1

CHAPTER 1

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

1.1 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To study about the organizational culture

To study about the various types of organizational culture

To study about the impact of culture on the performance of organization unde

To understanad the culture adopted by the various companies such as CISCO, SOUTHWEST AIRLINES etc

1.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

It has given me the opportunity for the research

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ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

1.3 WHAT IS ORGANIZATION ?

An organization is a systematic arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose and Non-random arrangement of components or parts interconnected in a manner as to constitute a system identifiable as a unit. and the other thing organization define as a Sequential form in which a body of knowledge, data, people, things, or other elements, is purposefully arranged. Social unit of people, systematically arranged and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals on a continuing basis. All organizations have a management structure that determines relationships between functions and positions, and subdivides and delegates roles, responsibilities, and authority to carry out defined tasks. Organizations are open systems in that they affect and are affected by the environment beyond their boundaries.

1.4 WHAT IS CULTURE ?

The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next. Broadly, social heritage of a group (organized community or society). It is a pattern of responses discovered, developed, or invented during the group's history of handling problems which arise from interactions among its members, and between them and their environment. These responses are considered the correct way to perceive, feel, think, and act, and are passed on to the new members through immersion and teaching. Culture determines what is acceptable or unacceptable, important or unimportant, right or wrong, workable or unworkable. It encompasses all learned and shared, explicit or tacit, assumptions, beliefs, knowledge, norms, and values, as well as attitudes, behavior, dress, and language. See also organizational culture.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

5 The quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc. That which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc. A particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture. Development or improvement of the mind by education or training. The behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture. Anthropology. The sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

CHAPTER 2

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

2.1 ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:

Organizational culture is defined as a pattern of basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by a given group, as it learns to cope with the problems of external adaption and internal investigation that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore is to be taught to the new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. Organizational culture is a set of shared understandings, norms, values, attitudes and beliefs of an organization which can foster or impede change. When people join an organization, they bring with them the values and beliefs that they have been taught. Quite often, however these values and beliefs are insufficient for helping the individual succeed in the organization. The person needs to learn how the particular enterprise does things. A common misconception is that an organization has a uniform culture. However, at least as anthropology uses the concept; it is probably more accurate to treat organizations as if they had a uniform culture. All organizations have culture, in the sense that they are embedded in specific societal cultures and are part of them. According to this view, organization culture is a common perception held by the organizations members. Everyone in the organization would have to share this perception. However, all may not do so to the same degree. As a result, there can be a dominant culture as well as subcultures throughout a typical organization. A dominant culture is a set of core values shared by a majority of the organizations members. The values that create dominant cultures in organizations help guide the day-to-day behavior of the employees. Important, but often overlooked, are the subcultures in an organization. A subculture is a set of values shared by a minority, usually a small minority of the organizations members. Subcultures typically are a result of problems or experiences that are shared by members of a department or unit. Subcultures can weaken and undermine an organization if they are in conflict with the dominant culture and overall objectives. Successful firms, however find that this ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

8 is not the case always. Most subcultures are formed to help the members of a particular group deal with the specific day-to-day problems with which they are confronted. The members may also support many, if not all, of the core values of the dominant culture.

2.2 IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Employees should to be engaged in their work. They yearn for work that is enjoyable, meaningful and engaging. When they are engaged they are safer on the job, more productive and more willing and able to delight customers. It is for these basic reasons that organizational culture matters. It is the right thing for an organization to do - to think about the work environment, working relationships and how employees do things here. Focusing on building and sustaining an organizational culture is one way of showing that people are the organizations most valuable asset.

