CH-16 Organizational Culture – Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World, and You : Book Guide

16. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE REVIEW QUESTIONS: suggested answers Explain the three levels of organizational culture. How can each level be measured? Answer: Artifacts are the most visible and accessible level of culture. Artifacts include personal enactment, ceremonies and rites, stories, rituals, and symbols. Values are a deeper level of culture that reflects underlying beliefs. Espoused values are communicated through written information and the spoken comments of organizational leaders. Enacted values are evident in organizational members’ behavior. Assumptions are deeply held beliefs that guide behavior and tell members of an organization how to perceive and think about things. They are often held at a subconscious level and are difficult to measure. Describe five artifacts of culture and give an example of each. Answer: Personal enactment: The President of the company volunteers at Habitat for Humanity. Ceremonies and rites: Total quality teams present members with certificates at an elaborate banquet to recognize their efforts in reducing errors. Stories: Herb Kelleher first presented his idea for Southwest Airlines on the back of a napkin. Rituals: At Texas A&M football games, all students remain standing throughout the game. Symbols: Most universities have shields and/or emblems that serve as their logo and are printed on transcripts, diplomas and letterhead paper. Explain three theories about the relationship between organizational culture and performance. What does the research evidence say about each one? Answer: The strong culture theory says that deeply held and widely shared cultures perform best. Research evidence provides modest support. The fit perspective says the culture should fit the industry and the organization’s strategy. Research evidence indicates that the fit perspective predicts only short-term performance. The adaptation perspective says that flexible, responsive cultures lead to long-term performance. Research evidence supports this perspective. 1. Fit Theory: This theory suggests that a strong alignment between organizational culture and strategy enhances performance. Research indicates that when culture supports strategic goals, organizations often achieve better outcomes, as employees are more engaged and aligned with objectives. 2. Contingency Theory: This posits that the impact of culture on performance depends on contextual factors like industry and market conditions. Evidence shows that the effectiveness of cultural attributes can vary, with some cultures thriving under specific conditions and others not. 3. Culture-Performance Linkage: This theory argues that a positive, adaptive culture directly boosts performance through improved employee satisfaction and productivity. Studies generally support this view, indicating that supportive, innovative cultures often correlate with higher performance metrics and competitive advantage. Contrast adaptive and nonadaptive cultures. Answer: Adaptive cultures encourage risk taking and confidence among employees, while nonadaptive cultures tend to reduce risk taking and are political and bureaucratic. Nonadaptive cultures are inflexible to the changes necessary to respond to internal demands or environmental changes. How can leaders shape organizational culture? Answer: Employees emulate leaders’ behavior. They look for consistency between espoused values and enacted behavior. Leaders can shape organizational culture by what they pay attention to, by how they react to crisis situations, and by the way they reward, hire and fire organizational members. Describe the three stages of organizational socialization. How is culture communicated in each stage? Answer: Anticipatory socialization is the set of information gathered before a newcomer actually joins the organization. Culture is ascertained by hints in the interview process, contacts with current employees, and media channels. The second stage is the encounter stage, where a newcomer learns his or her tasks and clarifies his or her role. In this stage, culture is communicated by mentors, supervisors, and others who model behavior, as well as through policies, meetings, memos, etc. In the last stage, change and acquisition, both the newcomer and others begin to think of the newcomer as an insider. The individual is rewarded for displaying behavior that reflects the values of the culture. How can managers assess the organizational culture? What actions can they take to change the organizational culture? Answer: Sophisticated tools and techniques have been developed to assess organizational culture. The Organizational Culture Inventory is a popular tool that diagnoses the fit between the organization and the individual. The Kilmann-Saxton Culture-Gap, another popular tool, compares what actually happens with the expectations of others in the organization. This instrument helps pinpoint gaps in cultural change that affect performance, job satisfaction, and morale. Triangulation includes three techniques that provide the most comprehensive view of the organization when used in combination. How does a manager know that cultural change has been successful? Answer: Using the interventions for changing organizational culture presented in Figure 16.3, managers can assess the extent to which employees buy into a new set of values rather than merely complying with them. A manager can gauge the success of cultural change through several indicators: 1. Employee Engagement: Increased levels of employee satisfaction and engagement often signal that the cultural shift has resonated with the staff. 