Question

Senior executives in your organisation want to strengthen teamwork as part of the company's culture. They have asked you to identify ways to communicate and reinforce this cultural value using artefacts as the primary means of communication. Describe three (3) different types of artefacts that might be altered so they communicate this corporate value.

Answer 1

Organizational stories. Corporate culture can be communicated by stories about past corporate incidents (good or bad ones). To apply this strategy, job applicants need to learn about critical events in the company's past, particularly heroic or bizarre events that capture attention and reflect effective (or ineffective — with negative consequences) events in the organization. For example, the company newsletter might feature an incident in which an employee solved a client's problem only after pulling together several people in the organization. This would illustrate through a story the value of teamwork.

Rituals and ceremonies. Rituals are the programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize the organization's culture. This can communicate a teamwork culture through everyday activities, such as having group information sessions or having employees work together on many activities. Ceremonies are planned activities conducted specifically for the benefit of an audience. Teamwork might be communicated by having team spirit awards or by having special events that celebrate the value of teams in the company.

Organizational language. Language transmits and sustains shared values through metaphors and other special vocabularies that represent the employees' perspectives of reality. Senior executives can communicate teamwork values by encouraging language that supports this value. They might consistently use phrases that assume teamwork as a norm throughout the firm.

Physical structures and space. The size, shape, location and age of buildings may symbolize the organization's culture. For example, a low-rise, open-space building communicates and supports teamwork more than a tall office tower with closed offices.

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