INTRODUCTORY VIDEO- CLIPPING FROM ‘THE SOCIAL NETWORK’

WORK CULTURE
WORK CULTURE
-way we do things round here
 MEANING

In layman’s language work culture refers to the mentality of the employees

in an organization which further decides the ambience of the organization.
It is the way an organization functions.

Work culture is a concept which deals in the study of:

• Beliefs, thought processes, attitudes of the employees.
• Ideologies and principles of the organization.

It includes shared values beliefs and assumptions in the organization which

become a norm. It helps in achievement of goals.

Every organization has its own unique culture and value set based on the
values of the top management. The culture of any organization is typically
created unconsciously.
 SUB- CULTURE

Sub-cultures refers to smaller segments or groups of people with

similar beliefs, values and ideologies within the organization.

They have their own cultural foundations and display of behaviours.

If these differ significantly to those of the host organization, there will
be conflict giving rise to psychological distress.
POSITIVE OR HEALTHY WORK CULTURE
An organization is said to have a strong work culture when the employees
follow the organization’s rules and regulations and adhere to the existing
guidelines.

A Positive Work Culture is one that provides the foundation of virtuous

intent, commitment and trust within which the subtle signals of personal
interaction are displayed reinforcing these foundations. Without
reinforcement the culture defaults to the ordinary.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A POSITIVE WORK CULTURE

Employees
Each employee
must be
should be
cordial with
treated as one
each other

Promote team
Satisfied
building activities Encourage
employees and
to bind the discussions at
increased
employees workplace
productivity
together

Organization must
have employee
friendly policies Appreciate the
and practical top performers
guidelines
 MUTUAL DEPENDENCY

ORGANISATION PEOPLE / EMPLOYEES

Both, the organization and employees are mutually

dependant on each other for building a strong and positive
work culture in any organization.

This situation is directly comparable to that of a mother and

her child.
 IMPORTANCE OF HAVING A HEALTHY WORK CULTURE

PEOPLE QUIT
THEIR BOSSES
• Staff satisfaction NOT THEIR
• Customer/client satisfaction JOBS
• Fewer errors, delays and repeated activities
• Increased skill, knowledge and experience capacity
• Lower use of complaints, grievance, bullying, harassment and tribunal
procedures.
• An increase in innovation and development of products and services.
• A greater resilience to change
• An increase in the energy, inspiration and inquisitiveness of the
workforce.
• Enhancement in the personal development of the workforce.
• A strengthening of personal standards.
• An increase in the wider contribution to the organisation from the workforce.
• An increase in the stability of the workforce
We are actors, acting out different behaviours according to expectations
of others. Expectations are based on the cultural context in which people
live and work.
FACTORS AFFECTING WORK CULTURE
1. Beliefs of the individual working with the organization. The employees in their
own way contribute to the culture of the workplace. The attitudes, mentalities,
interests, perception and even the thought process of the employees affect the
organization culture.

Example - Organizations which hire individuals from army or defense background tend
to follow a strict culture where all the employees abide by the set guidelines and
policies. The employees are hardly late to work. It is the mindset of the employees
which forms the culture of the place. Organizations with majority of youngsters
encourage healthy competition at the workplace and employees are always on the
toes to perform better than the fellow workers.

2, The sex of the employee also affects the organization culture. Organizations

where male employees dominate the female counterparts follow a culture where late
sitting is a normal feature. The male employees are more aggressive than the females
who instead would be caring and softhearted.

3. The nature of the business also affects the culture of the organization. Stock
broking industries, financial services, banking industry are all dependent on external
factors like demand and supply, market cap, earning per share and so on. When the
market crashes, these industries have no other option than to terminate the
employees and eventually affect the culture of the place. Market fluctuations lead to
unrest, tensions and severely demotivate the individuals. The management also feels
helpless when circumstances can be controlled by none. Individuals are unsure about
their career as well as growth in such organizations.
4. Goals and objectives of the objectives- The strategies and procedures
designed to achieve the targets of the organization also contribute to its
culture.

Individuals working with government organizations adhere to the set

guidelines but do not follow a procedure of feedback thus forming its
culture. Fast paced industries like advertising, event management
companies expect the employees to be attentive, aggressive and hyper
active.