A strong culture is a talent-attractor - The organizational culture is part of the package that prospective employees look at when assessing the organization. Gone are the days of selecting the person you want from a large eager pool. The talent market is tighter and those looking for a new organization are more selective than ever. The best people want more than a salary and good benefits. They want an environment they can enjoy and succeed in. A strong culture is talent-retainer - How likely are people to stay if they have other options and dont love where they are? The organizational culture is a key component of a persons desire to stay. A strong culture engages people - People want to be engaged in their work. The culture can engage people. Engagement creates greater productivity, which can impact profitability. A strong culture creates energy and momentum - Build a culture that is vibrant and allows people to be valued and express themselves and it will create a very real energy. That positive energy will permeate the organization and create a new momentum for success. Energy is contagious and will build on itself, reinforcing the culture and the attractiveness of the organization. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

9 A strong culture changes the view of work - Most people have a negative connotation of the word work. When the organization creates a culture that is attractive, peoples view of going to work will change. A strong culture creates greater synergy - A strong culture brings people together. When people have the opportunity to (and are expected to) communicate and get to know each other better, they will find new connections. These connections will lead to new ideas and greater productivity - in other words, it will be creating synergy. Literally, 1 + 1 + right culture = more than 10. A strong culture makes everyone more successful - Any one of the other six reasons should be reason enough to focus on organizational culture. But the bottom line is that an investment of time, talent and focus on organizational culture will give all of the above benefits. Not only is creating a better culture a good thing to do for the human capital in the business, it makes good business sense too.

2.3 A FEW DIMENSIONS OFN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

VIGILANCE Prior to pondering whether or not to communicate an ethical, compliance, or legal concern, an employee must first be in a position to detect violations. "What are the standards in this organization?" "What is my role in upholding these standards?" Accordingly, the first step in supporting employee communication and reporting behaviors is to influence a culture that promotes not only awareness of an organization's commitment to integrity, but a shared understanding of organizational standards. A look out for threats to organizational integrity also must be cultivated among organization members. Thoughtful attention to training employees on the values and standards outlined in the organization's code of conduct will facilitate awareness building. However, the most fundamental and powerful values of an organization are not written down and exist only in the shared norms, beliefs, and assumptions reflected in the organization's culture. These norms, beliefs, and assumptions guide how organization members think and act. The organizational culture informs members how to relate to each other and to outsiders, how to analyze problems, and how to respond to ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

10 situations encountered in the organization. To promote a shared understanding of which "code" to follow, the formal code of conduct or the unwritten code of culture, the dynamics of organizational culture on an employee's ability to accurately interpret the ethical standards of the organization must be addressed. To support a culture of vigilance, employees also must be educated on the relationship between organizational integrity and the organization's strategic positioning. Employees who observe wrongdoing may not report it because they cannot fully estimate the resulting damage. Therefore, the organization should ensure employees are in a position to identify the potential consequences of ethical, compliance, and legal breaches, including opportunity costs and harm to the organization, its reputation, and stakeholders. ENGAGEMENT The cultural dimension of engagement is multifaceted and complex. Engagement is concerned with organizational and individual factors that contribute to a personal state of authentic involvement in the organization. Organizational processes used to recruit, orient, socialize, and manage employees influence engagement. Employees sense making, psychological contracts, and perceptions of fairness in organizational dealings influence the degree of authentic involvement by them. Managing these organizational processes and individual perceptions to facilitate high degrees of organizational commitment and identification encourages a culture of engagement that supports internal whistle blowing. If an organization member is not committed to high ethical standards there may be a tendency to rationalize questionable behavior as a common or even necessary practice in performing job duties. On the other hand, if an employee has high ethical standards that are not supported by the organization, there is a tendency for the employee to experience internal conflict. Such conflict will arise when organizational demands on employees are inconsistent with personal or professional values. The result is decreased commitment and an unwillingness to exert effort on behalf of the organization.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

11 Once employees enter the organization, socialization methods, including training on ethical standards can be used to deepen employee commitment to organizational values and norms.