2. Behavioral Changes: Observing changes in daily behaviors and practices that align with the new culture indicates successful implementation. 3. Performance Metrics: Improvements in performance metrics, such as productivity, quality of work, and customer satisfaction, reflect the positive impact of the cultural change. 4. Feedback Mechanisms: Positive feedback from surveys, interviews, and informal communications can confirm that the new culture is being embraced. 5. Retention Rates: Higher retention rates and reduced turnover suggest that employees are more committed to the organization due to the cultural shift. What can managers do to develop a global organizational culture? Answer: Managers can create a clear mission statement and share it with all individuals. Next, they need to ensure that the flow of information is effective. They can broaden managers’ minds to allow them to think globally. Global career paths ensure that a broad range of employees experience various cultures. Tapping into the strengths of various cultures can enhance the products and services. Finally, managers can implement worldwide management education and team- development programs to help establish a shared identity among organizational members. DISCUSSION AND COMMUNICATION QUESTIONS: suggested answers Name a company with a visible organizational culture. What do you think are the company’s values? Has the culture contributed to the organization's performance? Explain. Answer: If students have difficulty discussing a specific company, it is useful to highlight a type of environment with which most can identify. The medical field provides very recognizable examples of culture. The medical field is monitored through self-accreditation and maintenance. Peers scrutinize the quality of their ranks, leading to a highly competitive and highly independent form of organization. Hospitals have little control over physicians, yet a great deal of joint sponsorship of goals. This shared responsibility and lack of authority leads to a very decentralized organization that lacks commitment to the organization from the colleagues. Loyalty is directed primarily toward the profession rather than the organization. Company: Google Values: Google’s values include innovation, openness, and collaboration. The company emphasizes a culture of creativity, employee empowerment, and a commitment to making information accessible to all. Contribution to Performance: Yes, Google’s culture has significantly contributed to its performance. The supportive and innovative environment fosters high employee satisfaction and productivity, leading to continuous technological advancements and market leadership. The company’s strong culture attracts top talent and drives its competitive edge in the tech industry. Name a leader you think manages organizational culture well. How does the leader do this? Use Schein’s description of how leaders reinforce culture to analyze the leader’s behavior. Answer: Most students will mention famous people initially. The problem with responding with high visibility individuals is that they may not be able to discuss the specifics of how these individuals reinforce culture. The textbook examples are some of the better examples. It is also interesting to discuss managers who may not be particularly adept at managing culture. Leader: Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Management of Culture: Nadella has successfully transformed Microsoft’s culture by emphasizing empathy, collaboration, and a growth mindset. He models these values in his own behavior, communicates them clearly, and integrates them into the company’s strategic goals. Schein’s Analysis: Nadella reinforces culture by articulating cultural values, role modeling desired behaviors, and aligning organizational practices with these values. His leadership promotes a culture of continuous learning and inclusivity, reflecting Schein’s principles of shaping and reinforcing organizational culture. Suppose you want to change your organization’s culture. What sort of resistance would you expect from employees? How would you deal with this resistance? Answer: Change is inevitable in all organizations, as is resistance to change. Even those individuals who advocate change will experience some anxiety as the organization’s culture changes. Typically, individuals who have been with an organization longer have some commitment and investment to the “way things are.” These individuals should be centrally involved in planning and implementing changes. Given Schein’s three levels, can we ever truly understand an organization's culture? Explain. Answer: Artifacts, such as ceremonies and rituals, are obvious most of the time. Values are less obvious and assumptions may be very difficult to uncover. Values and assumptions become very important when they are challenged or when a crisis forces the organization to take decisive action. Understanding an organization's culture is challenging due to Schein’s three levels of culture: 1. Artifacts: These are visible, tangible elements like dress code and office layout, but they only offer surface-level insights. 