Observable Aspects of Organizational Culture

Observable Aspects of Organizational Culture

Samuel Spetnagel

University of Phoenix

MGT 331: Management: Organizational Behavior

Michael Borden, Ph.D.

June 3, 2006

Organizational Culture refers to the values, beliefs and customs of an organization. Whereas Organizational structure is relatively easy to draw and describe, organizational culture is less tangible. The organizational culture at Kenworth is different from many other companies; this is because of the geographical location of the Chillicothe facility. Chillicothe is located in southern Ohio; most people would call southern Ohio the Bible belt of Ohio. I will discuss how Organizational diversity, Conflict management, dress and language affect the organizational culture at Kenworth Chillicothe.

The element of diversity exists in all organizations, and presents a major problem in most. Discrimination is a characteristic of American society and business that cannot be ignored. Most major companies have put programs in place to reduce discrimination within the work place; this has had huge effects on the problem of diversity in the work place. Unfortunately, this is a false assumption; the facts of discrimination are still very prevalent despite recent efforts for equality. Kenworth makes it mandatory that all managers and new hires attended diversity training. No matter if the training is provided it does not mean there will not be discrimination. Kenworth has made an effort to hire and promote more minorities. Over the past few years Kenworth has hired more females and African Americans in the management role. I can say it has been nice to see, but I do not agree with some of the hires that have been made. This is because Kenworth has hired unqualified minorities to fill management position just to fill quotes. I believe this fosters resentment from other employees that are more qualified for the positions and are not promoted.

Conflict management refers to the long-term management of intractable conflicts. It is the label for the variety of ways by which people handle grievances, clashes of right and wrong. For an organization to be healthy, interpersonal connectivity skills need to be sharpened. Two people who don't like each other probably will not work well together. If the organization could keep them from contact with each other, that might be the healthiest thing that could occur. But it's nearly impossible to move people around so they are only working with individuals they like and enjoy. The most important skill in handling interpersonal conflict is to make or require the two individuals expressing conflict to address each other directly to work out a solution. If they are allowed to go to other people, snitch, squeal, weasel or bring up points of negative reference about the other individual without talking with them directly, it promotes a heightened level of conflict.

Kenworth is a union free facility so it makes it somewhat easier to handle employee conflicts. As a manager it is my responsibility to know what is happening within my department. I need to recognize