Culture Performs Several Important Functions In Organizations: Project Management Essay, TCD, Ireland

Culture performs several important functions in organizations. An organization’s culture provides a sense of identity for its members. The more clearly an organization’s shared perceptions and values are stated, the more strongly people can identify with their organization and feel a vital part of it. Identity generates commitment to the organization and reasons for members to devote energy and loyalty to the organization.

A second important function is that culture helps legitimize the management system of the organization. Culture helps clarify authority relationships. It provides reasons why people are in a position of authority and why their authority should be respected.

Most importantly, organizational culture clarifies and reinforces standards of behavior. Culture helps define what is permissible and inappropriate behavior. These standards span a wide range of behavior from dress code and working hours to challenging the judgment of superiors and collaborating with other departments.

Ultimately culture helps create social order within an organization. Imagine what it would be like if members didn’t share similar beliefs, values, and assumptions—chaos! The customs, norms, and ideas conveyed by the culture of an organization provide the stability and predictability in behavior that are essential for an effective organization.

Although our discussion of organizational culture may appear to suggest one culture dominates the entire organization, in reality, this is rarely the case. Strong and thick are adjectives used to denote a culture in which the organization’s core values and customs are widely shared within the entire organization. Conversely, a thin or weak culture is one that is not widely shared or practiced within a firm.

Even within a strong organizational culture, there are likely to be subcultures, often aligned within specific departments or specialty areas. As noted earlier in our discussion of project management structures, it is not uncommon for norms, values, and customs to develop within a specific field or profession such as marketing, finance, or operations. People working in the Marketing Department may have a different set of norms and values than those working in Finance.