Movie review

Posted: April 6th, 2022

on a scene from the comedy movie “9 to 5”. Judy is a new employee and these are her first minutes in the workplace.

What can you learn about the culture of this workplace from this scene? In your answer, refer to observable artifacts, espoused values and possible basic underlying assumptions.

Course Material that you should use:

Organizational Culture •The shared social knowledge within an organization regarding the rules, norms, and values that shape the attitudes and behaviours of its employees

The Importance of Culture “Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast” • Social glue that helps hold an organization together • Conveys a sense of identity for organization members • Serves as a control mechanism

The Three Components of Organizational Culture: Espoused Values, Basic underlying assumptions, and observable artifacts

Observable Artifacts •The manifestations of an organization’s culture that employees can easily see or talk about • Symbols • Physical structures • Language • Stories • Rituals • Ceremonies

Espoused Values •The beliefs, philosophies, and norms that a company explicitly states • Can range from published documents, such as a company’s vision or mission statement on its website or annual report, to verbal statements made to employees by executives and managers

Basic Underlying Assumptions •Taken-for-granted beliefs and philosophies that are so ingrained that employees simply act on them rather than questioning the validity of their behaviour in a given situation

Specific Culture Types • Customer Service culture • WestJet •Safety culture • Syncrude Canada Ltd. • Diversity culture • Royal Bank of Canada • Sustainability culture • Cliff Bar and Company • Creativity culture • 3M Canada

Culture Strength •When employees strongly agree about the way things are supposed to happen within the organization (high consensus) and when their subsequent behaviours are consistent with those expectations (high intensity) •Strong cultures have both advantages and disadvantages

Maintaining a Culture •Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) • Employees will be drawn to organizations with cultures that match their personality, organizations will select employees that match, and employees will leave or be forced out when they are not a good fit •Socialization ๏Anticipatory stage ๏Encounter stage ๏Understanding and adaptation