Defining and Changing Organizational Culture

Culture of the organisation is something that could principally land a business true competitve advantage. Organisational culture is a complex phenomenon and is formed in variety of ways, it may originate from the challenges and obstacles that organisation face, it could be a deliberate creation of the management, People working in the organisation have strong input in forming a culture.

Theory of Organizational Culture

Culture of the organisation is something that could principally land a business true competitve advantage. Organisational culture is a complex phenomenon and is formed in variety of ways, it may originate from the challenges and obstacles that organisation face, it could be a deliberate creation of the management, People working in the organisation have strong input in forming a culture. Culture dictates how people and groups communicate and behave in the micro and macro environment. High Performance Business use Culture as source of Competitive advantage.

The Question that could very well be asked is HOW, culture in a Nutshell is "How things are done in the Organisation", the tasks performed are through the people, if culture is helpful to the people the things would be done effectively and efficiently.  Sadly, organizational culture is the most difficult attribute to change: it outlives founders, leaders, managers, products,  services, and well-nigh the rest. It is best improved by organizational learning for change.

Organisational Culture Defined

Cultures comprises of everything from attitudes, experiences, beliefs to the values that prevail in the Organisation, All of these control the ways in which organisation work within and how its interacts with people and groups outside.

Strong Culture and Weak Culture

Culture varies in the Organisations more than anything, Culture of the organisation is deemed strong if  employees respond to stimuli  because of their alignment with it. Conversely, it is said to be weak where there is little alignment, and control is exercised with administrative orders.

Knowledge Culture

If any organization is to succeed and thrive, a knowledge culture must develop to help it deal with its external environment. A Knowledge culture is one where people share their experiences, mistakes are opportunity to learn, where focus is on personal development that acts as a catalyst for organisational development.

Changing Organizational Culture

Culture gets into the root of the business, it is hard to change, it requires time, effort and dedication, Staff needs time to get used to new ways of organizing. Defensive routines pollute the system, more often than not unwittingly, and undermine it. Culture change shall be considered an evolutionary process at individual, group, organizational, and interorganizational levels, to be facilitated by psychologically attentive leaders who do not underestimate the value of selection, socialization, and leadership.

Organizational Learning for Change

The is a strong relation of Culture to Learning. Observers recognize a correlation between the orientation of organizational culture and organizational learning. Indeed, the inability to change organizational behavior is repeatedly cited as the biggest hindrance to knowledge management.. A learning culture is an organizational environment that enables, encourages, values, rewards, and uses the learning of its members, both individually and collectively. But many cultural factors inhibit knowledge transfer. The table below lists the most common frictions to learning and suggests ways to overcome them.

Table: The Culture of Knowledge Transfer

Source: Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak. 2000. Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.