Organizational Culture and Gender Minority: A Case Study of State Bank of India

Organizational Culture And Gender: Prior Studies

Organizational culture has been described as a set of “shared values (what is important) and beliefs (how things work) that interact with an organization’s structure and control systems to produce behavioural norms (the way we do things around here)” (Uttal, 1983). It is relatively enduring characteristic of an organization which distinguishes it from other organizations and (a) embodies members’ collective perception about their organization with respect to such dimensions as autonomy, trust, cohesiveness, support, recognition, innovation and fairness, (b) is produced by members’ interaction, (c) serves as a basis of interpreting the situation, (d) reflects the prevalent norms and attitudes of the organization’s culture and (e) acts as a source of influence for shaping behaviour” (Moran & Volkwein, 1992). With increasing proportion of women in the workforce, business organizations are facing the challenge of assimilation of women in the organization in order to fully exploit their potential for achieving the common goals. A number of studies focus on the gender issues in business such as managerial styles. For example, Rosener (1990), observed that “women are more likely to use power based on charisma, work record, and contacts, and motivated others by transforming their self-interest into the goals of the organization; whereas, men were more likely to use power based on organizational position, title, and the ability to reward and punish, and were less likely to use transformational leadership practices.” Hughes et al. (2002) observed that female managers’ show greater concern for others, consider how others felt about their influencing tactics, and were more likely than men to act with the organization’s broad interest in mind.