Concept Version 7
Created by Boundless

Observable Culture

Observable culture is the visceral reflection of a company's underlying values that drive business decisions and policies.

Learning Objective

  • Recognize the way in which intrinsic organizational culture is transmitted into an observable, public face for organizational culture

Key Points

    • The culture of an organization is the collective behavior of humans who are part of an organization. Culture includes organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs, and habits.
    • Observable culture refers to the parts of an organization's culture that can be observed, such as a symbolic CEO, a business policy, or even a product.
    • Observable culture within an organization is the reflection of the company's underlying values that drive business decisions and policies.
    • It is very important for managers to maximize the utilization of resources so that the best results can be achieved.

Terms

  • assumption

    The act of taking for granted, or supposing a thing without proof; a supposition; an unwarrantable claim.

  • symbolic

    Something with an implicit meaning.

  • Observable Culture

    Observable culture refers to the parts of an organization's culture that can be observed.

Full Text

Observable Culture

The Definition Of Culture

The culture of an organization is the collective behavior of the people who belong to it. Culture includes many factors, such as:

  • Values
  • Visions
  • Norms
  • Working language
  • Systems
  • Symbols
  • Beliefs
  • Habits

It is also the pattern of such collective behaviors and assumptions that are taught to new organizational members as a way of perceiving, and even thinking and feeling. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders. Ravasi and Schultz (2006) stated that the culture of an organization is the asset of shared mental assumption by the members of the organization. These shared mental assumptions guide interpretation and action in organizations by defining appropriate behavior for various situations. Each company has their own unique culture, but in larger organizations diverse and conflicting cultures may exist due to different characteristics of management teams.

The Definition Of Observable Culture

Observable culture simply refers to the parts of an organization's culture that can be observed, such as a symbolic CEO, a business policy, or even a product . A company's values play a big role in reflecting their observable culture. When a company makes a business decision to make a product or deal with an issue, the reflection of this decision is the observable culture. The ritual and process within a company is also a part of observable culture. Observable culture within an organization is the reflection of a company's underlying values that drive business decisions and policies.

Observable Culture

IBM created observable culture with each of their products.

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