Organization and Leadership Lecture 9

Identification Function:

- We feeling, social glue, differentiation between different companies, strong identification with company

Motivation Function:

- Culture provides meaning, common sense of orientation, commitment to core values lead to an increase in motivation to engage, increase employer attractiveness, retention of talent

Stability Function:

- Standard for employee attitudes and behavior, reduces complexity, avoiding debates od principles, promotes employee cohesion

Performance Function: 

- increases efficiency, creativity and performance

Institutionalization --> unquestioned actions, only engeaged to company but not to product/service

Barriers to change --> pragmatism and caution instead of technology and innovation

Barriers to diverstiy--> 1-dimensional thinking/acting, barrier for applicants with different characteristics

Barriers to A&M: compatibility with new merger? difficulties for synergies

- Fit of vlaues between employees and company

- Fit of value between copany and geoprahpical culture

5 Dimensions:

- Power Distance: degree to which less powerfuls of society accept and expect that power is unequally distributed

- Individualism vs. Collectivism: extent to which individuals are integrated into group

- Male vs. Female: Male societies focues on performance, material compensation etc. Femal on compassion, cohesion etc.

- Uncertainty avoidance: degree to which uncertainty is an uncomfortable feeling ->avoid uncertainty

Long vs Short Term Orientatin: Orientation towards future (modernity) or present (tradition)?

Objective: Improve understanding of cultural differences and its impact on leadership effectiveness

Used 9 dimensions to cluster the countries:

- Uncertainty avoidance, Power distance (unequal distribution of power), Institutional Collectivism (how a company practices encourage collective distribution of resources and action), Group Collectivism (Degree to which loayalty is expressed in a company), Gender Equality, Future Oriented Behavior, Performance Oriented, Humane Oriented Fairness etc.) and Assertiveness (being self-assured without aggresivness)

Countries divided into 10 Cluster according to geographical reasons e.g. N. America, Germanic Europe etc. --> Example G. Europe, AUT, NED, CH, GER; high performance oriented, assertiveness and uncertainty avoidance; aggressive competition, formal rules and planning, individualism

Reasons for development: 

-Economic Factors: Increase competition, globalization, strategic alliances, tech. developments etc.

-Socio-cultural: Value change, diverstiy, demographic change

-Organ. Interal: Strong growth, productivity problems, change at the top, high fluctuation, 

Step 1: Analysis of Organ. Culture: Leader surveys, analysis of documents (annual reports, corporate identiy etc.), company walks (assesing symbols of status, typical ways of behavior etc.) and observation of meeting (topics, interaction rituals etc.) --> Analyis Strong vs. Weak Culture: pattern of values, share ideas of value and how far are they habits, stability of culture? --> What we'd like to be in the future --> Customer focus!

Step 2: Systematic Culture Development: Starting points for Leaders

Use the triangle of levels:

- Influence Artifacts: adapt structures to organ. culture, highlight real events that go with specific values, write down values--> deal with the symbols, stories, employees etc. of the company--> Symbolic management means to consciously & specifically influence the artifacts within a company

- Influence espoused values and basic underlying assumptions: attention towards norms and values increases their impact if not observed, their unimportance is highlighted! During crisis, especially demonstrate values of company culture; Leaders act as role models; Cultural appropriate behavior is rewarded in/formal; targeted selection/dismissal of employees