CREDIBILITY A culture of engagement that supports organizational commitment and identification, however, may not be sufficient for prompting employee disclosures. An employee will also seek to "test" the organization's commitment to integrity. Leadership behavior is a key determinant of employee perceptions and beliefs. The most powerful strategy that can be relied upon to facilitate credibility is employee belief in espoused ethics and values including organizational expectations for employee disclosure, attending to and monitoring congruence in the organizational culture. The role of leadership is central to this strategy. Aligning leadership behaviors with formal policies and consistent modeling of espoused values are important practices for fostering credibility. Demonstrating personal commitment to organizational values builds trust and creates a safe environment for employees to come forward and report concerns. ACCOUNTABILITY Accountability for communicating knowledge of wrongdoing will be carefully judged by employees. "Is it my job to report?" "Isn't this someone else's responsibility?" "Why should I get involved? After all, I am not the only one aware of what is going on here." Again, values, beliefs, and norms embedded in the organizational culture and picked up by employees will influence employee reflections

2.4 TYPES OF CULTURE

There are different types of culture just like there different types of personality are. AUTHORITARIAN CULTURE

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

12 There is centralization of power with the leader and obedience to orders and discipline are stressed. Any disobedience is punished severely to set an example to others. The basic assumption is that the leader always acts in the interests of the organization. PARTICIPATIVE CULTURE Participative culture tends to emerge where most organizational members see themselves as equals and take part in decision-making. MECHANISTIC CULTURE The mechanistic culture exhibits the values of bureaucracy. Organizational jobs are created around narrow specializations and people think of their careers mainly within these specializations. There is a great deal of departmental loyalty and interdepartmental animosity. This sort of culture resists change and innovation. ORGANIC CUTURE In this case, authority hierarchy, departmental boundaries, rules and regulations, etc. are all frowned up. The main emphasis is on task accomplishment, team work and free flow of communication. The culture stresses flexibility, consultation, change and innovation. SUB CULTURE AND DOMINANT CULTURE Each department of an organization may have its own culture representing a subculture of the system. An organizational culture emerges when there is integration of all the departments into a unified whole.

2.5 FUNCTIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

These are the functions being served by the organization

SENE OF IDENTITY: Culture provides a sense of identity to the members and enhances their commitment towards the organization. SENSE MAKING DEVICE:

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

13 Culture in the organization provides the employees to interpret the meaning of the organizational events. VALUE REINFORCEMENT: Values in the organization can be reinforced by the cultural activities. CONTROL MECHANISM: In shaping the behavior of members in the organization culture plays the big role.

CHAPTER 3

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

14

3.1 CREATION OF CULTURE

The founders of an organization generally tend to have a large impact on establishing the early culture. The organizations culture results from the interaction between the founder(s) biases and assumptions and what the original members of the organization learn from their own experiences. An organizations culture comes from what it has done before and the degree of success it has had. The ultimate source of an organizations culture is its founders. The founders of an organization traditionally have a major impact on that organizations early culture. They had the vision; they are unconstrained by previous customs or ideologies. The small size of new organizations facilitates the founders imposition of the vision on all organizational members. Culture creation occurs in three ways: First, founders hire and keep only employees who think and feel the way they do. Second, they indoctrinate and socialize these employees to their way of thinking and feeling. The founders own behavior acts as a role model that encourages employees to identify with them and thereby internalize their beliefs, values, and assumptions.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

15 When the organization succeeds, the founders entire personality becomes embedded in the culture of the organization.

3.2 KEEPING A CULTURE ALIVE

There are practices within the organization that act to maintain it by giving employees a set of similar experiences. Three forces play a particularly important part in sustaining a culture: selection practices, the actions of top management, and socialization methods. SELECTION The explicit goal of the selection process is to identify and hire individuals who have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the jobs within the organization successfully. The final decision as to who is hired will be significantly influenced by the decision makers judgment of how well the candidates will fit into the organization. This results in the hiring of people who have values consistent with those of the organization. Additionally, the selection process provides information to applicants about the organization. Selection, therefore, becomes a two-way street. Exampleapplicants for entry-level positions in brand management at Procter & Gamble (P&G). Each encounter seeks corroborating evidence of the traits that the firm believes correlate highly with what counts for success at P&G. TOP MANAGEMENT The actions of top management, what they say and how they behave, establish norms that filter down through the organization as to: Risk-taking. How much freedom managers should give their employees. What is appropriate dress?

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

16 What actions will pay off in terms of pay raises, promotions, and other rewards? SOCIALIZATION New employees are not fully indoctrinated in the organizations culture. They are unfamiliar with the organizations culture and are potentially likely to disturb the beliefs and customs that are in place.

