MS 11 IGNOU MBA Solved Assignment -What do you understand by an organizational culture? Is there a relationship between service and culture of an organization? Justify with the help of a case of an organization

What do you understand by an organizational culture? Is there a relationship between service and culture of an organization? Justify with the help of a case of an organization
Ans : WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE?          
 A single definition of organizational culture has proven to be very elusive. No one definition of organizational culture has emerged in the literature. One of the issues involving culture is that is defined both in terms of its causes and effect. For example, these are the two ways in which cultures often defined. OutcomesDefining culture as a manifest pattern of behavior- Many people use the term culture to describe patterns of cross individual behavioral consistency (CIBC). For example, when people say that culture is “The way we do things around here,” they are defining consistent way is in which people perform tasks, solve problems, resolve conflicts, treat customers, and treat employees. Process Defining culture as a set of mechanisms creating cross individual behavioral consistency- In this case culture is defined as the informal values, norms, and beliefs that control how individuals and groups in an organization interact with each other and with people outside the organization.Both of these approaches are relevant to understanding culture. It is important to know on what types of behavior culture has greatest impact (outcomes) and how culture works to control the behavior of organizational members. We will address these two questions later in the module.
 FUNCTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURELike all social mechanisms, an organization's culture performs certain social functions, some or them intended and some of them unintended. Like organizational structure, culture is difficult to observe, measure or map. in some cases, culture supports or reinforces structure, in others it conflicts with structure. in yet other situations, cultures acts as a functional alternative to reducing behavioral variability in organizations. These are the most commonly discussed functions of organizational culture Behavioral ControlMost systems of social organization attempt to control the variability of member behavior. Whether it is a business organization, a club, community or nation, social systems need to limit certain behaviors and encourage others. At one level organizations setup rules, procedures and standards along with various consequences for compliance and non-compliance. This system of formalization is part of the organization's formal structure. However, we often find a high degree of behavioral regularity (cross individual behavioral consistency) in system without a strong formal systems of rules and regulations. In these cases, it is often the organizational or group culture that provides informal direction. We will see in the Cultural Control Mechanisms section how the culture performs this control function
 Encourages StabilityTurnover and transitions exists in most all social systems. Despite changes in membership and leadership many organizations maintain certain characteristics, problems are handled essentially the same way, and behavior continues to be directed toward the same mission and goals. An organization's culture is often passed on from "generation" to "generation" creating a relatively high level of stability over time.
 Provides Source Of IdentityIndividuals continually search to define their social identities. Sometimes identities are defined by roles or professions and in other cases people define themselves through their organizational membership. When taking on an organization as a source of identity, people are taking on the values and accomplishments of that organization.
 LIABILITIES OF CULTUREWhen looking at functions of culture, it is easy to see these in positive terms and assume that a strong culture would lead to an organization's success. While this is often true, we often find that a strong culture impedes some of the actions taken by managers. This often happens in unexpected and unpredictable ways. Remember that while cultural control mechanisms direct individual behavior, they do not always direct is in manner consistent with the organization's mission or managerial goals. For example, employees may set production norms and enforced these on group members. These norms or limits are often lower than production standards desired by managers. Groups often exert powerful influences on their members in an effort to protect each other from managerial action. In theses can formal structure and group norms may be in conflict. Here are some other situations where a strong culture may be an impediment to action.
 Barrier To Change And Improvement The very fact that cultural derived norms, values and mental models are often internalized by members, often makes them resistant to change when they see these changes in conflict with these values. This is especially true when organizational change is implemented through structural change. For example, while a new reward or incentive system is implemented in support of the change in direction or strategy, employee values and other cultural mechanisms supporting the former direction are still deeply imbedded which conflict with the new structure. This becomes a battle over the relative strengths of the structure and culture. Even if the structure ends up being a more powerful force, the implementation of the change is slowed as multiple forms of resistance emerge.
 Barrier To DiversityStrong company cultures create uniformity and consistency of behavior among employees. This is known as cross individual behavioral consistency. While this may be desirable in many ways, it works against a company's goals of creating a diverse workplace and utilizing this diversity for competitive advantage in at least two ways. The first is that one of way in which strong cultures are created is through selection of new employees based on person-organization fit, that is applicants are selected who are believed to "fit" into the organization. This practice tends to limit diversity of any kind. A related issues is that when potential employees are choosing employers, they tend to avoid companies with strong cultures not aligned with their values.
The second way in which strong cultures acts as a barrier to diversity has to do with the way in which a strong culture acts to homogenize the workforce. One the reasons why companies desire increased diversity is based on the assumption that more diverse decision-making teams will be more creative and make decisions more inline with a diverse marketplace. Any benefits achieved through diversity hiring can be lost as the mechanisms of a strong culture as new employees attempt to fit in with the team.
 Barrier To Cross Departmental And Cross Organizational CooperationWhile we often use the terms organizational culture or company culture, most large organizations have sub-cultures associated with different geographic locals or different functional units. For example the culture of an engineering department is often very different than the culture of a marketing department. When communication and coordination is essential between units with very different sub-cultures, messages are often misinterpret and conflict in priorities hampers the ability of these units to work cooperative on a project of solve a problem.
 Barrier To Mergers And AcquisitionsOne of the factors cited from the high percentage failure of merged organizations to meet their goals, is the change process did not account for or do anything to deal with conflict in cultures between the two original organizations. This is especially true when the merger plan seeks to merge different departments into one and requiring them to operate as a single unit. This may be as simple as dress codes, or a fundamental as leadership style and team decision-making protocols (see section: What Types of Behavior Does Culture Control?

CULTURAL ATTRIBUTESWhile there are a number of models that attempt to define the dimensions or characteristics that differentiate one culture from another, the model that I find the most useful was developed by Kilmann, Saxton, M. J., and Serpa (1986).
 DirectionThe Direction of impact is the course that culture is causing organizations to follow. Does culture influence behavior so that organizational goals are accomplished, or does culture push members to behave in ways that are counter to the formal mission and goals of the organization?
 PervasivenessThe Pervasiveness of impact is the degree to which the culture is widespread, or shared, among the members of a group.
 Strength The Strength of impact is the level of pressure that culture exerts on the members in the organization, regardless of direction. How strongly held or the social values? How committed our members to the shared mental models? How vigorously enforced other social norms?