/ Published in Communication Papers

Sample Essay on Organizational Culture

Metaphors used to describe the organization

Metaphor used to describe Enron is innovation and moving forward, as a company it is discovering new business ventures through transforming traditional industries and entering new ones and shows commitment to a culture that fosters innovation.
Dominant stories or legends

The culture of innovation is well documented in dominant success stories throughout history considering how the company pioneered exploration in natural gas markets becoming the first energy company to expand beyond borders to the extent of entering into telecommunication industry.

 
Ceremonies and rituals

Potential projects are coined through their organization behavior called ‘shooting holes’, a session where individuals showcase and presents project deliverables to a group who are there to ‘shoot holes’ with the intention of identifying problems. After the session, management calls experts to fix problems and they also accept failure in project in line with their innovation strategies, repeated failures are deemed detrimental and attract punishment.

 

 
Physical impressions of the organization and artifacts

It is also worth noting that offices have open interiors, doors and walls are made of glasses and the organizational chart is flat all aimed at aligning cultural norms at Enron and shunning hierarchy and formal procedures. All activities at Enron are profit driven and are mostly short term focused and this also helps in defining the culture at Enron to be a culture driven by profits.
Main norms

The main norms at Enron comprise performance and results, the mentality at Enron is quite unique as it gives employees responsibilities and job duties but it does not offer training or guidance on how to go about them. Notably, communication between workmates is infrequent and as a result employees at Enron feel socially isolated, which is not good for any business enterprise. Employees are not allowed to criticize efforts made by others towards innovation/
Official and unofficial beliefs and values

Culture in Enron is entrepreneurial and innovative where values are supreme to hierarchy and emphasizes both on individual and team conduct, it has been established that the culture also focuses more on profits, responsiveness and promotes inner competition. Moreover, it has been established that Enron sustains an informal way of communication among employees with management asserting that they are moving so fast that there is not time to harmonize communication experiences.
Culture being shaped

Innumerable cultural norms and behaviors at Enron is meant to relate and sustain innovation and entrepreneurial culture, new ideas are generated through failure and conflict arising in the course of conducting business activities.

 
Culture emerging

Emerging culture at Enron is meritocratic and is used to stimulate and reinforce innovation in the company; employees are consistently ranked based on their intelligence and innovative qualities. In order for an employee to be promoted, the individual must have performed exemplarily, this is also observed in bonuses where individuals who perform well are given more bonuses than the non-performers.
Critical view – integration of culture

Culture of creativity and innovation is integrated at Enron where senior level managers believe that at Enron anybody can come up with an idea which should be rewarded accordingly as it may generate more revenue for the organization.
Critical view differentiation (subcultures)

Sub-cultures at Enron is organized in such a way that different organizational faced and models must align together to lead to achievement of goals and objectives set by the company.
Critical view – fragmentation

Cultural fragmentation exists at Enron since there is no connection between non-performers and the organization. This culture is reflected in the structure and layout of the organization as it is believed that merit-based advancement and compensation greater than other industry players help in attracting and retaining high performing and best employees.