Organizational culture defined

Organizational culture refers to the basic values, norms, beliefs, and practices that characterize the functioning of an institution. At the most basic level, organizational culture defines the assumptions that employees make as they carry out their work. It is a powerful force that can persist through reorganizations and the change of key personnel. It can be a positive or a negative force. 

For the purposes of this chapter, we assume that the business operation is defined and documented and that the organizational culture is largely in place to support the business. 

Operationally, organizational culture is defined as a set of shared philosophies, ideologies, values, beliefs, expectations, attitudes, assumptions, and norms (Mitroff and Kilmann 1984). Cultural norms are the set of unwritten rules that guide behavior (Jackson 1960). Use of this concept allows the capturing of those dimensions of organizational life that may not be visible in the more rational and mechanical aspects of the organization. 

Deal and Kennedy (2000) defined organizational culture as the way things get done around here (p. 2), and therefore safety culture can be defined as the way... 

There are numerous involved and well-researched explanations and definitions of company and organizational culture available, and to discuss them all would serve no purpose. Oddly, safety culture does not deviate from the definitions of corporate culture and will give the reader a good idea as to how a safety culture is defined in broad terms. As Ardem (2012) puts it ... 

Define organizational culture and then explain the key difference between overt and covert cultures. 

The leader s role is to define the healthcare safety issue for the organization and the terms of the organization s engagement with it. The leader marshals the constituencies that must cooperate to create a strong safety climate and an organizational culture that supports safety. In subsequent chapters we address how this is done well, what it is made up of, and how such efforts are measured. 

Organizational culture means the shared, often unconscious values, attitudes, standards, and assumptions that govern behavior, especially in situations that lack clearly defined rules and procedures. Organizational culture is the driving values of the organization—"the way things... 

We can define the attributes of a healthy organizational culture and safety climate and specify how to measure them (to be discussed in chapter 3). 

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