Organizational Culture

Option #1 Chapter five in our textbook identifies several components of organizational culture, including artifacts, stories, rituals, and ceremonies (these elements of organizational culture are listed on page 128-129). Think about an organization that you have been a member of or are familiar with, and discuss how organizational culture contributes to people’s sense of membership within that organization. Close by discussing whether the organization actively attempts to shape the organizational culture, as in the examples discussed in class, and what this might accomplish.

Within every national culture there are thousands of smaller cultures based on religion, ethnicity, geography, and a myriad of other factors. Whether people create groups or communities, a culture inevitably develops. Anthropologist Marshall Sahlins (1976) defines culture as meaningful orders of persons and things. Thus, we learn about a culture not only by what its members say, but also by what they do on a regular basis (e.g., staff meetings, performance reviews, bowling leagues) and the things they choose to display in connection with their work.

Clifford Geertz (1973) defines culture as “an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.”

Edgar Schein (1994) offers this variation: “An organizational culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that have been invented, discovered, and/or developed by a group as it learns to cope with problems of external adaptation and internal integration.”

Not all members of a culture accept or practice those beliefs in the same way, however. Like religions, most cultures include various sects or subcultures that share the common order but whose ways of understanding or carrying out their beliefs differ.

The term organizational culture stands for the actions, ways of thinking, practices, stories, and artifacts that characterize a particular organization. We study the culture of an organization through close examination of its symbolic environment (e.g., the arrangement of parking lots, office cubicles, and conference rooms) as well as through its use of symbols (e.g., topics of conversations, key vocabulary and jargon, treasured accomplishments and awards).

Organizational cultures emerge from organizational members’ individual and collective symbol-using practices. Scholars and practitioners often focus on one or more of those symbolic expressions, referred to here as cultural elements, to learn more about or to transform an organization’s culture.

Metaphors are figures of speech that define an unfamiliar experience in terms of another more familiar one.
When I worked at Old Navy last year, our managers used to say that we were the “Old Navy family.” This sort of metaphor was used to construct the experience that I had while working there as well as supposedly make me want to work with the rest of my fellow employees in a family style manner.

Rituals “dramatize” a culture’s basic values and can range in scope from personal, day-to-day routines for accomplishing tasks to annual organization-wide celebrations to top performers. New product launches, office birthday celebrations, sales conferences and performance evaluations are all aimed at reinforcing organizational values.
Every weekend at Old Navy (Friday-Sunday) during the summer was considered “flip-flop weekend.” Even though our store’s flip flops are the most popular, due to their low price and quality, we were only allow to wear them on the weekend. If we did wear them, however, we needed to pay a dollar, similar to dress down days when I was in high school. Then, the money made would go to the charity that our store was supporting that month.

Storytelling is an important cultural activity because stories convey to member what and who is valued by the culture, how things are to be done, and the consequences for cultural compliance and/or deviation.
On the Gap.com website, it tells the story of Doris and Don Fisher. In 1969, Doris and Don Fisher opened the first Gap store in San Francisco with the goal of creating a store experience that was easy for the customer and offered a wide selection of fits and styles. They then went on to create three other lines, including Old Navy. In 1994, the Founder of Gap, Inc. and the CEO were visiting Paris, France and came upon a place distinctly named Old Navy and it struck a chord with them. (The Old Navy official site says, "Old Navy was named after a bar in Paris.) A branding consultant, two weeks before the trip abroad, had presented them with the name 'Elevator'. The concept name was received with mixed reviews. It has been said that the name was chosen because the stores were to imitate the look and feel of a traditional military surplus store. While this motif was quickly dropped, many stores retain a warehouse-like/urban decor and the name Old Navy stuck.

Artifacts, or the tangible and physical features of an organization, contribute to its culture. Office décor, spatial arrangements, corporate art, dress codes, and even graffiti are markers of culture.
Old Navy is known for its very urban/ware-house-like décor with certain distinct sections for their various styles. It is also a store known for its hip and upbeat music. Although its employees are not required to wear its clothing, they do encourage it and with the great discounts, most employees can afford to do so. The store also is known for its long running history of commercials (over 60) with the dog Magic.

Heroes and heroines are members of an organization who are held up as role models. They embody and personify cultural values. Often heroic figures are organizational founders or hail from managerial ranks.
While in training, new employees watch a video on the history of Gap Inc. and learn about the story of Doris and Don Fisher. This allows them to see where Old Navy all began.

Members often engage in dynamic, ongoing, and creative communication behaviors as they construct cultures. Performances center on rituals, passion, sociality (or organizational etiquette), politics, socialization of new members, and identity.
Each day before the morning shift began at Old Navy, all of the employees met in the break room to discuss certain issues. At that time, the manager on duty also reminded us to push Old Navy Cards. She/he would then go on to congratulate certain employees for their efforts and would sometimes even physically congratulate them by writing their name on a counting board.

Values represent a (more or less) shared set of beliefs about appropriate organizational behaviors. They are often derived from charismatic leaders or founders or organizational traditions.
One of Old Navy’s biggest value is that it offers great fashion at great prices for everyone.

Overall, cultural approaches bring the symbolic life of organizations to the forefront. Organizational cultures are constructed through language, everyday practices, and members’ meaning making. Several cultural elements combine to create an organization’s unique sense of place, including metaphors, stories, rituals, artifacts, heroes and heroines, performances, and values. While several different and sometimes competing approaches to organizational culture exist, a communication perspective on organizational culture provides a useful, but complicated and dynamic, framework for understanding, participating in, and transforming organizational communication.

While at Old Navy, I became very close with the other members of my “family,” because of the environment that we were put in. We not only had activities going on in the store, but we also had other charity events that we attended as a store, outside. This allowed our store to bond and become closer, thus resulting in a better environment to overall work in. Everyone got along and worked well together and the day’s work was almost always accomplished.

I do not believe that Old Navy necessarily tries to completely actively shape the organizational culture, however I do believe that through the outside events previously mentioned as well as the other in store contests the culture formed in its own way.

Information was attained from “Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint” (5th. Edition) by Eric M. Eisenberg, H.L. Goodall Jr. & Angela Trethewey