Managing Trauma in the Workplace: Supporting Workers and Organisations by Noreen Tehrani

Author:Noreen Tehrani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Behavioral Sciences
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2010-10-04T16:00:00+00:00

Organisational culture

Organisational culture, similarly to national culture, includes dimensions such as power and authority relationships, uncertainty avoidance and risk, communication and consultation (Tayeb, 1994) but which are unique to each organisation. Based on a process of participative observation and evidence gathered from external auditors (notably certification and accreditation bodies), Company A can be characterized in the following way:

• Entrepreneurial. Company A is one of the youngest institutions on its market, in a culture which venerates history and tradition. It has undergone rapid growth and has proved agile in diversifying its programme portfolio faster than its competitors. It is considered innovative and entrepreneurial by others in the industry and this spirit is recognized by its stakeholders and translated in the activities of key employees. Tensions and sources of conflict are inherent in such an environment: daily conflicts of tasks, priorities and preferences, role ambiguity and subjective perceptions of individual performance and rewards. These organisational characteristics generate high stress levels within the organisation and result in verbal and non-verbal behaviours which may be considered or experienced as abusive.

• Efficiency-focused. Productivity is the key focus, as are cost-effective development strategies. The company stresses goals (in terms of budget and time constraints) and emphasizes the importance of getting things done and maintaining a pace faster than that of its competitors. The educational environment is a culture of speech and discourse: argumentation and debate is long, vocabulary and role models are tough. Little time, in contrast, is accorded to the project implementation phase and it is difficult to record and respect decisions, actions and projected completion dates. Pressure and stress escalates as completion dates and deadlines loom.

• Quality-orientated. The organisation is ISO 9001-certified, which requires it to develop and implement a set of routines and procedures for programme design, delivery, service and support. Research has shown that cultures which support quality implementation emphasize standardization and conformity to rules. For Company A the standards have not become institutionalized practice, resulting in a constant chain of corrective actions (rather than efficient preventative measures), which require immediate attention. As a consequence, stress and tension escalate as emergency decisions bottleneck at management level.

• Values-orientated. A statement of Values and Ethics was adopted in the organisation in 2002, subsequent to extensive stakeholder consultation (faculty, administrators, students, corporate partners). A shared understanding of the values – respect, tolerance and trust; commitment and responsibility; honesty and integrity; teamwork and solidarity – and behavioural expectations for students (both on and off campus) are articulated in a Student Charter. It is a key element of the student regulatory framework. However, this is not the case for faculty and staff, where the understanding of the values has not been formulated in clear standards of behaviour and practice. Becker and Fritzsche (1987) evidence that for the French there is a belief that the ethical code is in itself sufficient: they conclude that this is optimistic, if not to say idealistic. Without a shared meaning of the values for faculty and staff and no explicit expectations in

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