3.3 ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIALIZATION

Another process that perpetuates culture is the way it is handed down from generation of employees. Newcomers learn the culture through organizational socialization The process by which newcomers are transformed from outsiders to participating, effective members of the organizations. The process is also a vehicle for bringing newcomers into the organizational culture.

STAGES OF THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS

The organizational socialization process is generally described as having three stages: ANTICIPATORY SOCIALIZATION The first stage encompasses all of the learning that takes place prior to the newcomers first day on the job. It includes the newcomers expectations. The two concerns at this stage are: Realism. Congruence.

Realism is the degree to which a newcomer holds realistic expectations about the job and about the organization. One thing newcomers should receive information about during entry into the organization is the culture. Information about values at this stage can help newcomers begin to construct a scheme for interpreting their organizational experiences. There are two types of Congruence between an individual and an organization: Congruence between the individuals abilities and the demand of the job, and the fit

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

17 between the organizations values and the individuals values. Value Congruence is particularly important for organizational culture. It is also important in terms of newcomer adjustment. ENCOUNTER The second stage of socialization, encounter, is when newcomers learn the tasks associated with the job, clarify their roles, and establish new relationships at work. This stage commences on the first day at work and is thought to encompass the first six to nine months on the new job. TASK DEMAND Task demand involves the actual work performed. Learning to perform tasks is related to the organizations culture. In some organizations, newcomers are given considerable latitude to experiment with new ways to do the job, and creativity is valued. ROLE DEMAND Role demand involves the expectations placed on newcomers. Newcomers may not know exactly what is expected of them or may receive conflicting expectations from other individuals. The way newcomers approach these demand depends in part on the culture of the organization. INTERPERSONAL DEMAND Interpersonal demand arises from relationships at work. Politics, Leadership style, and group pressure are interpersonal demand. All of them reflect the values and assumptions that operate within the organization. CHANGE AND ACQUISITION In the third and final stage of socialization, change and acquisition, newcomers begin to master the demands of the job. They become proficient at managing their tasks, clarifying and negotiating their roles, and engaging in relationship at work. The end of the process is signaled by newcomers being considered by themselves and others as organizational insiders.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

18

3.4 OUTCOMES OF SOCIALIZATION

Newcomers who are successful socialized exhibit good performance, high job satisfaction, and the intention to stay with the organization. In addition, they should exhibit low levels of distress symptoms. High levels of organizational commitment are also marks of successful socialization. Successful Socialization is also signaled by mutual influences. When socialization is effective, newcomers understand and adopt the organizations values and norms. This provides employees a context for interpreting and responding to things that happen at work. Newcomers adopt the companys norms and values more quickly when they receive positive support from organizational insiders.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

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CHAPTER 4
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

20

4.1 HOW EMPLOYEES LEARN CULTURE

STORIES Stories typically contain a narrative of events about the organizations founders, rule breaking, rags-to-riches successes, reductions in the workforce, relocation of employees, reactions to past mistakes, and organizational coping. They anchor the present in the past and provide explanations and legitimacy for current practices: For the most part, these stories develop spontaneously. Some organizations actually try to manage this element of culture learning RITUALS Rituals are repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of the organization, what goals are most important, which people are important, and which are expendable. MATERIAL SYMBOLS The material symbols convey to employees who is important, the degree of egalitarianism desired by top management, and the kinds of behavior that are appropriate. LANGUAGE Many organizations and units use language as a way to identify members of a culture or subculture. By learning this language, members attest to their acceptance of the culture and help to preserve it.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

21 New employees are frequently overwhelmed with acronyms and jargon that, after six months on the job, have become fully part of their language. Culture is transmitted to employees in a number of ways; for example, through stories, rituals, material symbols and language.

