What is Organizational Culture?

Organizational culture is a system of shared value and beliefs held by organizational members that unite the members of an organization and determine how they act. Culture indicates a common perception held by the members of an organization and it governs how its members should behave. Since the concept of organizational culture is frequently used to describe the internal environment of major corporations therefore it is also known as corporate culture. Every organization contains different values, rituals, symbols, myths etc. These shared values are very important for the success of an organization because behavior of individual is greatly influenced by these values which ultimately influence the organizational effectiveness. Here we should note that culture may have positive or negative impact on the effectiveness of organization depending upon the nature of culture i.e. whether the culture supports the organizational goals or not. 

What are the important Aspects of Organizational Culture?

There are three important aspects of organizational culture which help to determine the potential impact of culture on a given organization. The explanation of these aspects is given below.

• Direction

Culture can help the organization to achieve it goals. The aspect of direction indicates the extent to which a culture supports the organization in reaching its goals.

• Pervasiveness

Pervasiveness shows the degree to which a culture is widespread among the members of an organization. If the organization has culture in which the key values are widely shared then it shows that the culture is widespread among the members.

• Strength