TABLE OF CONTENTS: Introduction:...........................................................2 Body:......................................................................

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1. Definitions and concepts of corporate culture:...........................2 2. Organizational culture frameworks:............................................4 a. Handys four types......................................................................4 b. Deal and Kennedys typology:....................................................6 3. The functions of corporate culture:.............................................7 4. Impact on management style:....................................................9 5. Case study:...............................................................................10

Conclusion:...........................................................11 References:..........................................................13 APPENDIX:............................................................15

Introduction:
Since the late 1970s and the early 1980s, corporate culture has gained much attention as its effects and potential impact on organizational successes and there are hundreds of articles have been discussed about this subject. There are a large number of authors attempted to provide comprehensive organizational cultures concepts and models. It firstly will provide a literature review on the subject of organizational culture including the definitions, concepts and frameworks. Then it will analyse the functions of corporate culture and the impact of corporate culture on management style. Last but not least, it will introduce the case of CBV Securities Joint-Stock Company and discuss about its culture.

Body:
1. Definitions and concepts of corporate culture:
Despite the vast amount of studies on organisational culture, it is very difficult to give a precise definition for this general concept. Before the first major work on organizational culture and management of Peters in 1978, it was just vaguely mentioned by Blau and Scott (1962) as informal dimensions of an organisation. Then, Pettigrew (1979) with significant work on this field noted that cultures in an organization are cognitive systems which determine the way of thinking, reasoning and making decisions. He also argued that organisational culture is a complex set of values, assumptions, and beliefs defining how an organisation operates (Pettigrew, 1990). Drennan (1992) provided a simple and popular definition of culture as how things are done around here. Similarly, Atkinson (1990) saw corporate culture as the underlying assumptions about how the work is done, how people think and behave in an organisation A more detailed definitions of organizational culture is organizational culture is the intrinsic and invisible values of the organization which have a great influence on shaping individuals behaviour within the organization (Scholz,

1987), the shared philosophy, ideologies, values, assumption, beliefs, expectations, attitudes and norms that bring the organization together (Kilman et al.,1985) , "a system of standard and behaviour chosen as a means of problem solving (Ahmet et al.,1999) or the human creation that bring about consensus and value and inspire commitment and efficiency (Trice and Beyer,1984). According to Roskin (1986), corporate culture is a set of common code of behaviour and beliefs that combine with organizational human and structure factors to build up behavioural standard within the organization. Another way of defining business culture is to view it based on three levels which are artefacts, espoused values and basic assumption as suggested by Schein (2004). On the other hand, Deal and Kennedy (1982) refer to it as three main dimensions: values, heroes and rituals. Schein (1985) provided six cultural dimensions to explain the composition of corporate culture that are: Behavioural regularities, dominant values, norms, rules, philosophy and climate (further information could be found in the Appendix). These six dimensions offer a tool to find out the interaction between culture and organization. The cycle of culture is provided to reflect this interaction. In this cycle, all the activities happened within the organization are influenced by specific behaviour and related value patterns that are created by culture. After that these activities are evaluated based on the management objectives and then the results will be feed back into culture. If the culture satisfy management objective it will be strengthen, if not it will be changed.

Picture 1: The cycle of culture (Schein, 1985)

2. Organizational culture frameworks: a. Handys four types

According to Handy (1993), corporate culture is a group of shared values and norms and beliefs that indicated in organizational structure and system. Based on organizational structure, history and working environment etc., Developed from Harrisons study in 1972, Handy categorizes corporate culture into four different types that are: Power culture, role culture, task culture and people culture. Power culture: The Power culture indicated the concentration of power that often seen in small enterprises. Its structure is seen as a web in which the power concentrates in the centre and spread out from this point. In this type of culture, power concentrate on few persons who have absolute influence on organizational decision-making and problem solving. The successes of the organizations with power culture are mainly depended on the ability of those who retain authority.

Picture2: Power culture (The Web) (Handy,1993) Role culture: Handy (1993) described the structure of role culture as a Greek Temple and it is often seen in government institution, local authorities and the state-owned businesses where job description, procedures, rules and systems are very important. In this culture, decision making process mainly based on hierarchy and this type of culture is bureaucracy, however it is still logic and rational. Organizations with role culture have two important characteristics that are predictability and stability. Although job description is important in this culture and every member in the organization is assigned a particular role, people are not expected and motivated to overstep the role description.

