Cultural Entropy

SUCCESS =          INTEGRATION/COLLABORATION                                                                                                                                                                ORGANIZATIONAL ENTROPY

Cultural entropy is the amount of energy in an organization that is consumed in unproductive work. It is a measure of the conflict, friction and frustration that exists within an organization.

Cultural entropy is a function of the personal entropy of the current leaders of an organization and the institutionalized legacy of the personal entropy of past leaders. Personal entropy can become institutionalized in an organization through the introduction of bureaucratic systems and processes requiring hierarchical decision-making or rigid silo-driven structures (Level 3 Consciousness). The cultural entropy caused by current leaders usually shows up as excessive control and caution, blame and internal competition, confusion, and long hours (Level 1 and Level 2 Consciousness).

Cultural entropy shows up at the first three levels of organizational consciousness:

Level 3: Self-esteem Consciousness: Factors that slow the organization down and prevent rapid decision-making, such as hierarchy, bureaucracy, and confusion

Level 2: Relationship Consciousness: Factors that cause conflict and friction between employees, such as internal competition, blame, and intimidation

Level 1: Survival Consciousness: Factors that prevent employees from doing their job and expressing their talents, such as control, fire-fighting, and micro-management

Cultural entropy in an organization is carried out by completing a Cultural Values Assessment (CVA).    Cultural entropy is the proportion of votes for limiting values that participants in an assessment pick to describe the current culture of the organization. The majority of cultural entropy is directly related to the personal entropy of the managers and leaders of the organization.

Research shows that the values that contribute to cultural entropy are very similar in most organizations. The main difference is the degree to which these values are present. The following table shows the most frequently occurring potentially limiting values at different levels of consciousness.

                                                                                             

Level 3:Self-esteemBureaucracy, Long Hours, Silo-mentality, Hierarchy

Level 2:RelationshipBlame, Internal competition, Empire building

Level 1:SurvivalControl, Caution, Short-term focus

The following table shows the corrective measures associated with different levels of cultural entropy.Cultural Entropy Corrective Measures0 - 10% Healthy Culture: This is a low and healthy

level of cultural entropy.11 - 20% Minor Issues: This level of cultural entropy

reflects issues requiring cultural or structural adjustment. It is important to reduce the level of cultural entropy to improve performance.

21 - 30% Significant Issues: This level of cultural entropy reflects significant issues requiring cultural and structural transformation and leadership coaching. It is important to reduce the level of cultural entropy to improve performance.

31 - 40% Serious Issues: This level of entropy reflects serious problems requiring cultural and structural transformation, leadership development and coaching. It is important to reduce the level of entropy to improve performance.

41%+ Critical Issues: This level of cultural entropy reflects critical problems requiring cultural and structural transformation, selective changes in

leadership, leadership development and coaching. It is important to reduce the level of cultural entropy to improve performance.

Adopted from Barrett Value Center

Note1: Cultural and structural adjustment refers to a selective focus on reducing pockets of high entropy in divisions or departments,or specific entropic values that are found throughout the organizationNote 2: Cultural and structural transformation refers to an organization-wide program of whole system change

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