The Aspects of Organizational Culture

Defining Culture And Organizational Culture

Throughout this chapter, we will explore the components of organizational culture and how subsystems, or multiple aspects of identity and environment, overlap to create an organizational vulture. Throughout history, culture has been thought of as something related to the region, an identity that embraces and encompasses aspects such as religion, language, food, etc. (Pappas & McKelvie, 2022). This broad understanding of culture is present today when considering how culture is seen as a commodity or a grouping of likenesses where groups share patterns in their behavior, socializations, interactions, etc. (Pappas & McKelvie, 2022). Hence, this unique set of commonalities shared amongst groups is unique to the members of groups who embrace and embody these aspects of identity. Moreover, culture can also be adapted or changed; we see this in various ways. For example, religions can be changed or adapted differently in different world regions. Christians in one part of the world might express their religious faith and belief systems differently than other groups. Hence, some larger systems or cultures exist, and smaller subsystems derive from larger cultures or systems.

Thus, this is exactly the way we should think of culture. Culture is a series of systems or subsystems that can be changed or adapted depending on the individuals who make up a culture (Pappas & McKelvie, 2022). Moreover, from the abovementioned concept, we can see that culture is unique to time and location. This means a culture can change over time due to external or internal influences (Pappas & McKelvie, 2022). The internal influences would be the people who share similar beliefs or values, and the external influences could be the environment, a change in thought process or thinking over time, etc. (Pappas & McKelvie, 2022). For example, when we accept things the way they are in the present moment, which is shared amongst groups, this becomes a common culture. When the way we see things changes amongst groups of people, the culture changes. We have seen how technology or limited beliefs have changed among groups and how this causes a cultural shift or change. For example, historically, the culture of gender norms amongst women and males has changed. Women were seen as the caretakers, and males were the providers. These ideologies or belief systems have shifted in the way we see culture. New knowledge or information disputes the idea that we should conform to gender roles. Hence, the change is a new understanding of how work is performed and the expected duties or roles that males or females were thought to perform over time. The shift is the idea that women are caretakers, and now women can be providers and caretakers, and males can also embody both roles. Hence, the idea of gender roles and conformability has changed with new knowledge.