3.4.1 The concept and characteristics of the culture of the organization

The term "organizational culture" and the degree of its influence on employees and their behavior, the classification of the cultural aspects of the organization, especially the culture in different countries.

The essence and content of organizational culture are considered through its functions. The image of the organization implies a certain structure of organizational culture. Various characteristics of organizational culture are given, the main types of organizational culture are revealed. The processes and parameters through which culture influences organizational effectiveness are considered.

The culture of the organization, of course, does not exist separately from the culture of society. And if we are talking about culture, for example, an organization such as a state, then it exists within the framework of world culture. However, in this case we are talking about the culture of the organization as its internal variable. In recent years, the interest of both theorists and management practitioners to this issue has sharply increased. The result was the emergence of numerous concepts of corporate culture, organizational culture, intra-company culture, etc. The increased attention is primarily due to the fact that an increased understanding of the influence that culture has on the effectiveness of the organization.

Consider the term "organizational culture" and the degree of its influence on employees and their behavior, and ultimately on the effectiveness of the organization. There are many approaches to the selection of various factors that characterize and identify a particular culture at the macro or micro level.

The culture of any organization is formed under the influence of the external environment. However, as practice shows, two organizations working in the same environment may have very different cultures. At the same time, consumers of their products and services have a different opinion about the work of these organizations, each of which forms its own image, which is based on the specific quality of the products and services provided, the rules of conduct and moral principles of employees, reputation in the business world, etc. This happens because, through their collective experience, members of the organization solve two important tasks differently: external adaptation and internal integration .

External adaptation is the organization's response to the requirements of the external environment, i.e., what and how it should do. The process of adaptation is primarily associated with finding and finding its niche and its capacity in the market, adapting the organization to the changing conditions of the external environment. The process of forming a culture of an organization begins with setting goals and choosing the method and means of achieving them. In the process of adaptation the following issues are resolved:

• the choice of methods used to achieve the goals;
• reaching agreement on the methods used;
• decisions on organizational structure, incentive systems and subordination;
• establishing criteria for measuring the results achieved, etc.

The process of internal integration determines how employees of the organization solve their daily tasks related to their work in the organization.

In the process of internal integration occurs:

• choice of communication methods;
• definition and distribution of statuses in the organization;
• definition of desirable and undesirable behavior;
• formation of the attitude of employees to innovations, etc.

From the standpoint of external adaptation and internal integration, an organizational culture can be characterized as an individual, characteristic only for a particular firm, system of actions, interrelations and relationships, ways of solving problems and achieving goals. From this point of view, the American management specialist E. N. Shayn defines the following: “Organizational culture is a set of techniques and rules for solving problems of external adaptation and internal integration of workers, rules that have proven themselves in the past and have confirmed their relevance in the present. These rules and techniques they represent a starting point for employees to choose an acceptable way to act, analyze and make decisions. Members of the organization do not think about their meaning, they regard them as initially correct. "

The French researcher of organizational culture N. Demeter emphasizes that the culture of an enterprise is a system of ideas, symbols of values ​​and behaviors shared by all its members. Thus , the culture of the organization ^* expresses certain collective ideas about the goals and method of entrepreneurial activity.

The culture of an organization is understood as the ideology of management, worldview in relation to the external and internal environment - positions, points of view, behavior, in which the main values ​​are embodied.

The culture of an organization can be viewed in two ways:

a) as an independent variable, i.e. it is formed from the sum of ideas about the values, norms, principles and behaviors that employees bring to the organization;

b) as a dependent and internal variable that develops its own dynamics - both positive and negative.

The recognized concept of culture as an internal variable is a belief system, lifestyle, thinking, action, existence. It can be, for example, the order of decision-making or the procedure for encouraging and punishing employees, etc. The culture of an organization ^* can be viewed as an expression of values ​​that are embodied in the organizational structure and personnel policy, exerting influence on them. The development of society leads to the development of values ​​that affect the culture of the organization. At present, both in the West and in Russia, some previously recognized values ​​are increasingly being excluded, to be replaced by new orientations (Table 2. 8.).

Thus, the culture of an organization is defined as a set of values, norms, forms of behavior, attitudes, traditions and habits inherent in a particular organization. Organizational culture is the internal environment of the company's employees, the system of their relations, interactions and relationships that are carried out within the framework of a particular business activity, behaviors and reactions to the environment, ways of organizing business.

