MERGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Mergers and acquisitions are really common in now days, many companies want to make a strategic union looking for betters incomes and more recognition in the market place. This is a hard and long process where the whole organization is involved because in some of those mergers and acquisitions people can be fired. When talking about Mergers and Acquisitions Scholars such as Salama and Vinten, say that this process empowers firms and leads them to transformations. Firms, can have new corporate stuff, and can take advantage of the company the union is taking place with.
When talking about opportunities and challenges in M&A we can see the followings:
Challenges:

Integration process
It is hard in mergers and acquisitions the integration process in different companies, since both have different behaviors and believe, and when the moment to make the union happen it can bring several disputes. For that reason is very important to face those situations. As we saw in the cases most of the companies work out well with the integration process managing cultural differences doing the respective research before de acquisition.

Implementing strategies
When the strategies are not well developed and implemented can cause negative impacts in the organizational effectiveness. Everything has to be made step by step and one without the other doesn’t work, for that reason without a well implemented plan, integration process will not be successful. As an explication of this is the case of British Petroleum and Amoco who handle with a integrating systems and build a new corporate culture for the future organization, what works very well for them.

Acculturative process
“The ways in which two groups adapt to each other and resolve emergent conflict” (Nohavandi and Malekzadeh, 1988). In Volvo and Ford case they where several cultural differences, for that reason employees of each company were into a process of learning about each other`s values and beliefs. And without this acculturative process of merging never had been possible.

Opportunities:
The creation of value
Is an important part of the acquisition process “ integration process is the real source of value creations and acquisitions” ( Haspenslagh and Jemison,1991,p.167) In order to create value it is important that the companies involved in the acquisition process collaborate to the get the expected benefits. If both companies work together they are going to have better results and to increase the value in terms of capital, human resources and capabilities and therefore to be more productive.

Transfer of capability and skills
Since different companies are involve in the merger and acquisitions process they need to share capabilities and skills. In this sense if a company is strong in some point this strength is going to be transfer to the other company and they will start a complementation process.

Impact in the outcomes
If a merger and acquisitions process is successful both companies will have good impact in the outcomes as is the case of the integrating process of Deutschk bank and Banker trust, the integration of British petroleum and Amoco and the integration of Volvo and Ford. When all necessary aspects are taken into account in an integration process the outcomes will be positive otherwise will be negative and this opportunity could become a threat


SOURCE:

Alzira Salama, Wayne Holland, Gerald Vinten, (2003) "Challenges and opportunities in mergers and acquisitions: three international case studies – Deutsche Bank-Bankers Trust; British Petroleum-Amoco; Ford-Volvo", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 Iss: 6, pp.313 - 321

MANAGEMENT STYLES

(http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/m/management_style.asp, September 2010)

Management style and decision making in large companies in Japan is characterize in that the flow of initiative and information from the bottom up (involvement), making top management as a way (facilitator) and not as a source of authority. (http://corporateinnovationonline.com/Japanese%20Management%20Culture%20for%20Corporate%20Innovation.pdf, September 2010). Also as we saw in the class presentation not all companies are alike, Japanese companies has aggressive pricing as a result of the economies of scale, very close supplier relationship, participation of workers and middle management building group loyalty, right kind of customers, flexible manufacturing: connecting product design and production and corporate values. In other hand “Korean management is ownership and management by family. Considering the short history of Korean enterprises, it is understandable that many corporations are still owned by the founder`s family members.” (http://gshp.gsnu.ac.kr/~india93/way-board/db/free/file/Chaebol%20Style.pdf, September 2010)

Zaibatsu, “Any of the large capitalist enterprises of Japan before World War II, similar to cartels or trusts but usually organized around a single family. One zaibatsu might operate companies in nearly all important areas of economic activity. The Mitsui combine, for example, owned or had large investments in companies engaged in banking, foreign trade, mining, insurance, textiles, sugar, food processing, machinery, and many other fields as well. All zaibatsu owned banks, which they used as a means for mobilizing capital”. The four main zaibatsu were Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda, Dai Ichi Kangyo, Sanwa, and Fuyo. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/655416/zaibatsu, September 2010).
“The chaebol are the large, conglomerate family-controlled firms of South Korea characterized by strong ties with government agencies. The name, which means business association, is properly pronounced jay BOL but the spelling pronunciation chay bol is considered acceptable by Korean speakers. There were family-owned enterprises in Korea in the period before 1961 but the particular state-corporate alliance came into being with the regime of Park Chung Hee (1961-1979). Park modeled this arrangement on the zaibatsu system which developed in Japan during the Meiji Era.” (http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/chaebol.htm, September 2010)

Main similarities and differences of Japanese and Korean management styles.

