Organisational culture is a complex phenomenon, usually related to shared values and shared meanings in an organization, but also related to common ways of dealing with, or ignoring, commonly experienced problems. It is a form of commonsense, an outcome of cultural processes at work in a particular setting. The benefits of paying attention to culture are that it focuses on people but in particular on the symbolic significance of almost every aspect of organisational life. It emphasises shared meanings, even if implicit, and alerts us to the influencing potential of values, beliefs, ideology, language, norms, ceremonies, rituals, myths and stories. It constructs leaders as shapers of meaning. It also emphasises the importance of communication and learning; it emphasises the importance of how others perceive us; and it alerts us to the fact that organisational environments are also socially construct.

ARE COMPANIES WITH STRONG CULTURES ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL?

No! Strong cultures can be barrier to change if they are negative cultures, but, even so, with the happiest, most creative there are still other factors that can frustrate performance, such as the economic climate and c

HOW IS ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE RELATED TO NATIONAL CULTURE?

It would help Simon if his superiors were to assume that decisions did not have to be made unilaterally and that the questioning of managerial decisions was not mutiny. There is usually some room to manoeuvre, however unfavourable the circumstances.

DOES MOTIVATION VARY FROM CULTURE TO CULTURE?

Not exclusively, but research on job design does indicate that a well-designed job or group of jobs can have an influence. However, efforts, which seek to motivate solely through good job design, neglecting other situational factors, such as organisational politics, are unlikely to be successful.

IS HOW WE WORK AFFECTED BY HOW WE FEEL?

WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS FOR MANAGERS FACING DILEMMAS?

Simon's actual conduct was a hybrid of little potato obedience and undercover disobedience. Simon can hardly secretly threaten to blow the whistle, for he would be too-readily identified. Whistle -blowing of any kind may be futile anyway, for the newspapers might not be interested in such a 'kitchen-sink' affair, and in Hong Kong whistle-blowers inevitably get fired. He might have tried token obedience, such as writing an extremely off-putting job advertisement and saying 'we have to go on employing her, for no one else will take up the job'. Examining the case in Kohlberg's terms, it would be better for Simon to make consistent use of the highest moral stage available to him (stage four). That would have entailed enacting stage four by offering an accurate translation of the boss's words, along with a message of personal sympathy: 'Mr x says that but I personally feel....' Also from stage four, Simon might have tried suggesting to Mr X that it could be in the company's best i!

Emotion is an important and neglected part of work life and theories of motivation have tendered to view motivation as a sort of calculus rather than as a form of inspiration. Both approaches have something to offer, but the protracted neglect of the emotional impact on motivation means that we still have much to learn about it. Recent interest in the area of violation of psychological contracts suggests that emotions are an important part of understanding commitment and why people withdraw commitment or seen to lose motivation or interest in their work.

Life-long learning is vital. Ethical principles are universal and thus unchanging. Rapid developments in the world economy and in organizational practices are likely, nonetheless, to present a persistent stream of new challenges to the application of theses principles. Simon cannot assume that what was right yesterday will be right tomorrow.

Some common words found in the essay are:
PREDISPOSITION Life-long, CULTURE Organisational, GOVERNED PROFITABILITY, British Airways, PEOPLE Classical, PROFITABILITY Simon's, Examining Kohlberg's, Hong Kong, PERSON MOTIVATE, HEALTHY Subcultures, organisational culture, culture organisational culture, culture organisational, strong cultures, job design, cleaning woman, ethical principles, managerial decisions, national culture, culture culture, universal ethical,
Approximate Word count = 2176
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)