Organizational Behavior

Abstract

Essentially, social and behavioral studies construe culture as a socially, constructed attribute that can play a significant role in binding people and organizations together. Organizational culture involves shared expectations, values, and attitudes and researchers who have studied the impact of culture on employees indicated that it provides and encourages a form of stability (Ivancevich, p.42). Studies have also indicated that organizational culture must not be confused with organizational climate. Organizational climate refers to temporal attitudes, emotions and perceptions and since climate is based on attitudes and perceptions, its changes take place quickly and is easily manipulative. However, organizational culture is embedded in the organization and is difficult to change over a given time especially if the culture is strong. A strong culture is characterized by employees sharing core values and agreeing to the way things should be done within the organization (p.46). A weak culture is a culture in which members do not share a set of core values, and as such, they are less likely to perform tasks in a manner that is consistent across the organization (p.42). This research proposal intends to shed light on changes that occur in organizational culture.

Research Question

Many organizations tend to create a dominant orientation of an organization over a given period. This might be due to a change in the organization itself or in response to challenges and changes in the environment.  In the same way that individuals react toward uncertainty, ambiguity and threats, so do organizations. They reassert and change their organizational core values. Increased threats, changes and competition intensifies an organization`s need to solidify and change its organizational culture. The purpose of this research is to study how organization conforms to changes in its culture and the impact such changes have on the organization.

Objectives

The main...