Organizations As Tribes

ORGANIZATIONS ARE LIKE TRIBES



Organizational culture

Is the collective behaviour of humans who are part of an organization and the meanings that the people attach to their actions. Cultureincludes the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits. It is also the pattern of such collective behaviours and assumptions that are taught to neworganizational members as a way of perceiving, and even thinking and feeling. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders."Failure to understand the way in which an organization's culture will interact with various contemplated change strategies thus may mean the failure of the strategies themselves" (Farmer, 1990).Organizational behavior

Is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on behaviour within an organization. It is an interdisciplinary field thatincludes sociology, psychology, communication, and management.



Cultural leadership

One of the biggest obstacles in the way of the merging of two organizations is organizational culture. Eachorganization has its own unique culture and most often, when brought together, these cultures clash. When mergers fail employees point to issues such as identity, communication problems, humanresources problems, ego clashes, and inter-group conflicts, which all fall under the category of "cultural differences".

One way to combat such difficulties is through cultural leadership. Organizationalleaders must also be cultural leaders and help facilitate the change from the two old cultures into the one new culture. This is done through cultural innovation followed by cultural maintenance.▪ Cultural innovation includes:

▪ Creating a new culture: recognizing past cultural differences and setting realistic expectations for change

▪ Changing the culture:...