THE IMPACT OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE ON HRM

Management experts are placing increasing importance on the study and understanding of what is sometimes termed ‘organisational’ and other times ‘corporate’ culture. Excellence theorists, like Tom Peters, place strong emphasis on the part played by organisational culture in influencing the success or failure of organisations in their pursuit of excellence.

What is organisational culture?

Culture may be defined as “the sum total of the beliefs, knowledge, attitudes of mind and customs to which people are exposed in their social conditioning. Through contact with a particular culture, individuals learn a language, acquire values and learn habits of behaviour and thought.”

Organisations possess some of the ingredients of a subculture. They have distinctive shared beliefs and values that sometimes translate into policies and practices. People can instinctively get a “feel” of an organisation that is often difficult to define but represents some intuitive “gut reaction” to the nature of the business. Outside commentators will often say that a progressive business has a “buzz” about it or a conservative one feels “stuffy and formal”. Organisational culture, then, refers to the deep-seated values of an organisation as they are manifested in the ways in which people are expected to behave. The culture of an organisation can be observed in the way in which it is structured (e.g. centralised or decentralised); in the way authority is distributed (e.g. authoritarian or employee empowered) and along the lines of the analysis described below.

Organisational culture affects organisational climate.

Organisational climate refers to the ways in which people involved with the organisation (its stakeholders, customers and its competitors) perceive that organisation. How customer friendly is it? How concerned is it with the welfare of its employees? To what degree does it empower its employees?

Culture becomes apparent through many observable features of an enterprise:

1. Formal or informal structure
2. Centralised or decentralised decision-taking and whether decisions are taken by committees or individuals
3. The extent to which innovative thinking is promoted and encouraged
4. Freedom of various levels of staff and management to take decisions and responsibility (empowerment)
5. Openness of communications and even whether people are on first name terms
6. Layout and appearance of the factory or office
7. Formality of dress
8. Leadership styles adopted by managers
9. Educational attributes and intellect of employees
10. Acceptance or adversity to risk
11. Attitudes to teams
12. Attitudes to training and development
13. Attitudes to change and particularly, technology
14. Commitment to service and quality. As all these features contribute to the culture of the organisation, it must follow that each will be unique to its particular organisation.