4.2 IMPACT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

The objective of the study is to investigate and analyze the influence of Organization culture on Employee performance. The research is expected to answer the importance question: Are Organization culture influenced Employee performance or not? The answer is yes the Organization culture are influence the performance of the employee. The Organization cultures talk about how the organisation progress on time, how employee behave or should behave, how tasks and job has to be done. Organization development is concerned with the analysis and diagnosis of the factor that determine organizational effectiveness, and the planning and delivery of programmers to increase that effectiveness. Organizations want to obtain the commitment of their employees. Management would like its employees to identify with the values, norms and behavior of the organization, hence the need for organizational culture. Management needs to clearly explain its culture in its employees; this will enable the employee to get familiar with the organizational system. During this process of explanation, the employee learns about the organizational culture and decides whether they can continue their jobs with this culture or they can leave from there. This means that each organization is a learning environment.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

22 It is the proper understanding of the organizational culture that the performance of the employee in the organization. Performance is the extent to which an individual is carrying out assignment or task. It refers to the degree of accomplishment of the task that makes up an employees job. Job performance is the net effect of an employees effort as modified by abilities and roles or task perceptions. The culture of the organization should be developed to support continuous improvement, improve employees style of performing their job and thus develop quality awareness. To operate successfully across cultures, it is important to be able to recognize cultural differences and be adaptable. Organizational culture finds expression through the thoughts, intentions, actions and interpretations of members of the organization. Academic interest in Organizational culture is evidenced by the level of attention it has received over the last few decades. The relationship between corporate culture and performance has been the subject of abundant research in several fields, including strategic management, organizational behavior, and industrial organizations. Despite a lot of studies on Organizational culture in the last few decades, there is no widely accepted causal relationship between Organizational culture and performance. The empirical evidences emerging from various studies about the effect of Organizational culture on performance have so far yielded mixed results that are inconclusive and contradictory. Because of these contradictory results, the question of whether Organizational culture improves or worsens employees performance is still worthy of further research such as the one being undertaken in this study. Thus the impact of the organizational culture on employee performance is to be done the work more effectively efficiently, and done all the task related to the organization

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

23 in a good manner, and the organization culture support the employee to improve his work according to the situation.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

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CHAPTER 5

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

25

CISCO CULTURE CASE STUDY

5.1 ABSTRACT:
The case focuses on Cisco's organization culture, which many feel, was responsible for Cisco bouncing back to profit after recording losses during the tech meltdown of 2001. The case looks at Cisco's growth through the years, the drivers of Cisco culture, and the characteristics of work culture at Cisco. Incorporated in 1984, Cisco had a culture based on the principles of customer focus, transparent communication, employee empowerment, integrity, and frugality. The work culture, which epitomized fun and fostered a spirit of employee involvement, ensured that employee turnover was way below industry norms. Continuous Learning, an element of the Cisco culture, was taken care of even through acquisition and partnerships. The case also looks into the role played by the company's CEO, John Chambers, in the evolution of the Cisco culture.

CASE:
Cisco Systems Inc. (Cisco), the leader in Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies and networking gear, recorded $2.2 billion in revenues and a market capitalization of $9 billion in 1995. By March 2000, market capitalization went up to $ 531 billion while revenues in 2000 were $19 billion. In 1995, Cisco accounted for 15% of the networking industry's profit and this figure went up to 50% in 2000. But with the tech meltdown of 2000-01, telecom companies and Internet service providers stopped purchasing telecom equipments from Cisco. Cisco was thus on a free fall, a situation the top management did not expect. "If somebody would've told me then that we'd go from 70% growth to minus 30% growth in 45 days, I'd have said it was mathematically impossible," said John T. Chambers (Chambers), President and CEO, Cisco Systems Inc.5 Though the company recorded losses in 2001, it bounced back with net profits the next year. Cisco's net sales for fiscal 2004 were $22.0 billion, an increase of 16.8 percent from the $18.9 billion for fiscal 2003, while net income for fiscal 2004 was $4.4 billion or $0.62 per share, compared with $3.6 billion or $0.50 per share for fiscal 2003 (Refer Exhibit I for stock market movement of Cisco between 1990 and

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

26 2005). Industry observers were quick to point out that it was the organization culture of Cisco that helped it survive the tough periods of meltdown. Cisco was founded on a culture based on the principles of customer focus, open communication, empowerment, trust, integrity, and giving back to the community. This culture ensured that Cisco was on the list of the Fortune magazine's '100 best places to work' for eight consecutive years, starting 1998.

