Accounting technicians scheme west africa
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| (iv) Organisational culture Smircich (1983) defined organisational culture as a system of shared values, assumptions, beliefs, and norms that unite the members of an organisation. Kilmann, et al (1986) noted that culture reflects common views about the way things are done around here. Organisational culture is otherwise called corporate culture because the concept is regularly used to describe the internal environment of major organisations. Culture is very important to organisations because as individuals act on shared values and other aspect of organisational culture, their behaviours can have a significant impact on organisational effectiveness. Organisational culture can develop from a variety of sources. It can develop from drive and imagination of individuals involved in the reward systems, policies and procedures that are instituted within the organisation. The reward for excellence or pushing a major innovation may add to individuals perceptions of internal norms overtime. A major change in the external or task environment such as change in economic environment or a tense competitive environment, may force an organisation to reevaluate its acceptable norms in the areas like quality and pricing. To analyse the likely impact of culture on a given organisation, three aspects of organisational culture are necessarily important direction, pervasiveness, and strength. Direction in this regard refers to the degree to which a culture supports, rather than interferes within reaching organisational goals. Pervasiveness looks at the extent to which a culture 35 is widespread among members, as opposed to being unevenly distributed. Strength addresses the degree to which members accept the values and other aspects of a culture. Bartol and Martin (1994) are of the view that culture can have a positive impact on organisational effectiveness when it supports organisational goals, is widely shared, and is deeply internalised by organisational members. In contrast, a culture can have a negative impact when the culture is widely shared and well internalised but influences behaviours in directions that do not further organisational goals. Download 3.37 Mb. Share with your friends:
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