2. Espoused Values: These are the stated values and norms that the organization claims to uphold. While informative, they may not always align with actual practices. 3. Basic Underlying Assumptions: These are the deep, often unconscious beliefs and values that truly drive behavior within the organization. They are the hardest to observe and understand fully. Because basic underlying assumptions are deeply ingrained and not always visible, achieving a complete and accurate understanding of an organization’s culture is difficult. Insights can be gained through observation, communication, and analysis, but a full grasp of the culture remains elusive due to its complex and often subconscious nature. To what extent is culture manageable? Changeable? Answer: Culture is very difficult to change, and it does not happen quickly. However, culture can be changed if there is a conscious effort to assess the existing culture to determine what needs to be altered. Accomplishing change may require hiring new members into the organization. Select an organization that you might like to work for. Learn as much as you can about that company’s culture, using library resources, online sources, contacts within the company, and as many creative means as you can. Prepare a brief presentation to the class summarizing the culture. Answer: This exercise is excellent to assist in preparing students for the job search process. It gives them practice at researching an organization and allows them to learn about a variety of companies through their classmates’ presentations. Presentation: Understanding the Culture of [Company Name] Company: [Company Name] Overview: [Company Name] is renowned for its unique organizational culture that emphasizes [key cultural elements, e.g., innovation, collaboration, and inclusivity]. Key Cultural Aspects: 1. Core Values: The company prioritizes [list values, e.g., innovation, customer focus, sustainability], which are reflected in its [e.g., mission statements, corporate social responsibility initiatives]. 2. Work Environment: Employees experience a [describe work environment, e.g., collaborative and open environment] with [mention any unique practices, e.g., flexible work hours, open office spaces]. 3. Leadership Style: Leadership at [Company Name] is known for [describe leadership style, e.g., being approachable and supportive], and leaders actively model and reinforce the company’s values. 4. Employee Engagement: The company fosters engagement through [mention engagement practices, e.g., regular feedback sessions, professional development opportunities, team-building activities]. 5. Cultural Artifacts: Visible symbols of the culture include [list artifacts, e.g., company traditions, office decor, community involvement]. Sources of Information: • Library Resources: [Mention specific sources, e.g., business journals, case studies] • Online Sources: [List sources, e.g., company website, employee reviews on Glassdoor] • Contacts: [If applicable, mention interviews or conversations with current employees] Conclusion: [Company Name]’s culture is characterized by [summarize main points]. This environment supports [mention benefits, e.g., creativity, employee satisfaction], aligning with my personal and professional values, making it an appealing place to work. ETHICal dilemma Lisbeth’s options are to keep Graham and risk disrupting the culture that is at the heart of Larson-Knoff or to let him go and lose his talent but maintain the culture of the company. Using the consequential, rule-based, and character theories, evaluate Lisbeth’s options. Answer: Consequential – If Lisbeth keeps Graham, he will probably continue to do excellent individual work and may bring in a number of new clients, but his unwillingness to work as a team member may destroy the family/team culture of her company. If she lets Graham go, she will lose his talent and may not gain as many new clients, but will probably save the company’s family/team culture. Rule-based – Lisbeth’s obligation is to do what is best for the company. In this situation, the question is whether Graham’s talent and potential for bringing in new clients outweighs the disruptiveness of his refusal to work as a team player, which may substantially alter the company’s culture. Character – Lisbeth’s primary commitment seems to be to making sure her teams run efficiently and harmoniously. Graham’s presence in the company works against that goal. What should Lisbeth do? Why? Answer: Lisbeth should let Graham go. He may have misled her by his statement that he can work very effectively with others. If she keeps him on, the disruptiveness of his refusal to work as a team player threatens to undermine