What three components make up an organization’s culture?
- beliefs
- styles
- norms
How do the history of an organization, the environment in which it operates, staffing, and
early socialization contribute to its culture?
History .
how everything is and has always been done
Environment
• bureaucratically or entrepreneurial based . . regulatory or innovative structure
Staffing
hiring, training, promoting, and retention of individuals who fit in with current
employees
Early socialization process
• orientation and indoctrination of new employees in the organization’s beliefs,
norms, and values
Describe the qualities associated with healthy organizational culture.
Resilient
- adaptable to outside shifts
- leaders aligned behind strategy
Just-in-time
- unprepared for change
- able to adapt without losing sight of goal
Military precision
small, senior team controls the execution and efficiency of the operating model
How do unhealthy organizational cultures differ from healthy ones?
- Passive-aggressive
- appears flexible, but resists openness
- struggles to implement agreed-upon plans
Overmanaged .
- too many layers of management
- “analysis-paralysis”
- politics in decision-making process
Outgrown effective leadership intervention
• team doesn’t demonstrate decision-making authority
organization too complex for a small team to control fits-and-starts
• organization has motivated talent, but not a cohesive direction
Identify and describe the control mechanisms that direct organizational behavior.
• social norms
- expectation that employees behave in a certain way . - groups and teams to comply with norms
- Shared values .
- how responsibly the organization and its culture develop value among employees
- values represent the means by which employees achieve an end result .
- goal is to have employees internalize values for success
- Shared mental models
-underlying assumptions about employees, situations, and the organization that
impact a manager’s decisions - may cause repetitive patterns
Social identities
• require employees to behave according to preconceived expectations determined by
others .
- expectations based on employee roles in the organization
- cultural role expectations
Name and distinguish between two diverse cultural personalities an organization might display
Bureaucratic
- rules and procedures
- specializations and divisions of labor
- hierarchy of authority
- technically qualified personnel
- separate positions and incumbents
- specific formats: written, communication, and recordkeeping
- more objective and impartial in hiring, firing, and promoting
Entrepreneurial
- flexibility
- personal latitude for employees
- encourages initiative, innovation, and enterprise
- rewards success
- provides support through mentors and training
- uses work teams and groups
- offers profit sharing and shared ownership to increase employee incentive for contributions
What are the attributes of weak organizational cultures?
- have no clear belief systems
- lack the ability to prioritize
lack fundamental beliefs and direction - have weak or no leadership
- lack regular organizational routines
Describe strategies for strengthening organizational culture
- replace staff
- promote early buy-outs for people near retirement
- update employee orientation and indoctrination processes
- restate the organization’s mission
- get support of top management and leaders
- base rewards on newly desired cultural traits
- create individual “entrepreneurial units”
Cultural diversity encompasses what primary elements?
- age
- ethnicity
- gender
- physical abilities
- race
- sexual orientation
What are two important responsibilities that managers have in terms of organizational
diversity?
• hire based on qualifications versus demographic characteristics
- use interview panels or team-based approaches to ensure diversity in feedback for
candidates
- ensure stereotyping is not a common practice
- be a role model supporting diversity establish external diversity strategies }
- hire bilingual job candidates offer diversity education programs
- educate on barriers to diversity
- handle diversity bias issues immediately
- follow regulatory guidelines for ADA and EEOC
What is the purpose of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
• to ensure individuals with recognized disabilities are not discriminated against in the
workplace
- regulations apply to employers with more than 15
- employees I may require modifications to the workplace for access
Identify management strategies for integrating workers with disabilities into the workplace.
- establish organizational policies/procedures to meet ADA requirements
- allow for visibility for these employees
- employ at all skill levels throughout the organization
- educate employees on facts as they relate to this population
- offer resources to support these workers
- form support groups
- provide accessible amenities
- provide training to allow workers to succeed
What does Title VII of the Civil Rights Act cover?
Sexual harassment issues in the workplace
- entitles victims to compensation for pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience, and future financial losses
- entitles victims to a jury trial
- entitles victims to additional compensation for punitive damages
What are common warning signs of sexual harassment in the workplace?
Low morale lost productivity lawsuits deterioration of a company’s public image
How should a manager enforce a sexual harassment policy?
- communicate the policy and its limits to all employees
- train managers to recognize warning signs
- include sexual harassment in diversity training orientation for new employees
- communicate the policy to third parties, such as customers
- appoint a senior manager or a department to implement the policy and receive complaints
- develop an alternate filing procedure for complaints
- ensure that those who file complaints are not retaliated against safeguard employees’ rights, and
- safeguard employees from third-party harassment
- investigate charges immediately, and keep records
- discipline all employees involved in a harassment incident
What approaches should management take to pursue an ethical work environment?
- create an environment that focuses on fair and just workplace behaviors
- generate policies, procedures, and training that translate ethical values into appropriate behaviors
- avoid ethical dilemmas make ethical decisions in groups
- include employees in developing and implementing an ethics program
- establish a code of conduct, if it does not already exist
- create an ethics committee
Identify and describe two tools that can be used to resolve ethical dilemmas.
- the step-method approach
- logical, sequential approach
- checklist method
- evaluates questions on a one (not at all) to five (yes) scale
Describe ways that you, as a manager, can address workplace politics.
- create measurable objectives
- gain commitment
- reduce system uncertainty through clear evaluation processes
- minimize competition for resources among managers - break down political groups
- split up dysfunctional groups