They are both similar in the sense that both countries organized the largest conglomerates that were owned by family members. Both were supported by the local governments with helped them gain force an international area, and other similarity is the relationship that Japan and Korea have with their suppliers.
There were significant differences between the zaibatsu and the chaebol, the most significant of which was the source of capital. The zaibatsu were organized around a bank for their source of capital. The chaebol in contrast were prohibited from owning a bank, another difference are the development in technology Japan works more the economy of scale and Korea in flexible manufacturing.

Explain the phenomenon of convergence in terms of management styles. What are the forces or factors pushing for convergence?
Convergence in terms of management styles is when as country develop will tend to become more similar to a those found in develop nations; there are two models the Eastern (Asia- Japan) and the Western (American – US).

COMMUNICATION + VIRTUAL TEAMS

(http://www.owatonna.k12.mn.us/Classroom/OJHS/Outback/ezeman/Home.htm, August 2010) (http://blog.seattlepi.com/entrepreneursjourney/archives/131907.asp, August 2010)

What is communication? “Communication is a learned skill. Most people are born with the physical ability to talk, but we must learn to speak well and communicate effectively. Speaking, listening, and our ability to understand verbal and nonverbal meanings are skills we develop in various ways. We learn basic communication skills by observing other people and modeling our behaviors based on what we see. We also are taught some communication skills directly through education and by practicing those skills and having them evaluated” (http://www.tarunpatel.net/MSc/Communication%20skills.pdf, September 2010). In communications are two dimensions: Interpersonal communication and Technological communication. When we are talking of communications there are 4 elements: “the communicator, the receiver, perceptual screens, and the message” (Communication: Class presentation, September 2010).
In the other hand in this moment communication as a complex scenario, before was only letters, contact face-to- face, telephone, in now days internet, cell phones, high technology and globalization allow organizations and people to create virtual team, virtual communications, virtual groups and teleworkers, In this moment it is not necessary to go everyday to a office or have meetings or schedule them, or if somebody is outside the city and have different zones times communications is not a barrier with the all technology is possible work from different places at any time.
“Virtual teams can work collaboratively and effectively in a project despite the additional challenges, if a skilled project manager leads the project in overcoming the problems associated with the lack of direct person- to – person contact and immediate managerial oversight” (Kuruppuarachchi, Palitha R. 2009)
Virtual team is very common between entities that have subsidiaries around the word, all this people has a common goal and the members interact with each other, they use to have meeting by internet. Virtual teams can help to reduce costs and time saving. Are very useful for people in different countries.
Some disadvantages that virtual team has are: the face-to- face contact is reduce, technical vocabulary, cultural differences, time. Advantages are costs, flexibility, and market opportunity.
Also virtual communities are common in now days like facebook, each member participate via internet, has roles and norms and common purposes. This helps people from everywhere to communicate with the rest of the world.

Based on the article “If Intercontinental were a sound…what would it be?”*, Please discuss the implications (potential advantages, disadvantages, challenges, etc.) of using sounds to send strategic messages. You need to integrate the use of key concepts relating to the topic of communication to support your answer.
I think is hard to educate people to understand the messages sent by the sounds and Intercontinental show was hard for them too. They use the sound strategy because they want to do something different and as Nicolas said: “ We realized that the guest experience involve much more than things such as find dining and the thread count on the bed linen… that is taken for granted in a luxury hotel. We had to look deeper into the impact we could make on our guest and in ways that were meaningful to them” (Michael Spencer, "If InterContinental were a sound … what would it be?", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 31) for all this they made a exhaustive study inside the hotel with staff and guest.
Possible advantages to me can be the recognition and differentiation that Intercontinental can have and if the sound is positioned in the market they can achieve more incomes, also an advantage was the whole study that the made that explain how music is processed and how goes to the cerebrum, and another important factor and this goes straight to the marketing are the senses in now days it is important to play with all the senses and normally in a hotel you just see signs. A disadvantage for me is that sounds can be ambiguous, and I think it takes to long to educate people, because values and beliefs are different in cultures.
Moreover when the message is send by a sound I think it has a clear purpose, it is objective, is consistency, can be complete, powerful and direct.

