EKU Organizational Management & Communication in Disasters Reflective Paper

Focus: Crisis Leadership, Organizational Culture and Management

Thinking about organizational culture:

Organizations are complex multifaceted organisms that have unique structures, processes, and rituals that drive the organization and result in either effective or ineffective practices. Survival often depends on the organizations ability to re-create itself.

Organizational culture according to Schein (2004) is a set of complex, multifaceted, and dynamic interrelationships that follow a pattern. This prescribed pattern is often not even one of conscious thought but rather of learned practices of what is acceptable and what is not.

Begin to identify the pieces of culture that you see or have experienced in settings you are in. How does it impact the way you interact? If all culture is based on groups, consider the strength of human emotions and the need to be accepted and part of a group. Previously learned lessons on effective interaction and coping skills are brought to each new group. These lessons learned only provide a starting point – the new group establishes it’s own culture best described by Schein (1) as “goals, means, working procedures, measurements, and rules of interaction all must be forged out of common experience, and a sense of mission – what the group is ultimately all about- develops only as members begin genuinely to understand each other’s needs, goals, talents, and values, and as they begin to integrate these into a shared mission.” p. 67.

In any group, whether it be an organization with longevity or a group brought together for a specific task, these processes flow as part of the group dynamics. Leaders emerge in many ways and at different times in the life of an organization. What is a leader and when is a leader a leader? When and how does an organization allow itself to rethink and re-create its structure and beliefs?

Schein, E.H. Organization culture and leadership, 3rd edition. San Francisco, 2004.

How do organizational culture and crisis leadership relate? What are the differences between leadership under normal circumstances and in a crisis?

Readings

Attached Files:

• Schein Organizational_Culture_and_Leadership_—-_(The_Problem_of_Defining_Culture_Clearly).pdf (126.579 KB)
• Schein Organizational_Culture_and_Leadership_—-_(2._The_Structure_of_Culture).pdf (638.142 KB)
• Schein Organizational_Culture_and_Leadership_—-_(Human_Essence_and_Basic_Motivation).pdf (95.521 KB)

CULTURAL COMPETENCY SELF ASSESSMENT

Discussion Bored Questions

Attached Files:

• DHS Self Assmt Cultural Competency.pdf (23.249 KB)

1- Please complete and comment in the findings in your journal. Discuss what you intend to do with the findings.

2- How does the culture you expect differ from the situations you have found yourself in? (In other words – you live and work in a specific environment – what happens when you are dropped into a different environment?)

3- Enter your reflections on the Cultural Competency Self Assessment.

– APA Style

– Kindly, answer all discussion questions clearly and completely.