Management
tenth edition
Stephen P. Robbins
Chapter
Mary Coulter
Organizational
Culture and
Environment
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Learning Outcomes
Follow this Learning Outline as you read and
study this chapter.
3.1 The Manager: Omnipotent Or Symbolic?
Contrast the actions of managers according to the omnipotent
and symbolic views.
Identify the two constraints on managerial discretion.
3.2 Organizational Culture
Identify the seven dimensions of organizational culture.
Discuss the impact of a strong culture on organizations and
managers.
Explain how a culture is formed and maintained.
Describe how culture affects managers.
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Learning Outcomes
3.3 Current Organizational Culture Issues.
Describe the characteristics of an ethical culture, an innovative
culture, and a customer-responsive culture.
Explain why workplace spirituality seems to be an important
concern.
Describe the characteristics of a spiritual organization.
3.4 The Environment.
List the components of the specific and general environments.
Explain the two dimensions of environmental uncertainty.
Identify the most common organizational stakeholders.
List the four steps in managing external stakeholder
relationships.
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The Organizations Culture
Organizational Culture
A system of shared meanings and common beliefs
held by organizational members that determines, in a
large degree, how they act towards each other.
The way we do things around here.
Values, symbols, rituals, myths, and practices
Implications:
Culture is a perception.
Culture is shared.
Culture is descriptive.
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Exhibit 32 Dimensions of Organizational Culture
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Strong Versus Weak Cultures
Strong Cultures
Are cultures in which key values are deeply and
widely held.
Have a strong influence on organizational members.
Factors Influencing the Strength of Culture
Size of the organization
Age of the organization
Rate of employee turnover
Strength of the original culture
Clarity of cultural values and beliefs
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Exhibit 33 Contrasting Organizational Cultures
Dimension
Organization A
Organization B
High
Low
Low
High
Low
Low
High
High
Stability
Low
High
High
Low
Innovation and Risk Taking
Low
High
Attention to Detail
Outcome Orientation
People Orientation
Team Orientation
Aggressiveness
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Benefits of a Strong Culture
Creates a stronger employee commitment to the
organization.
Aids in the recruitment and socialization of new
employees.
Fosters higher organizational
performance by instilling and
promoting employee initiative.
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Exhibit 34 Strong Versus Weak Organizational
Cultures
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How Employees Learn Culture
Stories
Narratives of significant events or actions of people that
convey the spirit of the organization
Rituals
Repetitive sequences of activities that express and
reinforce the values of the organization
Material Symbols
Physical assets distinguishing the organization
Language
Acronyms and jargon of terms, phrases, and word
meanings specific to an organization
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310
How Culture Affects Managers
Cultural Constraints on Managers
Whatever managerial actions the organization
recognizes as proper or improper on its behalf
Whatever organizational activities the organization
values and encourages
The overall strength or weakness of the
organizational culture
Simple rule for getting ahead in an organization:
Find out what the organization rewards and act accordingly.
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311
Exhibit 36 Managerial Decisions Affected by Culture
Planning
The degree of risk that plans should contain
Whether plans should be developed by individuals or teams
The degree of environmental scanning in which management
will engage
Organizing
How much autonomy should be designed into employees jobs
Whether tasks should be done by individuals or in teams
The degree to which department managers interact with each
other
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312
Exhibit 36 Managerial Decisions Affected by Culture
(contd)
Leading
The degree to which managers are concerned with increasing
employee job satisfaction
What leadership styles are appropriate
Whether all disagreementseven constructive onesshould
be eliminated
Controlling
Whether to impose external controls or to allow employees to
control their own actions
What criteria should be emphasized in employee performance
evaluations
What repercussions will occur from exceeding ones budget
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313
Organization Culture Issues
Creating an Ethical
Culture
High in risk tolerance
Low to moderate
aggressiveness
Focus on means as
well as outcomes
Creating an Innovative
Culture
Challenge and
involvement
Freedom
Trust and openness
Idea time
Playfulness/humor
Conflict resolution
Debates
Risk-taking
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314
Defining the External
Environment
External Environment
Those factors and forces outside the organization that
affect the organizations performance.
Components of the External Environment
Specific environment: external forces that have a
direct and immediate impact on the organization.
General environment: broad economic, sociocultural, political/legal, demographic, technological,
and global conditions that may affect the organization.
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Exhibit 39 The External Environment
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How the Environment Affects
Managers
Environmental Uncertainty
The extent to which managers have knowledge of
and are able to predict change their organizations
external environment is affected by:
Complexity of the environment: the number of components
in an organizations external environment.
Degree of change in environmental components: how
dynamic or stable the external environment is.
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Exhibit 312 Organizational Stakeholders
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Terms to Know
omnipotent view of
management
symbolic view of
management
organizational culture
strong cultures
socialization
workplace spirituality
external environment
specific environment
general environment
environmental
uncertainty
environmental
complexity
stakeholders
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