Management and Organizational Studies 2181A/B Chapter 15: Chapter 15 – Organizational Culture and Change

• School: Western University
• Department: Management and Organizational Studies
• Course: Management and Organizational Studies 2181A/B
• Professor: Ellen Choi

Document Summary

Organizational culture has produced well over 50 different definitions. Organizational culture: the shared knowledge within an organization regarding the rules, norms, and values that shape the attitudes and behaviours of its employees. Observable artifacts: aspe(cid:272)ts of a(cid:374) orga(cid:374)izatio(cid:374)"s (cid:272)ulture that employees and outsiders can easily see or talk about. Espoused values: the beliefs, philosophies, and norms that a company explicitly states. Can range from public documents to verbal statements. Ta(cid:455)i(cid:374)g true to espoused (cid:448)alues is(cid:374)"t al(cid:449)a(cid:455)s eas(cid:455) especially in economic downturn: basic underlying assumptions. Basic underlying assumptions: the engrained beliefs and philosophies of employees. Taken-for-granted beliefs and philosophies that are so engrained that employees simply act on them rather than questioning the validity of their behaviour in a given situation. Organizational culture is divided along two dimensions: solidarity: the degree to which group members think and act alike, sociability: how friendly employees are to one another.