Explanatory note on the organizational culture of management science i. Definition and content of organizational culture i. Interpretation of basic concepts
Organizational culture (organizatio)Nalculture) refers to the sum of shared beliefs, values, behavioural practices and symbol systems formed from the long-term interaction of members within a given organization. It contains both observed rituals, slogans, dress codes and undetectable common assumptions and thinking patterns. The concept was first introduced into corporate research by anthropology and became a high-frequency issue in strategic management after the 1980s. It is essentially a “group awareness map” that provides members with a context script for streamlined decision-making while reducing the cost of internal coordination. What needs to be distinguished is that the organizational culture differs from the “organizational culture”, which emphasizes deep value orientations, while the latter focuses on individual subjective perceptions of the environment。
Analysis of core elements
The internal approval of the organizational culture is divided into three levels: the visible “material layer” includes marking, office layout, etiquette; the mid-level “system layer” covers rewards and sanctions rules, communication processes; and the core “mental layer” is reflected in a common understanding of mission, vision and underlying assumptions. The three elements are onion-type packages, easily adapted to the outer layer and slow kernel changes. Mental stability makes cultural change difficult and explains why cultural integration after mergers and acquisitions often takes three to five years. In order for managers to diagnose culture, they should at the same time collect external symbols and institutional texts and dig into potential assumptions through in-depth interviews to avoid reading only at the surface level of slogans or wall slogans。
Ii. Characteristics and characteristics of the organizational culture
The organizational culture has five distinctive features: first, sharedness, culture once formed, goes beyond the individual and becomes the “social fact” of the group by default; secondly, stability, core values are constantly reinforced through stories, rituals and path-dependent; thirdly, implicit, most cultural rules are in a “we know but we cannot say” state, and new members learn by observation and error; fourthly, adaptability, when the external environment changes dramatically, culture can produce variation through “marginal subcultures” and provide innovative seeds for the organization; and fifthly, symbolism, simple slogans or heroes can enrich complex meaning and become agents of rapid transmission of value. These characteristics work together to bring together cultures like “glue” members and “filter” to screen external information。
2. Distinction from other management concepts
Compared to the “organizational structure”, culture is informal, with a focus on meaning and emotion, while the structure focuses on formal power and division of labour; it emphasizes rational positioning and resource allocation, compared to the “business strategy”, while culture provides the collective identity and behavioural inertia required to implement the strategy; compared to the “brand image”, brands are oriented towards external customers and culture is oriented towards internal members, although they can be synergized by “real consistency”, but confusion between internal and external audiences often leads to distortions in communication. In addition, culture is different from “human resources policies”: policies can be rapidly revised, but culture needs to be embedded in the long term, and when policies are contrary to culture, employees tend to follow cultural sub-rules and move policies to form。
