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CHAPTER 14: SHAPING CULTURE AND VALUES
Strong, adaptive cultures have a positive impact on organizational outcomes.
Creating and infl uencing an adaptive culture is important because the right cul-
ture can drive high performance. Leaders build high performance cultures by
emphasizing both values and solid business operations as the drivers of organi-
zational success.
A culture gap exists when an organization’s culture is not in alignment with the
needs of the external environment or company strategy. Leaders use ceremonies,
stories, symbols, specialized language, selection, and socialization to infl uence cul-
tural values. In addition, leaders shape cultural values most strongly through their
daily actions.
Leaders consider the external environment and the company’s vision and strat-
egy in determining which values are important for the organization. Four types of
culture may exist in organizations: adaptability, achievement, clan, and bureau-
cratic. Each type emphasizes different values, although organizations may have
values that fall into more than one category.
Of the values that make up an organization’s culture, ethical values are
among the most important. Ethics is the code of moral principles and values
that governs the behavior of a person or group with respect to what is right or
wrong. Leaders shape ethical values through values-based leadership. Leaders’
personal beliefs and level of moral development infl uence their personal ethics.
For organizations to be ethical, leaders have to be openly and strongly commit-
ted to ethical conduct in their daily actions. Many good leaders practice spiritual
leadership, which means displaying values, attitudes, and behaviors that moti-
vate people toward a sense of spiritual expression through calling and mem-
bership. The principles of spiritual leadership can improve both organizational
performance and employee well-being.

Discussion Questions

1. Describe the culture for an organization you are familiar with. Identify the physical
artifacts anddiscuss what underlying values and assumptions these suggest. What
did you learn?
2. Name one or two companies in the news that seem to have strong corporate cultures,
anddescribe whether the results have been positive or negative. Discuss how a strong
culture could have either positive or negative consequences for an organization.
3. What is a culture gap? What are some techniques leaders might use to influence and
change cultural values when necessary?
4. Compare and contrast the achievement culture with the clan culture. What are some
possible disadvantages of having a strong clan culture? A strong achievement culture?
5. In which of the four types of culture (adaptability, achievement, clan, bureaucratic)
might you expect to find the greatest emphasis on ethical issues? Why?
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6. Discuss the meaning of calling and membership, as related to spiritualleadership.
Identify an organization or leader that uses these concepts. To what extent were
these concepts present where you have worked?
7. If a leader directs her health care company to rewardhospital managers strictly on
hospital profits, is the leader being ethically responsible? Discuss.
8. What is meant by the idea that culture helps a group or organization solve the prob-
lem of internal integration?
9. Some people believe that all good leadership is spiritual in nature. Others think spiri-
tual values have no place at work. Discuss these two opposing viewpoints.