Page 64 - Crossing Cultural Boundaries - Cees den Teuling
P. 64

The way any organisation is inclined to do and to behave, influences nearly every sector of organisational life. Hidden values, beliefs and attitudes serve not only as basic constructs for the style of management and the approach in adopting knowledge from external resources, as well as disseminating internally acquired knowledge by experience. Moffett et al. (2003, p. 24) argue, that “Organisations that fail to shift cultural attitudes will not remain knowledge focused”. In case of trans-boundary KT, each of the elements of the chain is affected by the NCs of transmitter and receiver. The impact of culture on organisation’s effectiveness has been argued also by Glisby and Holden (2003). “One of the problems in the KM literature is that authors give the impression that KM operates in a kind of unitary vacuum, in which diversity in terms of language, cultural and ethnic background, gender and professional affiliation are compressed into a giant independent variable, which is in any case pushed to the side” (Glisby & Holden, 2003, p. 29).
According to Hogan and Coote (2014), the understanding that organisations are social and psychical constructions maybe helpful in designing, shaping and implementing the process of innovation and performance. Schein (1985) presented a framework for thinking about OC and initiating cultures of innovation. Based on this framework, an empirical model was developed that shows how distinct layers of OC support organisational performance. Schneider, White, and Paul (1998) listed fundamental reasons to put distinct layers in place, in order of importance. First, all organisations are fundamentally living social organisms. Second, OC is more powerful than anything else. Third, system-focused interventions work constantly and fourth, interventions, clearly tied to business strategy, work definitively.
Empirical support is also delivered by the findings of Gregory, Harris, Armenakis and Shook (2009) who unveiled a positive relationship between group (organisational) culture and client satisfaction. According to the authors, the relationship between transmitter (organisation) and receiver’s (client’s) satisfaction reinforces the distinction “that organisations, which value their employees are able to provide better service than less supportive organisations” (Gregory et al., 2009, p. 673). The organisation’s culture relationship with receiver’s satisfaction supports also the hypothesis that the group domain has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the organisation. The studies also suggest that balanced OCs achieved higher levels of receiver satisfaction than less balanced ones (Denison, 1984, 1990).
Hollinshead and Michailova (2001) emphasises the necessity for a reappraisal of the learning circle. They argue that thinking, experiencing and reflecting are
62






























































































   62   63   64   65   66