Bemigho Awala September 29, 2009

PAU/SMC/FT/090011
Organizational Communication

Organizational Culture: Values, Norm, Attitude and Beliefs

Edgar Schein defines organizational culture as “the residue of success" within an organization.
Organizational culture is the set of operating principles that determine how people behave within the
context of the company and is underlined by the observable behaviors of people are the beliefs,
values, norms and attitude that dictate their actions.

Values: Values are ideals that guide or qualify your personal conduct, interaction with others,
and involvement in your career. They help you to distinguish what is right from what is wrong
and inform you on how you can conduct your life in a meaningful way. Organizational values
express preferences for certain behaviors or certain outcomes which help establish the
permanence of the organization's culture. Values underlie and to a large extent determine
behavior.

Norm: These prescribe appropriate kinds of behavior by employees in particular situations and
control the behavior of organizational members towards one another. Organizational norms
express behaviors accepted by others. They are culturally acceptable ways of pursuing goals.
Norms are referred to as “the way we do things around here. Norms and values are related.
Norms are rules for behavior in specific situations while values identify what should be judged
as good or evil.

Attitude: Attitude is a mindset that affects behavior. Carl Jung, the famous psychologist defines
attitude as a "readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way". It represents an individual's
degree of like or dislike for an item- person, place, thing, or event. Attitudes are formed in
relation to one’s beliefs and values. Negative attitude by individual team members in a group
might result in conflict and prevent the team from optimizing its performance. This in turn
reduces productivity in an organization.

Beliefs: These are underlying assumptions that grow out of values, until they become taken for
granted and drop out of awareness. Beliefs produce actions. We use our beliefs in order to come
to conclusions that enable us to understand others and act in the world we live in. The decisions
and judgments we make are filtered through our belief system. In every organization, the beliefs
of the founders play a role in establishing the culture. Also this culture is influenced by the
beliefs brought by new members.
Notes
http://www.experiencefestival.com/organizational_culture_-_edgar_schein
http://www.soi.org/reading/change/process.shtml
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch16.html