Module 4 – SLP
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CULTURE
For the SLP 4 assignment, you will explore some aspects of an organization’s culture, at least as you see it. (Select an organization you have worked with, if possible.) Since the concept of organizational culture is open to many interpretations and classifications, this assessment offers a slightly different approach from your background reading on organizational culture.
Required Reading
The People Group, Based on Gallup Research: What Makes a Great Workplace? Retrieved from https://thepeoplegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/article-gallup-research-what-makes-a-great-workplace1.pdf
McNamara, C. (2000) Organizational Culture. Adapted from the Field guide to Organizational Leadership and Supervision. Free Management Library. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/organizations/culture.htm
Assignment
Think about the results from the Gallup Survey for a minute, and how it compares to the Academy, Baseball Team, Fortress, and Club cultures described by McNamara in the Background reading.
Then prepare a 2- to 3-page paper addressing:
- In your opinion, do the Gallup results fit your general expectations or constitute a surprise in some ways? Interpret the results of the Gallup survey in terms of your own experience, either to confirm or to question the results. Compare the Gallup results and your opinions with the McNamara categories.
- The degree to which the Gallup results and the McNamara information tell you similar or dissimilar things about your organization.
- Does the Gallup survey and the McNamara categories help improve your managerial understanding and/or skills? What can you infer from the results about how your organization’s culture fits or doesn’t fit with you? What (if anything) can you do to make your interaction with the culture more effective?
- Provide your opinion on whether or not the above two sources in this SLP 4 help you understand the organization and how you cope with it. Do they accurately depict what is needed to analyze a company’s culture?
SLP Assignment Expectations
Your paper will be evaluated using the criteria on the SLP rubric (see the rubric for more detail): Assignment-Driven, Critical Thinking, Business Writing, Effective Use of Information, Citing Sources, and Timeliness.
Required Sources
Flamholtz, E. & Randle, Y. (2011). Corporate Culture: The Invisible Asset. Corporate Culture: The Ultimate Strategic Asset. (pp. 3-25), Stanford, CA: Stanford Business Books.
Janicijevic, N. (2013). The mutual Impact of organizational culture and structure. Economic Annals 58(198). Retrieved from http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0013-3264/2013/0013-32641398035J.pdf
McNamara, C. (2000) Organizational Culture. Adapted from the Fieldguide to Organizational Leadership and Supervision. Free Management Library. http://managementhelp.org/organizations/culture.htm
Mootee, I. (2012). What is the right organizational design for your corporation? And what test to use to know if you’ve got the right one? Innovation Playground. Retrieved from https://www.futurelab.net/blog/2012/06/what-right-organization-design-your-corporation-and-what-test-use-know-if-youve-got
Narasimhan, A., Yu, H. H., & Lane, N. (2012). Organization design: Inviting the outside in. Retrieved from https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/organizational-design-inviting-the-outside-in/
Pfeffer, J. (2014). Do workplace hierarchies still matter? Retrieved from http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/jeffrey-pfeffer-do-workplace-hierarchies-still-matter
The People Group, Based on Gallup Research: What Makes a Great Workplace? Retrieved from https://thepeoplegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/article-gallup-research-what-makes-a-great-workplace1.pdf
Tohidian, I., & Rahimian, H. (2019). Bringing Morgan’s metaphors in organization contexts: An essay review. Cogent Business & Management, 6(1). CC BY. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Optional Sources
Dawson, C. (2010). Leading culture change: What every CEO needs to know. Redwood City: Stanford Business Books, pp. 3-20. Retrieved from the Trident Online Library.
Denison, D., Hooijberg, R., & Lane, N. (2012). Building a high-performance Business Culture. Leading Culture Change in Global Organizations : Aligning Culture and Strategy. (pp. 1-23), Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/4X/04709088/047090884X-373.pdf
McNamara, C. (n.d.) Guidelines for organization design. In Free Management Library. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/organizations/design.htm
Mechanistic vs. Organic Organizational Structure: Contingency Theory (2014) BusinessMate.Org http://www.businessmate.org/Article.php?ArtikelId=44
Mootee, I. (2012). What is the right organizational design for your corporation? And what test to use to know if you’ve got the right one? Innovation Playground. Retrieved from https://www.futurelab.net/blog/2012/06/what-right-organization-design-your-corporation-and-what-test-use-know-if-youve-got
Organisation culture: Links and articles. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.new-paradigm.co.uk/Culture.htm#Case%20Studies
Schein, E.H. (2010) Organizational Culture & Leadership. 4th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
