Which statement about organisational culture is correct?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Organisational culture is the set of shared values, beliefs, norms and behaviours that shape how people in an organisation interact and make decisions.

1. Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Organisational culture includes visible artifacts (rituals, dress, office layout), espoused values (mission statements, policies) and underlying assumptions (unspoken beliefs).
- Culture influences employee motivation, decision-making, communication, performance, retention and customer experience.
- Culture can be judged as positive (supportive, ethical, innovative) or negative (toxic, risk-averse, unethical).

2. Step-by-step reasoning process
- Start from the definition: culture is not a single physical item or only a customer-facing element; it is a pervasive social system within the organisation.
- Examine possible states: because culture comprises behaviours and values, it can foster healthy outcomes (collaboration, high morale) or unhealthy outcomes (conflict, low trust).
- Therefore any correct statement must reflect that culture is broad in scope and can have both positive and negative manifestations.

3. Intermediate steps (conceptual)
- Identify scope: culture affects employees, managers, processes, and external stakeholders — not limited to physical objects or customers.
- Evaluate polarity: examples show polarity — Google’s innovation culture (positive) versus a company with bullying management (negative).

4. Why the correct answer is correct
- “It can be positive or negative” accurately captures that organisational culture varies in quality and effect. Culture can promote ethical behaviour and performance, or it can enable misconduct and poor outcomes.

5. Why the other options are incorrect
- “It is always positive” is false because many organisations have harmful cultures.
- “It is only about physical objects in a workplace” is false; artifacts are just one layer of culture, not the whole.
- “It only affects customers” is false because culture primarily affects internal behaviours and cascades to customers, but it is not limited to them.

6. Conclusion
The correct answer is: It can be positive or negative, which matches the provided answer.

Which statement about organisational culture is correct?Single choice

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