Organizational Behaviour

Organizational Behaviour

  • Submitted By: bluerhapsody
  • Date Submitted: 10/06/2013 9:27 PM
  • Category: Science
  • Words: 1787
  • Page: 8
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Cisco Systems Uses Its Culture For Competitive Advantage Business Essay

1. What are the observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions associated with Cisco's culture? Explain.

Observable artifacts are the visible elements in a culture. They can be anything such as architecture and physical surroundings, company products and technologies, styles such as clothing, art, or publications, visual and organizational structures and processes, a company’s published values and/or mission statements, and any myths, stories or rituals about the company. Artifacts can be recognized by people that are not part of the company’s culture. An outsider might easily see these artifacts, but might not be able to fully understand why these artifacts have been established. To understand artifacts, company outsiders can look at the espoused values in the culture.

Espoused values are the things that a company says it values, such as ethical practices. These are different from enacted values, which are things that are actually carried out. Espoused values are what rally a company’s employees. They can be a company’s strategies, goals and philosophies, and are values that are normally espoused by the leading figures of a culture. Values sought by company leaders should be supported by some general and shared assumptions about how a company should be run, or how employees should be managed.

Basic assumptions are implied or taken for granted beliefs, thoughts and feelings. They are underlying, often unconscious determinants of an organization’s thought processes, attitudes, and actions. A pattern of shared basic assumptions that a company has learned as it solved problems of external adaptation and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid can then be taught to new employees as the correct way to think, perceive, and feel in relation to those problems. Assumptions reflect the shared values within a specific company culture. These...

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