Organizational Culture

Introduction

While research of corporate/organizational ‘climate’ looks at the link between individuals, groups, and performance experienced on a daily basis (e.g. communication, networking, reward systems, leadership styles), the term ‘organizational culture’ refers to the context in which these events occur.

Organizational culture (OC) is what a group learns over a period of time as it solves its problem of survival in an external environment and internal integration (Schein, 1990). Schein points out three areas where culture manifests itself: observable artefacts, values/norms, and basic underlying assumptions to which most researchers refer to. OC supports effective control (to regulate behaviour), normative order (to guide [Page 650]behaviour), promotion of innovation (in a culture that encourages creative thinking), strategy formulation, and employee commitment. Sackmann, Phillips, Kleinberg, and Boyacigiller (1997) suggest in ...