The Artifacts That Define the Culture of the Organization
In this paper, I will describe the culture of a school organization. Essentially, organizational culture of a school entails its personality, which includes the values, assumptions, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of the members and their behaviors. When walking across the compound of this particular school, though located in an economically depressed community, there are a well groomed green lawns and flowers that spread throughout.
The school appears clean and neat as you walk through the walkways. A school mission which is displayed on an expansive banner contains a symbolic message. As you take a trip down the hall, the kids together with the staff are taking care of actual live plants that decorate the hall. There are also some banners that contain words such as “hopefulness” perhaps to display the power of close bond between the staff and the kids, with the intention of improving the learning environment (Katz & Kahn, 1978).
What These Artifacts Reveal About the Shared Values and Basic Assumptions
The mottos that are displayed in banners are very critical as they reflect the shared values. The slogans also communicate the schools’ core values and the mission of the school organization. The artifacts also make it possible to comprehend the mission of the school.
Traversing across the school compound gives a person some positive feeling of what the school stands for. The symbols reflect the manner in which the kids and the members of the staff share close and positive relationships. It also reflects the relationships among the kids.
The traditions and the rituals of the school can also be drawn from the artifacts. They involve ceremonies of the positive aspects of the school, hence bringing the members of the community and the school together. This reinforces the school’s values and norms, as well as the school mission. Furthermore, no community can sustain itself without ceremonies (Katz & Kahn, 1978).
The Impact of Culture on Individuals Within the Organization
The impact of culture is strongly felt among the members of the school. For example, the staff and the teachers meeting reflects strong professional collaboration. The members of the school work together, to solve professional matters including organizational, instructional, and curricular among many other issues.
In addition, the collegial relationships can be seen from the way the students, teachers and other staff members work together, feel valued and involved and support each other. Finally, efficacy or self determination is impacted on the members of this school because they all feel as part of the school community as they want it, and work tirelessly to improve their professional skills (Bargh, 1990).
The Level and Type of Diversity Within the Organizational Culture
The school culture is made up of diversity of students, teachers and non teaching staff. The diversity of students includes both male and female students from different cultural backgrounds and age, and students with various ages, just to mention but a few. The diversity of teaching and non teaching staff is made up of males and females, different culture and race, and varied teaching and working experience among others.
How Organization’s Culture Can Facilitate or Hinder Change Efforts
The members of the school are encouraged to participate and get involved in problem-solving and decision-making processes hence promoting effective decisions and solutions. As such, the involvement increases the pledge towards plans. This enhances spontaneous work as the members possess common planning time and space. As such, planned change is highly enhanced (Cotton et al., 1988).
References
Bargh, J. (1990). Auto-motives: Preconscious determinants of social interaction, handbook of motivation and cognition. Foundations of Social Behavior, 2, 93- 130.
Cotton, J. L., Vollrath, D. A., Froggatt, K. L., Lengnick-Hall, M. L. & Jennings, K.R. (1988). Employee participation: Diverse forms and different outcomes. Academy of Management Review, 13, 8–22.
Katz, D. & Kahn, R.L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley.