What is Culture?
This acronym describes the five key determinants of organizational culture.
NORMS (Nature of the business, Organizational structure, Rewards, Management styles, Sanctions)
This Greek god represents a power culture.
Zeus
This happens when two or more cultures within an organization are incompatible.
Leads to a culture clash..
CQ stands for this.
Cultural Quotient
WPS had only 25% of students meeting national standards. This term describes the gap between their desired and actual culture.
Culture gap
This term describes the difference between the culture a business has and the culture it wants.
Culture Gap
Role cultures are symbolized by this god and are often found in these types of organizations.
Apollo — commonly found in schools, banks, government departments and law firms
Name the three main causes of cultural clashes.
Growth of Firms, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Change in Leadership.
These two professors coined the term Cultural Intelligence in the Harvard Business Review in 2004.
Professor Christopher Earley and Professor Elaine Mosakowski
Paramesh Murali restructures his leadership team and links teacher pay to targets. Which NORMS determinant does this most directly relate to?
Rewards (R in NORMS)
Corporate culture is the rules a company has. True or False.
False
In this culture type, formal job titles matter less than what a team member contributes.
Task culture (Athena) — contribution to the team matters more than job title
A Japanese car manufacturer opens a factory in the United States. Japanese management expects silent respect for authority and group decision-making, while American workers expect to voice opinions freely. Name the type of clash this represents and explain one reason it occurs.
This represents a national culture clash. It occurs because different countries have deeply embedded cultural norms around hierarchy, communication and decision-making that don't simply disappear when people enter a shared workplace.
CQ measures an individual's ability to do this across different organizational and national cultures.
Blend into and adapt across different occupational, corporate and national cultures essentially, how well someone copes with unfamiliar cultural situations
A new CEO takes over a company and immediately replaces all senior managers. Identify the type of cultural clash this is most likely to cause.
A change in leadership
Name three reasons why a strong corporate culture benefits an organization.
creates a sense of belonging and security; promotes worker cohesiveness; reduces mistakes and misunderstandings; minimizes conflict from culture gaps; improves teamwork and motivation
This culture type is common among surgeons, lawyers and professional athletes.
Person culture (Dionysus)
A startup with a relaxed, informal person culture is acquired by a large corporation with a strict role culture. Describe how the employees of the startup are likely to feel and explain why staff turnover might increase as a result.
Startup employees are likely to feel threatened, undervalued and alienated — they joined an organization precisely because of its freedom, creativity and informal atmosphere, and now those qualities are being replaced by rigid procedures, formal job descriptions and layers of hierarchy they never signed up for.
Give a real-world example of a situation where high CQ would be essential for a manager.
Any valid example, such as: a manager sent to lead a newly acquired overseas subsidiary; a CEO navigating a cross-border merger; a leader managing a multicultural workforce during a crisis or restructure
The Body Shop was acquired by L'Oréal in 2006. Describe the likely cultural clash and explain which of Handy's culture types each company most likely represents. (Hint: Body Shop=task culture, L'Oréal=power culture)
The clash would centre on The Body Shop's ethical, activist identity conflicting with L'Oréal's commercial priorities — staff may feel the brand's core values are being compromised, leading to disengagement.
This is the full definition of corporate culture according to the textbook.
Refers to the norms of an organization, such as the way that workers behave within the business, based on the beliefs, values and attitudes of the management and employees.
Handy argued that different cultures suit different businesses. Name all four gods AND their culture types in order.
Zeus = Power culture; Apollo = Role culture; Athena = Task culture; Dionysus = Person culture
A multinational company merges with a smaller firm. The smaller firm has a flat, task-based culture where employees work autonomously in creative teams. The larger firm has a tall, hierarchical role culture with strict job descriptions and formal procedures. Examine two problems this merger is likely to cause and suggest one strategy the combined organization could use to resolve the culture clash.
Autonomy clashes with bureaucracy killing motivation, communication breaks down between flat and hierarchical styles, and the fix is a hybrid culture that keeps creative freedom at team level while adding structure only at the top.
Explain why a manager with low CQ could cause serious harm to an organization expanding internationally.
A manager with low CQ might impose home-country cultural norms on foreign staff (as Disney did in Paris), fail to recognize different communication styles or attitudes toward hierarchy, cause resentment and disengagement, trigger cultural clashes, and ultimately harm productivity, staff retention and the organization's reputation in that market
A student argues that power cultures are always unethical because employee input is not valued. Do you agree? Justify your answer with examples.
Partially agree: power cultures do limit employee input, which can suppress creativity, reduce motivation and create ethical concerns around worker autonomy and dignity. However, there are contexts where power cultures are justified in a crisis or turnaround situation, fast centralized decisions may be necessary when consultation is too slow.