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Organizational Culture Assignment
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Objectives:
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| This is a short group project. The purpose of this assignment is to: |
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 | Introduce
you to the concept of organizational culture |
| Provide
you with an opportunity to apply these concepts to an actual
organization |
| Practice
observing indicators of organizational culture. |
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Directions
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| You
will be randomly assigned to a group during the second week of the
semester. You will be required to visit an organization that is not affiliated with
UNCW and no member of the group should be a past or present employee of
the organization.
No group will be larger than 5 students. The
purpose of your visit is strictly to observe an organization as it goes
about its normal business.
You are not to talk to the employees if at all possible and should
not ask them questions.
You should take notes on all of the indicators of the
organization’s culture that you can observe.
Since you shouldn’t ask the employees questions, some indicators
(e.g., legends, sagas, etc.) may be hard to observe unless you pick up
promotional materials.
However, you should be able to observe other indicators such as
artifacts, settings, symbols, and perhaps even a ritual.
The lecture notes will provide some
guidance for what to look for. You may be surprised how much
you can learn by simply observing if you put your mind to it.
Many skilled managers employ this ability to sense what is going on
as they walk through their plant or office area.
Feel free to select organizations where the culture is readily
observable. |
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Presentation
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| Each group will be asked to share the results of your analysis
and share examples with the class during a brief 5 minute presentation. This will count towards your
class participation grade. |
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Writing
Assignment
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| Each
group should prepare one memo describing the culture of the
organization. Your memo is limited to 4-single-spaced pages with 12
point font and 1 inch margins. Your
analysis should consider: the extent to which the
culture impacts employee behavior (i.e., strong vs. weak behavior); the function
of the organizational culture; what practices keep the culture alive; how do new employees
learn the organization’s culture; and, how does the organization's
culture promote or inhibit organizational change.
In your analysis, be sure to identify at least several “signs” that
you feel best demonstrate the organization’s culture (e.g., stories, rituals,
material symbols, language). You may wish to include some of these in tables or figures. |
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