T a b l and c a 2. 8

Transformation of values ​​affecting the culture of the organization

Geert Hofshted, exploring the culture of organizations, has developed a model that helps to understand this phenomenon and at the same time is easily applicable in practice. It classifies the cultural aspects of an organization based on five characteristics:

1. Individualism / collegiality. Individualism presupposes that a person acts on the basis of his own interests, as well as the interests of people close to him, that is, relatives. Collectivism, on the contrary, proceeds from the fact that every person, by birth or work, belongs to a more or less cohesive group and cannot consider himself free from it. The group takes care of satisfying the individual's requests, demanding from him in turn complete and unconditional obedience. The situation when the interests of a group rigidly determine the behavior of its members can be viewed as a manifestation of sectarianism.

2. The zone of power is the degree of inequality between people, which the population of a particular country considers permissible or abnormal. At the same time, a low degree is characterized by relative equality in society, and a high one is vice versa. Inequality exists in all cultures, but loyalty to it is different in different cultures. As a criterion that determines the limits of power, there may be differences in income levels. Within companies, this criterion includes not only payments and ownership of interest, but also attributes of the position (for example, a model of a car allocated by the company; a personal driver and the possibility or impossibility of communicating with the boss)

3. Elimination of uncertainty. This characteristic indicates the degree of desire to avoid situations in which people feel insecure. An example is the practice of imposing rigid behavioral standards and appeals to believe in absolute truth.

A culture devoid of perception of uncertainty is notable for its activity, aggressiveness, emotionality and intolerance, while cultures that perceive uncertainty are characterized by greater reflection, less aggressiveness, impassivity and relative tolerance (tolerance of other people's opinions)

4. Masculinity / femininity. This characteristic establishes the degree of susceptibility of culture to the features inherent in the female model of behavior. In essence, all cultures carry the predominant masculinity, and in "courageous" cultures it is assumed that the man is self-confident, vain, eager for struggle and oriented towards achieving material success. Men have respect for size, strength and assertiveness. In “courageous” cultures, women are assigned only activities related to improving the quality of life, as well as raising children and caring for the elderly and infirm.

Femininity involves the ability to perceive the small, the weak, and the slow.

In short, in "courageous" cultures the emphasis is on material success and determination. In women, priority is given to quality of life and care for the weak.

5. Long-term or short-term orientation in the behavior of members of society. Long-term orientation is characterized by a look into the future and is manifested in the desire for savings and accumulation, in perseverance and perseverance in achieving goals. Short-term orientation is characterized by a look into the past and the present and is manifested through respect for traditions and heritage, through the fulfillment of social obligations.

The data obtained by G. Hofshted on the measurement of these variables for ten countries is shown in Table. 2. 9. It should be emphasized that not all people in each of the countries surveyed feel and act exactly according to the scores received.

T a b l and c a 2. 9

The results of measurement in points of variable cultures for ten countries (according to G. Hofshted)

Legend The degree of manifestation: B - high; C - average; H - low. The numbers indicate points, reflecting the degree of manifestation of a variable culture from 1 to 100.

In a certain sense, Scandinavia is an extreme case, since Scandinavians are generally distinguished by a high degree of individualism, they keep close to their leaders, they are constantly overcome by a feeling of insecurity, and they have a pronounced female culture. In this they are not at all like the Germans or Americans, who are also individualists, but much farther from their leaders, they need hard structures, they are reluctant to perceive uncertainty, and therefore act as carriers of a more "masculine" culture.

These differences are not always taken into account. That is why the Swedish management culture is often untenable in the United States. That is why management in the Finnish spirit causes a headache for Sweden. The same distinctions bear on themselves the methods of managing the process of business development, which are accepted in a particular company, and the style of activity of an entrepreneur. It is impossible to manage a highly decentralized process of economic development within a culture based on accurate information. Often, the habit of asking, rather than giving orders, is perceived as a sign of weakness that undermines leadership positions.

In fact, the role of the "lone wolf" - a strong individualist entrepreneur - is still not fully understood. Entrepreneurs who prefer to act "pack" can achieve greater success than an entrepreneur with a lonely psychology. In Japan and Scandinavia, where collegiality is highly respected, the long-term development process can produce better results than in the United States, where the lonely, strong, resourceful hero is the ideal of corporate development.