5.2 BACKGROUND NOTE

Headquartered at San Jose, California, US, Cisco was incorporated on December 10, 1984. The company was founded by a group of computer scientists, who designed software named IOS (Internet Operating System), which could send streams of data from one computer to another. This was loaded into a box containing microprocessors specially designed for routing. In 1985, the company started a customer support site from where customers could download software over FTP 6 and also upgrade the downloaded software. Cisco, on its site, also provided a database that contained information about potential software problems to help customers and developers. By 1991, Cisco's support centre was receiving around 3,000 calls a month, which increased to 12,000 by 1992. To deal with the large volume of transactions, it built an online customer support system on its site. In 1993, Cisco installed an Internet-based system for large multinational corporate customers. The system allowed customers to post queries related to their problems. Cisco also installed a trigger function called the 'Bug Alert' on its website. The 'Bug Alert' sent e-mails on software problems within 24 hours of their discovery. Encouraged by the success of its customer support site, in 1994, Cisco launched Cisco Information Online, a public website that offered not only company and product information but also technical and customer support to customers. In 1995, it introduced applications for selling products or services on its website. This was done mainly to transfer paper, fax, and e-mails to the web to save time for employees, customers, and trading partners, besides broadening Cisco's market reach.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

27 In 1996, the company introduced a new Internet initiative, 'Networked Strategy' to leverage on its enterprise network to foster interactive relationships with prospective

Customers,

parteners,

suppliers

and

employees

In August 1996, Cisco launched transactional facilities including product configuration and online order placement connected to Cisco's ERP systems. In 1997, it introduced the dial-in access from desktop computers that enabled customers to place orders without accessing the Internet. In the same year, it also introduced customized business applications for its customers' corporate Intranets and automated the ordering process by linking directly to Cisco's internal systems. Commenting on the growth of Cisco in the late 1990s, Jeremy Duke, analyst at market research firm In-Stat7 said, "They are entering into the zone of the great phone companies, as moneymakers and as builders of infrastructure. There's nobody like them.

5.3 WHAT DRIVES CISCO'S CULTURE?

CUSTOMERS FIRST Cisco's success has been attributed to its relationship with its customers. Cisco professed a 'worship of customers', which was a part of the company's culture right from its inception. "This is a culture where the customer comes first. If the customer has a problem, we drop everything," said Pete Solvik (Solvik), Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO), Cisco. Cisco viewed the assessment of customer satisfaction as a continuous process. One of the elements of this assessment was getting regular customer feedback, which helped Cisco employees to be proactive in identifying problem areas, rather than waiting for an annual customer satisfaction survey. Cisco's field teams designed the questionnaires that were used to assess customer satisfaction

THE WORK CULTURE

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28

The organizational structure of Cisco fostered a spirit of employee involvement. "Very often it's most efficient to just work with the person involved, without the formality of passing through every layer of management. But that requires a level of trust that not all organizations have," mentioned Solvik. If a Cisco employee wanted the top management support for an innovative idea, he had to discuss the idea with an employee decision-making team and get its assent. If the decision-making team accepted the idea, the top management gave the green signal. "They (the decisionmaking teams) are empowered to make that decision because we put the authority, the responsibility, and the accountability at the same layer. 'BUILT TO LAST' According to some analysts, Cisco faced the risk of diluting its culture due to the influences of new recruits who brought in behaviors from past job experiences. "We're focusing on what it will take to communicate the culture and preserve it. That's another learning experience: Culture is not automatic. That it follows a principle of customer focus, transparent communication, employee empowerment, integrity and fragility. It is the culture where customer comes first but in CISCO its also the product that works and matters. Here engineer counts as much as culture. So CISCOs betting big on collaboration that draws manager input from all levels as the main drivers for its strategy to grab new market. Its taking a decentralized form, rather than working on a single leader decision making. In conclusion, Cisco Systems appeals to businesses and employees in similar ways by offering a standard to be the best provider and staying ahead of the competition. Their cultural presence is felt by worldwide leadership in technology by bringing jobs, as well as, communications to countries and government structures. Cisco offers a strong customer-responsive organization that blends with cultural needs and service to its employees. Thus it has a fit culture perspective where customer and competitors comes first.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

