Understanding and Building Organizational Culture

Understanding and Building
Organizational Culture

General Assembly
Tuesday Oct 11, 2011
Elliot Felix, brightspot strategy

©brightspot strategy 2011. All Rights Reserved.

agenda
Objective: Through presentations, discussions, and exercises, learn
how to understand, assess, and build an organizational culture that
expresses your values and brand, attracts and retains talent, and
provides a great experience for your employees and customers.

6:00 – 6:05
Agenda and Introductions

6:05 – 6:25
Understanding Culture, including exercise

6:25 – 6:30
Q & A

6:30 – 6:55
Assessing Culture, including exercise

6:55 – 7:00
Q & A

7:00 – 7:15 Building Culture

7:15 – 7:30
Q & A

©brightspot strategy 2011 All Rights Reserved. Organizational Culture 2

understanding culture


organizational culture
What is organizational culture?
How do you define it?


understanding groups
The culture of a group is like the personality of an individual. To
understtand culture, we first have to understand groups. The
two core functions of a group1:
internal integration external adaptation

1. Edgar Schein Process Consulting Revisited

The key attributes of a group are boundary definition, task
accomplishment, and interpersonal interaction. Each of these
can be thought of in terms of content, process, and structure.
Groups must also have some degree of shared history (Schein).


The key group attributes according to Schein:

Boundary Task Interpersonal
Management Accomplishment Interaction

Who is in and who Members feelings
Content Agenda
is out? toward each other

Processes of Problem-solving
Interpersonal
Process boundary and decision-
Processes
management making

Recurring Recurring task Formal rules in
processes for processes, relation to
Structure
maintaining organizational authority and
boundaries structure intimacy


culture defined
culture (arts)
“the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement
regarded collectively (OED).”

culture (anthropology)
“historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a
system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means
of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge
about and their attitudes toward life (Clifford Gertz).”

culture (organizational)
“pattern of shared basic assumptions that was learned by a group as it
solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration,
that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to
be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and
feel in relation to those problems (Edgar Schein)1.”
1. Edgar Schein Organizational Culture and Leadership


organizational culture defined

:
al culture the world
organ ization apting to interact
pattern for ad embers
on m
a comm g sense of how
in
and mak

culture (organizational)
Pattern of shared basic assumptions that was learned by a group as it
solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration,
that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to
be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and
feel in relation to those problems (Edgar Schein)
1. Edgar Schein Organizational Culture and Leadership


levels of culture
Schein defines three levels of culture:

Contents Characteristic

Artifacts and Visible organizational Easy to see but hard to
Behaviors structures and processes decipher

Espoused
Strategies, goals, and
Beliefs and Espoused justifications
philosophies
Values

Unconscious, take-for-
Underlying granted beliefs, Ultimate source of values
Assumptions perceptions, thoughts, and actions
and feelings


expression of culture
Organizational Culture is expressed through:

Values Skills Habits of mind Rewards

flickr gelato alla prugna flickr michaelrighi

Rituals Norms Symbols Environment


expression of culture
Organizational Culture is expressed through:
stories
Values Skills Habits of mind Rewards

flickr gelato alla prugna flickr michaelrighi

Rituals Norms Symbols Environment


expression exercise
Cultural Expression Mad Libs
Instructions: Take 5 minutes to complete the madlib below

From our <symbol(s)/artifact(s)> you can see that we value <belief/
value(s)> and so we tend to <way of thinking>, are able to <skill(s)>,
and regularly <ritual/behavior>, creating a <climate/environment> and
this is reinforced by our <norm/rule> and by <reward>.

Example
From our publications you can see that we value solving complex
problems and so we tend to constantly take on new challenges are able
to think on our feet, and regularly share what we’ve learned, creating a
academic climate and this is reinforced by our utilization factors and by
who goes to conferences.

