How Leaders Shape Organization Culture

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Module | Organizational Theory | lecturer | Dr. Anwar Anaid | Student | Reem Mohammed Moaid | Date | 4/12/12 | How Leaders Shape Organizational Culture Many leaders spend a lot of time talking about company culture: What does it take to create the right kind of culture? How can you maintain that culture? How to build an organization that is fit for the future? But still many organizations treat the creation, maintenance, and periodic updating of their cultures in a cavalier manner. There’s an old joke about a CEO who attended a presentation on change management and corporate culture and then asked his head of HR to: Get me one of those things. Of course it sounds ludicrous – but like most jokes, this story is based in truth. (5 key elements in shaping company culture) Most senior managers struggle with culture because it’s so difficult to define. Even less tangible than a “soft” concept, culture is more like a cloud: You know it’s there, but it’s nearly impossible to grasp. What is Culture? The subject of organizational culture has become increasingly popular with modern leaders. Every company has its own unique culture, defined by a collective set of values and habits that condition actions of people within the organization. Culture is essentially the written and unwritten rules of how people work with each other, customers and other stakeholders. However, it’s complicated; the term “culture” means different things across such a range of disciplines and ways of thinking that it is among the most complicated words to define in the English language. Culture means different things to different audiences, as Peg Neuhauser said: “For most people, corporate culture is a vague and slippery concept at best. Almost everyone agrees that it is an important factor in the success or failure of any organization, but many people have difficulty pinning

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