Organizational Culture Case

Organizational Culture

3rd December’14

1.0 Introduction  

Organizational culture is defined as the behavior of the employees in an organization and the meanings they tend to attach to those particulars behaviors. Organizational culture tends to include symbols, values, visions and beliefs, norms and habits etc. The culture of an organization also has the ability to leave an impact on its productivity and performance.

This paper is going to be comparing the two organizational models by Handy and Deal & Kennedy. The comparison is going to be done with the help of example and in the end a model will be chosen which provides the most realistic representation of contemporary organizations.

2.0 Comparison between Two Organizational Culture Models

The comparison is going to take place between two different models of organizational culture provide by Handy and Deal and Kennedy.

2.1 Organizational Culture Model by Handy  

According to Senior & Fleming (2009), the organizational culture model that was presented by Handy (1999) following the work of Harrison (1972), tends to link the organizational structure with the culture of the organization, it can be said that his model of organizational culture tends to focus more on the internal environment of the organization. In his model he has divided the culture into 4 types, they are as follows;

• Role Culture, in this culture the individuals are assigned to specific job or activities. It basically helps huge organizations to delegate work among the employees. But this culture is not suitable for small companies with few employees. The leadership style that is highly suitable in this situation is autocratic or paternalistic. For example, this kind of culture tends to work in marketing and sales departments and as in legal compliance of large organizations like retail organizations.  
• Power Culture; in this culture there is only major source of power and influence. Here the employees tend to take direction from their owners. In this culture the decision are made rather quickly without any form of consultation. The leadership style that is highly suitable in this situation is autocratic. An example would be a small owner managed business (Senior & Fleming 2009).  
• Task Culture; team tend to play a crucial role in this culture to complete a specific task given to them. In this culture the employees of the company are motivated and feel highly empowered because they are able to make decisions regarding these tasks. The leadership style that is highly suitable in this situation is paternalistic or democratic. An example would be project team, who are given a budget and time frame to accomplish their set tasks.  
• Person Culture; here the focus is on the people who are working for the company. The culture tends to focus on the self-actualization needs and it is extremely value oriented. The leadership style that is highly suitable in this situation is democratic. An example of this culture would be department were individual have the same sort of training, background and expertise like the accounting department.

2.2 Organizational Culture Model by Deal & Kennedy

According to the culture model that was provided by Deal & Kennedy, organizational culture has been defined as a way to get things done within the organization. Miller (2008), suggests that it has been argued by Deal & Kennedy that with the development of a very strong culture the business success can be enhanced, therefore it can be said that this model of organizational culture tends to focus more on the external environment of the organization. According to Deal & Kennedy, there are four components to the culture which are created when the two dimensions combine, they are as follows;