Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations. These shared values have a strong influence on the people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs. The most important thing about culture is that it’s the only sustainable point of difference for any organization. Anyone can copy a company’s strategy, but nobody can copy their culture.
Some views on organization culture:
- Culture is how organizations do things
- The values and behaviors that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organisation
- Organisational culture defines a jointly shared description of an organization from within
- Organisational culture is the sum of values and rituals which serve as “glue” to integrate the members of the organisation
- Organisational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organisations
- Organisational culture is civilization in the workplace
- Organisational culture refers to the philosophies, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and practices that define an organisation
- Culture is the organization’s immune system
- It over simplifies the situation in large organizations to assume there is only one culture … and it’s risky for leaders to ignore the sub-cultures
The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) developed by Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn is a validated research method to assess organizational culture.