Question

Explain how Organization culture affect Organizational  Structure and vice versa.

Answer 1

Organizational culture consists of various behaviors and values followed by the organization which will have an impact on socio-psychological aspects of a business.

Every business organization will have its own and unique set of values. Each and every business follows their own culture. And the culture followed by them will have direct or indirect impact on the structure of the organization. And even the structure of the organization will have an impact on the culture of the organization.

AFFECTS

1) Defining

An organizational culture will tell how the structure of that organization should be designed and which form of structure has to be adopted, it may be formal or informal structure.

In the same way the structure of an organization will also have an impact on the culture of the organization. If the organization follows informal structure then it will give importance to the emotions, relationships social interactions etc. Thus this will result in the different type of values or culture followed by that organization.

2) Dimensions

Dimensions of an organization structure can be vertical or horizontal. Vertical structure flows from top to bottom and the span of control is narrow and easy. Horizontal structure, on the hand has wide span of control. Thus the culture of the organization will vary with the type of dimension as the controlling capacity and the communication requirements differs in each dimension.

This is vise versa where organization culture also determines the type of dimension to be used in the organization to form a definite structure.

3) Leadership style

Organizational structure also includes the type of leadership to be adopted. The different types of leadership style will lead to different cultures to be followed. Autocratic leadership will have strict values to be followed whereas the culture and the values followed by the Democratic style will differ.

It the culture of the organization will give equal chance to each and every individual, where opinions of each individual is considered, then this will give rise to Democratic style of leadership. Thus we can say that organization culture will affect the structure of the organization.

4) Risk

Organizational structure is formed in such a way that it handles the risk which arises at present or in the future. Thus the structure formed in order to avoid risk will have an impact on the organizational culture.

5) External environment

External environment is considered to be an uncontrollable factor. Hence organization has to careful design its structure to stand firm in the market. This structure will affect the organizational culture to adjust to the external environment.

External environment is affected by various aspects or by various factors. Organizational culture is also one of the important aspect which helps the organization to survive in the market. Thus the culture is framed to adjust to the external environment. This will also impact the structure of the organization directly or indirectly.

  

Thus we can say that organizational culture and organizational structure are interconnected. Both have an impact on each other. The change in one will affect the other.