Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Corporate Culture (Ch. 19)
Each company has a different type of culture. The company's culture could be determined on many factors, including job performance. With each group of workers within an organization, there is a set of rituals, or daily tasks that they may do that may seem strange to another group of workers. But all of this can make up the company's culture as a whole. Within the reading of this chapter, the idea of "lattice organization" popped out to me the most. Lattice organization is a system of communication where no one needs permission to talk to someone else. Someone down at the bottom doesn't need permission to talk to their manager or even their CEO. One-on-one communication is very important within a corporation of this nature. It stuck out to me because I work for a company that is like this. We have a very laid back culture, and no one needs permission or an appointment when they need to talk to one of the directors. Everyone is always available to everyone else, which only proves the idea of the importance of one-on-one communication. We need this availability within this company in order to grow and become more successful. This idea got me thinking of the importance of communication within any company. Perhaps the way the company communicates contributes to the company's culture. In the company I work for, we have a very open communication policy, therefore, we have a very laid back culture. In other companies, I know it is a bit different with communication being a little more closed off, and people not being as accessible. Perhaps that is why those companies are more formal and "business" minded. It is just something interesting for me to think about after reading this chapter.
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3 comments:
I know what you mean in regards to each company having a different kind of culture. Communication is really important, but it does differ from company to company. Lattice organization seems to be a great system... and I think my company somewhat follows this structure as I am technically at the "bottom" but able to speak to all the partners of my firm without needing to get permission or scheduled time. We are fairly laid back as well, perhaps because of our size (there's 14 of us total in the office) so there's a more family-like feel. But the nature of the industry we belong in (Venture Capital) is very different in terms of how we communicate with those outside the office. It's not as easy to get that one and one communication without permission or scheduling in advance.
Wow it seems that lattice organization does seem to be a wonderful system that allows all employees to feel as though they are truly part of a team and not inferior to anyone else.
My organization does not employ this system very well. As a Sales Manager, I'm somewhere in the middle of the pack as far as seniority and title are concerned, however, it seems that if I wanted to get an appointment to talk with the CEO, I would have to schedule it way in advance and people who were more "important" than me would be able to get in quicker.
It IS easier to communicate via email with people, but for those in person meetings for people who are considered to be above you (unless its with your immediate or direct boss)...good luck!!
Over 20 years ago Joann Martin and her colleagues examined organizational stories across organizations and found a uniqueness paradox: members of all organizations think their organization is unique. Yet, many of the stories were similar in the themes they represented. So while there are some differences across organizational culture, there may be more similarities. If you're interested in reading the article, the citation is: Martin, J., Feldman, M., Hatch, M., & Sitkin, S. (1983). The uniqueness paradox in organizational stories. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28, 438-453.
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