her goal of efficiency and harmony and could even result in the loss of some longer-term employees who become frustrated with his behavior. If she lets him go, she only loses one employee and restores the harmony that is so important to her and to the others in her company. EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES 16.1 Identifying Behavioral Norms Instructor's Notes: Students enjoy this exercise. There are sometimes very different norms for the international students than for the dominant culture students. Some students will have a hard time remembering the socialization process they lumbered through as freshmen. It is worth noting that transfer students have a different socialization process than most students. Another interesting response usually follows if you ask students how their campus culture differs from other universities. 16.2 Contrasting Organizational Cultures Instructor's Notes: Unless impression management issues are involved, it is usually better to have students get factual information about the organizations that are on the list. It is also worthwhile to allow students to select an organization that is not on the list, particularly if they are interested in non-profit organizations. Alternative Experiential Exercise * SOURCE: Advancement Strategies, Pfeiffer, 1992 The Headband Activity 1. In advance, write labels on headbands that reflect areas of difference relevance to the group. Suggested labels include the following: Single parent, highly educated, gay, physically handicapped, learning disabled, over sixty, under twenty-five, HIV positive, Native American, African American, Jewish, Puerto Rican, Mexican American, Chicano, Chinese American, African, and West Indian. 2. Ask students to form circles containing no more than ten members. Hand each participant a headband and ask him or her to tie it across his or her forehead without reading what is written on it. (Members can clearly see on another's labels but not their own.) If you prefer, it works well with nametags. 3. Give the small groups this decision-making task to perform: "Role play an employee group charged with the responsibility of determining merit increases for its members. The problem is that all but three members can receive increases this year. The other members must wait until next year and try again." 4. Tell the group they have only 20 minutes to decide and the decision must be unanimous. Instruct participants not to share with another person what label he or she is wearing but to treat one another as they would treat people of the labeled group. 5. Process the activity initially by asking each participant to guess what his or her headband said and to discuss how he or she discerned the label. 6. Post on a flip chart the following discussion generators and invite the class to share responses with one another: * How did it feel to wear a label? Would it have felt better if you had known what it said or if you had been able to choose another label? * Did you treat others according to their labels? Why? Why not? Did you find that your behavior changed over the course of the activity? What factors influenced your behavior? * Did you feel empowered or disempowered by your role? Why?
EXTRA EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES The following alternative exercises to supplement the material in the textbook can be obtained from: Marcic, Dorothy, Seltzer, Joseph, & Vaill, Peter. Organizational Behavior: Experiences and Cases, 6th Ed. South-Western College Publishing Company, 2001. Organizational Culture Assessment. p. 213-218. Time: 45 minutes in class. Purpose: To identify organizational norms and to identify campus norms students hold in common. Decisions at R.J.P.&B. Advertising. p. 219-220. Time: 50 minutes. Purpose: To discuss the impacts of downsizing and physical settings on organizational culture. Fandt, Patricia M. Management Skills: Practice and Experience. West Publishing Company, 1994. In-Basket Exercise 2: Establishing Priorities. p. 281. In-Basket Exercise 3: Developing Work Strategies. p. 283. TAKE 2 BIZ FLIX: Charlie Wilson’s War PPT Slide 29 Organizations Discussed: United States Congress Democratic Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) from East Texas lives a reckless life that includes heavy drinking and chasing attractive women. The film focuses on the Afghanistan rebellion against the Soviet troop invasion in the 1980s. Wilson becomes the unlikely champion of the Afghan cause through his role in two major congressional committees that deal with foreign policy and covert operations. Houston socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) strongly urges the intervention. CIA agent Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) helps with some details. Organizational Culture: Some Observations This sequence appears early in the film after the scene showing Charlie Wilson, Paul Brown (Brian Markinson), Crystal Lee (Jud Tyler), and two strippers drinking and partying in a hot tub. It opens with a shot of the Capitol building. Congressman Charlie Wilson talks to his assistant Bonnie Bach (Amy Adams) while walking to chambers for a vote. The sequence ends after