5. The clients and the external parties to some extent also affect the
work culture of the place. Organizations catering to UK and US Clients have
no other option but to work in shifts to match their timings, thus forming
the culture.

6. The management and its style of handling the employees also affect

the culture of the workplace. There are certain organizations where the
management allows the employees to take their own decisions and let
them participate in strategy making. In such a culture, employees get
attached to their management and look forward to a long term association
with the organization. The management must respect the employees to
avoid a culture where the employees just work for money and nothing else.
They treat the organization as a mere source of earning money and look for
a change in a short span of time.
WORK CULTURE IN INDIA- THEN AND NOW
Earlier, calling from India to US or US to India was a big affair. Today, International
calling rates have come down tremendously. This has improved the communication
between US and India employees. Employers expect you to participate in late night or
early morning calls, from home.

During those days, Working from Home (WFH) concept wasn't very popular in India.
Many homes hardly had Internet access. Today, almost all IT engineers have broadband
connectivity at home. Companies expect people to work from home. So, the worries
do not just stop at one’s work place. They follow to the employee’s home. Of course,
WFH gives the extra flexibility when the employee decides to work from home for
personal reasons.

Several work place benefits are cut under the name of frugality - limited team lunches
per year, limited spot awards, no cool drinks at work place, no evening snacks and the
list goes on and on.

Almost, all the companies in the IT sector, give medical insurance to their employees,
now. This concept wasn't very popular during those days. It is very beneficial to
employees - they don't have to shell out big bucks during hospital visits. It is
automatically deducted from the Insurance. The usual practice is that hospitals
increase their treatment costs if you say that you are paying by Insurance.

Laptops are given to employees, by many companies. Partly because the cost of these
toys have come down quite a bit and partly because employers want them to work
from their homes.
THE PRESENT SCENARIO
VIDEO ON INFOSYS WORK CULTURE
 SITUATION IN INDIA

• A workday is generally from 9 am to 5 pm.

• Inter- business matters are generally dealt from 11 am to 4 pm.

• The workweek is normally six days long, with Sundays off. However, some
Multinational Corporations have a workweek of five days including Saturday
as an off.

• Punctuality is appreciated, not strictly adhered to.

• Better to keep your schedule enough for last-minute tinkering

• Delays are universal phenomena in India, rampant in Government

departments.
• Hierarchy- to be respected

• Protocol, manners and obligations are differing based on your position

in the hierarchy

• The chain of command is often strictly enforced.

• Call your superiors ‘Sir’, ‘Madam’, or ‘Ji’. You cannot use their name.

• First approach the senior most person in an organisation, even though

you are delegated the work requested

• Employees rise each time the boss enters the room.

•My boss is always right attitude

INDIAN VS AMERICAN WORK CULTURE
 IT IS
AMERICANS ARE
FASHIONABLE TO
ALWAYS
BE AT LEAST 30
EXPECTED TO BE
MINUTES LATE
ON TIME. THEY
THAN THE
ARE NEVER LATE
SCHEDULED TIME

MOSTLY,
INDIAN SPOON AND
FOOD IS FORK IT IS
EATEN
WITH THE
HANDS

SOMETIMES, IT IS
OBVIOUSLY
CONSIDERED BAD
SHOES ARE
MANNERS TO
WORN INDOORS
WEAR SHOES
TOO
INDOORS
Video to be added here
1. Punctuality
Indians have an elastic view of time. US follows “rigid” view of time on
project deadlines.

2. Age & Tenure In India, it is an

In India young employees in mid-twenties & accepted habit to
thirties are employed and they have 2-3 years work for 10 hours;
of experience with the firm. On the other hand. in the US, it is an
Most of the US employees were well matured exception to the
with 35-50 years age with more or rule
less 10 years of work experience.

3. Chit-Chat
It was readily apparent that the Indian workers engaged in lot more „chit-
chat‟ than US
employees. The work time / social time divide in India is closer to 60% to
40% and in US was
around 80% to 20%.

