Shaping Organizational Culture

Corporate culture is derived from the top-down and consists of the expectations of the behavior that employees should exhibit. The text provides three models for examining the dimensions of culture in an organization: Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Theory, Schein's Cognitive Levels of Organizational Culture, and Gerry Johnson's Cultural Web. Each model provides a different perspective on organizational culture but gives a holistic picture of all the dimensions.

Communicating Organizational Culture

Communicating Culture

The role of the manager is essential to the successful communication of a given organizational culture because managers are figureheads and role models for how individuals in the organization should behave. While it is too simplistic to say that culture is a top-down communicative process, there is relevance to the idea that culture generally begins with the founders of the organization and the values they emphasize in the organizational growth and hiring process.

Organization triangle

Organization triangle: This organization triangle illustrates the idea that structure, process, and the people involved all contribute to the culture of an organization.

Leaders have a number of tools and strategies at their disposal to communicate culture. Some of the most critical of these are structure, hierarchy, mission and vision statements, employee handbooks, hiring processes, and employee training and initiation. With many diverse tools for communicating culture comes the challenge of aligning each perspective for consistency of message: for instance, the employee training program must emphasize the same values as the mission statement and must match the executive mandate for organizational structure and design.

Communication is the core tool for managing this cultural integration, enabling executives to remind employees what the organization stands for and why it's important. Holding company-wide quarterly meetings to emphasize objectives and strategy and sending out emails with key successes and developmental challenges are great ways to keep the conversation going.