Organizational Culture

Organizational Culture

September 28 , 2006

Culture change as a process is both difficult and time consuming for any organization because culture is rooted in the [organization 's] collective history ' and what is seen on the top is just the tip of an iceberg . These were the findings of the Symphony Orchestra Institute in an article entitled Organizational Culture : Change Process

To remedy these organizational dilemma , the Orchestra ' gave several processes of cultural change , to wit : uncover core values and beliefs acknowledge , respect , and discuss differences between core values and beliefs

of different subcultures within the organization look for incongruencies between conscious and unconscious beliefs and values and resolve by choosing those to which the organization wishes to commit and repeat these steps over a long period of time . As an ongoing process , identifying organization that completed culture change ' is difficult and only those organizations that are undergoing change-in-progress ' are available as an example for us to look into

Levi-Strauss and the San Francisco Symphony are two organizations that are undergoing this type of changes

For Levi-Strauss , culture change begun in 1985 as a result of the minority employees and female managers meeting with the CEO . The change ' has resulted to a new "Aspiration Statement " that commits for a communication , ethical management practice , employee empowerment and recognition for those who [has positive] contribut[ion] to the mission of the company ' The change [in Levi-Strauss] has not been entirely positive in the lowest tiers of the hierarchy ' because its needs major adjustments in people 's expectations and behavior[s]

For the San Francisco Symphony , the culture change focused on a transformed contract negotiation with the help of experts and trainers resulting to a new set of assumptions to be shared by all parties [as well as] the creat[ion] [of] new behavioral norms based on those assumptions ' The organization has capitalized cross-constituency groups ' activities to realize a team metaphor

Finally , Robert Marshak states that metaphor is a powerful factor in culture change or perpetuation and serves as a myth which is a primary mental framework for both individuals and organizations

Work Cited

Symphony Orchestra Institute . Organizational Culture : Change Process Retrieved September 28

2006 , from http /www .soi .org /reading /change /process .shtml

PAGE

PAGE 2

_ Organizational Culture...