There are many ways of defining and describing the culture of a group. In an organizational setting, the culture consists of the values and assumptions that are shared amongst employees.(McShane & Von Glinow, 2015) As an organization grows, its culture must also grow and adapt to the changing environment that its employees are experiencing. This paper will focus on the tech industry and the rapid changes that are experienced by sudden growth, specifically, the need for diversity and inclusion to enhance job performance and satisfaction. McShane and Von Glinow describe three functions of organizational culture: control system, social glue and sense making.
Organizational Culture
Shared values and shared assumptions are the main ingredients …show more content…
If startups were to make diversity a priority when the company were still small, it stands to reason that the growth of the company would lead to a more diverse organization. McShane and Von Glinow (2015) explain that changing an organization’s culture is possible, but extremely difficult. Once an organizational culture has established itself, it may adapt and shift, but changing it completely requires deliberate and determined action by the organization’s leadership. Furthermore, McShane and Von Glinow note that the most influential leader in an organization’s culture is the company founder, where the founder’s personality may be reflected in the company culture, lasting for decades later. By establishing diversity as a priority, the company can enable the control system to dictate to its employees that diversity is important from the beginning and with the growth of the business, use that as a foundation for future large-scale …show more content…
A recent example of organizational culture’s need for diversity is that of Uber. The company’s “aggressive and unrestrained culture” led it to be an internationally recognized service worth billions. The values Uber held at the organizational level were strong enough to launch the company internationally, but without a focus on diversity and inclusion, have created a hostile environment for women and others not of the majority. (Isaac, 2017) Even though the company could succeed without a focus on diversity, its culture took off in a direction that had no checks, no balances, and encouraged the exclusion of those who did not agree with the values. One of the added benefits of diversity is that of dissenting viewpoints. With a more diverse organization, more variety of opinions are found and can be expressed to counter group-think or more simply, bad ideas.(McShane & Von Glinow,
Organizational Culture
Shared values and shared assumptions are the main ingredients …show more content…
If startups were to make diversity a priority when the company were still small, it stands to reason that the growth of the company would lead to a more diverse organization. McShane and Von Glinow (2015) explain that changing an organization’s culture is possible, but extremely difficult. Once an organizational culture has established itself, it may adapt and shift, but changing it completely requires deliberate and determined action by the organization’s leadership. Furthermore, McShane and Von Glinow note that the most influential leader in an organization’s culture is the company founder, where the founder’s personality may be reflected in the company culture, lasting for decades later. By establishing diversity as a priority, the company can enable the control system to dictate to its employees that diversity is important from the beginning and with the growth of the business, use that as a foundation for future large-scale …show more content…
A recent example of organizational culture’s need for diversity is that of Uber. The company’s “aggressive and unrestrained culture” led it to be an internationally recognized service worth billions. The values Uber held at the organizational level were strong enough to launch the company internationally, but without a focus on diversity and inclusion, have created a hostile environment for women and others not of the majority. (Isaac, 2017) Even though the company could succeed without a focus on diversity, its culture took off in a direction that had no checks, no balances, and encouraged the exclusion of those who did not agree with the values. One of the added benefits of diversity is that of dissenting viewpoints. With a more diverse organization, more variety of opinions are found and can be expressed to counter group-think or more simply, bad ideas.(McShane & Von Glinow,