FHTM

Delivered by:
musliha.ahmed@mnu.edu.mv

How Employees Learn Culture

Stories

Narratives of significant events or actions of

people that convey the spirit of the organization

Rituals

Repetitive sequences of activities that express

and reinforce the values of the organization

Material Symbols

Physical assets distinguishing the organization

Language

Acronyms and jargon of terms, phrases, and word

meanings specific to an organization

Exhibit 2.5 Managerial Decisions Affected by

Culture

23

Creating an ethical culture

DEFINITION OF ETHICS

The basicconceptsandfundamental
principlesof decent humanconduct.
It includesstudyof universal values such as
the essential equality of allmen and
women, human ornatural rights, obedience
to the law of
land,concernforhealthandsafetyand,
increasingly, also for thenatural
environment.

CREATING AN ETHICAL CULTURE:

SUGGESTIONS FOR MANAGERS
Be a visible role model.
Communicate ethical expectations.
Provide ethics training.
Visibly reward ethical acts and punish
unethical ones.
Provide protective mechanisms so
employees can
discuss ethical dilemmas and report
unethical behavior without fear.

Be a role model and be

visible

Your employees look to the behavior of top

management as a model of whats
acceptable behavior in the workplace. When
senior management is observed (by
subordinates) to take the ethical high road,
it send a positive message for all
employees.

Communicate ethical
expectations

Ethical ambiguities can be reduced

bycreating and disseminating an
organizational code of ethics. It should
statethe organizations primary values and
the ethical rules that employees
areexpected to follow. Remember,
however, that a code of ethics is worthless
if top management fails to model ethical
behaviors.

Offer ethics training

Set up seminars, workshops, and similar

ethical training programs. Use these
training sessions to reinforce the
organizations standards of conduct, to
clarify what practices are and are not
permissible, and to address possible ethical
dilemmas.

Visibly reward ethical acts and

punish unethical ones
Performance appraisals ofmanagers should
include a point-by-point evaluation of how
his or her decisionsmeasure up against the
organizations code of ethics. Appraisals
must includethe means taken to achieve
goals as well as the ends themselves.
People who actethically should be visibly
rewarded for their behavior.
Just as importantly,unethical acts should be
punished.

Provide protective
mechanisms

The organization needs to provide

formalmechanisms so that employees can
discuss ethical dilemmas and
reportunethical behavior without fear of
reprimand. This might include creationof
ethical counselors, ombudsmen, or ethical
officers.

Creating an innovative
culture

Don't JUST Innovate. Create a Culture of

Innovation

While many organizations focus on

addressing problems, the most
successful focus on raising the bar. One
of the ways they do this is by creating a
culture where innovation thrives. When
this organizational strength is
magnified, it can become a source of
competitive advantage

what are the things that leaders

must do to foster innovation?
Here are five strategies that make a
profound difference:
1. Focus on outcomes
Clearly, one of the ways that innovation is
cultivated is by having leaders who make
sure everyone involved knows the outcome
and strategic goals of any objective. By
focusing on outcomes and results, these
leaders free up a lot of energy for the
creative process of making it happen.

2. Develop reciprocal trust

Not the garden varieties of trust, but complete
and shared confidence in one another.
3. Challenge the status quo
In a number of cases employees possess a
willingness to take on difficult issues, even
when it means expressing disagreement with
higher levels in the organization. They
separate issues from people and are able to
disagree, without being disagreeable. Doing so
cultivates tremendous respect from their
colleagues. This could be said as healthy
creative tension when describing the
atmosphere of meetings led by the innovator.

4. Be inspiring
For innovation to exist you have to feel
inspired! Similarly, when people feel inspired
by a leader they are more inclined to give
more effort and go the extra mile on a project.
That extra effort and commitment is often
what produces innovation.
Put your efforts into fostering and promoting
innovation within your organization. A culture
where innovation thrives in every corner is
exponentially more valuable than a culture
which anoints one or even a few people as
the innovative ones. If you create an
environment of innovation, who knows where
your next great idea will come from?

Creating a customer responsive

culture

Creating a CustomerResponsive Culture

Hiring the right type of employees (ones
with a strong interest in serving customers
Having a few rigid rules, procedures and
regulations
Using widespread empowerment of
employees
Having good listening skills in relating to
customers messages

Providing role clarity to employees to

reduce ambiguity and conflict and increase
job satisfaction
Having conscientious, caring employees
willing to take initiative.

Suggestions for Managers: for creating a

more Customer-Responsive Culture
Hire service-contact people with the personality
and attitudes consistent with customer service
friendliness, enthusiasm, attentiveness, patience,
concern about others, and listening skills.
Train customer service people continuously by
focusing on improving product knowledge, active
listening, showing patience, and displaying
emotions.
Socialize new service-contact people to the
organizations goals and values.
.

Design customer-service jobs so that

employees have as much control as
necessary to satisfy customers.
Empower service-contact employees with
the discretion to make day-to-day decisions
on job-related activities.
As the leader, convey a customer-focused
vision and demonstrate through decisions
and actions the commitment to customers

Spirituality and
Organisational Culture

Spirituality and organisational

culture

Workplace spirituality
Workplace spirituality recognizes that people have an
inner life that nourishes and is nourished by
meaningful work that takes place in the context of
community.
Organizations that promote a spiritual cultural
recognize that people have both a mind and a spirit,
seek to find meaning and purpose in their work, and
desire to connect with other human beings and be part
of a community.

Historical models of management and

organizational behavior had no room for
spirituality. The myth of rationality
assumed that the well-run organization
eliminated feelings. Similarly, concern
about an employees inner life had no
role in the perfectly rational model. But
weve now come to realize that the study
of emotions improve our understanding
of organizational behavior.
An awareness of spirituality can help you
to better understand employee behavior
in the twenty first century.

Q: What do Southwest
Airlines and HewlettPackard, have in common?

A. Theyre among a growing number of

organizations that have embraced
workplace spirituality.

http://www.qualitydigest.com/aug/nelson.ht
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Employees have always had an inner life. So why

has the search for meaning and purposefulness in
work surfaced now? There are a number of
reasons.
The concept of workplace spirituality draws on
our previous discussions of topics such as values,
ethics, motivation, leadership, and work/life
balance.

Spiritual organizations are concerned with helping

people develop and reach their full potential.
Similarly organizations that are concerned with
spirituality are more likely to directly address
problems created by work/life conflicts.

What differentiates spiritual organizations from their non-spiritual

counterparts?

Spiritual organizations build their cultures around a

meaningful purpose. While profits may be important, theyre
not the primary values of the organization. Maximizing profits
may excite investors but it rarely stirs employees emotions or
imaginations. People want to be inspired by a purpose that
they believe is important and worthwhile.
Southwest Airlines, for instance, is strongly committed to providing the
lowest airfares, on-time services, and a pleasant experience for
customer.
Toms of Maine strives to sell personal care household products that are
made from natural ingredients and are environmentally friendly.
AES, the worlds largest independent power producer, seeks to provide
electricity around the globe and to fundamentally change peoples lives
and their economic well-being.