Organizational Culture - ONTOS...

Organizational Culture: What is it…and what to do about it

A short review of theory and practice

July 2010

David White

Principal, Ontos Global

© 2010 Ontos Global, LLC

Organizational Culture Overview

1. Introduction

2. Origins

3. Why Care About Culture?

4. Culture: What Is It?

5. Culture Wars (and why we should care)

6. Doing Culture: Thoughts & Framework


Introduction

“Organizational culture” is the most overused, and arguably loosely understood term in business. Ironically, it is fiercely debated in academic circles with little agreement on what it is, how to measure it, and whether in fact it is anything that can be managed.

This irony is explored here in a short (and selective) review of prevailing theories and issues in the study of organizational culture.


The Origins of Organizational Culture

1950s

1960s

1980s

1970s

Adapted from Martin (2002), Kunde (1992), Schneider (1990)

Geertz

Argyris

Pettigrew

Lewin,Lippit& White

Goodenough

1930s

1940s

Scholars from multiple

perspectives evolve interest in individual

and collective organizational experience and

meaning

Kegan

ScheinSchon

WeberDurkheim

Lacan

1990s

2000sMartin

BarleyWeick

The “promise” of

organizational culture

Management & Systems

Science

I/O & Social Psychology

Cultural Anthropology, Psychological Anthropology


Why Care About Culture?

• The Seductive Logic of ‘Normative Control’

– Interest driven primarily by researchers over the last 40 years in finding ways for organizations to manage people through “voluntary conformity to shared values” as an alternative to traditional forms of bureaucratic control

– If people could simply self select to ‘do the right thing’ and ‘act the right way’ based on shared culture and values, the need for bureaucratic or technical forms of management would be lessened

– Leaders roles thus would be primarily to ‘set and shape culture’. All else –including productivity and profits – would follow

– Trends fueling the “promise of organizational culture”• 1960s: Growing white collar labor force

• ‘60s: Growth of human relations and OD

• ‘70s and ‘80s: Pace of mergers and acquisitions

• ‘80s and ‘90s: Increased use of technology to streamline work, the prevalence of knowledge work, self managed teams, and the rapid changing technical and competitive landscape

• ’00s: Multi-generational workforce

Adapted from Kunde (1992).

What is Culture? Depends on Who You Ask

Index Summary Proponent

Shared Meanings

“Important understandings that members of a community share in common…”

Sathe (1985)

“Shared meanings and understandings…that are largely tacit among members…and are distinctive to the group”

Louis (1985)

SharedPurpose & Experience

“Shared orientations and purposes accommodate different beliefs and incommensurable technologies, (and) these problems imply different solutions and these experiences have multiple meanings…(yet) these are shared aspects of cultural experience”

Meyerson (1991)

Shared Meanings, Values, Symbols & Behavior

“…the system of values, symbols and shared meanings of a group…includingthe embodiment…into material objects and ritualized practices…”

Sergiovanni & Corbally (1984)

…”values that are shared…that persist over time even when group members change, (and)…the behavior patterns or style of an organization…”

Kotter & Hesketh (1992)

“…the pattern of shared beliefs and values that give members of an institution meaning and provide them with the rules for behavior…”

Davis (1984)

“…the set of meanings that gives a group its…distinctive character…expressed in patterns of belief, activity, language, ritual, and other symbolic forms through which members create and sustain their view of the world…”

Smircich (1983)

Sources: Martin (2002), Schneider (1987), Kotter & Hesketh (1992)

Culture Is…

Scholars agree culture is something “shared”…

What is Culture?, cont’d

Index Summary Proponent

Social Rules

…”rules of behavior…that may variously be enacted, followed, or resisted…”

Mills (1988)

“rules of social interaction and interpretation, as revealed in behavior…and communication rules”

Schall (1983)

UnderlyingAssumptions

“…the underlying assumptions (vs. the espoused)…that actually determine how group members perceive, think and feel”

Schein (1986)

NormativeBehavior

“…the way things are done around here…(and) the in-depth understandings of the patterns of meaning that link these manifestations (of working life) together…”

Martin (2002)

Frames of Reference

“does not imply a uniformity of values. I suggest that we look to…common frames of reference or shared recognition of relevant issues…”

Feldman (1991)

Sources: Martin (2002), Schneider (1987), Kotter & Hesketh (1992)

Culture Is…

…Though exactly what is shared varies greatly…Without agreed upon definitions, each defines and “proves” whatever they choose


So, What is “Organizational Culture”?

