Overview
Organizational culture is an inescapable reality of any work organization. An organization’s culture reflects the strategic focus of the organization found in strategy, mission, and vision, but more importantly, it is reflective of how life is experienced within an organization.
Culture can be recognized in surface aspects such as those found in language, how work is organized, what people wear, and how people conduct themselves. Culture can be recognized in more underlying aspects, found in values, ideas, and assumptions that members learn and internalize and which influence or govern behaviour. We can experience an organization’s culture in how leaders and managers seek to influence others, how work processes flow, how decisions are made, and how individuals interact with one another. We can also see culture in recognizing the behaviours of those who get ahead and those who do not.
The goal of this course is to help you understand how culture is learned, experienced, and perpetuated and how you might lead an organizational cultural change. It intends to help you appreciate the importance of culture in relation to all activities undertaken in organizations and the different tools used to sustain and lead organization culture change.
Outline
ORGB356 comprises the following lessons organized in four parts.
Part 1:
- Lesson 1: Defining Organization Culture
- Lesson 2: Subcultures
Part 2:
- Lesson 3: Understanding Employee Needs during Cultural Organization Change
- Lesson 4: Navigating and Leading in Sensitive Cultural Environments
Part 3:
- Lesson 5: Positive Psychology–the HERO Leader Concept
- Lesson 6: Leading and Coaching during Organization Cultural Change
- Lesson 7: Empathy and Emotional Intelligence
Part 4:
- Lesson 8: Developing and Launching a Cross-Cultural Leadership Team
- Lesson 9: Applying the Lessons Learned and the Future of Work
Learning outcomes
When you have successfully completed the course, you will be able to do the following:
- Define organizational culture, its elements, sub and countercultures, and how it impacts people within organizations.
- Understand how employees learn, perpetuate, and change organization culture.
- Respond (as a leader) to employee needs during cultural organization change.
- Practice leadership coaching skills during cultural organization change.
- Conduct an organizational culture audit.
- Prepare an organizational culture code.
- Participate in the creation of a cross-cultural team.
Evaluation
You will be required to complete four different AI in-simulation assessments as well as four written assignments. You will not complete a final examination in this course.
To receive credit for the course, you must achieve a grade of at least D (50 percent) on all course elements (including the in-simulation assessments and written assignments).
If you fail to submit work, or if you submit blank or corrupted files, you will receive a grade of "F" (0%) for that assignment or component. Students are not permitted to resubmit work; check that you have uploaded the correct file prior to submission. All coursework must be completed entirely by the student. Students will be graded on their work within the in-simulation assessments as well as the assignment submissions to the course.
The following table summarizes the weights that will be applied to each assessment in determining your final grade.
| Activity | Weight |
| In-simulation assessments | 10% each; 40% total (four in-simulation assessments) |
| Assignment 1 | 15% |
| Assignment 2 | 15% |
| Assignment 3 | 15% |
| Assignment 4 | 15% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Note that there is no assigned textbook for this course. The lesson notes and assigned readings, as well as the AI-powered simulations to guide you through the content.