________ are the manifestations of an organizational culture that everyone can see or talk about.
- Core values
- Structural traits
- Communal cultures
- Networked cultures
- Observable artifacts
Observable artifacts are the manifestations of an organization's culture that employees can easily see or talk about.
Observable Artifacts: Aspects of an organization’s culture that employees and outsiders can easily see or talk about.
Rigby has gotten his dream job working with one of the most prominent tech companies in Silicon Valley, and he is determined to make a good showing from the first day. The best way for him to do that is to
- learn as much as possible about his own specialty, as well as the particular technical needs of the company, and take extra classes if he discovers anything lacking in his skill set.
- conduct extensive online research using a wide variety of business sources, such as Standard & Poor's, and social media, to get a detailed portrait of the company.
- make a point of staying late and going in to the office on weekends, both to get noticed by management and to talk with other people who work extra hours.
- observe his coworkers from the start, figure out who is most successful and plugged in, get to know them, and not be shy about asking questions.
- talk to people who have left the company and find out how their work experience was, including whatever negatives views they might have.
Although it is always good to learn more about how to do one's job better, what Rigby really needs to learn about in this situation is the company's organizational culture. This is not something that can be obtained from the Internet or books, nor from any high-level executive in the company. Nor can he obtain this knowledge from workers who have left the company, especially if they have a negative view that may be colored by factors he is unaware of. As for working extra hours, that might be a good idea, but a much better way to get a representative portrait of the organization is by approaching the issue in this most direct manner possible. Organizational culture is social knowledge among members of the organization, and the best form of social knowledge is what he will obtain from the most successful among his peers.
Rose works in the human resources department of Spartan, makers of athletic clothing, shoes, and accessories. Celebrity athletes are regularly spotted wearing Spartan gear, but the company's slogan-"For the Athlete in All of Us"-is designed to appeal to the ordinary buyers who account for a large portion of revenues. Rose has been assigned to train a group of new employees, and she intends to begin with an information talk that includes a story about the company. Given this information, the best choice for Rose would be an account of
- Spartan's emerging understanding of its market and the corporate values it needs to uphold in order to maintain its position-knowledge it has gained by interviewing hundreds of ordinary people and athletes of all kinds.
- the challenges one of the company's leading executives overcame in order to live up to the company slogan, training relentlessly for weeks and months and going on to compete in the Boston Marathon.
- the time when a local store manager had a problem keeping up with inventory and, after attempting to solve it on his own, took the issue to company headquarters and got the help he needed.
- a wounded Iraq War veteran who got a job as a cashier at a local Spartan store and who, despite having a prosthetic arm, competed in the company's annual Spartan Games.
- how the company's founder and CEO turned a struggling, unprofitable firm into one of the most prominent competitors in the athletic-wear market.
Stories such as the one Rose intends to include in her talk are a type of observable artifact, and as such can be a major mechanism through which leaders and employees describe what the company values or finds important. But a story has to truly be a story: as Paul Wiles, president/CEO of Novant Health, says, "Talk about numbers, and people's eyes glaze over; talk about one child who died unnecessarily, and no one can walk away from that." Recent research finds that telling newcomers stories of low-level employees upholding the values of the firm as opposed to high-level employees is more effective at transmitting culture and affecting their behavior. Hence tales about the company founder or another high-level executive are not as likely to have an impact as one about an ordinary worker. The store manager story is not very compelling (nor is he, the ordinary employee, the "hero" of the story), whereas the one about the wounded veteran competing in the Spartan Games exemplifies the company slogan, "For the Athlete in All of Us."
Ability: Relatively stable capabilities of people for performing a particular range of related activities.
Which of the following supply the primary means of transmitting an organization's culture to its workforce?
- underlying assumptions
- observable artifacts
- espoused values
- competitive responses
- norms
Observable artifacts are the manifestations of an organization's culture that employees can easily see or talk about. Artifacts supply the primary means of transmitting an organization's culture to its workforce.
