's culture is one of her top priori- ties. And she does this by continually creating employee experiences that reflect an important company value- transparency. For instance, she's organized all-staff 'Ask Me Anything" discussions with the company's CEO. Another tactic she's used is employee "hackathons" in which stafT members get together to tackle problems. And, of course, she embraces social media as part of her commitment to transparency to employees, customers, and the community. Employees are encouraged to tweet about their perspectives on what it's like to work at Hootsuite. Those postings have ranged from pictures taken at rooftop meetings to employees complimenting other employees fbr their hard work to links to media reports about the company as a great place to work.34 The two main ways that an organization's culture affects managers are (l) its eff'ect on what employees do and how they behave. and (2) its effect on what managers do. * Watch It 2! If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of mvmanagementlab.com to complete the video exercise titled CH2M Hill: Organizational Culture. strong cultures Cultures in which the key values are deeply heid and widely shared CHAPTER 2 The Management Environment 47 l-{ orrrribe how organizational culture affects managers.

"I think of culture as guardrails . . . what you stand for, essentially the ground rules sqjhat people know how to operate."rb An organization's culture has an effect on what employees do, depending on how strong, or weak, the culture is. Strong cultures-those in which the key values are deeply held and widely shared-have a greater influence on employees than do weaker cultures. The more employees accept the organization's key values and the greater their commitment to those values, the stronger the culture is. Most organizations have moderate to strong cultures; that is, there is relatively high agreement on what's important, what defines "good" employee behavior, what it takes to get ahead, and so forth. The stronger a culture becomes, the more it affects what employees do and the way managers p1an, organize, lead. and control.36 Also, in organizations with a strong culture, that culture can substitute for the rules and regula- tions that formally guide employees. In essence, strong cultures can create predictability, orderliness, and consistency without the need for written docu- mentation. Therefore, the stronger an organization's culture, the less managers need to be concerned with developing formal rules and regulations. Instead, those guides will be internalized in employees when they accept the organization's culture. If, on the other hand, an organization's culture is weak-if no dorninant shared values are present-its effect on employee behavior is less clear. Thitier employees give thet company hlgh marks for a strong culture of collaboration, leaming, and open communicaiion lhat allows them to share ideas and information in solving difficult problems. Employees value a work environment, including a rooftop garden at Tmtter headquarters in San Francisco, where they can easily connect and work clrsely wlth colleagues. Noah Berger/Reuters 48 Part 1 lntroduction o Try lt! If your professor has assigned this, go to the Assignments section of m1'managementlab.com to complete the Simulation t Organizational Culture. How Does Culture Affect What Managers Do? Say What? Ten percent of executives say they have nof identified or communicated an organizational culture. 37 Houston-based Apache Corp. has become one of the best performers in the indepen- dent oil drilling business because it has fashioned a culture that values risk taking and quick decision making. Potential hires are judged on how much initiative they'r,e shown in getting projects done at other companies. And company employees are handsomely rervarded if they meet profit and production goals.38 Because an organization's culture constrains what they can and cannot do and how they manage, it's particularly relevant to mana,uers. Such constraints are rarely explicit. They're not written down. It's unlikely they'll even be spoken. But they're there, and all managers quickly learn what to do and not do in their organization. For instance, you won't f,rnd the following values written down, but each comes from a real organization: Look busy even if you're not. If you take risks and fail around here, you'll pay deariy for it. Before you make a decision, run it by your boss so that he or she is never surprised We make our product only as good as the competition forces us to. What made us successful in the past will make us successful in the future. If you want to get to the top here, you have to be a team player. The link between values such as these and managerial behavior is fairly straightforward. Take, for example, a so-called "ready-aim-fire" culture. In such an organization, managers will study and analyze proposed projects endlessly before committing to them. However, in a "ready-fire-aim" culture, managers take action and then analyze what has been done. Or, say an organization's culture supports the belief that profits can be increased by cost cutting and that the company's best interests are served by achieving slow but steady increases in quar- terly earnings. In that culture, managers are unlikely to pursue programs that are innovative, risky, long term, or expansionary. In an organization whose culture conveys a basic distrust of employees, managers are more likely to use an authoritarian leadership style than a demo- cratic one. Why? The culture establishes for managers appropriate and expected behavior. You can see this in action at Winegardner & Hammons, a hotel management firm, where company leaders have built a "Winning Workplace Culture" with four characteristics: a posi- tive work environment in which managers are encouraged to make employees feel cared for and valued; an employee selection process that encourages managers to focus on selecting the "right" employees; an employee engagement program that's based on training managers so they have the right skills, knowledge, and experience to nurture an engaging work environ- ment; and a strengths-based workplace in which managers continually reinforce employees' strengths. What has this cultural focus led to? Thirty-four percent lower employee turnover and tt percent higher profitabitin.3e That's the kind of outcomes that can be achieved ff' you pay attention to your organizational culture and fmanagers recognize appropriate and expected behavior in that culture. CHAPTER 2 . The Management Environment 49 Exhibit 2-5 Managerial Decisions Affected by Culture Source: Robbins, Stephen P, Coulter, Mary, Management, 13rh Ed., @ 2016, p. 86. Reprinted and electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., NewYork, NY As shown in Exhibit 2*5, amanager's decisions are influenced by the culture in which he or she operates. An organization's culture, especially a strong one, influences and con- strains the way managers plan, organize,lead, and control. MyManagementlab@ Go to mymanagementlab.com to complete the problems marked with this icon Q. Planning I The degree of risk that plans should contain I Whether plans should be Culture developed by individuals or teams I The degree of environmental scanning in which management will engage r,I Culture should be eliminated Organizing I How much autonomy should be designed into employees' jobs I Whether tasks should be Culture done by individuals or in teams I The degree to which department managers interact with each other Leading I The degree to which managers are concerned with increasing employee job satisfaction f What leadership styles are appropriate I Whether all disagreements- even constructive ones- Controlling I Whether to impose external controls or to allow employees to control their own actions I What criteria should be emphasized in employee performance evaluations I What repercussions will occur from exceeding one's budget Culture --