4. Service Level Agreement

Indian workers are more attached to Service Level Agreement than US
workers. Indian employees were patient in handling any customer / client
who are some time in need of responses for their repeated queries. India
has had a late start in succession planning and talent management.
 Americans Indians
1. Society is very It is very group-oriented
individualistic
2. They are egalitarian They are hierarchical
3. They view time as linear They view time as cyclic
and event driven
4. They are mono chromic They are polychromic
(one work at a time) (multi tasking)
5. Discussions are Discussions are often non
restricted to work related work related .
topics .

In India, people often find it difficult to speak in the presence of very

senior people. Even if they have a valid point, they whisper and will not
raise their hand and contest it, while in the West you are encouraged to
express your views.

Another major difference remains the work-life balance.

 HABITS

• Indians prefer not to switch off their cell phones during meetings. And
Unlike in the U.S., where it’s a major faux pas to take a call in a meeting,
Indians rarely turn off their cell phones when engaged in another
conversation. Instead, there is a lot of ‘I am in a meeting; I’ll call you in
10 minutes’.

• Indians are not comfortable with physical gestures like a slap on the back
etc.

• Relationship building helps get work done- Indians like to talk of family
and home and this strikes a positive chord
INDIA VS CHINA
1. Leader- Follower relationship vs. Discussion of diverse views

People in China look at leaders to provide direction and leadership.

You have to do all the pre-work and be very clear on what direction you
want to take. Chinese people are great at execution if you give them
direction.

Whereas, In India, democracy is a big part of our culture and everyone

has an opinion. People do not like to be led, and want a participative
system.

2. Organized system

In China, they like to have everything absolutely organized and prefer to

adopt well defined solutions to well defined problems.

Whereas, in India, there is a jugaad approach to problems, rather than

being process-driven, which leads us to find innovative solutions.
3. Relationships and Communication

The Chinese don't do business with companies they don't know, so they
always work through an intermediary. This could be an individual or an
organization who makes a formal introduction and vouch for the reliability of
their company. The Chinese often use intermediaries to ask questions that
they would prefer not to make directly.

Be very patient. It takes a considerable amount of time and is bound up with

enormous bureaucracy.

4. Gender bias is nonexistent in most of the businesses across China.

5. Social interaction

The Chinese prefer more formal and official type of communication rather
than interpersonal interaction. Meals and social events are not the place for
business discussions. There is a demarcation between business and socializing
in China.

6. Punctuality

Arriving late is a major issue in China. It is treated as an insult.

7. Chinese are non-confrontational.

They will not overtly say 'no', they will say 'they will
think about it' or 'they will see'.

8. Business attire is conservative and unpretentious

Men wear dark colored, conservative business suits. Women wear

conservative business suits or dresses with a high neckline. Women
wear flat shoes or shoes with very low heels.
WORK CULTURE VS WORK CLIMATE
Work climate is associated with perceptions and feelings which
sometimes could also be determined and caused by misunderstanding,
bias and/or misjudgment of some events occurred to them.

Organizational culture is the deep structure of an organization, which

is based on the assumptions, beliefs and values held by its staff,
whereas organizational climate refers to those elements of the internal
environment as they are consciously perceived by each individual.

In short, culture represents the actual situation, whereas climate

represents individuals’ perceptions of the actual situation.
CONCLUDING VIDEO
 CONCLUSION

In all organizations the level of personal performance, and consequently

corporate performance, is influenced by the extent to which people can
exercise personal choice, mirror their personal with corporate values,
maintain a strong psychological contract, build commitment, have trust
in their controllers and remain engaged with the organization.

Building commitment, trust and engagement is central to wellbeing and

performance. Wellbeing and performance is central to corporate success.

The building and sustaining of a Positive Work Culture is a major step towards
increasing wellbeing and performance of individuals and organizations.
The finding proof that good people management has a positive effect on a
range of issues from increasing employee productivity and reducing
absenteeism to improving profitability.

Thus, creating and maintaining a strong and healthy work culture is

critical to the success of any organization. Development of the
organization will consequently lead to the development of the country
as a whole.
THANK YOU

-ITY JAIN
ROLL NO- 148

-ANUBHAV AGGARWAL
ROLL NO-28