Difference between revisions of "Organizational culture"
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Revision as of 13:08, 26 September 2013
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Contents
Definition
Organizational culture is Organizational culture encompasses an organization’s traditions, values, norms, attitudes and behaviour, in particular as influences on its internal and external interactions
Source: Planning and Execution of Knowledge Management Assist Missions for Nuclear Organizations
Summary
This article provides an overview of organizational culture and how this relates to knowledge management. Organizational culture is directly influenced by leadership. A knowledge sharing culture is essential for successfully implementing knowledge management. The IAEA has developed tools and methodologies to assess the level of a knowledge sharing culture. Within nuclear organisations the importance safety culture has been emphasised therefore it is defined in a separate article.
Description
Organizational culture is similar to the personality and character of an individual. It reflects the visions, values and beliefs of organizations and has a significant impact on the success of knowledge management programmes — if it is not based on qualities such as trust and openness, then knowledge management initiatives are unlikely to succeed. When thinking about organizational culture, it is necessary to understand that this goes beyond individual and is shaped by the social culture in which the organization resides. Thus, a multinational organization’s culture may vary somewhat from country to country. Similarly, while it shapes them, organizational culture does not completely define the cultures of different business units or functional units. Furthermore, culture is dynamic. It changes during the life of an organization as it moves from start-up to maturity and it changes over time (although not always in ways leaders understand or can affect), much as our societal culture does. Before a cultural aspect such as knowledge sharing can be affected, an organization’s current culture must be understood. An organization’s culture, or ‘the way it conducts its business’ is strongly influenced by its executive management, and the standards the executive demonstrate and demand will shape business culture. Culture varies considerably between organizations. Culture is neither good nor bad, but may foster values and behavior that support or impede certain organizational objectives.
Knowledge sharing
Many people see knowledge as power, fearing that if they share their knowledge they will lose their importance and marketability. Organizations can try to overcome this deep seated concern by providing incentives to workers to share their knowledge. However, incentives are not enough to overcome cultures that reward and promote workers who hoard knowledge or that foster competition among employees or groups that should be complementary. Trust plays an important role in the sharing and use of knowledge. If people believe they will benefit from sharing their knowledge — either directly or indirectly — they are more likely to share. The use to which people put the knowledge of others often depends on whether they know and trust the source of the knowledge. Source: Guide on nuclear knowledge management Knowledge sharing is an essential prerequisite for a comprehensive safety culture In knowledge management, an organization’s culture is extremely important – if it is not based on qualities such as trust and openness, then knowledge management initiatives are unlikely to succeed. There are increasing interdependencies between jobs and the information overload resulting from interconnectivity and rapid change, mean that many people have pieces of solutions and no one knows it all. Therefore, cultures which inhibit knowledge-sharing are widely considered to be significant barriers to creating and leveraging knowledge assets. Foster a knowledge-sharing culture is thus a necessary prerequisite for organizations that believe that it is a significant way to differentiate themselves In the nuclear industry, organisational culture is immediately associated with safety culture. The term was adopted by the IAEA in recognition of the fact that nuclear safety is heavily dependent on the actions and therefore, the thoughts of people within the organisation.
Importance of leadership
The organization's culture develops in a large part from its leadership while the culture of an organization can also affect the leadership development.
Tools for assessing organizational culture
In knowledge management, an organization’s culture is important - if knowledge management is not based on qualities such as trust and openness, then knowledge management initiatives will fail. In the nuclear industry some organizations use organizational culture surveys, which help managers to know the extent to which the organizational climate supports the sharing of knowledge.
The IAEA has developed a special KM assessment methodology and tool which includes a section on organizational culture.
Source: Planning and Execution of Knowledge Management Assist Missions for Nuclear Organization
