Question

How does organizational culture affect individual values, motivation, or job satisfaction? As we become increasingly mobile as a population, geographical differences become more visible. How do you see this trend affecting your organizational culture? If employees have values and attitudes that differ from the organization, is it an issue? How do diversity and individual differences affect your organizational culture? (Give a real-life example)

Answer 1

The impact of organizational culture on an individual’s value is conditional. This depends on the person in question and also depends on the organization. Usually individual values are shaped by years of habits and social values imparted upon the person. However, under certain circumstance, a person may differentiate between his/her individual values and the organizational values. For example, the first job that a person takes may begin to mold him in the organization’s culture. This could impact his individual values. This could set different types of expectations, create a different set of motivations or provide a different level of job satisfaction. However, if a person joins organization at a later stage (4-5 years’ of work experience), then he/she may have already established an individual value and may not be influenced by organization culture. This could mean that there may be conflict when it comes to organizational culture and the individual values of the person.

As we become increasingly mobile, the organization cultures need to evolve as well. For example, due to the dispersion of workforce and increase in telecommute, the organizations may find it extremely difficult to create a cultural change within the organization. This means that creation of organization of culture can become difficult to plan or implement.

If employees have a different value than the organization, there is bound to be ethics. For example, consider an employees who has flexible moral opinions. However, the organization has strict regulations when it comes to ethics and their moral values. This may cause a conflict in the way the organization expects the employee to operate and the way the employee wants to operate. So if the individual values and attitudes differ from organization, then it is definitely an issue.

Diversity and individual differences are a two sided sword when it comes to organization cultures. This is because these can be a strength for the organization or it could also be a hindrance. When an organization is diverse, there are difference of opinion and different views that are present within the organization. This could eventually make the organization more flexible and adaptable to different situations. However it could also give rise to various conflicts within the organization reduce the overall efficiency and productivity.