As a new institution grows and becomes successful, it usually develops a unique and distinct culture of its own which is one of the determinants of its success though creating a culture is very rarely the first priority of an institution. In other words, an institution becomes effective due to its values, norms, strategies and ways of doing work i.e., its culture.
The process of creating organizational culture involves five steps:
(1) Formulating Strategic Values:
Strategic values are the basic beliefs about an institution’s environment that shape its strategy. They are formulated in the light of economic, political, technological, ideological and social trends and needs. Strategic values link an institution with the external environment.
(2) Developing Cultural Values:
Cultural values are the values that employees need to have and the organization needs to act on the strategic values. They should be grounded in an institution’s beliefs about how and why the institution can be effective.
If cultural values are not linked with the Strategic values, an institution will be left with an empty set of values unrelated to institutional activities, processes and goals.
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Thus, employees need to value work behaviours that are consistent with and support an organization’s strategic values such as student-centred curriculum, technological and curricular innovations, reduction and/or elimination of wastage and stagnation, etc.
(3) Creating Vision:
After developing its strategic and cultural values, an institution must establish a vision of the institution’s direction. This ‘vision’ is a picture of what an organization will be like at some point in future.
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For example, an institution’s vision includes ‘providing society with productive individuals with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and work values’.
In effect, it synthesizes both the strategic and cultural values as it communicates a performance target to teachers. Conventionally, a Statement of vision is to be written before developing strategic and cultural values. However, in practical terms, developing strategic and cultural values followed by writing a statement of vision is more meaningful and realistic.
(4) Initiating Implementation Strategies:
This step is based on values and initiates action to accomplish the vision. The strategies of implementation include developing the organization design, recruiting and training teachers developing a curriculum, socializing the staff so as to enable them to share the values etc. The strategic and cultural values are the stimulus for the implementation process.
(5) Reinforcing Cultural Behaviours:
The final step is to reinforce the behaviours of employees as they act out the culture values and implement an organization’s strategies. Reinforcement a take many forms. It includes:
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(a) A formal reward system in an institution for desired behaviour. This reward system must be valued by the employees,
(b) Stories must be told throughout the institution about teachers who engaged in behaviours that epitomize the cultural values,
(c) “An institution must engage in ceremonies and rituals that emphasize teachers doing the things that are critical to carrying out the institution’s vision.