Function of Org Culture

In the last byte, we looked at assumptions and how they influence organization culture. In today's byte, we look at what functions organizational culture performs.
 

We could think of organizational culture to be playing the following 4 functions:

1. Culture provides a sense of identity to members and increases their commitment to the organization: when a person internalizes the company's values, they find their work intrinsically rewarding and identifying with the fellow workers!
2. Culture is a sense-making device for organization members: It provides a way for members of the organization to interpret the meaning of  organizational event.
3. Culture reinforces the values in the organization
4. Culture serves as a control mechanism: norms guide behavior, and the culture should reinforce the norms. A task - think of what you need to do when you say the norm is one of teamwork!