The considered model can be perfectly used in evaluating the work of the organization, as well as for comparative analysis of organizations and countries.

At the same time, many practical ideas on developing the culture of an organization, creating a favorable climate in an organization are fairly simple and effective. So, for example, internal hostility, which tears up labor collectives, is, alas, an international problem, associated with disputes and stresses. There, where the microbe of internecine strife has settled, as a rule, there is not the microclimate, not that labor productivity.

What did not use the Japanese psychologists to save the teams from unnecessary passions! But all the techniques used (quiet classical music, wallpaper painted in cheerful colors, supply of air with pleasant aromatic additives to the working rooms) turned out to be powerless: the tension in the collectives was not completely eliminated. And then a simple idea was born - to put between the tables a friendly, affectionate and fluffy dog. Disputes like a hand off, if people replaced.

Demand without supply is unthinkable in Japan. A new type of paid services was formed in the country right away - renting out pets. In addition to the dog, you can order a cat, a parrot or even a piglet at the rental centers. The time factor does not have any meaning: take the animal for even a day, even for a month, the main thing is to pay. The rental rates, however, are quite high - for a dog borrowed for three days, you need to pay 300 thousand yen, which translates to about three thousand dollars.

However, the Japanese do not at all consider that they are allegedly robbed, realizing that it is not so easy to bring up a playful, sociable dog that will willingly and without caprice carry out the commands of strangers. Yes, and keep it expensive. Therefore, before renting an animal to the labor collective, a representative of the company makes sure that a proper care is established for the dog or cat in the new building.

Speaking about the peculiarities of culture in different countries and in different organizations, it must be borne in mind that in Russia there are differences by region. For example, studies show that, for example, the Swedish model (at its core) is more acceptable for the North-West region of Russia, and primarily for St. Petersburg, Novgorod and Pskov, as well as for individual regions of Western Siberia, whose economic and organizational culture to some extent similar. Priority in such a culture is given to the quality of life and care for the weak, which, according to the theory of the Dutch researcher Hofsted, indicates a "female" beginning of it. The carriers of such a culture are characterized by a high degree of individualism, they keep closer to their leaders, they are overcome by a feeling of insecurity, etc. And this is what distinguishes them, in particular, from the Americans.

A certain similarity in this respect is characteristic of the economic and organizational culture of such regions of our country as the Moscow Region, the center of the Urals, the Transbaikalia, and others, which are closer to the American or German economic models. Consequently, a model of management acceptable to the North-West region may turn out to be untenable and ineffective in the Central region, the Middle Volga region, or in the Caucasus, if only because of differences in the manifestation of the cultural factor.

This circumstance fully applies to the individual production and economic systems located in the respective regions, which means: each organization must develop and adopt its own code of business culture, which should reflect its characteristic attitude to the rule of law, quality of products, finances and production obligations distribution of business information, employees, etc. Thus, the fundamental role of the economic and organizational culture in the models of production and economic systems manifests itself in the creation of an appropriate management system in them, and in the formation of an organizational culture. If, for example, a system has an organizational culture with a "feminine" principle, then the management style in it should be more democratic ^{* in} character and different in collegiality in making management decisions. In accordance with this, it is necessary to build the organizational structure of the system for which the line headquarters, the matrix or another similar type of management structure would be most appropriate.

In the conditions of an organizational culture with a "male" principle, the management style in the production and economic system should be distinguished by authoritarianism, rigidity and unity of command in making management decisions, which is also reflected in the organizational structure, which should be linear, linear-functional, etc.

At the same time, organizational culture turns into a kind of utopia, when desirable ideas are presented as reality, which in fact is completely different. It is far from always that organizational culture can be considered a fundamental factor in management, and the meaning that managers associate with the word “culture” cannot be put into it.

The cause of false ideas about organizational culture lies on the surface.It is always flattering to consider your organization an open and customer-oriented enterprise, believing that these two positive qualities are characteristic of it. Often these ideas are unreal, do not reflect the actual state of affairs. Apparently, managers are not well aware of what their employees think, and perhaps they do not want to know.