Chapter 3 - Organizational Culture



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INTRODUCTION

Effects of Organizational Culture

Organizational change efforts are rumored to fail the vast majority of the time. Usually, this failure is credited to lack of understanding about the strong role of culture and the role it plays in organizations. That's one of the reasons that many strategic planners now place as much emphasis on identifying strategic values as they do mission and vision. Some Types of Culture There are different types of culture just like there are different types of personality.

Researcher Jeffrey Sonnenfeld identified the following four types of cultures. Academy Culture Employees are highly skilled and tend to stay in the organization, while working their way up the ranks. The organization provides a stable environment in which employees can development and exercise their skills. Examples are universities, hospitals, large corporations, etc. Baseball Team Culture Employees are "free agents" who have highly prized skills. They are in high demand and can rather easily get jobs elsewhere. This type of culture exists in fast-paced, high-risk organizations, such as investment banking, advertising, etc. Club Culture The most important requirement for employees in this culture is to fit into the group. Usually employees start at the bottom and stay with the organization. The organization promotes from within and highly values seniority. Examples are the military, some law firms, etc. Fortress Culture Employees don't know if they'll be laid off or not. These organizations often undergo massive reorganization. There are many opportunities for those with timely, specialized skills. Examples are savings and loans, large car companies, etc. (adapted from Organizational Culture by Carter McNamara, PhD http://www.mapnp.org/library/org_thry/culture/culture.htm

What is Organizational Climate

From your textbook and Internet reading about Organizational Culture, what are some of the ways in which Oganizational culture can be developed, maintained and changed?
Post it to the WebCT discussion area.
Here are the directions for posting an answer to the Main Discussion Area. Go to the WebCT site found here: http://webct.andrews.edu/webct/public/home.pl. Log in using your WebCT ID name and password. Click on EDAL520 Foundations of Educational Leadership and then go into Main Discussion Area for Feedback. Click on Main (underlined) and then click on Compose Discussion Message and in the box compose your answer to the following question.