In the last twenty years world-wide companies tried to adapt their organizational culture to the external environment and to the new challenges. Recent crises put to the test organizational culture, in the sense that only companies with a strong and versaorganizational culture, management, rules

Cebuc Georgiana

Potecea Valeriu

English

Research Papers in Economics

241 
 
ASPECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE  
 
Potecea Valeriu  
Universitatea Româno – Americană, Bucure ti, Facultatea de Rela ii Comerciale  i Financiar-
Bancare Interne  i Interna ionale, Bvd. Expozi iei 1B, valeriu.potecea@rau.ro, 0722729353 
Cebuc Georgiana  
Universitatea Româno – Americană, Bucure ti, Facultatea de Rela ii Comerciale  i Financiar-
Bancare Interne  i Interna ionale, Bvd. Expozi iei 1B, srdgeorgiana@yahoo.com, 0728578293 
 
In the last twenty years world-wide companies tried to adapt their organizational culture to the external 
environment and to the new challenges. Recent crises put to the test organizational culture, in the sense 
that  only  companies  with  a  strong  and  versatile  culture  resisted  financially  and  psychological  on 
international markets. The biggest treat for today's organizations is remaining the same. 
 
Keywords: organizational culture, management, rules 
 
JEL classification: M14  
 
In the last twenty years world-wide companies tried to adapt their organizational culture to the 
external environment and to the new challenges. Recent crises put to the test organizational 
culture, in the sense that only companies with a strong and versatile culture resisted financially 
and psychological on international markets. To give a significant example, in our opinion, take 
the differential culture of General Motors and Toyota. GM is confronting great financial and 
organizational problems while Toyota is still going on the market. It is known that Toyota has an 
old and very consolidate organizational culture and it succeeded to create a philosophy called 
“toyotism”,  while  GM  neglected  this  aspect  for  many  years.  The  biggest  treat  for  today's 
organizations is remaining the same. 
To illustrate this fact I will take the following example: from the biggest 100 companies of the 
90's today only 16 are still on the market. In a top of the Fortune magazine from 500 important 
companies today only 25 are still included as being important and representative. 
These dramatic changes in the internal environment of the organizations are explainable if we 
consider the transfer from industrial economy to the informational economy. For the first time in 
1991  companies  invest  more  in  high-tech  technologies  and  communications  rather  than  in 
primary sectors such as mining, agriculture, constructions etc 
The theory that we are in the informational economy stage is revealed by the fact that in the last 
twenty years companies produced more information and innovation than in the last 5000 years. A 
weekly edition of the New York Times or of the Herald Tribune contains more information that 
could accumulate a person in the XVII century in a lifetime. 
 
1. Organizational culture – part of the managerial science  
Every organization has a culture, which reflects its history, managerial approach, managerial 
styles, attitude versus risk, relationship with competition, suppliers, and, of course, employees. 
Organizational culture is about human resource, because founders, CEO's and employees are 
humans.  
If  we  try  to  define  what  is  organizational  culture  we  could  say  that  represents  a  system  of 
symbols,  traditions,  habits,  values  and  organizational  behavior  shared  by  the  company's 
members. 
At the beginning of the 80's researchers began to be interested in organizational culture. This was 
one of the fields where theoreticians were more aware than the practitioners about the importance 
of the organizational culture in the life of companies and about how it can change in better or in 
worse their performances. The reason that practitioners ignored till then organizational culture is 242 
 
