Culture Within The Realms Of Modern Emergency Services Organizations

From what I have gathered from the readings and modules regarding the topic organizational culture; I have learned that an organizational culture consists of many characteristics. Some of these characteristics within an organizational culture are shared values, experiences, meanings, expectations, and behaviors. Lesage, Dyar, and Evans (2010) comment how people learn or generate a defined meaning of their organizational culture through personal experiences, history, and stories. I personally think that there is truth to the understanding and learning of an organization’s culture by experience and a shared history with its members. I also think that in order for a culture to improve there must be an open line of communication or an effective

It is a way that establishes a type of culture or a foundation to building teams through shared values. I also think it makes sense that in order to have the right or successful organizational culture within modern emergency services requires the right leadership. Schein (2004) states how culture is the result of a group learning process that is influenced by the behaviors and values of the leader. So it is relevant that a leader within the organization has a responsibility in fostering the right behaviors, values, and vision in order to ensure a healthy diverse culture. According to Schein (2004), “Culture adds several other critical elements to the concept of sharing: structural stability, depth, breadth, and patterning or integration” (p. 14). The element of structural stability within a culture refers to the identity of a group or the defined meaning of the organization. The element of depth associates an embedded essence of the culture. The element breadth refers to the functional aspect of a culture. Lastly, the element of patterning or integration connects to make culture as its complete self. According to Schein (2004), “Organizational cultures, like other cultures, develop as groups of people struggle to make sense of and cope with their worlds” (p.