Misunderstood Concept: Organizational Culture

A response to the Misunderstood Activity
created August 22, 2020 by Shannon Weber (@sweber77)

Number of views: 347

I teach Organizational Behaviour to International students in the graduate programs Strategic Global Business Management/Global Business Management. I have found that some of our learners misunderstand the concept of organizational culture. Given the word “culture” has dual meaning and can refer to the culture of a society/region/country but also the organizational beliefs, values and assumptions, I would like to demonstrate the similarities and differences.

Another aspect that creates confusion is when we talk about personal values and how those differ between societal cultures. The topic of values threads across both personal beliefs or societal culture and also across an organization’s culture. In Activity #2, I will explore this further through concept mapping. For this extend activity I will build on prior knowledge of what a societal culture is and connect this to elements of organizational culture.

Some aspects of an organization can be easily observed. These “surface” elements include things like a motto, a building or the organization’s branding. However, what lays beneath the surface are the elements of organizational culture that truly impact organizational effectiveness. When we focus on those underlying beliefs, values and assumptions or “how things are really done around here”, then we can strengthen organizational culture.

I have adapted the iceberg image of culture to demonstrate this concept. This is a visual used in our course textbook which I have adapted to show the similarities and differences between the two types of culture. I enjoyed thinking through these comparisons and visuals, through the lens of prior knowledge.

Example for "Misunderstood Concept: Organizational Culture":
https://bank.ecampusontario.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Misunderstood-Concept_Culture.pptx