The Culture within Altech Autopage Cellular

INTRODUCTION

Organisational culture is the personality of the organisation or the way we do things in the organisation. Culture is comprised of the assumptions, values and norms of the organisations members and their behaviours. Culture is one of those terms that are difficult to express distinctly, but everyone knows it when they sense it. Corporate culture can be looked at as a system.

The corporate culture of any organisation tends to step from the top level management's views and values. The organisational culture matches the style and comfort zone of the company's founder. Culture frequently echoes the prevailing management style. Since managers tend to hire people just like themselves, the established organisational culture is reinforced by new recruits. Because the culture of an organisation plays such an important part in both organisational performance and change, an examination of the concept is necessary. An organisational culture should be well aligned with the organisation's strategy and structure.

Companies are coming to realise that organisational change must not only include changing structures and processes, but also changing the corporate culture as well.

The culture of an organisation is an asset or it can be a liability if not properly managed. It is an asset because people know what is expected of them, what should be done & how it should be done, and this generates pride and cooperation. This results in efficiency, good products, satisfied customers and higher profits. Culture becomes a liability when important shared beliefs and values interfere with the strategy and structure of the organisation.

Changing an organisational culture involves changes in the content as well as the strength of the existing culture. It is more difficult to change an old and strong culture in a large organisation than a weak culture.

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