Our Working – and somewhat expansive -- definition:

“…the way we do things around here…”

…encompassing ‘observable’ things like organizational policies, practices, rituals, myths, narratives, metaphors

and symbols, as well as ‘less observable’ things like shared assumptions, beliefs, norms, values, mental models,

schemas, and so forth…

…each of which impact what people do, and how they emotionally and cognitively make sense of what they do.

Culture Wars:

Culture: Tool or Context?M

anag

emen

t To

ol •Can be managed and changed

• Is measured quantitatively

• Is interpreted objectively

•Contains inputs and outputs (do x to get y)

• tends to be the espoused values of executives, and/or what employees report

•Is concerned with “strong” and “weak” cultures So

cial

Co

nte

xt • Is a lens

•can be influenced but hard to change (and change is unpredictable)

• Is measured qualitatively

• Is interpreted by those in it and observing it

•To study it is to influence and be influenced by it

•Tends to be artifacts, symbols, rituals, and basic assumptions (non verbal)

Culture… Culture…

Adapted from Martin (2002), Smircich (1983)

With the right vision and mission leaders can build a unified and committed culture

that fosters productivity

Culture just is. It is a complex of conscious and unconscious values and assumptions that members

of a community bring to bear

Core Assumption


Culture Wars:

Culture Schools and Some of Their Proponents

Both

Context

Tool

•Ouichi & Jaeger (1978)•Peters & Waterman (1982)•Deal & Kennedy (1982)•Sathe (1983)•Wilkins (1983)•Koprowski (1983)•Kilmann (1985)•Trice & Beyer (1985)•Schein (1985)*•Barney (1986)•Kets de Vries & Miller (1986)•Porras (1987)•Ott (1989)•Denison (1990)•O’Reilly & Tushman (1997)

* Note in both camps

•Foucault (1977)•Uttal (1983)•Smircich (1983)•Pondy, Frost & Morgan & Dandridge (1983)•Alvesson & Berg (1992)•Smith (1993)•Schultz & Hatch (1996)•Martin (2002)

•Barley (1983, 1986)•Martin, Feldman, Hatch & Sitkin (1983)•Schein (1985)*•Levitt & Nass (1989)•Van Maanen & Kunda (1989)•Meyerson (1991)•Kotter & Hesketh (1992)

Adapted from Martin (2002), Schneider (1987, 1990)


Culture Wars:

Culture vs. Climate• Parallel constructs that grew from different academic traditions (I/O

psychology vs. anthropology)

• Culture: what an organization is

• Climate: what an organization has

• Does it Matter? – Distinction based on the idea climate is something members of an organization share

(like values, beliefs, etc.) whereas culture is something deeper (basic assumptions by members, rituals, symbols, etc.)

– Concepts converge or diverge depending on what definition of culture one uses

– Many researchers and practitioners use “culture” for all the above

• For practitioners what matters is how these terms are operationalized

Climate…?Culture…?

Source: Schneider (1987)


Culture Wars:

Current Theoretical and Methodological Issues (and why we should care)

1. Theoretical Issues

2. Boundary Issues

3. Assessment and Measurement issues


Culture Wars:

Some theoretical Issues

• Whose point of view counts?

• Are organizational cultures unique?

Adapted from Martin (2002),

If organizational cultures are unique, then generalizations about culture may not be possible simply from “case studies”. Much current case-based research on culture would not be relevant.

If organizational cultures are not unique, then what people refer to when they refer to organizational culture (e.g. “the GE culture”) may simply be a collections of occupational subcultures (like software engineers) contained within an economic and social unit called an organization. Or the effects of national or regional cultures. Or some combination.