MOTIVATION

http://www.thundersquee.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/motivation.jpg, September 2010)

Fist I am going to start with, what is motivation? Internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested in and committed to a job, role, or subject, and to exert persistent effort in attaining a goal. Motivation is the energizer of behavior and mother of all action. It results from the interactions among conscious and unconscious factors such as the (1) intensity of desire or need, (2) incentive or reward value of the goal, and (3) expectations of the individual and of his or her significant others. ( http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/motivation.html#ixzz0ymZHrFw1,September,2010). Motivation is really important in organizations because people can do better jobs, put more effort, and achieve better results. “Motivation is important because of its significance as a determinant of performance and its intangible nature” ((http://mahdi823.blogfa.com/, September 2010)

Maslow did the key motivation theory, in this one he explained in a pyramided how people fist is worry to cover physiological and biological needs like; food, sleep, air, drink, shelter, warmth, in the second floor are the safety needs; protection, security, order, law, limits, stability, in the third floor are the Belonging and love needs (Social), family, affection, relationships, work group, in the fourth place are the esteem needs; achievement, status, responsibility and reputation, and in the last place is the self-actualization, personal growth and fulfillment. He said that humans achieve each need in a progressive way.

(http://www.corestrategies.com/, August, 2010)
Also there is Douglas McGregor theory, X and Y, in this one he divide employees in two categories, one of Lower order needs that represents physiological and safety and the Higher order needs that are Social, esteem and self-actualization. According to the theory X the key motivator is the money, and for the theory Y is to align organizational goals to individual’s needs.
Clayton Alderferer made the ERG (Existence-Relatedness-Growth) theory this one was an evolution of Maslow`s theory, he proposed the “Regression hypothesis: when frustration is experienced at meeting needs, individuals return to the next lower level and intensify their desire to satisfy those needs” and to the Maslow`s theory he add physical security and social-esteem.

(http://mkhanpmp.blogspot.com/2009_10_04_archive.html, September, 2010)
Frederick Herzberg`s two factors theory, satisfaction or dissatisfaction. In those theories and also he explained the motivation factors: psychological growth and the hygiene factors: avoidance of pain.
Amitai Etzioni gave “three categories of exchange between individuals and organizations: Committed: high positive intensity (religious group).Calculated: low positive or low negative intensity. Alienated: high negative intensity (prison)”

Adam`s equity theory “acknowledges that subtle and variable factors affect each individual's assessment and perception of their relationship with their work, and thereby their employer. However, awareness and cognizance of the wider situation - and crucially comparison - feature more strongly in Equity Theory than in many other earlier motivational models.”

(http://mahdi823.blogfa.com/, September 2010)

The Hawthorne Studies

“The Hawthorne studies undercut a core pillar of Taylorism--the notion that workers were motivated purely by economic gain.
Researchers from Western Electric and Harvard University led the Hawthorne studies. (General Electric originally contributed funding, but they withdrew after the first trial was completed.) The studies were intended to examine the influence of environmental variables on a group of production workers. The group of workers was divided into two subgroups: a test group, which would undergo environmental changes, and a control group. The members of the control group would work under normal, constant environment conditions.
The researchers began by manipulating the lighting of the test group. When lighting for the test group was increased, their productivity increased--but the productivity of the control group increased, as well. This result was somewhat unexpected, since the lighting at the workstations of the control group had not been altered.
The researchers then decreased the lighting at the test group’s workstations. Surprisingly, both the test group and the control group continued to improve their productivity. There were no decreases in productivity until the light was reduced to the point where the workers could barely see. The researchers concluded that light did not have a significant impact on the motivation of production workers. This led General Electric, a light bulb manufacturer, to withdraw their funding.
The next experiment utilized a mainstay of scientific management: incentive-based, piecework system. The researchers expected, according to the conventional wisdom of the day, that this would inspire the employees to dramatically increase their pace. However, rather than working as fast as they could individually, the workers calibrated themselves as a group. Employees who worked more slowly than average were derided as “chiselers.” Employees who attempted to work faster than the group were called “rate busters.” In other words, any significant deviation from the collectively imposed norm was punished.
These results were, of course, a major blow to the position of scientific management, which held that employees were only motivated by individual economic interest. The Hawthorne studies drew attention to the social needs as an additional source of motivation. Taylor’s emphasis on economic incentives was not wholly discredited, but economic incentives were now viewed as one factor--not the sole factor--to which employees responded” (http://www.beechmontcrest.com/hawthorne_studies.htm, August 2010)
This case allow companies to see which factors really motivated employees to work, and show how money is not the only key motivator, off course it is important but there are another things like social needs, working conditions in some cases, how they are treated affects in the motivation and in the productivity of the organization. It is very important that employees feels as an important part of the organization and it is very important inside the organization give to the people what they deserve, why if somebody is doing well their job give them a recognition, bonus or give them the simple act of call them a say, congratulation your doing a great job and improving more, motivation is a vital part of the organization and managers are complete responsible of that.


