Organizational culture

Organizational culture is a type of organizational analysis that is believed to be borrowed from the field

of anthropology. It was first described as an organizational unit of concern in 1979.  The term

organizational culture generally is referring to the shared meanings, beliefs and understandings held by

a particular group or organization about its problems, practices and goals. The organizational members'

interaction patterns, language, themes of everyday conversation and rituals of daily routine seem to

reflect elements of organizational culture. But culture is less conscious and it exists at a deeper level.

In the research of Rashid, Sambasivan and Rahman (2004) however, organizational culture is defined

in terms of the sociability and solidarity dimensions. Sociability is defined as the extent of friendliness

in relationships between people in an organization. Solidarity is the ability of people to pursue shared

goals efficiently and effectively for the larger good of the organization without much regard for the

impact on individuals and the relationships between them. There were four main types of corporate

culture derived based on these two dimensions: communal culture, fragmented culture, networked

culture and mercenary culture. In this framework, culture is a community or the way in which people

relate to each other.

Interpersonal behavior

Interpersonal behavior is the behavior and actions that are present in human relationships. The way, in

which people communicate, Interpersonal behavior may include both verbal communication and

nonverbal cues, such as body language or facial expressions. Verbal interpersonal behavior consists of

joking, relating to one another via the art of storytelling, and taking or following orders. Interpersonal

skills are highly desirable in many situations, specifically careers that rely on personal relationships

such as the health care industry or sales. The study of interpersonal behavior is a social science that

examines the way people interact with one another. Some types of interpersonal behaviours are such as

Aggressive Behavior: it is that type of interpersonal behavior in which a person stands up for their

own rights in such a way that the rights of others are also violated. Aggressive behavior humiliates,

dominates, or puts the person down rather than simply expressing one’s own emotions or thoughts. It

is an attack on the person rather than on the person’s behavior. Aggressive behavior is quite frequently

a hostile over-reaction or outburst, which results from past pent-up anger.

Non-Assertive Behavior: it is that type of interpersonal behavior, which enables the person’s rights to

be violated by another. This can occur in two ways: first, you fail to assert yourself when another

person deliberately attempts to infringe upon your rights. Second, the other person does not want to

encroach upon your rights, but your failure to express your needs of feelings results in an inadvertent

violation. A non-assertive person inhibits her/his honest, spontaneous reactions and typically feels hurt,

anxious and sometimes angry as a result of being non-assertive in a situation. Often, this person relives

the situation in their minds pretending how they would do things differently if it happened again.

Assertive Behavior: it is that type of interpersonal behavior in which a person stands up for their

legitimate rights in such a way that the rights of others are not violated. It communicates respect for

that person’s behavior. Assertive behavior is an honest, direct and appropriate expression of one’s

feelings, beliefs, and opinions

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Effect of organizational culture on interpersonal behavior

Interpersonal relationship has a direct effect on the organization culture. Interpersonal relationship

refers to a strong association among individuals working together in the same organization. Employees

working together ought to share a special bond for them to deliver their level best. Misunderstandings

and confusions leads to negativity at the workplace. Conflicts lead you nowhere and in turn spoil the

work environment.

Organizational culture and knowledge sharing: critical success factors

Trust: Interpersonal trust or trust between co-workers is an extremely essential attribute in

Organizational culture, which is believed to have a strong influence over knowledge sharing.

Interpersonal trust is known as an individual or a group’s expectancy in the reliability of the promise or

actions of other individuals or groups Team members require the existence of trust in order to respond

openly and share their knowledge.

Communication between staff: Communication here refers to human interaction through oral

conversations and the use of body language while communicating. Human interaction is greatly

enhanced by the existence of social networking in the workplace. This form of communication is

fundamental in encouraging knowledge transfer.

Information systems: The term information systems is used to refer to an arrangement of people, data

and processes that interact to support daily operations, problem solving and decision making in

organizations.

Organizations use different information systems to facilitate knowledge sharing through creating or

acquiring knowledge repositories, where employees share expertise electronically and access to shared

experience becomes possible to other staff.

Reward system: employees need a strong motivator in order to share knowledge. It is unrealistic to

assume that all employees are willing to easily offer knowledge without considering what may be

gained or lost as a result of this action.

Managers must consider the importance of collaboration and sharing best practices when designing

reward systems. The idea is to introduce processes in which sharing information and horizontal

communication are encouraged and indeed rewarded. Such rewards must be based on group rather than

individual performance.

Organization structure: Traditional organization structures are usually characterized by complicated

layers and lines of responsibility with certain details of information reporting procedures. Nowadays,

most managers realize the disadvantages of bureaucratic structures in slowing the processes and raising

constraints on information flow. In addition, such procedures often consume great amount of time in

order for knowledge to filter through every level.