29 Although customer is the top priority in CISCOs culture but it gives equal importance to its employees. Its decentralized system of decision making & futuristic approach are the major gluing factor in retaining employees.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CASE STUDY

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
Southwest Airlines was incorporated in Texas and commenced Customer Service on June 18, 1971, with three Boeing 737 aircraft serving three Texas cities - Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. Today, Southwest operates more than 500 Boeing 737 aircraft between 67 cities. Southwest topped the monthly domestic originating passenger rankings for the first time in May 2003. Yearend results for 2008 marked Southwests 36th consecutive year of profitability. Southwest became a major airline in 1989 when it exceeded the billion-dollar revenue mark. Southwest is the United States most successful low-fare, high frequency, point-to-point carrier. More than 38 years ago, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher got together and decided to start a different kind of airline. They began with one simple notion: If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make darn sure they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. CULTURE DONE DIFFERENTLY For more than 38 years, the Southwest Culture has thrived, but it hasnt been easy. The longevity has been both their biggest accomplishment and their most significant challenge. At Southwest, They think of Their Culture in a positive light, but every company has a culture, whether that culture is supportive or stifling, active or passive, fun or discouraging. The way they keep their Culture supportive, active, and fun is by making Southwests Culture everyones responsibility. In fact, they ask everyone to own it.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

30 The Culture Committees are just the beginning of what separates them from the way other companies approach their culture. One of the most significant Southwest differences in their pursuit to preserve and promote their Culture is the way it is embedded in every aspect of the Company. Hardly any company make having a Fun-Loving Attitude a key pillar of their leadership expectations. Those same expectations include The Golden Rule and possessing a Servants Heart. The annual Performance Appraisal for all of their Employees includes asection on Southwest Culture. From an Employees initial interview until the day he or she retires, the Southwest Culture is an ingrained part of daily life. And finally, their Culture encourages celebration. First, they celebrate their Veterans on the month of Nov. America would be a much different place without the courage of their Veterans. They then celebrate the blessings of the past year on Thanksgiving. Southwest's no-layoff response to September 11 was a reminder to its employees of the organization's tradition of caring for its people. When asked to comment on this, an official explained, "Its part of our culture. We've always said we'll do whatever we can to take care of our people. So that's what we've tried to do."1 Southwest's organizational culture was shaped by Kelleher's leadership. Kelleher's personality had a strong influence on the culture of Southwest, which epitomized his spontaneity, energy and competitiveness. Southwest's culture had three themes: love, fun and efficiency. Kelleher treated all the employees as a "lovely and loving family". Kelleher knew the names of most employees and insisted that they referred to him as Herb or Herbie. Kelleher's personality charmed workers and they reciprocated with loyalty and dedication. Friendliness and familiarity also characterized the company's relationships with its customers... BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Since its inception, Southwest attempted to promote a close-knit, supportive and enduring family-like culture The Company initiated various measures to foster intimacy and informality among employees. Southwest encouraged its people to conduct business in a loving manner. Employees were expected to care about people and act in ways that affirmed their dignity and worth.

