Workplace Cultures

Video Transcription

Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution-- Putting the Pieces Together. Today, we're going to talk about workplace cultures. Before we get into workplace cultures, let's start talking about culture in general.

So in a culture, we have a group of people that has members. And they identify themselves as a part of this group or culture. And they have a shared set of beliefs and assumptions. So these are symbols, systems, norms, traditions, and viewpoints that they all have towards the world. And these shared beliefs and assumptions are all agreed upon by the members of the group or culture.

Moving on to workplace culture, we have the workplace culture that develops normative behaviors over time. And they do this through their own set of rules and norms. And these rules and norms are a guide for the workplace to go by. But it's not as extensive as national or ethnic culture and their norms.

So the way in which we are acting within our national or ethnic culture may not be the same as we're acting in the workplace. But it does set a guide for us to behave in that specific workplace culture.

And because of this, we then can define workplace or organizational cultures as a subculture. And this means we have a mini-culture or a smaller culture embedded within a whole larger culture.

So again, we can define workplace or organizational cultures as subcultures. And each workplace subculture varies. So in some situations, we may be acting in a certain way in one place that we worked. But maybe we've moved jobs, and that workplace has a whole different set of norms and beliefs that we have to adapt to to that specific subculture.

And because of these variations, cross-subcultural conflict occurs. And this is what happens when cultural boundaries are crossed. And the conflict occurs when we are displaying or somebody else is displaying inappropriate behavior, assumptions, or beliefs that go outside of those norms that the specific organizational or workplace culture goes by, too, as a guide for their behavior in the workplace.

So let's look at some examples now of the cross-subcultural conflict so we can get a better picture of what that might look like. So let's say we have a new employee and there's a conflict about the lunch protocol. So you're new at this place of employment. And in your old place, everyone took an hour lunch break and they sat and they ate together and they caught up on each other's personal lives. And it was a really friendly atmosphere. And everyone knew each other very well. And it was all well and good.

Well, at this new place everybody takes a half-hour lunch break. And they usually don't take their lunch in the break room. They usually take their lunch at their desks.

And you unknowingly then think, well, I'm going to take my hour lunch break and I'm going to go somewhere. And I'm going to try and talk to the people that are in the break room and get to know each other because I really want to have that similar friendship atmosphere at work.

Well, the place that you are now working at, the employees think, who is this person. What do they think they're doing? They think they can take an hour off from their work? We have so much work to get done. They're lazy, they're not dedicated to their new job. I just really don't think that this new person is going to work out.

And so a conflict then arises between you and the new place of employment and those employees over this subculture and what they do at lunch.

Another example, let's say, is at an auto body shop. And we have some shop employees and office employees. The shop employees have a really informal communication style. They joke around a lot and they laugh and they have a lot of fun. Whereas the office employees are a little bit more serious than those shop employees. And they have a more formal communication style.

And when they have to communicate with one another, because of their varying workplace norms and behaviors, they often conflict. And this is just over communication style. So the shop employees may think that the office employees are really stuck up. And the office employees think that the shop employees are really not getting down to business and not getting their work done.

And so over that, there is a conflict that occurs. And this is another example of how we can even have a subculture within a subculture, if that makes any sense. So we have the workplace subculture, which is the auto body shop. Then we also have these two different cultures within that in the shop and the office employees.

So how does conflict resolution fit in with workplace culture? So when we're having these conflicts within our workplace or organizational culture, the openness to a conflict resolution process really is determined by the specific workplace culture.

So for example, if it's a more individualistic atmosphere where everybody works for themselves, maybe it's a competitive atmosphere as well where we are vetting against each other to make the most sales, or whatever the type of work it may be, we may not want to go into a conflict resolution process because we are so individualistic. Whereas the conflict resolution process really requires us to have a collaborative teamwork effort type of thinking to really resolve the issues.

So on the flip side, if it's a more collectivist atmosphere where everybody works on teams and is used to working together, they may be more open to a conflict resolution process because they value or they have that norm and behavior of teamwork and collaboration.

Let's look at our key points here before we go on workplace and organizational culture. So each workplace culture has their own norms, beliefs, and assumptions. And this is developed over time. And workplace cultures are considered a subculture. So it's a culture embedded in a larger culture.

And when we have a subculture in workplaces, we can have a cross-subcultural conflict. So our examples were earlier with the new employee and the lunch protocol and the shop and the office employees at our auto body shop.

And really, it depends upon the workplace culture and whether or not they'd be open to a conflict resolution process. So our examples of an individualistic atmosphere and a collectivist atmosphere.

Here are your key turns before we go. Feel free to pause and look at them a little bit closer.

Thank you so much for taking the time out to view this tutorial. I hope you learned something. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.