Organizational Culture - Key Terms

Front 1

Artifacts

Back 1

Aspects of an organization’s culture that you see, hear, and feel.

Front 2

Assumptions

Back 2

The taken-for-granted notions of how something should be.

Front 3

Beliefs

Back 3

The understandings of how objects and ideas relate to each other.

Front 4

Bicultural audit

Back 4

An examination of the differences between two potential merger partners prior to a merger to determine whether the cultures will be able to work together.

Front 5

Core values

Back 5

The primary, or dominant, values that are accepted throughout the organization.

Front 6

Dominant culture

Back 6

- A system of shared meaning that expresses the core values shared by a majority of the organization’s members.

Front 7

Encounter stage

Back 7

The stage in the socialization process in which a new employee sees what the organization is really like and confronts the possibility that expectations and reality may diverge.

Front 8

Metamorphosis stage

Back 8

The stage in the socialization process in which a new employee adjusts to the values and norms of the job, work group, and organization.

Front 9

Organizational culture

Back 9

The pattern of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions considered to be the appropriate way to think and act within an organization.

Front 10

Positive organizational culture

Back 10

A culture that emphasizes building on employee strengths, rewards more than punishes, and emphasizes individual vitality and growth.

Front 11

Prearrival stage

Back 11

The period of learning in the socialization process that occurs before a new employee joins the organization.

Front 12

Rituals

Back 12

Repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the key values of the organization, what goals are most important, which people are important, and which ones are expendable.

Front 13

Socialization

Back 13

The process that adapts new employees to the organization’s culture.

Front 14

Strong culture

Back 14

A culture in which the core values are intensely held and widely shared.

Front 15

Subcultures

Back 15

Minicultures within an organization, typically defined by department designations and geographical separation.

Front 16

Values

Back 16

The stable, long-lasting beliefs about what is important.