CHAPTER 15: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 405
The Udai Pareek Approach
According to Pareek (2002), there are eight values that govern the culture of an organization.
These eight values together are responsible for making the culture of an organization strong
or weak. These are as follows:
Openness As the term implies openness refers to free sharing of thoughts, ideas, and
feelings with each other in an organization. The open environment of the organization results
in a culture where employees have no reservation or negative hidden feelings against each
other. In situations of disagreements they are able to come out openly and share their con-
cerns with each other. Openness also deals with doing away with the physical boundaries and
erected walls in the organizations. Openness has to be practiced both in terms of giving as
well as receiving information at all levels in the organization.
Confrontation With openness comes the ability to face the situation as it comes to us
rather than move away from it. In cases where there is willingness to face the problem and
solve it, many interpersonal differences are resolved and individuals come forward with their
ideas and solutions.
Trust The surety with which people can share their confidential information with each
other without the fear of it being known all over the organization reflects the level of trust
in the organization. In organizations where trust is high among employees, there is better
problem solving and less stress.
Authenticity This refers to the equivalence that members of an organization have between
their words and deeds. If people do what they say and feel, it leads to high level of openness
and trust in organizations.
Proactivity Proactive organizations are ready to face any eventuality and are prepared for
adversaries too. Proactive individuals are more calm and relaxed in their behaviour towards
others. With proactivity, there is a possibility of thinking and planning ahead and being pre-
pared to encounter situations or individuals.
Autonomy It involves giving enough space to other individuals in the organization as
you would seek for yourself. A person with knowledge and competence should be given free-
dom to take the decisions for the department or the organization. This promotes a sense of
achievement and self-confidence among employees thereby leading to mutual respect.
Collaboration Organizations consist of individuals who are expected to work together
in a group and this sense of togetherness can only be generated by the top management in
organizations. People should be forced to learn to work together to develop a sense of team
spirit. It will result in openness, trust among members, sharing, and a sense of belongingness
and commitment to the organization.
Experimentation In this age of scarce resources, and fast change, any organization
which is not willing to try out new and better ways of working is likely to perish fast. Indi-
viduals as well as organizations can sustain themselves only if they are able to experiment
with the available resources and identify and develop better approaches to deal with the
problems. There has to be out of the box thinking in which nothing that is obsolete is likely
to be accepted.
These eight values have been given the acronym OCTAPACE meaning eight (octa) steps
(pace) to create an organization, which is identified as an effective organization with a strong
culture.