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31

ARTIFACTS The artifacts which are the symbols of culture in the physical and social work environment can be seen in the way the Southwest Company treats its employees. To help keep the Culture at the forefront, they have two groups: Local Culture Committees and the Corporate Culture Committee. Both groups put on low-cost Employee events throughout the year. The Employees roll up their sleeves to help out their area Ronald McDonald Houses at Thanksgiving. Colleen Barrett who is the former President of southwest airlines sent cards to all employees on their birthdays... The CEO joins with the Employees to wish Happy Thanksgiving. Instead of decorating the wall of its headquarters with paintings, the company hung photographs of its employees taking part at company events, news clippings, letters, articles and advertisements. Customers are not assigned seats; rather, they are assigned to one of three "boarding groups" depending on their check-in time (earlier check-ins get to board earlier), and are left to choose their own seats on the plane, which helps the airline to board passengers faster VALUES Company Values ... Core Values LUV Code word for treating individuals, employees, customers Dignity, respect and caring loving attitude . Appeared on banners and posters at company facilities Fun Entertaining behavior of employees in performing their jobs. The ongoing pranks and jokes. Frequent company-sponsored parties and celebrations. Charity benefit games, chili cook-offs, Halloween parties ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

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THRIVING UNDER PRESSURE Post-September11, 2001, when most airlines in the US went in for massive layoffs, Southwest avoided laying off any employee. Even before the September 11 crisis hit, Kelleher had explained his philosophy regarding layoffs in an interview to Fortune magazine. He said, "Nothing kills your company's culture like layoffs. Nobody has ever been furloughed [at Southwest], and that is unprecedented in the airline industry. It's been a huge strength of ours. It's certainly helped us negotiate our union contracts. One of the union leaders.came in to negotiate one time, and he said, "We know we don't need to talk with you about job security." We could have furloughed at various times and been more profitable, but I always thought that was shortsighted You want to show your people that you value them and you're not going to hurt them just to get a little more money in the short term. Not furloughing people breeds loyalty. It breeds a sense of security. It breeds a sense of trust. So in bad times you take care of them, and in good times they're thinking, perhaps, "We've never lost our jobs. That's a pretty good reason to stick around."... Southwest was the only airline to remain profitable in every quarter since the September 11 attack. (Refer Exhibit VIII for financial position of Southwest.) Although its stock price dropped 25% since September 11, it was still worth more than all the others big airlines combined. Its balance sheet looked strong with a 43% debt-to-equity ratio and it had a cash of $1.8 billion with an additional $575million in untapped credit lines. The company left no stone unturned to boost employee loyalty and morale. South West Airlines has follows a fun loving attitude. Their culture is all about care, friendliness and familiarity this resulted in the thinking of the employees that they value us and thus we need to stick around. This is the main gluing factor of the organizations culture.

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CONCLUSION
Organizational culture is a pattern of basic assumptions that are taught to the personnel as the correct way to perceive, think and act on a dayTo-day basis. Some of the important characteristics of organizational culture are observed behavioral regularities, norms, values, rules, philosophy and so on. While everyone in the organization will share the organization's culture, not all may do so to the same degree. There can be a dominant culture, but also a number of subcultures. Some organizations have strong cultures and others have weak cultures. The strength of the culture will depend on sharedness and intensity. In some cases organizations find that they must change their culture in order to remain competitive and even survive in their environment. With reference to the cases in this project, we had analyzed the value system of the organization like CISCO and SOUTH WEST AIRLINES.3M has built its organizational culture which holds its employees together in line with the vision and mission of the organization- southwest airlines has built an organization of repute - an enterprise that stands apart which even during the last economic downturn was unshaken. While CISCO has given its culture an innovative and futuristic approach with customer as the top priority.

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BIBLOGRAPHY:

www.icmrindia.org Organizational Behavior by Nelson Quick Organizational Behavior by K.Aswathappa www.scribd.com

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Conclusion The future holds promise for companies that understand and nurture their cultures. Cultures are not only able to create an environment, but they also adapt to diverse and changing circumstances. As organizations begin to experience a revolution in structures, the study of culture and the implications for change will become more important. Understanding of work group subcultures within an organizations culture will influence strategies for changing organizational culture and overcoming resistance to change programs. Changing an organizations culture may be extremely difficult, as the processes that support a particular organization or a departmental method of working are both interrelated and varied. Organizational culture is self-perpetuating and highly resistant to change. Changes may cause confusion, conflict and resistance. Managers need to understand the nature and role of culture and how it may be altered. When the role of culture is more clearly defined, managers can better understand its importance in managing organizational change and its impact on dayto-day decision-making.

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ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE