Infosys Limited: Organization Culture analysis
on Schein's model
Organizational culture is the collective behavior of humans that are part of an organization, it is also formed by the organization values, visions, norms, working language, systems, and symbols, it includes beliefs and habits. It is also the pattern of such collective behaviors and assumptions that are taught to new organizational members as a way of perceiving, and even thinking and feeling. Organizational culture affects the way people and groups interact with each other, with clients, and with stakeholders. (source: wiki)
Schein's model of organizational culture originated in the 1980s. Schein (2004) identifies three distinct levels in organizational cultures:
- artifacts and behaviours
- espoused values
- assumptions
The three levels refer to the degree to which the different cultural phenomena are visible to the observer.
- Artifacts include any tangible, overt or verbally identifiable elements in an organization. Architecture, furniture, dress code, office jokes, all exemplify organizational artifacts. Artifacts are the visible elements in a culture and they can be recognized by people not part of the culture.
- Espoused values are the organization's stated values and rules of behavior. It is how the members represent the organization both to themselves and to others. This is often expressed in official philosophies and public statements of identity. It can sometimes often be a projection for the future, of what the members hope to become. Examples of this would be employee professionalism, or a "family first" mantra. Trouble may arise if espoused values by leaders are not in line with the general assumptions of the culture.
- Shared Basic Assumptions are the deeply embedded, taken-for-granted behaviors which is usually unconscious, but constitute the essence of culture. These assumptions are typically so well integrated in the office dynamic that they are hard to recognize from within.
(source: wiki)
We can analyze the organizational culture of any organization with the help of this model. In this blog we will see the organizational culture of Infosys Limited.
Some basic facts about the organization:
Infosys Limited is an Indian provider of business consulting, technology, engineering and outsourcing. Its headquarter is in Bangalore karnataka India. It has offices in 30 different nations and development centers in India, US, China, Australia, UK, Canada, Japan and many other countries. As of now Infosys has more than
100, 000 employees from 83 nationalities.
Analyzing Infosys Limited on Schein's model:
Artifacts:
Adherence to quality: Spotless window panes, perfectly painted dividers, lush green lawns etc. all reflects the message to high quality adherence not only in the work what Infosys does but in everything what Infosys is.
Architecture: The buildings in any of Infosys development center reflects the uniqueness in itself. Each building represents a distinct identity in itself. In the development centers employees have a cubicle. Each cubicle being independent of others.
(washing machine building: bangalore Dc)
(global education center2 : mysore DC)
Formal dressing: Employees at Infosys are supposed to follow formal dressing 5 days a week. The conformance to formal dressing because of being part of services sector industry.
Espoused value:
The stated value of Infosys is known as "CLIFE" which represents:
C: Client value, Providing value to client is what Infosys strives at where clients are the business clients to even the employees. By adhering to the timeless and reaching an extra mile in delivering extra to client is one of the core values of the firm
L: Leadership by example
Infosys sees each of its employees as potential leader and inculcates the leadership culture among the employees. Several training programs exists in the firm to equip employees with both technical and soft skills.
I: Integrity
Integrity is one of the core values of the firm and its steams directly from the vision of the firm "We will be a globally respected corporation" which requires integrity at every level of the organization.
F: Fairness
Fairness is again another core values of the firm. Being indiscriminate and fair to every one is what every infosys employee or "Infoscian" is expected. Fairness is reflected in the policies of firm such as performance based incentives, equal no of leaves etc.
E: Excellence
Excellence or the pursuit of excellence is what Infosys strives to achieve in everything it does. If something can be done with certain amount of resource then how can that process be enhanced to do the same thing in less time and with less effort. Infosys pays deep attention towards the self development of employees and so are several technical and soft skills programs.
Assumptions:
Open minded culture: In my one and half years of experience I felt Infosys work culture to be open minded and with minimal hierarchy. I could walk straight to my seniors and talk regarding work or some other matter.
Fairness: One thing what I observed was every employee in the organization follows queues, be it food courts or tennis courts, irrespective of the level of experience every one stands in the queue and waits for their turn. This habit is something which has now inherently embedded in me and wherever I go i tend to follow the queue expecting others to follow too :)
Adherence to quality: This is another value which is considered to be fore-granted. Given a work with a deadline it is supposed to be done in the deadline while maintaining the quality if deadline is not going to be meet then proper message needs to be communicated to the concerned party. Not that given the deadline being near so let the work be done in any way. Compromise to quality is something which is not tolerated in the organisation at any cost. So there are no place for quick fix and internet path work solutions in projects and this is something which is followed by each employees.
