Digital Badge Quest 4: Organizational Culture

What is organizational culture? I’m in four Communication classes here at Queens this semester, including Organizational Communication (this class) and Intercultural Communication. In my Intercultural class, my professor gave us one definition of culture that I think can be perfectly applied to organizational culture: “it’s a set of material practices that indicate who people think they are.” Organizational culture is the behavior of individuals in an organization and the meanings, values, symbols, etc. that they attach (culture is made up of the values, belief systems, rituals, ethnicities, religious/spiritual systems, language, symbols, and more). It can be found in any type of organization based on what the group thinks is important and places value on.

The Denison Culture Model regarding organizations

The article Conflict in the Workplace: Why Can’t We Just Put Everyone in Time Out? by Roberta Matuson for Fast Company discusses more effective methods to use when dealing with fighting employees and conflict at work. She states that by using a few techniques, such as clearly defining boundaries and roles, addressing communication, and solving power struggles and conflicts of interest, leaders in the workplace can be more effective coaches rather than referees. This is very important to take into consideration at work, because an organization where individuals spend so much time and energy is bound to have conflict. By giving employees the tools to solve their own problems and acting as a mediator, a leader can help to solve issues and put the focus on harmony in the workplace. Asking each side to describe the issue and how they’re feeling, as well as what outcome they’d like to see, can take care of conflicts effectively and maturely.

For one of our classes, we went outside to do a group ball exercise with four tennis balls each given to two groups. I was the “leader” of my group, though my only instructions were to let my group figure out the best way to accomplish the task while repeating the instructions, “same order of balls, same order of people.” The task of the activity was to have every person in the group pass or touch the balls in the same order, though how we did it was up to us. I didn’t instruct any of the people in my group on how or what to do, so everyone was throwing out ideas- some were worth trying, and others were pretty silly. We started with a time of 22 seconds which soon turned into 18, and then 15. The group wanted to give up once we hit a pretty good time, and I encouraged them to try again because we could do better. Eventually, we made it down to 12 seconds and then 6; soon, we had it down to under a second with our innovative ideas on how to efficiently and quickly accomplish the goal. We ended up making a tube with our hands stacked on top of each other. Since I was the first one to start it, I dropped the ball at the top of our tube, and we let gravity take the balls down in order as each person touched them as we were told. The other group in the class came up with a completely different way to accomplish the task, and we both did well in different ways.

For my “Cultural Explorer Activity,” I analyzed my sorority here on Queens’ campus, Kappa Delta. I am on council currently as Vice President-Member Education, which means that I teach our new members and sisters, plan and execute a successful Bid Day and new member period, and focus on our ritual and ceremonies. I’m second in command behind the President, so I have plenty of experience firsthand of seeing how things are run in our chapter. I also was on council last year as Vice President-Membership, so I planned our entire Recruitment for that year. Compared to last year, our council this year runs so much more smoothly and communicates much more efficiently. We still have a ways to go to be our absolute best, but there have been some issues in the past couple of years when some council members didn’t do their jobs completely. When certain members of the group didn’t pull their weight, things didn’t get done and it really dragged the entire council down. This year, we’ve really focused on open communication, proper training, and using each other as resources, so things have improved and brought us all closer together. We value communicating and bouncing ideas off of each other, which has really boosted sisterhood and friendships amongst our chapter. Last year, some council members rarely did their jobs accurately or participated, so it was often a tense and uncreative environment; it was difficult to accomplish anything of value when it seemed as if no one cared. This year, with a completely new council and fresh ideas to go along with the fresh faces, almost everyone has given 100%, and it’s a much more supportive environment. Our meetings run more smoothly and everyone participates, so open communication amongst those on council helps provide a united front to the rest of the chapter. More than ever (thanks to my position), we value our ritual and our sisterhood through our ceremonies, alumnae reunions, and various sisterhood events.

Alpha Omicron Chapter of Kappa Delta Sorority on Bid Day 2013!

In chapter 16 of Weaving Complexity and Business: Engaging the Soul at Work by Roger Lewin and Birute Regine, emergent teams are discussed as quickly-organized groups of people who join together usually during times of crisis in the spirit of goodwill and care. During emergency situations, such as natural disasters or accidents, teams of people organize very quickly to solve problems, and they become very trusting of and reliant on each other. These groups of people are self-selected, which is significant because leaders emerge from the groups and individuals each focus on accomplishing different tasks to help achieve the goal together. In normal organizational environments, there are often people who refuse to work together or cause problems for the group as a whole; the difference with emergent teams is that the life-or-death crisis situations bring people together who are highly organized in a very short period of time and all work together. Their intentions are not to make money, build up a company, or focus on the bottom line, but they are to help each other and solve crisis situations. It’s crucial to have these groups of people in emergency situations because the genuine nature of care are major motivators that cause humans to help each other out instead of helping themselves.

The case study on Spellman Gardens discusses the small business of Jean and John Spellman, two former bankers who started their own company following the 2008 credit financial crisis. Their business sold seeds and gardening tools to people who were looking to grow some of their own food in a tough economy, and it took off like wildfire. The dilemma arose when the Spellmans considered hiring many more people to help fill orders faster, even though they wanted to keep it a small family business. In my personal opinion, since they value family and a close-knit company, they can hire more people while still maintaining these norms. It’s necessary with the growth of their company to hire more employees so that they don’t get a negative reputation of filling orders slowly, but they don’t have to hire so many random employees who aren’t close to the business. In order to do this, the Spellmans needs to encourage a fluid and effective model of company policies and team building to foster a dynamic and flexible family. This supportive climate will not only mean success financially, but also be successful in maintaining their team-based values. By continuing their family feel and values of a small business while also meeting their customers’ needs, I think that the Spellmans will be very successful in the future.

In How Intangible Corporate Culture Creates Tangible Profits by David Lapin for Fast Company, Lapin talks about organizational culture and how it constantly develops (whether you want it to or not). Conflict in the workplace, if left unresolved, can become “cancerous” and hinder “the free flow of information.” He discusses how tangibles and intangibles are often interchangeable, and both can make money for a company. Lapin uses Southwest Airlines as an example; by eliminating frills such as assigned seating, focusing on things such as customer service, and applying their intangibles to their flights, they grew exponentially. This tactic has been applied by other companies, proving that even learning the values and wants of people can improve business and make money.

I think that it is possible to “manufacture” a particular organizational culture, though it develops and changes whether you want it to or not. It’s important as a company to learn what your employees and customers value so that you can accommodate and better serve them to create the perfect business environment, but the culture may shift if you’re not careful. By manufacturing the organizational culture per se, you can actually become that culture since we are products of our environments. In order to do so, you must completely develop those attitudes and aspects of culture that are important, changing the climate of your organization and the values associated with it.

Works Cited

Eisenberg, E.M., Goodall, H.L., Jr., & Trethewey, A. Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and 
     Constraint (6th Edition). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2010.

Lapin, David. How Intangible Corporate Culture Creates Tangible Profits. “Fast Company.” Mansueto Ventures, 
     LLC. 2013.

Lewin, Roger and Birute Regine. Weaving Complexity and Business: Engaging the Soul at Work. Texere LLC 
     Publishing: New York, NY. 2000-2001. Print.

Matuson, Roberta. Conflict in the Workplace: Why Can’t We Just Put Everyone in Time Out? “Fast Company.” 
     Mansueto Ventures, LLC. 2013.

Digital Badge Quest 3: Critical Theory

Critical Theory makes use of criticism to prevent abuse of power and oppression in institutions. The purpose is to point out and eliminate practices that oppress the marginalized within organizations by constantly criticizing the practices of institutions who abuse their power. For example, a minority group within one organization may be taken advantage of or not given benefits that the majority is; critical theorists would encourage criticism of this institution so that the minority would receive full rights and benefits and be treated equally to ensure a better work environment. Some employees may not even realize that they are being taken advantage of or exploited if they’ve worked in the environment for a while for “bullying” managers who have no one’s best interest in mind but their own. These corrupt “leaders” are merely looking to further their own interests at the expense of others; critical theory deals with this abuse of power and promotes criticism of organizations to prevent the victimization or marginalization of employees.