Picture 3: Role culture (Greek Temple) (Handy,1993) Task culture: Information and expertise are important factors of task culture. 5

This culture stimulates a close link within the organization to fulfil the job and it care more about effectiveness and efficiency than power and hierarchy. Task culture is described as a net (or lattice). In task culture, there is a strong link between departments and functions to meet the need of the organization. Decision -making and problem solving process are normally spread through out the lattice and the movement depends on the task requirement. As it is flexible, it is easier for task culture to adapt to changes.

Picture 4: Task culture (Lattice or net)(Handy,1993) People culture: in people culture, human resource is considered as the most important factor in the organization. All member of organization are treated equally; organizational structures and environment are built to satisfy members need.

Picture 5: People culture (cluster)(Handy,1993)

b. Deal and Kennedys typology:

Deal and Kennedy (1982) based on the level of risk taken and the speed of feedback received within the organization on decision making to divide

organizational culture into four different groups that are: the tough guy macho, the work hard/ play hard, bet your company and the process culture. This framework can be seen as a tool for manager to identify their organizational culture. Work hard/ play hard culture: this culture concentrates on productivity of work and it is reflected in organization with low risk and quick feedback. Work hard/play hard cultures sometimes concern more about the volume than the quality. Process culture: organizations with this type of culture pay more attention to related systems and procedures. The features of process culture are low risk and slow feedback speed. People working in this culture receive very little feedback on what they had done thus they are so protective and cautious at work. The touch-guy, macho culture: this type of culture often found in high risk and quick feedback organization. This culture stimulates the role of every member within the organization and individual ability to achieve objectives is important. Because of these characteristics, all the individuals have to work under high pressure and internal competition. Organization with this type of culture can be successful with quick return and high-risk environment instead of investing in long-term projects. Turnover rate of staff in touch-guy, macho culture is high. Bet your company culture: Technical skill is the most important factor in this culture. Organizations with this kind of culture take very high risk and receive very slow respond from the environment. People working in this culture are required to respect the hierarchy at work and technical competence, able to co-operate with others to fulfil the task and work under high pressure.

3. The functions of corporate culture:

As almost all scholars considered culture as an intrinsic asset of the organization, there are large numbers of authors attempted to discuss about the functions of organizational culture. Based on Hampden-Turner (1990), organizational culture produces suitable behaviours, motivates all the

members, provides solutions if needed. It also determines the communication and information process and the relationship within organization. Whereas, there are some writers consider culture as a liability. Sathe (1985) argued that as culture is a pattern of shared values and norms, it has a great influence on the way of doing business, thus it sometimes lead to unsuitable thinking and actions. From these views, Brown (1995) drew out five main functions of organizational culture: Conflict solving: Organizational culture has an important role in

strengthening the relationship within the organization. Culture can be considered as a guiding star for action and problem solving because it fosters the stability of shared values and perceptions, help define problems and evaluate issues and options. Organizational culture promotes internal integration and consensus to reduce conflict. It also helps all members in organization reach the common goals by promoting interpersonal relationship. Co-ordinating and controlling: As culture is a set of shared norms and behaviour that provides appropriate way for individuals to reach the common agreement within the organization. Culture even helps organization find out the most appropriate options when needed and also rejects options that are incompatible with organizational culture. Culture also plays controlling role by forming values, perception and basic assumptions. Culture is sometimes more powerful than rules and regulations. Uncertainty reduction: All organizations have to face with uncertainty at work. As culture provides the common way of doing things and behaving, it is easier for individuals to find out the optimal options and act in the most suitable way. Motivation: organizational culture is a significant tool of motivation. A strong organizational culture can create an enjoyable, belonging and meaningful feeling at work for employees, encourage them to be loyal and promote high performance. Competitive advantage: An organization with strong culture can reduce conflict, better in coordinating and controlling, reduce uncertainty effectively

motivate employees, and it also has great influence on the productivity and the quality at work, thus it is seen as a competitive advantage. Strong organizational culture provides a better chance for successful competition.

