by Raymond Lim

Created on: October 31, 2008   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

No organizations have the same culture and each organization have their unique and individual cultural characteristics to differentiate one from the other. Therefore it is imperative to know what the organization culture is like and its weaknesses before improvement can be initiated.

Organization Development practitioners are concerned with enhancing the adaptive mechanisms within organizations. OD (organization development) interventions are often directed at the cultural subsystem to allow for the questioning of values and norms under which people operate. These activities serve to make the culture more receptive to change, facilitating the realignment of the entire organizational system into a more viable and satisfying configuration.

OD is one of the several aspects engaged in improving organizational culture. Improving an organization culture is not a simple exercise or task to fulfill. Many organization cultures are embedded and it is very difficult to initiate improvement process. Also many organization structure and culture are rigid and even though changes are initiated on improving its weaknesses

by the management it will take a long time to see improvement results.

For those people who had spent time or worked in more than two or three organizations will realize the different working environment in these organizations. Differing atmospheres, differing ways of doing things, the differing levels of energy, of individual freedom, of varied kinds of personality and requirements in adapting to those organizations. They will appreciate how values and beliefs, the way of doing things are shaped by history and traditions, by the environment, the kinds of work people do, the size of the organization and its prosperity. For organizations are as different and varied as the nations and societies of the world. They have different cultures sets of values and norms and beliefs reflected in different structures and systems. And the cultures are affected by the events of the past and by the climate of the present, by the technology and the type of work, by their aims and the type of people that work in them.

Taking the above instances, one can realize the variety of differences in organizations coupled with the different mix of types and organizational structures. But for some, over enthusiastic in improving the organization culture, would overlooked the above, and jump into the bandwagon as with competing rivals in implementing culture improvement programs, as per their

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