Theories Regarding the Nature of Organizational Culture Research Paper - 1

Theories Regarding the Nature of Organizational Culture - Research Paper Example Schein (2010) tries to understand the dimensions of organizational culture and how the organizational culture can direct innovation while the scholar also tried to highlight the role of leaders in shaping the organizational culture. These gaps in the literature have influenced the researcher to conduct research on the topic and write this research paper.   Schein (2010) found it difficult to derive a definition of culture due to conceptual and semantic confusions while the scholar also argued that it is not possible to define different social groups under the roof of the universally accepted definition of culture. In such context, Alvesson and Sveningsson (2008) suggested that the focus should be on defining culture within the organization rather than understanding the culture of social groups sharing similar kind of traditions, rituals, history, and customs. Brooks (2009) also tried to define the organizational culture in terms of norms, the behavior of members and knowledge sharing, yet, such definition is far from capturing full dimensions of culture. To clear out confusions regarding the definition and characteristics of organizational culture, the research paper will use Schein’s (2010) idea for organizational culture. According to Schein (2010), organizational culture has dimensions like behavioral regularities, group dyna mics, espoused values, ideological  principles, unwritten rules of the organization, communication between members, special competencies displayed by group members, shared cognitive frames between members, the way team members celebrate within organization, emotional and aesthetic response etc.  Now, the fact is that it is very difficult to integrate all the mentioned elements within same organizational context but there is no doubt that these factors play the vital role in shaping the organizational culture. Schein (2010) also identified three levels of culture such as Artifacts, Espoused Beliefs & Value, and Underlying Assumptions.