Wilson enters the chambers. What to Watch for and Ask Yourself PPT Slide 27 This chapter described organizational culture as having three levels of visibility. Artifacts are at the first level and are the easiest to see. Which artifacts did you observe in this sequence? Answer: Many artifacts appear in this film sequence. Viewers can see them unfold in the early part of the sequence. They include business attire for men and women, pictures on the walls that show historical Congressional figures, lighting fixtures, carpeting, furnishings, and formal behavior in greeting each other (“Congressman . . .Tip asked me to talk to you”). “Tip” refers to the Speaker of the House, Massachusetts’ Congressmen the late Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill. In this sequence, the observable artifacts include: 1. Physical Layout: The arrangement of office spaces, furniture, and decor reflects organizational culture. 2. Dress Code: The way employees dress, from formal to casual attire, signifies cultural norms. 3. Company Logos and Symbols: Visual elements like logos, mission statements, and promotional materials are prominent. 4. Office Rituals: Regularly observed practices such as meetings, team-building activities, and celebrations. 5. Communication Style: The tone and formality of internal communication, such as emails and memos, illustrate cultural values. Values appear at the next level of organizational culture. You can infer a culture’s values from the behavior of organizational members. Which values appear in this sequence? Answer: Wilson’s behavioral reaction to Donnelly’s (Daniel Eric Gold) observation that “Tip” wants to appoint him to the ethics committee implies a cultural value of unethical behavior, at least for Wilson. Negotiation then emerges as another value. Wilson wants an appointment to the Kennedy Center Board of Directors. Donnelly says, “Consider it done.” In this sequence, the inferred values include: 1. Collaboration: Employees working together and supporting each other indicates a value placed on teamwork. 2. Innovation: Encouragement of new ideas and creative problem-solving suggests a value on innovation and forward-thinking. 3. Customer Focus: Prioritizing customer needs and feedback demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction. 4. Integrity: Adherence to ethical practices and transparency shows a value for honesty and ethical behavior. 5. Professional Development: Investment in training and growth opportunities reflects a value placed on continuous learning and career advancement. Organizational members will subconsciously behave according to an organization culture’s assumptions. You also can infer these from observed behavior. Which assumptions appear in this sequence? Answer: The social interaction as Wilson goes through the halls suggests an assumption of formality in social structure, social relationships, and status relationships. Wilson shows less formality in his interactions, and some rebellious behavior (drinking whiskey and dating), which defines him as a subculture within the organizational culture. He also expresses an assumption for timely information as shown by his reading the teletype output instead of a newspaper. In this sequence, the inferred assumptions include: 1. Shared Purpose: Belief in a common organizational mission that guides actions and decisions. 2. Trust in Leadership: Confidence in leadership’s decisions and direction, indicating trust in their vision and capabilities. 3. Value of Teamwork: Assumption that collaboration is essential for success, leading to cooperative behavior among members. 4. Adaptability: Belief in the need to be flexible and responsive to change, influencing how members approach challenges. 5. Employee Well-being: Assumption that supporting employees' needs and work-life balance contributes to overall success. WORKPLACE VIDEO: Camp Bow Wow Video Case Synopsis Founder stories play an important role in business. Andrew Carnegie’s rise from a penniless immigrant to a captain of industry is one of the most famous rags-to-riches stories in American history. More recently, Heidi Ganahl’s launch of Camp Bow Wow has become a powerfully motivational story of triumph over tragedy. Most people know Camp Bow Wow as a fun franchise that offers doggie day care for pet owners on the go. But the company’s emergence from a single kennel in Denver, Colorado, to a $40 million dollar franchise is as inspirational a story as any in business. When Ganahl and her first husband were in their mid-twenties, the dog-loving duo dreaded leaving pets at cold cramped clinics, and they dreamed of a better way to care for animals. The couple drew up plans for a dog-friendly kennel business and even began discussing a launch. Then, tragically, Ganahl’s husband died on a Stearman WWII biplane joyride offered as a gift for his 25th birthday. Heidi’s life went into a tailspin. Depressed and raising her child alone, Ganahl frittered away nearly $1 million dollars received in a settlement, until her brother stepped in and urged her to launch the business she had envisioned with her husband. The intervention was magic, and Heidi’s dogs gave her the extra