SESSION 13 | ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs how people behave in organizations

What makes us want to be part of an outfit?

What makes us feel good about our work? | Dan Ariely

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Why we might need an organizational culture

While there is universal agreement that (1) it exists, and (2) that it plays a crucial role in shaping behavior in organizations, there is little consensus on what organizational culture actually is, never mind how it influences behavior and whether it is something leaders can change.

What Is Organizational Culture? And Why Should We Care? | Michael D. Watkins

One last source of corporate stupidity we came across was company culture. Often, these cultures imprison employees in narrow ways of viewing the world ...

Stupefied How organisations enshrine collective stupidity and employees are rewarded for checking their brains at the office door | André Spicer

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You don't have to read these unless you wish to, but we might touch upon them in conversation

1. Schein, E. H. (1985). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Chapter 1, Defining organizational culture, 3-15 and Chapter 2, Uncovering the levels of culture, 16-27.
2. If that does not satisfy you, you might want to also read the #hypertextual blog article on Edgar Schein and what his work means.

Then to take the thought of organizational culture down to one organization and its culture, read

3. 1100100 and counting
4. The test of time

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things we'll talk about

• define organizational culture from the Schein reading
• plan to discuss your personal experiences with organizational cultures
• what organizational examples (or companies) can we think of that have been successful because of their organizational culture?

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