4. Impact on management style:

According to Sayeed and Mehta (1981), planning, organizing, controlling and goal setting are major functions of management in organization. It is necessary for managers to perform their functions in a way that can satisfy organizational need and requirements; moreover, their values and attitudes have a great influence on organizations performance. Organizational culture has significant impact on management style in terms of their thinking and actions because it reflects the entire typical characteristics of an organization (Sadri and Lees, 2001). Viorica (2006) argued that managers working in a strong culture tend to be more responsible for their decisions, concern more about the order, discipline and quality at work and they also try to achieve organizational goals. It is also very important for managers to develop their typical characteristics that are suitable with corporate culture thus it would be easier for them to perform effectively and enhance the commitment and quality of the organization (Rashid et al., 2003). Prabhu (2005) suggested that different cultures have different values, norm, underlying assumption and way of behaviour thus organizational culture could determine negotiation, judgment, decision-making and thinking style of managers. Moreover, corporate culture also defines the way managers control, motivate their employees and stimulate commitment within the organization and also impact on the degree managers concern for employees non-work related matters (Buch and Wetzel, 2001). For example, autocratic management style in power cultured organisations implies that they are likely to suffer from low morale and high turnover of the middle staff who can not cope with the fierce competitive atmosphere; however, as these organisations really trust the individual and the emphasis is

on results, they create an ideal environment for power-oriented individuals to show full potential and become very successful. Whereas, a clear impact of role culture on management is the emphasis on rules and procedures. This implies a management style based on clear structures and regulations. An advantage of this impact is that the work may be done efficiently due to the rationality of the work allocation rather than personal influences. The clear role description and procedures also provide staff some source of guidance on what to do and how to do their work correctly. However, the disadvantage of relying on rules and procedures is that if overused, it may create bureaucracy that negatively affects the productivity and flexibility of the organisation. Secondly, organisation with role culture will succeed in a stable environment i.e. management based on rules and procedures work best when the organisation can control its environment, where markets are stable and predictable with long product life cycle. However, this style of management is slow to identify the need for changes and even if such a need is identified, organisations with role culture may find it very difficult to react. Furthermore, Lund (2003) argued that being aware of the organizations dominant culture can help managers assess inherent strengths and limitations of their strategies. Because in almost all organizations, attributes of several cultures are presented and some of which have opposing values and emphasis, managers who clearly aware of it can conduct more effective strategies.

5. Case study:
Established in 2002, CBV Securities Joint-Stock Company is the leading securities company in Vietnam (CBV, 2008). CBV has very high level of loyalty and commitment from both managers and employees. From the very first time, CBV seriously concern about their staff by applying careful design health care and welfare program for the whole company. CBVs organizational culture is consultative and participative. All the individuals in CBV feel free to raise their voice about any issues and they have very close relationship with managers. Rules and regulations are very few, people rely on trust and

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conflict is rare. CBV managers are very democratic; they always respect all the staffs opinions before making decisions and solving problems thus it creates the feeling of belonging and promote commitment and loyalty among employees. As a result, company reports no loss in productivity from the very first time despite the impact of global financial on Vietnam financial market. However, everything has its two sides, because of the close relationship between managers and employees, sometimes managers tend to tolerant of staffs mistakes thus it can affect the performance quality.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, since the late 1970s and the early 1980s, there has been a large number of researchers have provided different definitions and concepts of corporate culture. Organisations culture is basically known as behaviour, norms, values, philosophy, rules of the games and feelings (Hellriegel et al, 1998). Based on Harrisons study in 1972, Handy (1993) categorizes corporate culture into four different types that are: Power culture, role culture, task culture and people culture. Deal and Kennedy (1982) based on the level of risk taken and the speed of feedback received within the organization on decision making to divide organizational culture into four different groups that are: the tough guy macho, the work hard/ play hard, bet your company and the process culture. It is clear that organizational culture is very important for every organization as it can be use as an useful tool to solve conflict, coordinate and control the whole organization, motivate staffs and stimulate comparative advantage. Furthermore, corporate culture also has great influences on management style, in the way managers making decisions, solving problems, thinking, motivating employees, promoting commitment within the organization and conducting business strategies. As the important roles of culture for every organization, all individuals should together build up a strong culture to enhance a better performance, inspire commitment and knit the whole organization together. Moreover, a positive 11

corporate culture will also help the organization to enhance executive effectiveness and to reach the height of success.