"Flight 001: Motivating Employees"

According to “Flight 001: Motivating Employees” I think Douglas McGregor, theory X and Y is the most indicate because as this theory said employees needs “higher order needs” such as social, esteem, and self actualization, also as she said “most associates just want to make money while pursing others interests as students, photographers, musicians, etc.” (Flight 001: Motivating Employees) this can be as a part of their low order needs where psychological and safety conditions are more important. She said that she “ can tell with associates are passing through and who might stick around” (Flight 001: Motivating Employees) this is possible to see in McGregor´s theory because it is probable to see how likes the job that is doing and how don’t.
When people is interesting and really motivate and work is something good, they enjoy to go and do what they like, people is original, use to work in group, responsible and all this happened because people want achievement, status, responsibly, reputation, personal growth, fulfillment, and obviously affection. When a person doesn’t like their work they just to thinks to get the money, this is the key motivator for the low order needs. People how doesn’t like their job just want to “survive” they are not interesting in get recognition, status, have a great working conditions, they just want to their money.
Griffin motivation at work first in Flight 001 was kind of passing through but after the work of motivation did for the cofounder of the company she started to think in not only the low order needs but also in high order needs, this doesn’t happened with Amanda Shank that the store-owner told her “you´re just a number, you can be replace at any time” how would like to work there of somewhere where you know you will be replace in any time and you don’t have motivator to work, in those kind of companies you know you will not get you goals and obviously you will not to achieve results.

PERSONALITY, PERCEPTION AND ATTRIBUTION + ATTITUDES AND VALUES

http://tulane.edu/cps/about/goals-values.cfm

Understanding Perceptions, personality, attributions, attitudes and values is very important but also is very hard, everybody has a different idea and thinking of each of those aspects but when we are a member of an organization in very important to know each one to get a better relationship and create a group dynamic. Fist we can start introducing each concept Perception is “Process by which people translate sensory impressions into a coherent and unified view of the world around them. Though necessarily based on incomplete and unverified (or unreliable) information, perception is 'the reality' and guides human behavior in general.” (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/perception.html, August 2010). Personalities are individual characteristics, influence behavior, and there are determinants that make define the personality like the heredity and the environment. Attributions, there are two kind of attributions internal and external, the internal “it is something within the person we observe, the personality” and the external “ it is caused by something outside the person we observe, their situation” (http://www.integratedsociopsychology.net/wpimages/wpe77dc0e5.jpg, August 2010). Attitudes are Psychological tendency, favorable or unfavorable and Linked to behavior and Values are Beliefs about preferable conducts. All those aspects are fundamental inside the organizations.
Sometimes perceptions can cause several difficulties in organizations, not everybody is open mind and use to give preconceptions about the others and try to stereotypes. An example of this can be, the new employee of a company how is a beautiful girl and she is going to work in the finance part, the others women of this company when they know a pretty woman is going to work there started to talk about how she got the job and started with insinuations, they can threaten the new one like a “easy” because if she in pretty maybe she is not capable enough to achieve the place that she really got for her own skills.
Also personality and attitude are very important, sometimes there is some people how thinks they are better than others or believe their job is better or they have the truth in what they are doing and this kind of personality can cause problems in the organization, sometimes people always want to have the reason, and are really bad listening and when you are part of an organization your personality and attitude are fundamental elements, to build a perfect environment to work. In other hand values are very related with beliefs and behaviors, a perfect example of this can be apple`s case they thought that if created the ITunes online music store is to rise above a divergence between those how wanted to download copyrighted music for free and the music industry which sought to protect its artists and its revenues, all this because they belief in the values of “solving problems of society” (http://www.gurusoftware.com/gurunet/personal/topics/values.htm, August 2010)

PYGMALION EFFECT.

