Essay On Organisational Culture

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Part One
Organisational culture is a result of many factors, some of which are the type of business the organisation is in, its products, it customers, its size and location and its methods of operating. An organisation’s culture is an expression of its personality: its characteristic way of doing things (Jacques 1951). An organisation’s culture reflects the things its staff value, the goals they collectively pursue, and the way they prefer to operate and to manage themselves (Bennis & Nanus 1985, Hofstede 1980, Kanter 1983, Kast & Rosenzweig 1985, Kilman et a1 1985, Peters & Waterman 1982)
Organisational culture can be viewed as a pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered, or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, and that have worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems(Schein,1984) .
Deal and Kennedy (1982) explain their definition of organisational culture as the integrated pattern of human behaviour that includes thought, speech, action and artefacts and depends on man’s capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.
Organisational culture can also be viewed as the unique pattern of shared assumptions, values, norms, attitudes, symbols, beliefs, rituals, socialisation, and expectations of the people in the organisation (Hellriegel et al., 2004: 357; Schein, 1992: 12). According to the definition by Hellriegel the base of culture is formed by shared assumptions, values and norms, and these cannot be observed.
Organisational culture was also defined by Andrew Brown (1995,...

... middle of paper ...

...s and behaviours of employees.
Meanwhile, Siagian (1992:153) lists five important functions of organizational culture are:

• In determining the boundaries of behaviour in terms of determining what can and cannot be done, what is considered good or bad, determine who is right and wrong.
• Grow identity of an organization and its members.
• Cultivate a commitment to the common interest above individual interest or group.
• As a leash for the entire organization
• As a means of controlling the behaviour of members of the organization concerned.
Hasymi (1996: 954) lists organizational culture’s functions as:
• Delivering a sense of identity for organization members
• Facilitate a commitment to something greater than yourself
• Improve the system of social stability
• Provide a premium (principal opinion) that is recognized and accepted for decision making.

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