Which strategy for merging two distinct cultures is most effective when the two companies have relatively weak cultures with overlapping values?

Artifacts are the observable symbols and signs of an organization's culture, such as the way visitors are greeted, the organization's physical layout, and how employees are rewarded. The four broad categories of artifacts are:
1. Organizational stories: Organizational stories and legends serve as powerful social prescriptions of the way things should (or should not) be done. They add human realism to corporate expectations, individual performance standards, and the criteria for getting fired. Stories also produce emotions in listeners, and these emotions tend to improve listeners' memory of the lesson within the story. Stories have the greatest effect on communicating corporate culture when they describe real people, are assumed to be true, and are known by employees throughout the organization.
2. Rituals and ceremonies: Rituals are the programmed routines of daily organizational life that dramatize an organization's culture. They include how visitors are greeted, how often senior executives visit frontline staff, how people communicate with one another, how much time employees take for lunch, and so on. These rituals are repetitive, predictable events that have symbolic meanings reflecting underlying cultural values and assumptions. Ceremonies are more formal artifacts than rituals. Ceremonies are planned activities conducted specifically for the benefit of an audience. This would include publicly rewarding (or punishing) employees or celebrating the launch of a new product or newly won contract.
3. Organizational language: Language transmits and sustains shared values through metaphors and other special vocabularies that represent the employees' perspectives of reality. The language of the workplace speaks volumes about the company's culture. How employees talk to one another, describe customers, express anger, and greet stakeholders are all verbal symbols of cultural values.
4. Physical structures and space: The size, shape, location, and age of buildings may symbolize the organization's culture. For example, a tall building with closed offices and senior executive offices on the top floor often reflects a hierarchical, bureaucratic organization. Along with the physical structure, executives should look at artifacts inside the building, such as paintings, office space, cafeteria food, and so on.

Sets with similar terms

When merging two organizations a separation strategy is most commonly applied when quizlet?

In Which strategy does the acquiring company impose its culture and business practices?

Which of the following is true about using the strategy of integration for merging different corporate cultures?

Why are companies with strong cultures less effective than those with moderately strong cultures?