What is Organizational Culture?

Here are some questions whihc will help us focus on this very, very important topic.

• Can anyone ask a question, or is it just certain groups that can do this?
• Are mistakes encouraged or forgiven if people learn from them?
• Do people learn from mistakes or just repeat them over and over again?
• Do people act or feel in a positive way or do people act and feel in negative ways?
• If you ask the janitor/support staff what are the problems in the organization, and what solutions would they suggest, what would they say? Have they ever been included in this kind of administrative information gathering?
• If the phrase sexual harassment/or any other controversial issue is mentioned, what is the reaction? Is there confidence in handling controversial issues.
• Are procedures for such issues well laid out, consistent, and supported?
• Is everyone encouraged to think and contribute to problem-solving in the organization, or only certain groups are assigned that responsibility?
• Who is really in charge?
• Is authority centralized, or is there decision-making autonomy and decentralization?

What is the leader's role in creating this organizational culture? Whether you like it or not, as a leader, you are also: a model a tone setter a symbol of who gets ahead a guardian or a designated change agent a product of the culture Whether you like it or not, as a leader, you are largely responsible for your organization's culture. You need to understand the nature of that culture, how it is created, and how it can be changed.