Do we study organizational culture by imposing external taxonomies or culture “types”? Do we classify cultures as “strong” or “weak”? If so, on what basis and by what measure? What evidence do we take as our standard for culture? Or, do we reject all externally imposed measures and study culture from the point of view of those within it? In other words, what is culture is what people within the organization think it is.


Culture Wars:

Boundary Issues: What IS the Unit of Consideration?

Adapted from Martin (2002),

National/Ethnic Environment

Organization?

Occupational

Group?

Team?

How do boundaries relate ?

How do you know what you are measuring?

E.g. Is a cultural item a national, ethnic,

organizational, occupational, or group phenomenon?

Does every unit influence the other? If so, how?

The boundaries of culture and the boundaries of

organization are probably not identical.


Culture Wars:

Theoretical and Boundary Issues Lead to Measurement Problems…

How do you assess or measure culture?

Environment/

Nation?

Organization?

Occupational

Group?

Team?

Doing Culture: working through the Issues…

Yet, “culture” is discussed, debated, measured, assessed, trained on, managed, invested in, and purportedly changed every day…


Doing Culture: Some Thoughts…

• Culture in organizations is real

• But there is no consensus on where it comes from…– Occupational forces? Leader personality? Ethnic/national

identity? Industry context or economic imperatives (i.e. non profits)? All the above?

• …or what it is or how to best measure it

Source: Martin (2002)


Doing Culture:

Can Culture be Managed or Changed?

It depends…

– Most claims that culture can manipulated to improve a firm’s economic performance are based on small samples or superficial definitions of culture (e.g. based on employee surveys) that suggest culture is a homogenizing force

– There is little evidence (and its anecdotal) to suggest a correlation between culture and profitability (a correlation which might never be proven given the number of variables that impact profitability)

Source: Martin (2002)


Doing Culture:

Some Thoughts…cont’d

That said, a few guidelines for working with culture…

1. Be clear about what you are trying to assess, and your unit of consideration (entire organization, occupation, division, etc.)

2. Use quantitative and qualitative measures

3. If you focus on a single thing like “values”, realize culture is much more that that

4. Think longitudinally

• Take each cultural exploration as an intervention that over time adds to your body of knowledge about a given culture

5. Maintain a healthy skepticism about what you have “proven”

6. Use information about the culture as an input to decision making rather than as an object of control

And if you want to change a culture, know that it is very difficult and, at best,

not a linear or predictable process


Doing Culture:

The Kinds of Things One Might Look At When Assessing Organizational Culture…

• Talent management practices, espoused and actual (e.g. hiring, promotion, retention, leadership development, succession planning, training, pay…)

• Management and labor standards (e.g. competency models, job/skill criteria…)

• Dominant occupational subgroup assumptions, values and norms (e.g. software engineers in software companies, doctors in hospitals, aid workers in NGOs…)

• Formal and informal management practices (e.g. meeting rituals and practices…)

• Task and project norms and rituals

• Formal policies and procedures, espoused and actual

• Communication practices (e.g. meeting rituals, email…)

• Espoused leadership values, actual leadership behavior

• Organizational design and hierarchies

• Prevailing language, metaphors, jargon, and mental models (schema)

• Prevailing organizational narratives

• Employee attitudes

• Physical space and arrangements (e.g. lobbies, office arrangements, cafeterias…)

• Brands, logos and other resonant symbols

• National/transnational identity and/or ethnicity (boundary conditions)


Doing Culture:

A Multi-Perspective Model

Dominant occupational

group, task norms and standards

Dominant National/Ethnic

context

Leader basic assumptions,

espoused values and life context

(e.g. race, gender, socioeconomic)

Economic/

Industry imperatives

Accounting, Tax, Finance

e.g. Founded by 4 equal partners, white males, Protestant, all with advanced degrees Western European ,

North American

e.g. Consulting services --strict codes of conduct and government regulation

For assessing organizational culture and locating cultural phenomena. Each perspective imparts shared meaning, norms, values and basic assumptions.

Organizational Culture - ONTOS...

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