Exam 15: Organizational Culture

Some of the key questions regarding internal integration are: What do we do if specific targets are not met? How do we tell others how good we are? When do we quit?

Describe output goals and mission statements and how they are related.

The system of shared actions, values, and beliefs that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members is called organizational culture.

In the aftermath of 9/11, many casual observers saw crane operators moving wreckage from an 18-acre pile of rubble that was once the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. However, those actually doing the work were not just hauling away the remnants of the Twin Towers. They were rebuilding America. This is an example of which of the following?

Interestingly, strong subcultures are seldom found in high-performance taskforces, teams, and special project groups in organizations.

A narrowly diverse culture is always desirable in organizations.

__________ are embellished heroic accounts of the story of the founding of an organization that are found at the deepest layer of cultural analysis.

__________ deals with the creation of a collective identity and with finding ways of working and living together.

The process of external adaptation often begins with the establishment of a unique identity; that is, each collection of individuals and each subculture within the organization develops some type of unique definition of itself.

At IBM, the __________ culture would include the unique stories, ceremonies, and corporate rituals that make up the history of the firm.

Mission statements define the type of business an organization is in.

__________ are important because they are used to tell new members the real mission of the organization, how the organization operates, and how individuals can fit into the company.

When employees at 3M talk about the quality of their products and the useful products they have brought to market, they are addressing the __________ aspect of organizational culture.

"How do members resolve the daily problems associated with living and working together?" is a cultural question pertaining to the survival issue of __________.

__________ deals with questions such as: What is our unique identity? How do we view the world? Who is a member? How do we allocate power, status, and authority? How do we communicate? What is the basis for friendship?

Unfortunately, given its origin from the founders' values, managers cannot modify the visible aspects of culture, such as the language, stories, rites, rituals, and sagas.

Rites are standardized and recurring activities used at special times to influence the behaviors and understanding of organizational members; rituals are systems of rites.

In a business setting, a firm's system of shared actions, values, and beliefs that develops within the company and guides the behavior of its members is called its __________.

The organizational culture of a firm emerges from a) the dialog and discourse among its members and their collective experience over time,b) the attempts by managers to influence subordinates and c) pressures from the larger environment in which the members, the managers and organization operate.

Organizational __________ are unproven and often unstated beliefs that are accepted uncritically.