How Do Studies of Organisational Cultures Help Us In Understanding the Dynamics of Working Life?

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HOW DO STUDIES OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURES HELP US IN UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF WORKING LIFE?

Organisational culture is a company’s own unique systems of values and beliefs, most often unconsciously created from the values of the top management or founders of the organisation. Schwarz and Davis (1981:33) described it as “a pattern of beliefs and expectations shared by the organisation’s members”. This essay will look at the different perspectives looking at organisational cultures and determine how they help us to understand working life.

Edgar Schein’s approach to culture is a widely accepted view. He suggested that culture was not the actual beliefs, values, behaviour patterns and artefacts but the assumptions behind them. He proposed a three levelled structure to describe culture, each level relating to the extent of individuals visibility and accessibility to them. Surface manifestations of culture are at the top. These are not the culture itself, but the visible evidence of it.

This is in the form of artefacts, which are visual and superficial mechanisms of the organisations culture. They are found in the physical and socially constructed environment of an organisation.

One form of artefacts is material objects. These can provide an insight into a company’s culture, as they are the result of it. For example, Apple use the logo of an apple which ahs been bitten into. An apple is the forbidden fruit of Eden, and so might symbolise the birth of new knowledge. Mission statements too are good indicators as they detail the direction of the company, its values and what it wants to be.

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The architecture of a building put across an image of the company itself.  It affects how the employees work and feel, and how the customer feels. For example, the identity of McDonalds is portrayed in its layout, furniture and lighting. The look of the building signifies status of the company.

Language is another indicator of culture. Universal phrases such as excellence, good service and high quality mean different things in different cultures. The people in a company must interpret these and other concepts in the same way for it to run smoothly. It is also a case of ...

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