See Also: Value Prop framework
For <customer> who <motivation> we deliver <offering> with <differentiator> that <impact>


questions?


assessing culture


assessing culture
Schein’s attributes of a group (along with the different modes in
which culture is expressed) can be used as a basis for
qualitatively assessing your organizational culture:

Boundary
Can you attract and retain talent?

Interaction
Are you satisfied with how people interact?

Task Accomplishment
Are people able to get their work done?

Content
Are your product/service and culture aligned?

Process
Are your processes/tools/methods working?

Structure Does your organization reflect your values?


competing values1 framework
Organizational culture is the
product of how different
values interact and compete
with each other – whether
an organization is fixed or
flexible and internally or
externally defined.
These two axes can be further
understood according to 6
factors:
1.  Dominate Characteristics
2.  Leadership Style
3.  Employee Management
4.  Organizational Glue
5.  Strategic Emphasis
6.  Criteria for Success
Notes:
1. The Competing Values Framework was developed by and is copyright of Cameron and Quinn.


competing values exercise


competing values exercise

Instructions (15mins)
1.  Fold the sheet in half
2.  Review and discuss the first question and as a group, decide the A,
B, C, and D point values for each question in 5 point increments
(must total to 50 points) (e.g.: A = 50 or A = 20 & B, C, & D = 10
each)
3.  On the diagram at right, draw a dot at each of the point values in
each quadrant and write the # of the question next to each dot
4.  If there are point values in different quadrants, connect the dots to
make a shape
5.  Repeat for questions 2 through 6
6.  We will discuss as a group in 15 minutes.


questions?


building culture


building culture
Once your current organizational culture is understood and
evaluated, you can take steps to move toward the culture you
are looking for in the future.
Complete Review the Review how it is
competing values group expressed and
framework for characteristics: work backwards:
current and future: •  Boundary •  Values
•  Interaction •  Rules/Norms
•  Task •  Symbols/Artifacts
accomplishment •  Habits of mind
•  Content •  Skills
•  Process •  Rewards
•  Structure •  Climate
•  Stories

values
Uncover and express the values of your organization and tie
this to your mission – increasingly, to be successful, your
organization must function more like a cause than a company.


symbols and artifacts
Make culture concrete and consistent through the symbols you
have and reference and also with the artifacts you create.


norms, rules, and rituals
Decide which rules need to be expressed (if any) and how you
wish to enforce them – are they written down? modeled by
leadership and influencers? memorialized in rituals?

image © metropolis


habits of mind
Think about the habits of mind and ways of doing things that
make you unique. Distill these to a set of guiding principles or
key strategies that can be described, taught, and updated.


skills and development
Consider how people grow and develop within the organization,
what skills are valued, how they are acquired, and how people
enter the organization.

workshops apprenticeships

rewards
Review how you reward success to be sure your not dampening
intrinsic motivations with external incentives. Create a range of
different means of giving recognition.

v

source: lifehacker.com

conferences photo: Jeremy Withers unstructured time

environment
your environment communicates your brand and values 24/7 –
whether you like it or not – and so needs to be considered so as
to send the right messages and express your culture.

Google image / design: DEGW JetBlue Terminal 5 flickr: joe schlabotnik


stories
Use stories to communicate who you are and what you value.
For example, develop and exploit your “creation myth”

WD-40 Apple

building culture
Tips for getting started:
1.  Recognize that leadership creates and changes
culture, but management works within it
2.  Know that culture is hard to change because it
provides valued stability, by definition
3.  Engage people in understanding and
evaluation as a collaborative process
4.  Look for ways to be concrete (e.g.: workspace)
5.  Lead by example – organizations take on the
personality of their leaders by default
6.  Repetition is golden
7.  How you spend your time speaks volumes
8.  The culture inside your organization affect
interactions with those outside of it


building culture exercise
Take a few minutes to
write down some
observations about your
organizational culture and
steps you will take to
sustain or improve it.

We will discuss as a group
as we wrap up and take a
final round of questions.


questions?


Understanding and Building Organizational Culture

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