Culture

Culture

Organisational culture can be described as “the way we do things around here” (Deal & Kennedy, 1982) It is the unwritten beliefs, attitudes, values and expectations about how people work within an organisation. Individuals are not often aware of a culture within the workplace however it consciously has an influence over their behaviour and actions. A person either fits in with the culture, or rejects it and leaves.

Visible aspects of culture are artefacts and creations. This includes physical space, layout, uniform, language and the behaviour of group members. (Mullins, 2010)

There are many visible aspects that make up part of Barclay’s culture, these include:  the corporate wear which all members of staff working in the branch must wear, service standards which each member of staff must follow for each and every customer, the layout of the branches, all similar in style, the till points and computers which staff work on daily.

Charles Handy came up with four types of organisational culture in 1993, these are: power culture, role culture, task culture and person culture.

Power culture is where there is a central powerful figure taking charge within the business. The business is usually very small, for example a family run roofing business. This type of culture has few rules and systems and fast decisions are made due to there being few layers.

Role culture is typical of a bureaucratic type of organisation, for example within finance or production. People work to a job description, the skills and abilities of an individual are not as important.

Person culture is where the organisation only exists to serve the interest of those within it, for example a Doctor’s surgery. The individuals working within the business are central to it and therefore there is no need for hierarchy.

Task culture is within a project based company which relies heavily on team work. The task in hand is more important than the individuals or rules. It applies to a business such as research, where there is freedom and flexibility and good communication between departments to get the task completed.

 One problem of trying to classify culture to fit into Handy’s model is that culture is very difficult to measure. As a result of this an organisation must work to what best suits them, rather than to a model of this sort.

In reality four types of culture cannot sum up all of the organisations that have been established. Each business will have its own culture and may relate to Handy’s four cultures, however will not necessarily reflect them identically as every organisation is run differently, using different management and techniques.

Although culture helps to motivate staff, often changes can be made to the culture within an organisation due to new technology, growth, mergers or new products and many other things.  There are barriers to change that will be faced as a result, these are: attitudes of staff, resistance to change, trade unions and cost & time. Change to culture must be handled carefully as to make sure it works for everyone, and to avoid de-motivated staff.

In conclusion it is clear that there are many things which make up the culture of a business, and the culture differs from one organisation to another. If an individual fits in with the culture of a business, it leads to high motivation as they feel they are part of the team and will work very hard a result. When an individual finds an organisation in which they slot into the culture perfectly, often they will be there for a long time as it works for them and suits their lifestyle. Therefore trying to change the culture of a business can be tricky and sometimes can have the opposite effect. Individuals don’t often understand why you would change something when it is currently working effectively.