Saturday, May 8, 2010

Organizational culture

Organizational culture has brought about a radical change in the functioning of different organizations. It is basically the study of organizational management and studies, which includes the description of attitude, psychology, and belief, and experience, personal and cultural values of an organization. Like varied personalities, there are different types of organizational cultures that function, by following a method of working that is best suited to their core business.

Following are the main types of organization structures found today:
Normative Culture

In a normative organization, the organization stresses on implementing the organizational procedures in a correct way, and according to the norms and rules defined. This kind of culture is perceived to portray, a high standard of business ethics.

Pragmatic Culture
In contrast to normative cultures, stress is laid on satisfying the wish of their clients. In this type of organizational structure, no norms are set by the company, and utmost importance is given to the needs of the client.

Academy Culture
In this kind of culture, employees are highly skilled, and the organization provides an environment for the development and honing of employee skills. Examples of this kind of culture are hospitals, universities, large corporations, etc. Employees tend to stay with the organization and grow within it.

Baseball Team Culture
In this kind of culture, the employees are "free agents" and are highly prized. These employees find employment easily in any organization and are very much in demand. There is, however, a considerable amount of risk that is attached to this culture, as it is also fast paced. Examples of this kind of culture are advertising, investment banking, etc.


Club Culture
Usually the employees stay with the organization for a long time and get promoted to a senior post or level. These employees are handpicked, and it is imperative that they possess the specific skills required and desired, by the organization. Examples of this kind of organization are law firms, the military, etc.

Fortress Culture
Employees are not sure if the will be laid off or not by the organization. Very often, this organization undergoes massive changes. Few examples of this type of culture are loans and savings, large car companies, etc.

Tough-Guy Culture or Macho Culture
The most important aspect of this kind of culture is big rewards and quick feedback. This kind of culture is mostly associated with quick financial activities like brokerage and currency trading. It can also be related with activities, like a sports team or branding of an athlete, and also the police team. This kind of culture is considered to carry along, a high amount of stress, and people working within the organization are expected to possess a strong mentality, for survival in the organization.


Work Hard/Play Hard
This type of organization does not involve much risk, as the organizations already consist of a firm base along with a strong client relationship. This kind of culture is mostly opted by large organizations which have strong customer service. The organization with this kind of culture is equipped with specialized jargons and is qualified with multiple team meetings.

Bet Your Company Culture
In this kind of culture, the company makes big and important decisions over high stakes endeavors. It takes time to see the consequence of these decisions. Companies that postulate experimental projects and researches as their core business, adopt this kind of culture. This kind of culture can be adopted by a company designing experimental military weapons for example.

Process Culture
This type of culture does not include the process of feedback. In this kind of culture, the organization is extremely cautious about the adherence to laws and prefers to abide by them. This culture provides consistency to the organization and is good for public services.

One of the most difficult tasks to undertake in an organization is to change its work culture. An organizational culture change requires an organization to make amendments to its policies, its workplace ethics and its management system. It needs to start right from its base functions which include support functions, operations and the production floor, which finally affects the overall output of the organization. It requires a complete overhaul of the entire system, and not many organizations prefer it as the process is a long and tedious one, which requires patience and endurance. However, when an organization succeeds in making a change on such a massive level, the results are almost always positive and fruitful. The different types of organizational cultures mentioned above must have surely helped you to understand them. You can also adopt one of them for your own organization, however, persistence and patience is ultimately of the essence.

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