Observable Artifacts: Aspects of an organization’s culture that employees and outsiders can easily see or talk about.
During her stay at the Renaissance Hotel, Ginny noticed that all the staff wore the same color and style of clothes. Which of the following layers of organizational culture would such a dress code represent?
- espoused values
- enacted values
- observable artifacts
- mnemonics
- basic underlying assumptions
Observable artifacts are the manifestations of an organization's culture that employees can easily see or talk about. There are six major types of artifacts: symbols, physical structures, language, stories, rituals, and ceremonies. Symbols can be found throughout an organization, from its corporate logo to the images it places on its website to the uniforms its employees wear.
Observable Artifacts: Aspects of an organization’s culture that employees and outsiders can easily see or talk about.
The physical layout of workspaces, dress codes, and the level of technology used are all examples of ________ that are represented by the organization's culture.
- core values
- cultural diversity
- personal dynamics
- observable artifacts
- operational capacity
Observable artifacts are the manifestations of an organization's culture that employees can easily see or talk about. There are six major types of artifacts: symbols, physical structures, language, stories, rituals, and ceremonies.
________ consist of anecdotes, accounts, legends, and myths that are passed down from cohort to cohort within an organization.
- Rituals
- Stories
- Values
- Structures
- Symbols
Stories consist of anecdotes, accounts, legends, and myths that are passed down from cohort to cohort within an organization.
Stories: Anecdotes, accounts, legends, and myths passed down from cohort to cohort within an organization.
Which of the following is an example of the observable artifacts category of espoused values?
- the apocryphal story told by the founder of Delicious Delicacies about how she was fired from her first three catering jobs
- the open floor plan of DailyScoop.com's office that seats employees across from one another at long tables with no dividers
- the weekly bagel breakfast Integrated Robotics hosts in its conference room that encourages employees from different departments to mingle
- the annual field trip Island Surf Products takes to a nearby beach where all employees are required to spend the day picking up trash and beautifying the area
- the sustainability message that Outdoor Footwear prints on each of its shoe boxes that celebrates the amount of post-consumer recycled content in its products
Espoused values are the beliefs, philosophies, and norms that a company explicitly states. Espoused values can range from published documents, such as a company's vision or mission statement, to verbal statements made to employees by executives and managers.
Espoused Values: The beliefs, philosophies, and norms that a company explicitly states.
________ is(are) the jargon, slang, and slogans used within the walls of an organization.
- Rituals
- Beliefs
- Values
- Language
- Symbols
Language reflects the jargon, slang, and slogans used within the walls of an organization.
Language: The jargon, slang, and slogans used within an organization.
Nike's "swoosh" is an example of a
- language.
- belief.
- value.
- ritual.
- symbol.
Symbols can be found throughout an organization, from its corporate logo to the images it places on its website to the uniforms its employees wear. Examples include Nike's "swoosh" and Apple Computer's "apple" logo.
Symbols: The images an organization uses, which generally convey messages.
At the annual holiday party, ABC Airlines gives awards to employees to recognize examples of "going above and beyond" to serve customers. Almost all the employees who possibly can, attend. This is an example of
- a story.
- a ritual.
- a symbol.
- a ceremony.
- an unobservable artifact.
Ceremonies are formal events, generally performed in front of an organizational members.
Ceremonies: Formal events, generally performed in front of an audience of organizational members.
When Mathilda first walked into the glass-enclosed lobby of Data Mining Solutions' headquarters, she observed an enormous three-dimensional recreation of the company's logo-a bright red question mark-hanging from the ceiling. As she was taken on a tour of the building, the same red question mark appeared painted along the hallways, in decals placed on all street-facing windows, and as a screen saver on the company computers. Such corporate branding is an example of which type of observable artifact?
- rituals
- stories
- symbols
- language
- physical structures
Symbols can be found throughout an organization, from its corporate logo to the images it places on its website to the uniforms its employees wear.
Symbols: The images an organization uses, which generally convey messages.