Culture Definition:
Cultures in organisation is defined by how the organisation is run, how the personalities within the organisation interact with each other and also how the structure of the company is set out.
Role Culture Definition:
This can be seen as a Greek Temple, there is the top, the leaders, but so that these people succeed they need the people below. The god represented for this culture is Apollo, the Greek god of reason. This is because this culture works by leaders and employees being logical and being rational.
Each department in this type of culture can be seen as a pillar for the temple. The pillars need to be, and often are, strong. All of these sections in an organisation are controlled by having appropriate job descriptions, procedures for communication and rules to help arguments not get out of line.
This culture is very much along the lines of making everyone work together so that together the strength will grow and so will the organisation.
There is a main set of leaders in this type of culture, with them relying on the ‘pillars’ doing their jobs well and allowing the people at the top to concentrate on what they need to do.
As this culture depends on a job being done to the standard of that job description, the actual person in the job doesn’t matter as much. As long as the job is being done to a good enough standard then the person doing it will be safe.
As performances above what is needed tend not to be essential, then people may become unmotivated in this culture, as they aren’t being pushed. However, this could also mean that it is a good culture for people who just want to go to work and do just that; work and get on with the job in hand.
As mentioned in Leadership with the different types of power, the power which is needed her is position power, as personal power is often frowned upon, as well as expert power. This is because people should be doing heir job inline with their job description; they shouldn’t be trying to go outside the box.
For this culture to work well, the market and competitors must remain pretty much stable, as they can’t react to change all that well. This can include owning the market, so that they get to chose what to do or having a product which is long-life, such as insurance.
If a sudden change happens then this culture probably won’t react quickly enough as individuals can’t really shine and won’t go outside of their description, meaning that the leader at the top will have to do all the changes and instate them, which will take more time than they have.
A person who would like to work in this type of culture is someone who is looking for security, as they can predict what will happen, and if the company is in stable market than not a lot will really affect their job, if they get on with it, everything will be fine. If an individual who is a risk taker and wants power works in this type of culture, they are likely to look for a quick get-out as not enough power is given to the individual.
Key Learning Points
- How would you define the Role Culture?
- What are the main points of the Role Culture?