motivation she needed to move forward. Heidi’s story has helped transform Camp Bow Wow into one of the fastest growing franchises in the United States. The transition from a small family business to a national chain has required big changes in the company’s culture. “As I've grown the company, the focus had to shift from a family-based culture to a business-and-performance-oriented culture,” Ganahl said. According to Camp Bow Wow’s top dog, corporate culture has many elements: it can mean logos and branded material, a presence on the Internet, or even the relationships developed with customers and employees. But a key element of Camp Bow Wow’s culture that doesn’t exist in other franchises is the staff’s deep emotional connection with animals. The connection is immediately apparent at Camp Bow Wow’s corporate headquarters, where offices are bustling with employees and pets alike. “It’s all about the pets,” Ganahl says. “If we keep that focus and that commitment, I think our culture will be alive and well for a long time.” Discussion Questions and Solutions What aspects of Camp Bow Wow’s corporate culture are visible and conscious? What aspects are invisible and unconscious? Answer: Visible aspects of Camp Bow Wow’s culture include the company logo, the presence of dogs in workspaces, the dress code, the camp imagery, and Heidi Ganahl’s life story, which is told and retold during franchisee meetings. Founder Heidi Ganahl says that one of the unique things about working at Camp Bow Wow’s corporate headquarters is that “you get to bring your dog to work with you every day.” Employees keep baby gates at offices to hold dogs, and the company encourages regular dog-walking breaks. According to Heidi Ganahl, having pets at work keeps everyone focused on the company mission and what’s best for the brand. Invisible aspects of Camp Bow Wow’s culture include values such as overcoming adversity to achieve success—a core value communicated through Heidi Ganahl’s life story. Another invisible value embraced at Camp Bow Wow is the idea of providing a humanitarian service to dogs and dog lovers. This invisible value has led to the creation of the Bow Wow Buddies Foundation, a non-profit division of Heidi Ganahl’s company that finds homes for unwanted pets, invests in animal disease-prevention research, and promotes humane treatment of animals. Why did Camp Bow Wow have to change its culture when it became a national franchise? Answer: Camp Bow Wow’s early family-business culture was useful in the startup phase of Camp Bow Wow’s growth. However, Founder Heidi Ganahl says her company required a different culture once it became a national franchise. In particular, Ganahl says the focus had to shift from a family-based culture to a business-and-performance-oriented culture. She states that the big challenge for any franchise chain is to get hundreds of franchisees on the same page and committed to one vision and one way of achieving goals. Ganahl says this requires a strong culture that “doesn't allow for people to color outside of the lines, yet taps into their creativity and innovation.” What impact does Heidi Ganahl’s story have on employees at Camp Bow Wow? Answer: The story of Heidi Ganahl is famous at all levels of the Camp Bow Wow organization. Consumers and franchisees who come in contact with Camp Bow Wow learn about the company by hearing the details of her story. Boulder franchisee Sue Ryan says that Ganahl’s story is inspiring to her because it deals with perseverance through tough times. Ryan adds that while business owners don’t experience Ganahl’s specific tragedy, they do understand adversity. Finally, the story offers a personal connection between employees and the founder. According to Ganahl, the takeaway from her story is that people inevitably face challenges in life and business, but our response to adversity determines whether we will be successful or unsuccessful. CASE SOLUTION: The Mayo Clinic: An Enduring Organizational Culture Linkage of Case to Chapter Material This case focuses on the Mayo Clinic, which has healthcare facilities in Rochester, Minnesota; Jacksonville, Florida; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona. Collectively, these three facilities employ more than 3,300 physicians, scientists, and researchers, and 46,000 allied health staff. All of these people are bound together with an enduring set of values that have defined the clinic’s culture throughout its entire existence. The primary value of the Mayo Clinic states: “The needs of the patient come first.” This primary value is supplemented by eight other values that pertain to respect, compassion, integrity, healing, teamwork, excellence, innovation, and stewardship. These values manifest themselves in a culture of teamwork, collegiality, professionalism, mutual respect, and a commitment to progress for the organization and for individuals. At the Mayo Clinic, “[c]ulture becomes the vehicle through which problems and challenges become addressed, defined, reframed, and ultimately solved.” In considering the organizational culture of the Mayo Clinic, the students can explore the artifacts, values, and assumptions of culture, giving