Organizational culture relationships

This book proposes a movement towards collaborative and shared leadership approaches. It views OSH and performance excellence as entailing a broader examination of leadership relationships and practices. The complexity of leadership is explored through the impact that contexts (e.g. national and organizational culture) may have on leaders. Different views on bottom-up and top-down processes are integrated. 

Finally, two other aspects of culture must be considered. While organizational cultures can vary from company to company and department to department, a further complication is that with international enterprise now the norm, understanding international cultures is essential. Even with the variations of traditions, language, and mannerisms impacts perceptions held about leadership we still tend to expect other people to think and behave as we do, assuming that what we say and how we are perceived is similar to the national and business culture we are in. Each region and country has its own overriding culture. How power is used and/or shared, class and hierarchy, relationships allowed, etc. will vary. What may work in one country may not be accepted in another (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). 

Another study (Figure 4-3) examined relationships between site-level top leadership teams best practices and site-level culture. We found a significant correlation between subordinate ratings of each best practice and their ratings of each of the nine dimensions of organizational culture on the OCDI. In addition, we found that leadership overall (the aggregate of the seven best practices ) predicts culture overall. 

Leaders lead within a unique cultural context, and their behavior—especially their leadership style and best practices—shapes that context. Each leader needs to find out. How does my behavior contribute to our cultural problems How do I need to behave differently to bring about improvements in our organizational culture The Leadership Diagnostic Instrument (LDI), introduced in chapter 4, gives the leader the information she needs to think productively about this question by providing comprehensive feedback about her relationships with important others in the organization. 

Above and beyond organizational and procedural factors, corporate culture is further formed by the attitude of everyone within the organization. When executives, managers, and employees are all on the same page as far as basic corporate values are concerned, it becomes possible to have general agreement on the relationships that must be in place to accurately reflect the desired corporate culture. 

What characterizes the organizational/safety culture in the virtual collaborative relationships we study We found that the subculture studied is characterized by openness, mutual trust and respect, and a high degree of confidence in each other s technical and special expertise. The integration through lO, with regular contact between the onshore and offshore organizations, both virtual and face-to-face, has been beneficial for the development of a collaborative relationship. 

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