1.) O’Reilly, Chatman and Caldwell (1991) identify many values used in describing organizational culture in their attempts to determine the validity of assessing person-organization fit. Person-organization fit is defined as the satisfaction that comes from “thesimilarity between an individual’s self-concept and his or her image of an organization” (p. 489). When an employee has values and perceptions of him or herself that matches the organization’s values and perceptions, more positive outcomes can be found. Using a quantitative assessment of organizational culture called the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP), the researchers compare organizational culture value statements (e.g. stability, innovation, analytical) to person-organization fit value statements (e.g. abasement, achievement, change, deference) to determine how closely an organization’s expectations match their employee’s.
However, from a sense-making perspective, assessing person-organization fit could be determined through several other factors. Sensemaking deals with the ability to assign meaning to situations that we experience; in an organizational context, this can be used to determine an employee’s organizational fit. There are several factors to sensemaking that would be used to determine person-organization fit. The first is identity: in essence, an employee’s sense of who they are within the context of the organization dramatically affects the way they see events happening in their work (Basbøll, 2010). Secondly, retrospection is also important: looking back on a workplace experience from a perspective of hindsight allows people to notice what goes right or wrong in a workplace interaction, thus making attentiveness in a workplace environment highly crucial to sensemaking (Basbøll, 2010). Creating narratives of workplace interactions also allows employees to understand how their behaviors fit within the overall context of their organization, using dialogue to create said narrative.
One of the best things about sensemaking as a barometer for person-organzation fit is that it is a highly social activity that demands engagement between the individual and their environment. By examining the interactions one has with an organization, comparing their values with one’s values, the easier it is to perform sensemaking and to determine whether there is an appropriate fit (Basbøll, 2010). Sensemaking is an ongoing, perpetual process, making an individual constantly reassess their fit (which is necessary in a culture where both individual and organization may change values depending on circumstances) (Klein, Wiggins and Dominguez, 2010). As opposed to the article’s approach of making a quantitative match between certain discrete factors and value statements, organically and persistently examining a workplace environment through sensemaking may be a more streamlined approach to assigning person-organization fit.
2.) The company I work for is a pharmaceutical distributor, and the organizational culture there very much echoes many of the attributes the researchers cite in their list of culture profile items. First, the company is extremely demanding; every employee there is pushed by management to perform as quickly as possible, with the highest quality work available. Deadlines are often conservative, with less time allotted than one would expect to perform tasks. Workers are expected to fulfill tasks not strictly under their job description, and the work itself can be taxing. However, this is tempered by how supportive the organizational culture is; the management staff is only demanding because they have fostered a sense of community within the workplace (Abazi and Kercini, 2003). To that end, people are more than willing to help each other on projects that colleagues are struggling with; it is a very collaborative organizational culture, one that is inclusive and collaborative.
The corporate culture of my organization excels at low conflict; because the managerial staff has worked so hard to make sure everyone fits in, even the most tense conflicts are dealt with smoothly and without incident (Bhatia and Jain, 2013). In one instance, a relatively new office administrator incurred the wrath of our regional manager by missing a deadline for ordering new office supplies – however, even then, the confrontation was peaceful, diplomatic, and positive. The emphasis was on preventing future problems rather than punishing the administrator for the present problem, and so there was little conflict to be had.
The corporate culture I work in is highly organized; in addition to fostering a friendly corporate culture, each department runs like a well-oiled machine. The reason the company can be so demanding, as mentioned earlier, is because the managers keep a good eye on our strengths and weaknesses, learning how best to utilize us. To that end, we are told to keep diligent and accurate records of everything we need – one persistent credo is to make sure you can access any bit of information you need within thirty seconds. This can only happen through strict organization of our own (and others’) tasks and resources. All of these things contribute to the corporate culture being results oriented; the primary focus is making sure that our work gets done well and on time. Our managers understand that this can happen through a highly organized, demanding yet understanding organizational culture, which they do a great job of fostering (Neagu and Nicula, 2012). To that end, I believe the organization I work for creates an environment highly conducive to person-organization fit, due to its inclusiveness and fast pace.
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