(http://thingaboutskins.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/my-friend-chad-victims-and-victory-and-those-visitors-who-want-indians-to-stay-virtually-the-same-part-1/, September 2010)

“The Pygmalion effect is a type of self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP) in which raising manager expectations regarding subordinate performance boosts subordinate performance. Managers who are led to expect more of their subordinates lead them to greater achievement. Programmatic research findings from field experiments are reviewed, and our present knowledge about the Pygmalion effect in the management of industrial, sales, and military organizations is summarized. A model is presented in which leadership is hypothesized to be the key mediator through which manager expectations influence subordinate self-efficacy, performance expectations, motivation, effort, and performance. The behaviors that comprise the Pygmalion Leadership Style are described.” (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science, August 2010)
The Pygmalion effect is the expectations that a person has of another person and how this can influence in the acts of the last one. Also the Pygmalion effect can be positive or negative; the positive is went the expectations or push reflects a positive effect it means the person how is pushed feels more comfortable and self-confident and in this way can achieve better results easily. The negative Pygmalion effect is when the other person made that the self-confidence fall or disappear complete.
Everyday people is living under the Pygmalion effect somebody at school because the teachers can do more effort to push those students that they think are better and can do more things, usually with those kind of students in the way that they are treat, they will give their answers and they will confirm to their teachers that the expectative that they have are correct, and if this is done in a continues way in the scholar year they will have better grades. Also at home is possible to see the effect when your parents expect that you may have first to pass the school, them university, magister, etc, when the goals are fulfillment then arrive another’s to achieve.
In organizations as well is common to the see the effect, there are some people how works better under pressure or in other hand there are other how don’t like to work in those conditions. Besides is very important to know and understand how the people and who works better under pressure or who doesn’t like to work in terms of pressure. Understanding international culture. It is important to try to understand how people works better, some cultures are slow, lazy, and for those it is better to be pushed, it means using the Pygmalion effect it’s better to encourage them also it is very useful the supervisors motivation plan because he can create better employees just by believing in them. This is even truer when working with underachievers.
I think this concept can be use to explain the relationship between national and organizational cultures because as I said before sometimes national culture tend to be in a certain way like the antioqueñan people, they always want to be the best, and went the organizations are form in Antioquia tend to be more perseverant, they like things fast, they do everything to achieve the goal, people is warm, friendly, but always has clearly which is the goal, but in the case of Bogota`s people they tend to be more focus in the goal and they don`t care for the personal part. All this to explain how culture can explain organizational culture, and how cultural differences can affect organizational environment.

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR + NATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

(http://natyrpo.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html, September 2010)

Human behavior is a deeper subject and as Nelson, Debra L. and Quick, James Campbell said is “complex and often difficult to understand”. Since the perspective of human behaviors we can see two the internal and external perspective. “The internal perspective has given rise to a wide range of motivational and leadership theories” (Nelson, Debra L. and Quick, James Campbell, 2010) in a few words the internal perspective is inside the person, versus the external that is “focuses on factors outside the person to understand behavior” (Nelson, Debra L. and Quick, James Campbell, 2010). Those alternatives gave as an alternative explanation of human behavior. Also human and organizational behavior can be looked as “clockwork” or “snake pit” those metaphors can show the difficult that can be understand human behavior.
Organizational culture are a series expectations, norms, goals common to a group inside of an organization, institution, company or group of people and usually it may change between organizations, in the organizational culture is common to see symbols, stories, power structures, rituals and routines, control systems, and organizational structures all this as organizational values and culture. Also inside the organizational culture is very important to understand the national culture and as Mehri Ezadi Yeganeh said in his document “The impact of national and organizational culture on information technology (IT)” “Notion of culture as multiple and inclusive definitions. Sometimes the description culture is applied exclusively to what is observable or recordable. An alternative conception of culture is: subjective, or implicit. As a whole Culture is a pattern of thinking, felling and acting that is learned throughout a person’s life, beginning in early childhood Groeschl and Doherty pointed out that culture is more complex and difficult to define. Culture consists of several elements of which some are implicit and others are explicit. Most often these elements are explained by terms such as behavior, values, norms and basic assumptions. Several recent studies have suggested that values are important category of culture. Values and practices are acquired early in life through childhood socialization and education then stable in nature but they can change over time and these changes can reflect in the culture. Practices develop in life by activities in society and they more likely to change than values. Hofstede defined national culture as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or people from another"
All those elements culture, organizations, national and organizational culture gave us the key to understand pretty much the human behavior were the external and internal factors are very important.
This video can show us a little bit of human behavior: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2uaw_bjork-human-behaviour_music (BJORK, Human behavior)