very simple, they consider it to be a safe value, a state of mind that exists but we are not entirely 
aware of until somebody asks you about it or you must compare your culture with a different one. 
E. Schein identified three levels on culture's manifestation: 
-First level includes artifacts- this level is represented by symbols and tangible products such as 
architecture, design, clothes, technology, habits, myths, history etc. The wealth of an organization 
reflects and influences its organizational culture. 
-Habits and values adopted and implemented by the employees. Agreements, objectives, rules, 
ethical behavior, all these are developed in the internal environment of the companies.   These 
represent the line between good and rung, guiding the organization. Rules could be transformed 
formal in laws and informal in social behavior. 
-Basically  presumptions  about  life  and  human  behavior-  represent  the  deepest  level.  It 
contains the employee’s beliefs, convictions, and behavior in the organization. Although there are 
intangible and abstract there are the most important. 
Trough culture organizations try to express their continuity in time and to obtain legitimacy in the 
field and on the market. It's a mix between economic organization- tangible values and culture- 
intangible values. 
A first approach of organizational culture in management belongs to T. Peters and R. Waterman 
in  their  book  “In  Search  of  Excellence”,  they  illustrate  best  the  connection  between 
organizational culture and managerial work. 
They consider organizational culture “as a result of managerial efforts in orientate employees 
towards excellence”.  An organization can express very well trough past achievements. Every 
company  is  created to  serve  a  goal,  purpose trough  human  resources. These goals  are  more 
important than all other company's components because they dictate the organizational structure.  
There are considered to be the fundamentals of work activities, respectively to the responsibilities 
associated to work. The organization's goals are influenced by public opinion, tax payers and 
clients. If does not exist demand on the market then the organization could not exist. This means 
that  all  organizations  need  to  gain  legitimacy,  material  and  human  resources,  permanent 
customers,  constant  relationships,  stability  and  organizational  values.  For  productive 
organizations is very important the proportion between expenses and results and the economic 
effect, if the production is profitable or not. 
The value's system represents an ensemble of interdependent ideals and it is characterized by a 
coherency  that justifies  every  constituent  component  of  the  organization  in  comparison  with 
others. It serves as a guide and evaluation system. 
Values  are  shared  by  individuals  or  by  groups,  but  there  are  more  than  just  inputs.  There 
resemble with attitudes and with elements of personality. These attitudes have their origins in the 
employee’s subconscious and after that are implemented in the organization's culture. 
D. Pemartin and J. Legres set some professional values in six steps: 
-Wage- money are considered to be an essential reason of conduct 
-Freedom or autonomy- independence and the desire of not being part of a hierarchy. 
-The reputation- the need of admiration, the attributes of power. 
-Stability  –  to  obtain  it  people  accept  tasks  and  jobs  that  don't  like  establishing  a  negative 
environment. 
-Organizing- in the first place are planning, discipline, rules. 
-Solving problems- because of the need to be remarked the employees try to solve problems 
more efficiently. 
Changing  organizational  culture  presume  changing  organization's  members  mentality  and 
instrumental values. The need for change could be caused by low performance or new adopted 
strategies, reduced capacity of adaptation to the external challenges etc. 
 
 243 
 
2. Organizational Culture Typologies 
In  every  field  of  research  we  need  schematization  and  classifications.  The  classification 
operations presume utilization of criteria and leads to an established order by the researcher. 
Organizational culture is a complex phenomenon and that's why we have to apply typological 
analyze to its main variations. Establishing a typology of the organizational culture allows us to 
choose better from such diversity. Numerous authors tried to establish models or typologies of 
organizational cultures. 
Time has a crucial role in a culture of a community and in business as well. Depending on time 
factor, that is the way how organizations project time, at least two ways of cultures can be met: 
-monochronic culture, where time is perceived in a linear way (the absolute time), as a way that 
lies from past, through present to future, which is segmented (on stages) and tangible (after 
calendar).  This culture is specific to North European organizations and to North America, where 
can  be  met  a  strict  schedule  of  activities,  promptness  in  tasks  and  activities’  achievement, 
punctuality in business relations, perseverance and consistency in goal achievement. 
-polychronic culture, has a different perspective on time (the relative time), pertaining to his 
flowing, related to events’ development and life facts. Two or more activities are performed 
simultaneously, in competition or alternatively. Events’ development is more likely determined 
by the imperative of the moments, rather than a preset plan. Organizations from Latin America or 
Middle  East  offer  a  lot  of  examples,  emphasizing  the  involvement  of  people  and  business’ 
executions rather than planning. A great importance have the preservation and development of 
interpersonal relations, the adjustment to the general culture climate, to the foreign environment, 
the fulfillment of goals of the involved parts,  the respect of partner’s “image” and  the assurance 
of cordial relations. 
 
