Organizational Culture
The culture of an organization is the foundation for how that organization operates. It directly affects the way leaders of the organization measure success and influences how every member of the organization operates on a daily basis. As the authors of Principles of Management, v. 1.1 (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2013) state, “An organization’s culture may be one of its strongest assets or its biggest liability” (p. 206). This paper will examine the culture of an organization very familiar to the writer. This examination will focus on its Orginazational Culture Profile (OCP) (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2013) and how this profile impacts the organization.
Organization Overview
The organization selected possesses several dynamics that contribute to an interesting cultural mix. The combination of being a publicly traded technology company along with being a regulated telephone company (TELCO) creates a very conservative yet aggressive and outcomes based culture. Additionally, organizational growth over the last several decades by way of mergers and acquisitions creates a unique blend of cultures.
Telephone Companies tend to be very conservative by nature due to multiple factors. First, as a regulated entity, they are required to abide by specific local, state, and federal regulations. These regulations expose the company to civil and criminal penalties if violated. Second, because telephone companies provide services customers expect to be in service nearly one hundred percent of the time, careful planning and redundancies must be in place. This conservative nature tends to slow progress due to legal reviews and abundant testing which is exactly what happens with this organization.
The organization is also a publicly traded corporation. This creates an environment where the focus of leadership points heavily toward