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Organizational culture - What is it?

Writer's picture: Lokesh MalviyaLokesh Malviya

Updated: Sep 30, 2022

The definition of culture, much like the definition of leadership, depends on the book you are reading or the author of the paper you are studying. The study on organizational culture may find its roots in the discipline of Anthropology. In this area, Ethnography becomes an important method to study culture wherein the researcher immerses himself or herself in an environment and takes detailed, copious notes to understand the nuances of what he or she has witnessed in any particular day. Although the term has been borrowed from Anthropology, the form that culture takes in organizational studies is quite different. As literature suggests, there is a divergence in the opinions among different scholars in their stance with respect to organizational culture. While some see organizational culture and organizations as inseparable, another school of thought regards culture as a separate concept - which can be transformed or manipulated to achieve desirable objectives. This is in stark contrast to how the parent discipline tried to understand culture. Nevertheless, thousands of studies have been carried out and we have a fair understanding of what are the essential tenets of an organizational culture. At the core of every definition is the idea of "shared meaning". Now, this shared meaning is something that cannot be put into words very clearly. One has to work in a team to understand this concept.

When I started working in a corporate setup a few years ago, I was baffled by the highly complex nature of the task my department was involved in. In addition to that, we had to engage with internal as well as external stakeholders of the organization which can be a challenging work. Sometimes, our organization's reputation was dependent on how we carry out our assignments or do our negotiations. In an environment like this, any newcomer would feel intimidated. Additionally, my colleagues were, seemingly, using a mix of some other language and English in their daily conversations. This language helped them understand what needs to be carried out at what point of time. Moreover, this language, like any other language, can be perfected by practice. In a scenario like this, I borrowed a copy of the process manual of the department and tried to make sense of things. Needless to say, it was fruitless. The manual can only tell you how things work, it cannot tell you when things will work, what things will work, why things will work in a certain way, who will make what things work, which things will not work, etc. This understanding can come only when you learn from your colleagues. So, putting aside all my inhibitions, assumptions, and expectations that I had developed as a result of my inflated self-worth, I decided to sit and learn. It is wonderful to realize how forthcoming people are if you just let go of your ego. Cutting a long story short, I was soon able to understand and converse in the new language. I was able to understand how things get done in the department, the written and unwritten rules as well as common rituals followed by people around me. This is what the idea of "shared meaning" stands for. Since the nature of work of my department was significantly different from many other departments, it can be safe to assume that other departments may have their own culture/shared meanings. Further, there is some level of understanding among almost all the members of the organization as to how things are done in the organization overall. This is where the landmark work by J. Martin on Organizational Culture helps you understand the different nuances of this beautiful concept. However, in this book, there is one more form of culture which is about ambiguity and fragmentation. As far as observing things in the organization is concerned, this last point is difficult to observe and articulate. One can only guess like, may be, the macro culture plays some role in bringing this ambiguity. You can never be sure.

One may also ask - how this culture gets constructed? If we consider the perspective that "organization has a culture" instead of "organization is culture" then the work done by Edgar Schein can help us understand what is the structure of the culture and how it gets formed. At the core is definitely, the founding leaders of the organization. They define the broad vision which translates to how work gets done. Additionally, the different contextual factors cannot be ignored. For instance, in India, the vision of Jamsetji Tata defined what the Tata Group, a salt to software conglomerate, stands for. The core ethos imbibed and promoted by the Tata leadership paved way for development of a unique people-centric culture in the companies within the Tata fold. Moreover, the focus on stakeholders and community development helped develop a sense of responsibility and accountability towards external environment in each of its employees. The vision and mission is carried forward by the leadership team of the different group companies. Adherence to ethics and proper conduct is enforced by the top leadership and over the years, an understanding of the difference between what is right and what is wrong gets accultured in the employees. As you may have noticed, there is an element of stability in culture. The culture develops over a significant period of time and it, then, persists. Going a little deeper, one may enquire - "where do these values come from?". The simple answer is, they got stuck because they seemed to work. Let me take the example of ethics and conduct. In the economic downturn of 2008, many reputed companies went bankrupt because of dubious governance practices. This goes to show that ethics, reporting, and compliance can ensure survival and performance of a firm. So, the people adhering to strong ethics will see that following the same works. Over the years, after observing good dividends as a direct result of following ethics in the workplace, a belief system gets developed which, then, perpetuates. Over the years, if good dividends keep on coming, this belief transcends to fundamental assumptions that people may involuntary make while working. This is how a culture gets entrenched. As Edgar H.Schein would put it, "solving problem of external adaptation and internal integration".

That, my friends, is the gist of what organizational culture stands for or what it signifies.

I have borrowed extensively from some of the seminal works on organizational culture for this write-up. I am mentioning some of them below. They are interesting readings for someone interested in understanding organizational culture.

  1. Organizational culture and leadership (by Edgar H. Schein) - this is the first text for any serious researcher trying to explore organizational culture (Preview Link)

  2. Organizational culture: Mapping the terrain (by Joanne Martin) - the three perspectives provide an interesting nuanced approach to organizational culture ( Preview Link)

  3. Organizational culture: Origins and weaknesses (by V.L.Meek) - a detailed review published in Organization Studies in 1988 (Link)

This list is definitely not exhaustive. Needless to say, a deeper understanding of organizational culture of one's organization comes from experience and on-the-job learning.

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