Based on organization’s structure, in literature there were delimitated three types of cultures: 
-Bureaucratic culture - characterized by a no clear style, based mainly on approved norms and 
procedures. This culture assumes a rigid, centralized hierarchy. This type exists in every country 
and brings a lot of discomforts. 
-Administrative culture – that is production-oriented. It is the culture of organizations sensitive 
to change and very adaptive to change. 
-Technical culture - it is typical to industrial organizations, based on “know-how”.
114 
 
3. Organizational Culture in Romanian companies 
An attempt to identify some characteristics of organizational culture in Romanian companies can 
be risky and mainly empirical. Any analysis must take into consideration the different forms of 
ownership. However, according to a study of Human Synergistics Romania
115, three main traits 
were spotted out: exaggerate competitiveness, conventionalism, and self-development. 
Exaggerate  competitiveness.  Everything  is  turning  around  win  –  loose  concept.  People 
constantly try to prove that they are better than their colleagues, not only to fulfill organization’s 
goals. This need to prove often exceeds the space of primordial task and can be found in every 
situation, no matter how insignificant it is. Every idea, once expressed, becomes sacrosanct, and 
people are willing to fight for it. When loose the dispute, Romanians prefer to retreat instead of 
recognizing the defeat. 
Conventionalism. Even looks like a paradox, Romanian companies seem to have a fair doze of 
conventionalism that is the inclination for respect, even apparently, of rules and procedures. This 
inclination  is  a  reaction  of  people  in  front  of  increased  aggressiveness  of  organization  and 
                                                       
114 Hoftede Geert (2001), Culture’s consequences, 2nd edition, Thousand Oaks, CA:Sage 
115  Human  Synergistics  Romania  (2006),  Cultura  organizationala  in  companiile  romanesti,  analize  si 
tendinte 244 
 
represents a simple escape gate from individual responsibility. Rules become more important 
than ideas as is emphasized in the following statement: “This is a brilliant idea; unfortunately, we 
have a rule that ban it”. Lack of conventionalism, doesn’t necessarily mean, as we can be tempted 
to consider, the constant brake of rules, but the recognition of their role in helping work, and 
when they don’t, the rules must be changed. 
Self – development. This is a more paradox dimension. Romanian companies seem have a high 
level of future orientation, towards quality and creativity. This characteristic doesn’t derive only 
from proverbial Romanian capacity of “setting free from difficulties”, but also from a sincere 
concern of organization’s members for doing a quality job. This tendency, manifested in all top-
companies, shows how important is organizational culture and internal environment in building-
up an appropriate and capable work practice in Romania. 
A  fundamental  differentiation  between  work  environment  from  Romanian  organizations  and 
from western countries is the management system. In Romania, the organizational culture seems 
to be relationship-centered, rather than task-center, as it is outside. Another serious problem of 
Romanian managers is their difficulty to delegate, and if they succeed to do it, rarely refrain 
themselves from over controlling the delegate, causing lack of motivation. 
Organizational  culture  represents  the  most  important  factor  in  companies’  development, 
outrunning national culture and specific cultures such as monochronic or polychronic cultures. 
Organizational  culture  represents  a  mix  of  inputs  from  founders,  managers,  employees  and 
collaborators. In Romania, the organizational culture must experience a significant adjustment in 
order to meet the needs of organizations’ members.  
 
References: 
1. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences. 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; 
2. Kotter J.P., Heskett J.L. Culture et performances: le second souffle de l`entreprise. - Paris: 
d`Organisation, 1993; 
3. Mintzberg H. Le Management: voyage au centre des organizations. - Paris: d`Organisation, 
1990; 
4. Schein E.H. Organizational Culture and Liderism. - San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1985; 
5. Schein E.H. Three Cultures of Management: The Key to Organizational learning in the 21 st 
Centry, learning.mit.edu/res/wp; 
6.  Robert  E.  Quinn,  Diagnosing  and  changing    organizational  culture,  School  of  Business 
Administration , University of Michigan, Upper Saddle River, Prentice Hall 1999; 
7.  Mary  Jo  Hatch,  Dynamics  in  Organizational  Culture,  McIntire  School  of  Commerce, 
University of Virginia, Oxford University Press, 2004; 
8.www.humansynergistics.ro, 2006. 
   

Culture et performances: le second souffle de l`entreprise. -

Culture’s consequences. 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks,

Diagnosing and changing organizational culture,

Dynamics in Organizational Culture,

Le Management: voyage au centre des organizations. - Paris: d`Organisation,

Organizational Culture and Liderism. -

Three Cultures of Management: The Key to Organizational learning

ASPECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

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ASPECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

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