In the 2012 film The Hunger Games starring Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, the government forces people from each district to “play” to the death against each other as a way of controlling the people using fear and manipulation. Eventually, groups of individuals begin to fight back as a way to break free from the tyrannical system, which gives the film its plot. In the “real world,” this can be applied to modern institutions using Critical Theory. For instance, sometimes those in positions of power will force those underneath of them to do something they don’t want to, simply as a way of showing and exerting their power. This method of control is used by managers who exploit their workers or require them to do things in a work environment that they may not be trained or prepared for. In some instances, the people join together and fight back; and while rebellion is not always successful, Critical Theory would encourage employees to constantly be criticizing their work environment as a way to point out its flaws to hopefully change the situation for the better.

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) from The Hunger Games

Criticizing authority can be done in many different ways. A Russian band, known as “Pussy Riot,” protests patriarchal Russian society and Putin through their music and demonstrations. The members of this group, who all wear bright masks in an effort to conceal their identities, resist and protest the government, even from prison after being arrest for “hooliganism.” Their obvious dislike of government actions from political leaders above them has led them to anonymously speak out and demonstrate against it, because revealing their real selves could land them in prison for criticizing Russian society.

Pussy Riot band members during a demonstration to free fellow bandmates from prison.

The article #Activism by David Carr for the New York Times addresses the use of social media as a tool to bring awareness to and further social issues present in our world today. Simply “liking” or “favoriting” something via social media on Facebook or Twitter isn’t enough activism to actual do anything about a subject or conflict, but it can bring mass awareness to a cause. For example, the #Kony2012 campaign on social media brought awareness to over 100 million people about Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony and the violent LRA (myself included). Although the trend eventually died out as 2012 came and went, the campaign was wildly successful in a short period of time. Evgeny Morozov, the author of “The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom,” said regarding social media trends, “My hunch is that people often affiliate with causes online for selfish and narcissistic purposes.” It’s very easy to “like” a Facebook page about a particular event or campaign instead of actively learning about or supporting the cause. What is particularly interesting about the #Activism article that is related to Critical Theory is that it criticizes this form of passive “activism” and points out that, while it does bring attention to certain social issues, it lacks any real action to do anything about them.

In Greece, there’s an act of throwing yogurt at someone who is disliked, like political figures. Known as “Yaourtoma,” this act originated in the late 1950s by a group of rebellious male youths who sported unique and inspired fashions, known as Teddy Boys. Although Law 4000 was passed in 1958, which made “yogurting” a punishable crime, it was withdrawn by Andreas Papandreou’s government twenty-five years later. However, the act of throwing food (which wasn’t just limited to Greece) has resurfaced as a popular form of public protest against political figures. This practice can be applied to Critical Theory, because yogurt-throwing is a way of criticizing leaders in public office. Corrupt government officials and politicians frequently try to push their own agenda or take money in the form of bribes from wealthy corporations or donors; in Greece, pointing out some of these problems with their leaders and expressing disapproval in a dramatic gesture. Forms of public humiliation and criticism of political figures has occurred throughout history, and with the modern technology and social media that is readily available today, expressing disapproval is much easier and less personal. I think that these types of practices will continue to occur (maybe not yogurting specifically, but that’s just an example) for as long as individuals have free speech and feel the need to express their criticisms of their public leaders.

Critical Theory’s use of criticism to point out abuses of power made by those in leadership or powerful positions helps to eliminate practices that oppress and abuse the marginalized.  Constantly looking at an organization or institution from an objective point of view and criticizing what is wrong with it can help conditions improve for those who are downtrodden in society. Through this Digital Badge Quest, I’ve been able to learn about Critical Theory and how it can not only be applied to workplace environments, but it can also be applied to almost every institution that is present in our lives.

Works Cited

Carr, David. "Hashtag Activism, and Its Limits." The New York Times, March 25, 2012.

Eplett, Layla. "Culture of Resistance: Protesting Greece’s Politics With Yogurt." Scientific American, September 
     16, 2013.