Center for Comparative Management Studies

Steps for Identifying the Elements of Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is a popular and important topic among researchers working in the area of comparative management studies.  In order for comparisons and theories to be meaningful, however, there must be a model of dimensions of organizational culture that can be referred to in collecting and analyzing information and spotting variations and differences between organizations.  This report briefly summarizes a series of steps suggested by the writings of Edgar Schein, which include identifying the problems that an organization has with “external adaptation” and “internal integration”, collecting and synthesizing evidence as to how the organization has elected to attempt to “solve” those problems and, finally, investigating the solutions to find common threads that ultimately paint a picture of how organizational members “view their world”.  This “world view”, of course, is tied not only to the business environment in which the organization operates but to other important factors that have been studied and compared in great deal over the years, such as the societal culture in which the organization operates.

Evaluating and Transforming Organizational Culture

In a previous post we discussed Definitions and Significance of Organizational Culture including the strong influence that organizational culture has on how members behave when carrying out their organizational activities and the role that organizational culture plays in defining the competitive position of the organization in its environment and the way that the organization is perceived by its stakeholders.  The report included with this post builds on these themes by discussing steps that can be taken to evaluate and, if necessary, transform organizational culture.

Definitions and Significance of Organizational Culture

In addition to their formal organizational structure and the rules and standard operating procedures used to support and operate the structure, organizations also rely heavily on their organizational culture as an important tool in controlling and coordinating the activities of their members (e.g., executive, managers and employees) and providing incentives and reasons for them to act in ways that the leaders of the organization considers to be necessary in order to achieve and sustain organizational effectiveness and comply with the requirements and expectations of the organization’s external environment.  A number of definitions of organizational culture have been offered; however, if managers and employees are consulted they may simply respond that culture is “how we do things around here”.  There is obviously truth to such a statement but it would be a mistake to ignore the breadth and scope of the issues that are influenced by cultural norms and values—how activities within the organization are carried out, how members communicate with one another, who is accepted into the organization and who is ostracized, and what is the organization’s overall morale.  The latest CMS Working Paper summarizes various definitions of organizational culture and the overall significance of the topic for managers.

Hofstede's Dimensions of Organizational Culture

While most of the notoriety assigned to Hofstede is related to his groundbreaking work on the dimensions of national culture he has also conducted smaller studies that focused on organizational culture.  A brief report on this work is attached and provides an interesting foundation for comparative study of organizational structures and processes adopted in different countries and industries.