What is organizational culture? Characteristics and components

A summary of the characteristics and constituent parts of organizational culture.

Culture is something inherent to human beings. Wherever we go, wherever we settle, we generate culture in one way or another, and the work environment is no exception.

This also extends to the world of business and human organizations and institutions in general, which create their own dynamics of interaction. In this article we will look at what the concept of organizational culture consists ofThe different theories that try to explain it, the different types that can be given and above all the practical utilities that it possesses.

What is organizational culture? A definition

When a group of people work in the same place and therefore share a lot of time together, it is logical that a series of customs are established, common experiences are lived and certain values are shared. All this would make up the organizational culture of that particular company.

It is possible to find many different names, such as company culture, corporate culture or business culture.. Even administrative or institutional. But the important thing is that they all refer to the same concept.

This cultural process is generated little by little and it does so at all levels, with all the interpersonal relationships that take place in the workplace, and makes all its members feel that they are part of a whole.This is what gives them what is known as group identity.

If the individual is comfortable sharing such a culture, he or she is more likely to want to continue working there and will increase his or her loyalty to the company. If, on the other hand, he does not feel that he shares these customs and values, he is likely to leave the corporation as soon as he has the opportunity, if there are no other more powerful factors that will keep him there.

Subculture

Anyone with a certain amount of work experience will know that most often within the office or establishment there is more affinity or simply more physical closeness between certain groups of employees..... What this facilitates is that within each of these groups the same phenomenon also occurs, giving rise to organizational subcultures.

It is normal that among the colleagues of a specific project, or those who are closer for whatever reason, stronger bonds begin to be generated, uses are established, and even expressions are used or jokes are made that outside that group would be difficult to understand, since outsiders have not experienced the origin of the same. The fact is that the use of jargon is very common. it is very common to use jargon and to act in a certain way, which would not be so frequent outside the group..

Theoretical framework

One of the main authors in the field of organizational culture has been Geert Hofstede, a social psychologist, with his famous study of IBM. Hofstede conducted a survey of no less than 116,000 IBM employees in 64 different countries.

Thanks to this spectacular sample he was able to collect a huge amount of data which, after appropriate processing, allowed him to establish the five dimensions in which, according to him, the organizational culture operates. Let's look at them in more detail.

Individualism versus collectivism

This variable refers to the degree to which the corporation attaches more importance to the individual capabilities of each employee than to the overall performance of the group.. One of the IBM offices with the highest individualism scores was in the USA.

In an individualistic company, personal achievements will be valued more, while in a collectivist company, team successes will be sought above all else. In this second type of organization, much more importance is given to the hierarchy of the organization chart and to the relationships between employees.

2. Power distance

This refers to the closeness or remoteness that is established between the different employees according to the degree of power they hold within the company.. That is to say, how much someone is different for being a boss with respect to his subordinates.

Masculinity versus femininity

This dimension may be controversial today, since our vision of gender roles has changed intensely in recent years, but it is very important to bear in mind that the study was conducted in 1980 and at that time it was the conception that was held and was not offensive to anyone since they were the socially accepted values of the time. Having clarified this, we continue explaining what Hofstede defined as masculine and feminine.

This author understands masculine as those values of competitiveness, dominance, independence and assertiveness, with an ego and ego-oriented orientation.with an ego and reward orientation. On the contrary, for the feminine it speaks of equality, care for others, more fluid gender roles and a focus on relationships between people.

4. Control of uncertainty

At this point, what Geert Hofstede is referring to is how secure or insecure employees perceive the future, and how tolerant they are of uncertainty.The question here is how secure or insecure employees perceive the future to be, and what is their tolerance of this feeling and their need to control it.

Therefore, if the group scores low on the scale, it will be an indicator that they are entrepreneurial people who have no problem taking certain risks. On the other hand, if it scores high, we are probably talking about a community that has a preference for stability, follows the rules and prefers not to experiment with big changes.

5. Time orientation

In this case what is being studied is whether the actions carried out in the company are focused on obtaining short, medium or long-term results.. It will have a lot to do with the desire to obtain a smaller reward, but soon, or to spend all efforts on a much greater success but that will take much longer. It would be a dichotomy of present vs. future orientation.

6. Indulgence vs. restriction

We had said that Hofstede established five dimensions, and so he did. But in later studies he decided to add a sixth and final variable. What he studies is the degree to which people give free rein to their impulses or try to control them..

In this way he found big differences between societies such as Australia, where there would be more indulgence, versus others such as China or Russia, where greater restraint would be observed.

Types of organizational culture

The typology most frequently used to study this concept allows us to distinguish between strong and weak culture.

1. Strong culture

This is the one in which the members of the organization agree with the values espoused by their company, and therefore share the company's beliefs.. It would be given in all the components of the group.

In these corporations there is usually what is known as group thinking, a concept of the psychologist Irving Janis. It refers to the fact that when there is a high degree of cohesion among colleagues, it is much more likely that there is unanimity with the general thinking of the organization, making it difficult for different opinions to emerge.

It is easier to achieve this if there is a strong group identity or if there is a charismatic leader at the helm.

2. Weak culture

Occurs when This coincidence does not occur and therefore the company imposes its values on its employees, who are not convinced of them.employees, who would be unconvinced about them. These organizations are characterized by a strong control over all procedures.

In this case, divergent positions of the organizational thinking will be more frequent, hence a greater control must be exercised. The commitment of the individual to the company is weak or non-existent.

Functions

Although we have already seen several of them, let us list the main functions that organizational culture performs in the company.

Integration and motivation

It makes each member feel part of a whole, of a family, and this will make the person consider the needs of the company as his/her own and will motivate him/her for a better performance and motivation. will motivate him/her for a better performance and a fulfillment of the objectives..

It is especially useful for the incorporation of new members of the workforce, since if the organizational culture is appropriate, they will quickly feel integrated as a member of the community, even if they have only been with the company for a short time. they will quickly feel integrated as a member of the community, even if they have only been with the company for a short time..

• You may be interested in "The 9 main theories of work motivation".

2. Control

It is a form of control of the corporation over its workers, since it establishes which is the direction of the group's thinking, which all of them must adopt if they want to feel like members of it. Thus they mold the individual and tell him, subtly or not, how he should behave in the workplace.

3. Identity

Not only does it give the group a sense of belonging, but it also differentiates it from other organizations. differentiates it from the rest of the organizationsIt makes employees feel that theirs is unique and special compared to others.

4. Stability

For all these reasons, it is a way to generate stability in the company, to make it less of a problem for incidents to arise among workers that affect the corporation. affecting the corporation.

Bibliographical references:

• Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values, Beverly Hills, USA. Sage Publications.
• Hernández-Bernadett, J., Rodríguez-Olivas, M.A., Valdez-Rodríguez, B.E., (2019). Perception of Organizational Culture and Leadership in a Higher Education Institution. Chihuahua, Mexico. Conciencia Tecnológica.
• Robbins, S.P., (2004). Organizational Behavior. Mexico City, Mexico. Pearson Educación.