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References:
1. Ahmed, P.K., Loh, A.Y.E and Zairic, M (1999). Culture for continuous improvement and learning. Total quality management. 4 (10). pp. 426434. 2. Atkinson, P.E. (1990), Creating Cultural Change. Management Services, 34(7), pp. 6 10 3. Blau, P.M. and Scott, W.R. (1962), Formal Organizations: A Comparative Approach, Chandler, Toronto, Ontario, pp. 2-8. 4. Brown, A (1995). Organizational culture. London: Pitman Publishing. pp.57-59. 5. Buch, K and Wetzel, D (2001). Analyzing and realigning organizational culture. Leadership and organization development journal. 22 (1). pp.40-43. 6. Deal, T.E and Kennedy, A.A (1982), Corporate Cultures: the Rites and Rituals of Corporate life. First edition. Penguin Group 7. Drennan, D. (1992), Transforming Company Culture, London: McGrawHill 8. Handy, C. B (1993), Understanding Organisation,. Four Edition, Penguin Books 9. Hampden-Turner, C (1990). Corporate culture from vicious to vicious circle. London. Economist books. 10. Hellriegel, D., and Woodman, R. W (1998), Organisational Behaviour, Eighth Edition, South-Western College, Cincinnati, OH. 11. CA 12. 13. 14. Lund, D. (2003). Orgnizational culture and job satisfaction. Pettigrew, A.M. (1979). On studying organizational cultures,. Rashid, M (2003). The influence of corporate culture and Journal of business and industrial marketing. 18 (3), pp.219-236. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24 (3), pp. 570-81. organizational commitment on performance. European journal of Kilmann, R.H., Saxton, M.J., Serpa, R. and Associates (1985), Gaining Control of the Corporate Culture, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco,

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marketing. 31(5), pp. 356-365 15. Roskin, R. (1986), Corporate imperative. culture Journal revolution: of the management 16. development Managerial

Psychology, 1(2), pp. 3-9. Sadri, G and Lees, B. (2001). Developing coporate culture as a comparative advantages. Journal of management development. 20 (10), pp.853-859. 17. 18. Sathe, V. (1985). Culture and related corporate realities. Sayeed, O. B. and Mehta, P. (1981), Managerial Value Homewood, III: Irwin Innovation, Leadership Style, and Organizational Health: A Workgroup Analysis, Indian Journal of Industrial Relations. 16 (7).pp. 531-544. 19. 20. 21. Scholz, C. (1987), Corporate culture and strategy: the problem Schein, E. H. (1985) Organisational Culture and Leadership: A Trice, H.M. and Beyer, J.M. (1984), Studying organizational of strategic fit. Long Range Planning, 20( 4), pp. 78-87. Dynamic View, Third Edition, Jossey Bass. culture through rites and ceremonials. Academy of Management Review, 9 (5), pp. 653-69. 22. Viorica, M. (2006). Changes in Romanian organizations:a management culture approach. Journal of organizational change management. 19 (6), 747-752. 23. www.CBV.com.vn

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APPENDIX:
The dimensions of culture: Behavioral regularities: This reflects observable patterns of behavior. It might include induction ceremonies, the in-group language and the ritualized behavior patterns that reflect membership of particular groups or organizations Dominant values: These are the specific beliefs expressed by groups and organization Norms: There are general patterns of behavior that all member of a group are expected to follow Rules: are specific instructions of what must be done, whereas norms are sometimes unwritten and informal accepted. The rules are the must dos of the organization set out by management. However, because they must be followed employees may simply comply with them. This represents the different between doing something because it is necessary and do it because of a belief that is right or because it represents a norm of the particular group Philosophy: in this context these reflect the underlying beliefs that people hold about people in general, their beliefs, mentality and the basis on which they operate. Given that an organization is largely formed by managers who run it, the philosophy of it naturally tends to reflect their values. Based on this philosophy managers determine the policies and practices that will guide the company and help to frame its culture and operations Climate: the physical layout of building, attitudes to open plan as opposed to enclosed offices, recreation facilities, management style and design of public areas all help to create atmosphere or climate within the company.

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