Superior-Subordinate Developmental Relationships
What is organizational culture?
Schein (1983) describes organization culture as the pattern of the basic assumptions that corporate management
' ... has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration - a pattern of assumptions that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore to be taught to new organizational
members as the correct way to perceive, think, feel and behave in relation to those problems'.
An example would be:
. . the only way to manage this growing business successfully is to supervise every detail on a daily basis, and
if
necessary,
to
hire
competent
people
from
out-
side.
Let's
not
waste
time
on
all
the
training
. . .
Schein
(1983)
explores
the
difficulties
managers
have
in
developing
shared
assumptions
about
the
realities
of
the
world
in
which
they
exist
and
how
entrepreneur/founder/owners
differ
from
professional
managers
in
the
kind
of
organizational
cultures
they
create.
If
for
instance
Black
advancement
efforts
within
organizations
in
South
Africa
are
to
gain
real
impetus,
top
management
must
rethink
its
policies
and
ensure
that
the
organizational
culture
is
supportive
of
their
policies.
If
the
policies
do
not
embed
the
culture
corporate
management
wants to
manifest,
management
behaviour
is
likely
to
be
in
conflict
with
what
corporate
management
desires
to
achieve
and
any
change
process
is
likely
to
be
painfully
slow
and
costly.