Organizational Culture Analysis

Symbols of culture are called artifacts. Artifacts are the most visible and accessible level of culture. These include behaviors, stories, rituals (everyday practices that are repeated frequently), and symbols (e.g., company logos, company colors). For example, the president of a company volunteering at Habitat for Humanity is an artifact of culture. An example of symbols as an artifact of culture is Ashford University’s shield that serves as our logo and is printed on transcripts, diplomas and letterhead paper. Submit a two- to three-page paper (excluding the title and reference pages) describing the culture of either your current or past place of employment.

Your paper should provide examples of and address each of the following topics:

1. Observable artifacts
2. Espoused values (These are what organizational members say they value, like ethical practice.)
3. Enacted values (These are reflected in the way individuals actually behave.)

In addition, describe how each item listed above impacts the values and culture of the organization.

Your paper must use a minimum of two scholarly sources, in addition to the textbook. Your paper must also follow the APA Style guide.

Respond to the following prompts:

• One of the problems in a competitive market environment is deadweight losses. Respond to the following prompts on this topic and support your answers with examples and references:
  • What are deadweight losses, and what are their causes?
  • What are the market effects of a deadweight loss?
  • What are the major factors that determine who will bear the burden of a tax or the incidence of a tax?
  • If the government uses taxation to deal with a situation, how would the various elasticities of supply and demand affect the deadweight loss of that tax? Explain using examples.
  • If the government proposes the use of cap and tax programs to deal with deadweight losses, how would they work? Explain using examples to illustrate your point.
  • What are the pros and cons of such a program? Assess them.
• Adam Smith, usually referred to as the father of economics, expounded the theory of free markets and opposed any form of concentration of economic power. He believed that any authority establishing a price that provided a fair price to the providers of the factors of production would distort the market’s natural ability to determine prices and output levels. In general, he believed that competitive markets would allocate resources to their highest and best use. However, in recent times, we have seen the market mechanism fail and allocate too many or too few resources to the consumption or production of some goods and services.
  • What are some of the reasons for this failure?
  • Has government intervention into competitive markets changed the efficiency of these markets? Why or why not?
  • Was Smith correct or incorrect in his theories concerning the efficiency of the markets in allocation of resources? Support your answers with examples and references.

Justify your choices with valid assumptions and logically driven arguments. Cite any sources using APA format.