REAL LIFE EXAMPLES
Implications of national and organizational culture may affect business one case can be a Colombian enterprise and Japanese; as we know Colombian culture in terms of time is very relaxed and flexible manner. Punctuality is not essential and planning things to the minute is not common also Colombians tend to communicate in an indirect and subtle manner. It is important to not offend others and always be as diplomatic as possible. Colombian companies tend to have vertical hierarchies. This hierarchy is an important part of Colombian business culture and should be respected whenever possible. In Colombian business culture, cultivating close personal relationships and building trust are considered vital components for a successful working environment. Colombians prefer to do business with people whom they know/trust and it is not uncommon to find many family members working for the same business. (http://www.communicaid.com/access/pdf/library/culture/doing-business-in/Doing%20Business%20in%20Colombia.pdf, August 23, 2010). In other hand Japanese culture deals “with its roots in Confucianism, hierarchical structures classify an individual's position within a group and in society. Status is determined by factors such as age, employment, company and family background. The hierarchical system dictates that due respect be afforded to those of higher status. When doing business in Japan be aware of hierarchy and adapt your behavior accordingly. When doing business in Japan a successful relationship with a Japanese colleague or client is based on three factors: sincerity, compatibility and trustworthiness. Sincerity means that you are compromising; understanding and you want to conduct business on a personal level. Compatibility is established when you are seen to be concerned about the personal relationship, the well being of the company and not just focused on financial gain. Trustworthiness relates to the faith put in you to protect from loss face.” (http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/etiquette/doing-business-japan.html, August 23, 2010). For all those things is very important to understand and to know each of the cultures and in this specific case Colombia – Japan organization also time zone can affect relations.
Another example can be the business negotiations with Saudi Arabia has several implications because to their culture is to first create the trust with potential business partner, have several lunches, meetings and meetings before closing a business. They use to give great importance to words rather than the documents in the negotiations. Dialogue is usually very slow, since it must involve the family and friends, because they are an important part of their culture and of the day by day, to the point of participation and voice in the negotiations.
Negotiations and talks are quiet and slow, as mentioned above, are indirect people never go straight to the point, like to know about in visitors, family, culture, etc. but keeping the distance and respect, as might be done by asking about their lives. Never interrupt a meeting, if there is a circle of people must make a detour to pass, not by the medium. It is forbidden for men to wear shorts and go out in public with a woman, unless there is a family relationship with her.
At lunchtime, you must first thank on behalf of Allah, you should always eat or drink with your right hand, never left, because that is considered "unclean." Do not reject or make negative comments about food, you must eat everything and is in poor taste to repeat a lot.

- DO YOU THINK THERE IS A CORPORATE CULTURE IN EVERY ORGANIZATION?
- IF WE ASSUME THERE IS: CAN IT BE MODIFIED?

"Organizational culture is the set of operating principles that determine how people behave within the context of the company. Underlying the observable behaviors of people are the beliefs, values, and assumptions that dictate their actions." ( Khan, Asim. 2005.“Matching People with Organizational Culture”). The organizational culture may exist in every organization because since the organization is established or thought the time of the organization, is because it was created with the born of the organization or it was created for each behavior, value or attitudes of the human resources, this is an essential thing for an organization because it is necessary that everybody goes in the same way with particular goals, and it is necessary that they work as a team even if they are is different areas.
According to Ed Petry (Ethikos Draft) "Every organization has an existing culture. For most, the good news is that their existing culture, while containing a few bad elements, is largely in good shape. The task, therefore, is not to create or invent a new culture, but to identify what exists, assess where improvements are needed, develop an action plan and implement. This may seem obvious and yet the temptation may be strong to skip the preliminaries and jump right into action plans and implementation. Too many organizations assume they know what their culture is and that it can be summed up in a slogan like: “we have a culture of innovation” or “we’re an action-based culture.” Others assume their values statement adequately represents their unique culture. Ideally, your values statement should be an expression of your “shared values” and as such a concise description of your corporate culture, but don’t assume that it is."
After all of this we can get deeper in the question: Can it be modified? It is possible to say it can be modified but some cultures are more inflexible than others and the changes in those cultures are harder to do. For instance organizations with older people are meant to be more reluctant to changes because their behaviors, beliefs and attitudes are so different and sometimes they don’t accept the innovation and the tecnification of the process and procedures, also “Managers and employees alike are challenged to meet change in positive and optimistic way: change in how work gets done, change in psychological and legal contracts between individuals and organizations, change in who is working in the organization, and change in the basis for organization” (Nelson, DL, & Quick, JC. 2010)