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Essay / Creating Culture - 1536
Webster defined culture as “….the act of developing…. intellectual and moral faculties”, notably through education; “expert care and training”; “enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired through intellectual and aesthetic training”; “the total pattern of human behavior embodied in thought, speech, action and artifacts and dependent on man's capacity to learn and transmit knowledge to succeeding generations….” The intensification of research on organizational effectiveness has led to the formulation of theories about the factors within an organization that can make a difference in terms of performance. Organizational culture is one such variable that has received much attention in the organizational behavior literature. This attention is primarily because researchers have posited that cultural factors play a key role in determining levels of organizational outcomes. A common assumption regarding this role suggests that if an organization has a "strong culture" by exhibiting a well-integrated and effective set of values, beliefs and specific behavioral patterns, then it will perform at a higher level of productivity. The development of theory to guide the definition of organizational culture is therefore of paramount importance to improving organizational performance, particularly because the variables that comprise culture have been postulated to be within the control of leaders organizational. Organizational culture has been defined as patterns of shared values and beliefs over time that produce behavioral norms that are adopted to resolve problems. Schein (1985) also noted that culture is a set of solutions to problems that have worked consistently and are therefore taught to new members as a correct way of perceiving, thinking, and relating to those problems . In fact, these shared philosophies, assumptions, values, expectations, attitudes, and norms bind an organization together. Thus, the set of integrated concepts becomes the manner of strategies by which an organization achieves its specific objectives. We can therefore postulate that the collective culture of an organization influences both the attitudes and subsequent behaviors of its employees, as well as the level of performance achieved by the organization. Schein (1990) noted that culture permeates the organization on at least three levels. fundamental levels. On the surface, one can observe visible artifacts of the organization, namely its structure, technology, rules of conduct, dress codes, records, physical layout, stories and rituals. Below this dimension lies a second level, the values of the organization and, finally, the underlying assumptions about the nature of the organization's “reality” which are deeper manifestations of the values. Of course, it is more difficult to study cultural processes at a later level, because they cannot be directly observed and measured..