Culture and subculture in organization

                  A subculture is a segment of a culture which shares distinguishing patterns of behavior (Robert-son 1970). Within organizational culture, a group of people may form a subculture different from the main culture. Subcultures can form because of a variety of societal, organizational, and individual characteristic similarities. Specifically, organizational subcultures may be formed based on certain situations such as workgroups, teams, and departments, similar level of the hierarchies,  professional and occupational affiliations, physical location in the organization, social-demographic categories such as sex, ethnicity, age, or nationality.  Subcultures are more likely to develop around differentiated tasks, or when people believe that their behavioral freedom has been threatened (Brehm, 1966). Subcultures may also emerge in organizations in which power is decentralized (Martin and Siehl, 1983).  Good introduction of the topic. Before anyone can speak of a subculture within an organization, and since you addressed organizational culture, they should first address what the culture within an organization means. Organizational culture is revealed in the actions of the employees; their appearance, their attitude, and interaction with their customers. Employee actions will provide insight to the key “values, beliefs, understandings, and norms” of the organization. Organizational culture is unwritten and the underlying message provides clear examples of “ethical behavior, commitment to employees, efficiency, or customer service” and is demonstrated in the actions of employees.
 The major types of organizational subculture can be grouped as the following:

             ·  Power Subculture: This subculture deals with leadership and allocation of resources.            

            When handled appropriately, the Power Subculture produces leaders who are fair yet firm   

            in their beliefs and in their actions. These leaders set the goals and tone of the culture of

            the business. If this subculture is managed inappropriately, then employees may be  

           governed by fear, abuse of power for personal gain and/or political manipulation.

·  Achievement Subculture: This subculture rewards results and recognizes employees who are working with the vision of the company in mind. Rules, structure and work teams serve the business in this subculture.

· Support Subculture: The primary purpose of the Support Subculture is to place value upon the employee as both a person and as a worker. Employee satisfaction and harmony are important; workers who feel unappreciated, manipulated or abused will not exert their best efforts for the company, and when this happens the entire business culture is negatively affected.

·  Role Subculture: This subculture deals with rules and responsibility for both management and employees. Roles within a business culture must be clearly understood in order for all divisions of the company to work toward the company’s vision. This subculture designates clear responsibility, rewards, and penalties regarding role designation. The Role Subculture also provides the business with efficiency and stability (Estes, 2009)

        New employees may be not fully aware of the subculture, or the psychological contract of the organization. On the other hand, new employees have their own ideas on how to do things, and these ideas may conflict with the organization’s subculture. Geographically-based subcultures, standards in dress, nature of regional management, and styles of language are some of the examples of subculture that a new employee may have to adopt. It is the best interests of the organization to help new employees learn the new work environment.  Socialization and communication can help new employees to get used to the new system. Cross-functional meetings and newsletter are some of the examples that can be used to communicate with new employees. Employee subcultures provide an identity that new employees, wanting to be accepted by the group, usually learn and accept even if the group values do not match individual values. New employees have their own views on how to do things and these views may conflict with the organization’s way of doing things. It is in the best interests of the organization to help new employees adapt to the work environment. Perceptive new employees learn about unstated cultural elements through observation and through questioning trusted employees or mentors.

          In our organization, a group of people developed a subculture by doing mini-birthday celebration at work, which is supportive subculture. Co-workers take turns to make cakes for other person who has birthday on that day. People get together to have cakes during the break time. This subculture creates satisfaction and harmony.

       The increasingly global environment of modern organizations dramatically impacted organizational subculture. Many different ethnicities, nationalities, beliefs, values and cultures co-exist in an organization. The basic cultural differences include Power distance, Individualism, Uncertainty avoidance, and Masculinity. People from different culture may prefer different power subculture, achievement subculture, and role subculture. In the global environment, different organizational subcultures must be acknowledged and integrated into a company's overall corporate culture to achieve organizational goals.
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