Organizational Culture and Climate
The Personality and Mood of Organizations
We can compare organizational culture and climate to personality and mood. The former is enduring; the latter is temporary. We acquire our basic personalities early in life, but our moods can shift several times in one day.
Organizational culture is not quite as fixed as personality, however, so the analogy is not perfect. It is hard to change an organization's culture but not as difficult as changing your personality. Also, organizational climate can last so long it becomes indistinguishable from culture, like being in a bad mood for months on end. Generally, however, climate is easier to change. During an economic downturn, people are worried about their jobs, then suddenly a big order comes in and everyone breathes a sigh of relief, so the climate improves.
Understanding Organizational Climate
Typical climates correspond to human feelings or moods: excitement, depression, anger, fear, optimism or anxiety. Like human mood, an organization's climate can be caused by internal and external factors. If the CEO or other prominent leaders are in a certain mood, they can infect the entire organization. Leaders whose moods are highly variable could lead teams with wildly fluctuating climates. Just as most people won't be in the same mood all the time, we can't expect an organization's climate to be unchanging. Shifting emotions are a good thing as it makes the organization seem more human. It would feel like being part of a machine if the climate of your workplace never altered. An emotionally variable climate is, like a similarly expressive person, more open, transparent and understandable. We feel comfortable when we can read another person's feeling. The same applies to our workplace. It's unhealthy to suppress emotion in organizations or people.
Understanding Organizational Culture
Just as top executives can influence climate, they can also set the tone for the culture. If the CEO is an entrepreneur, the culture will be one that makes fast decisions, takes risks and likes to innovate. Apple Computers would be a good example of an entrepreneurial culture. Insurance companies and banks tend to have very different cultures, dominated by avoidance of risk. Such processing cultures need elaborate rules to ensure consistency and efficiency. An engineering culture like aircraft manufacturers or phone companies, value technical competence and high quality. Then there are marketing cultures that are very sales oriented. They tend to be populated by dynamic, lively, outgoing people. Scientific cultures are common in medical or drug manufacturing companies where there is an insistence on pure research to back up new proposals. It is not this simple, of course. Cultures can vary a great deal within a particular industry. Organizations might have a culture of blame, fun, hard work, equality, career development, environmental consciousness or any other personality trait.
Major culture change initiatives focus on making the company more customer focused, innovative or cost conscious. It can be a matter of loosening up or tightening up, often accompanied by moving back and forth between centralization and decentralization.
