Elements of Organizational Culture

Some will tell you it’s the brilliant minds, others are sure it is the hearts of the women but the answer is really everything in between. What is actually being described is the perception of our environment, or our cultural elements. The culture of Saint Mary’s is vastly different from any institution, which is to be expected due to the nature of an all women’s, but there are many attributes that affect the culture of the institution. Elements included in defining an organizations culture are: ceremonies, rituals, artifacts, stories, all of which can be found in the history o the Saint Mary’s College organization. Though there are many facets of Saint Mary’s College, including the students, the faculty, the staff and the administration, we will merely look at the cultural elements a Saint Mary’s student experiences which alone are insurmountable.

Within Augusta hall on our campus you will find artifact upon artifact compiling the history that forms modern day Saint Mary’s College. There are many pictures of past important people attending significant events. There are articles of clothing from influential people of Saint Mary’s past and there is even a table where Mother Theresa once sat and broke bread with Sister Madeleva. All of these items have a certain memory and event attached to them making them artifacts of the college. This top floor of Augusta Hall is a place where the students of the institution of Saint Mary’s College can go and feel the reality the college’s history.

Another piece of organizational culture is held in the stories and the language of telling stories and stories being passed along. At Saint Mary’s College, as is true for most organizations, there are many ways in which stories are transferred over time. I believe the most common way stories at Saint Mary’s are conveyed is from other students who share stories of Saint Mary’s past and present every day. Who knows what the source is or how the student came about this information but we typically accept it to be true. Other common ways stories are shared here at Saint Mary’s often happen before you are officially accepted as a student. When participating in admissions activities stories are shared to help convey the idea of life in this community. Other ways stories are shared are from the professors and administration, if they attended school here or if they simply have heard the stories themselves from somewhere else. Another common though possibly overlooked way of stories being passed along is from mother to daughter. Here at Saint Mary’s we have a lot of legacy students who’s mothers or aunts or grandmothers also went to Saint Mary’s and stories can be passed this way as well. Although all of these ideas are being passed on from different sources all are elements of the organizational culture.

In addition to artifacts and stories there are ceremonies that happen on some routine basis (annually) that add to the elements of organizational culture. When first arriving on campus in August, first year students typically go through a process known as orientation which is a type of ceremony of ceremonies to help students transition from high school to college. To make the transition final there is a ceremony called lighting the candle that officially ends orientation. All of the new students light a candle signifying the beginning of their college careers. There are also religious ceremonies our college practices being that we are a catholic institution. There is opening mass which is also a part of orientation and baccalaureate mass which happens before graduation. Graduation is also a ceremony. The procession of the students in front of their loved ones celebrating the time they have had and the fact that it is over.

Defining an organizations culture often unintentionally reinforces organizational values; this is often the case with organization rituals. According to our textbook authors Eisenberg, Goodall and Trethewey, “Rituals ‘dramatize’ a culture’s basic values and can range in scope from personal, day-to-day routines for accomplishing tasks to annual organization-wide celebrations”. At Saint Mary’s college an organization-wide ritual would be when we honor those who have performed well with the dean’s list title. We also perform day-to-day rituals here at Saint Mary’s College. In many classes we pray before we begin the day’s lesson or we hand in homework before getting started. Though the rituals vary greatly from one organization to another as stated by our authors we can learn much about the organization and where they place there values based on simply daily routines.

Though many people believe culture affects the intangible possessions of an organization by influencing values, attitudes and behaviors it also has material consequences. In the case of an institution such as Saint Mary’s College the elements of our individual culture affect which women choose to attend our college or which professional educators choose to work at our college which in turn effects the education and the experience women at this institution are receiving. The organizational culture can also have a monetary impact. If the culture is not appealing and tuition levels lower there is less of an income for our community to better itself with. It is true the culture affects the heart and the soul of an organization but it can also affect the flesh and the blood.