special emphasis to espoused values and enacted values. The functions and effects of culture are relevant as well. In particular, the Mayo Clinic’s culture can be examined in the context of the four functions that organizational cultures serve. The case could also be discussed from the perspective of the effects of culture, especially in applying the notion of a strong culture to the Mayo Clinic. How culture is developed and maintained is another linkage between the content of Chapter 16 and the Mayo Clinic case. Suggested Answers for Discussion Questions What purpose does culture serve for an organization? Answer: Culture serves to give definition to the nature of an organization and how it works. Culture reflects the values that members of the organization share and which guide their behavior. For the Mayo Clinic, “[c]ulture becomes the vehicle through which problems and challenges become addressed, defined, reframed, and ultimately solvedThe culture is not the end or goal but rather the means.” The essential means for the Mayo Clinic always has been and continues to be “putting the needs of the patient first.” At the Mayo Clinic, not only do the members talk the talk of putting the patient first, but they also walk the walk. Describe the Mayo Clinic’s culture from the perspective of espoused values and enacted values. Answer: Espoused values refer to what members of an organization say they value. Enacted values refer to the values that are reflected in the way people actually behave. The primary espoused value of the Mayo Clinic is: “The needs of the patient come first.” This primary espoused value is supplemented by eight other espoused values that pertain to respect, compassion, integrity, healing, teamwork, excellence, innovation, and stewardship. The enacted values at the Mayo clinic manifest themselves in doctors and staff helping each other out rather than competing with one another; consequently, they make all clinical decisions on the basis of what best serves the patient’s needs. In addition, the enacted values are shown in the experiences of clinic personnel in having challenging patient cases on which to work and inspiring colleagues with whom to work. Using the perspective of the functions of organizational culture, explain the impact of Mayo’s values and ideals. Answer: Organizational culture serves four basic functions. First, culture provides a sense of identity to members and increases their commitment to the organization. Second, culture provides a way for employees to interpret the meaning of organizational events. Third, culture reinforces the values in the organization. Fourth, culture serves as a control mechanism for shaping behavior. The following chart shows the most likely connections among the four functions of culture and Mayo’s espoused values. An “X” in a cell of the matrix indicates that the cultural function has an impact on the specific espoused value.
The Mayo Clinic’s Values Culture provides a sense of identity to members and increases their commitment to the organization. Culture provides a way for employees to interpret the meaning of organizational events. Culture reinforces the values in the organization. Culture serves as a control mechanism for shaping behavior.
Putting patient first X X X X
Respect X X
Compassion X X X X
Integrity X X X X
Healing X X X X
Teamwork X X
Excellence X X
Innovation X
Stewardship X X
What role has the Mayo Clinic’s compensation system played in developing and maintaining its culture? Answer: Virtually all Mayo employees are salaried with no incentive payments, thereby separating the number of patients seen or procedures performed from personal gain. A Mayo surgeon states: “By not having our economics tied to our cases, we are free to do what comes naturally, and that is to help one another out…Our system removes a set of perverse incentives and permits us to make all clinical decisions on the basis of what is best for the patient.” Mayo’s salary system discourages physicians from having divided loyalties and eliminates competition between doctors. Thereby, the compensation system supports and reinforces Mayo’s primary cultural value of putting the patient first as well as its eight supporting cultural values. Do you think the Mayo Clinic’s culture provides a good model for other healthcare organizations? Why or why not? Answer: The Mayo Clinic’s culture can provide an excellent model for other healthcare organizations. Without a doubt, throughout the healthcare industry the needs of the patients should always be first. To have anything else as the foremost concern is to turn healthcare into a perversion. The supporting values of Mayo’s culture guide its personnel in conducting their activities in a manner that truly puts the patient first. This is something that other healthcare organizations would do well to emulate. SOURCE: This case solution was written by Michael K. McCuddy, The Louis S. and Mary L. Morgal Chair of Christian Business Ethics and Professor of Management, College of Business, Valparaiso University. Solution Manual for Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World, and You Debra L. Nelson, James Campbell Quick 9781111825867