What is Organizational Culture?

 

The aspect of strength shows the degree to which members accept the values and other aspects of a culture. If the key values are deeply held in an organization then we can say that strength of culture is high.

 

How employees learn culture

 

There are different ways through which culture is transmitted to employees. Some of significant ways are: stories, rituals, symbols, and language.

 

• Stories

 

A story is a narrative based on true significant events. The corporate storytellers such as senior executives tell stories about the company’s past. Such stories help to shape the future of company and exemplify what is important for the company.

 

• Material Symbols

 

Symbol is a vehicle for conveying meaning and it could be an object, event, act or quality. When a person walks into different business he gets a feel for the place. For example casual, formal, serious, fun etc. such feeling represents the power of material symbols. Similarly the dress of employees, size of offices, transportation and resort facilities etc are examples of material symbols.

 

• Rituals

 

The repetitive sequence of activities that indicates the values of organization are known as rituals. It shows the most important goals as well as most important people in the organization. Rituals convey the cultural values to participants and usually an audience by performing different rites and ceremonial activities. 

 

• Language

 

Many a times, language is used to identify members of a particular culture. By learning this language, members of organization develop unique terms to describe different things such as equipment, suppliers, customers, or products that are related to their business. For example in Microsoft facemail refers to actually talking to someone face-to-face.