Analytic Culture in the U.S. Intelligence Community (PDF) - CIA

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
realistic expectations helps to ease the accommodation stage of the socialization
process.
Consequences of Culture Mismatch
When I got here, I felt like a rabbit stuck in headlights. Now, I feel
like a deer.
It took me a while to figure out that this place runs more like a
newspaper than a university.
It’s pretty solitary work. I spend all day in my head. I really wasn’t
expecting that.
There are several consequences of a cultural mismatch between an
employee and an organization. Among these consequences are culture shock,
low job satisfaction, low employee morale, increased absenteeism, increased
turnover, and increased costs.
Culture Shock. People often have to be confronted with different cultures
before they become conscious of their own culture. In fact, when people are
faced with new cultures, it is not unusual for them to become confused and
disoriented, a phenomenon commonly referred to as culture shock.
Beryl Hesketh and Stephen Bochner, among others, have observed that the
process of adjusting to another culture generally follows a U-shaped curve. 11
At first, people are optimistic about learning a new culture. This excitement is
followed by frustration and confusion as they struggle to learn the new culture.
After six months or so with the organization, people adjust to their new
cultures, become more accepting of them, and are more satisfied by them. For
those who enter a mismatched culture, the productivity issue is clear: the several
months required to adjust and accept the new work style results in several
months of even lower productivity than is obtainable with those who fit in
right away.
Job Satisfaction. Job satisfaction is defined by one scholar as “people’s positive
or negative feelings about their jobs.” 12 It is hardly surprising that dissatisfied
employees may try to find ways of reducing their exposure to their jobs.
This is especially significant when one considers that people spend roughly
one-third of their lives at work.
11
Beryl Hesketh and Stephen Bochner, “Technological Change in a Multicultural Context: Implications
for Training and Career Planning”; Maddy Janssens, “Interculture Interaction: A Burden
on International Managers?”
12
Edwin A. Locke, “The Nature and Causes of Job Satisfaction.”
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