View from the Lighthouse - Coastwise Consulting

Welcome to VIEW FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE, the newsletter and information resource sent to you quarterly by CoastWise Consulting, Inc as a service to clients, colleagues, and others interested in its topics.

This issue of View From The Lighthouse focuses on organization culture and why it’s important to be able to assess and understand it. It presents models for diagnosing and deconstructing culture, how to recognize cultural patterns, and understanding the layers of culture and the relationship among them. It addresses the purpose of organizational culture and how to know when a particular culture is no longer serving its intended purpose.

Every issue also points you to relevant web sites and/or additional resources on the topic. Our aim is to provide relevant information in a concise format that will generate thought without draining your time.

The CoastWise Lighthouse is designed to be help you stay on course and avoid the rocky shoals that can be a part of organizational change and development. In each issue we focus either on a business book of special interest to our readers or on a topic relevant to the CoastWise Consulting mission,

Organization culture touches those who work in organizations in a variety of ways and at many levels simultaneously. Assessing and understanding organization culture in general and the cultures of specific organizations—especially those with which you are intimately involved—are important for many reasons. First, it helps explain “why people do the things they do around here,” i.e. it makes often puzzling behaviors, rules, and practices more transparent and comprehensible. Second, it provides the “rules of the road” for what’s expected and how to get along in a particular environment (to the extent that one is willing and able to adapt one’s behavior to the organization’s expectations). Third, it is the basis for developing and utilizing a conscious entry strategy when you are new to an organization, thus minimizing the potential for early, unanticipated, and undesirable collisions. Fourth, if leading or engaging in organization change is part of your agenda or (even) mandate, it’s essential that you thoroughly understand the current state, including the culture, this being your starting point and the basis for developing a change strategy and methodology. And finally, even if organization change is not something that you choose, it’s impossible to live in organizations without experiencing and participating in it. Understanding specific cultures as well as how culture works will help make this unavoidable aspect of your life easier to deal with and manage. The corollary to this last point is about personal and organizational deviance: all systems have some, but varying, degree of tolerance for being different or oppositional with respect to their closely held values, beliefs, norms, and expectations. It’s best to know what these are before starting to make change or deviate significantly, and what the price is of being deviant. No change occurs without taking this risk, and all who champion change will experience bumps in the night—some intentional, some despite best laid plans, and some the result of lapses or moments of unconsciousness. Failure to understand culture and to take it into account—regardless of your role, agenda, membership status, and/or tolerance for withstanding the consequences of cultural collisions—always extracts a price…for that is, in fact, one of the purposes of culture.

Key to deconstructing, assessing, and understanding organization culture is the notion of patterns, observable and reliable sets or systems of similar, repeated, consistent, interrelated occurrences, behaviors, activities, processes and the like. They are widespread within a particular system or sub-system, i.e. held and practiced by a substantial number of those who live in or interact with that organization and mostly unconsciously. Patterns develop over time, because they form the solution to a particular problem; are the means to a desired end; or behaviorally reflect the vision, beliefs, or philosophy of original members or their high-level successors. Sometimes they are designed, deliberate, and intentional but still require some time in order to become learned, accepted, adopted, and embedded. More frequently, they emerge less consciously over time, and for the same purpose.

A fundamental skill in assessing culture, then, is the ability to recognize a pattern. In qualitative analysis, three occurrences or observations of similarity or consistency of something constitutes a pattern. Next it’s necessary to verify and validate the “hypothesis” through continued, careful observation that tests for further consistency as well as inconsistency and exceptions. Much like an anthropologist, it’s necessary to find evidence and artifacts that substantiate (or, conversely, eliminate) the existence of a pattern that is embraced and followed by a large enough cross section of a bounded, identifiable organization. If you begin to see similar patterns repeating themselves in various parts of an organization or at multiple levels, then chances are you’ve found something systemic and worth paying attention to.

Good places to look for cultural clues include:
• Language and communication—how people communicate; who talks to whom and about what, especially across levels and boundaries of the organization; jargon and acronyms; organization-specific vocabularies; what’s discussable and undiscussable
• Membership, inclusion, and exclusion—who is “in” or “out” of a group or team and why; boundary conditions of the organization; autonomy vs. interdependence of people and organizations
• Status, power, and influence—who’s got the formal and informal power; how to influence; is there a “first among equals,” and who is it; how any of these increase or decrease; how decisions are made and by whom; who gets promoted (or not) into visible positions and why; what are the individual and organizational pecking orders
• Rewards and sanctions—what’s rewarded both formally and informally, are the actual rewards consistent with what’s espoused, tolerance for deviance; what results in ostracism or banishment and how to get back, what gets people fired
• Management of peer relationships—how is conflict handled, do people like and care about each other; do they have relationships that are also social; who spends time with whom; how is competition handled
• Meaning making and management of the uncontrollable, unmanageable, and unexplainable—how are these phenomena or events explained and contextualized; what is considered heroic vs. sinful; how are things that seem to not fit the culture accounted for so they become tolerable; what are the prevailing stories or myths about the organization

Once patterns have been sufficiently confirmed, it’s important to understand the “why” or purpose for their existence. Frequently, such elements of an organization culture are so embedded and unconscious that when asked a member will reply, “Because that’s how it’s done here,” or “Because we’ve always done it that way.” Perhaps they never knew why, or perhaps they’ve forgotten as they’ve gradually “gone native.” So coming to understand what’s underneath the observable can require both time and skill, especially since sometimes a particular prescription about how to do something according to the dictates of the culture no longer works to serve the original intended purpose, is producing unintended or undesired outcomes, or the problem it once solved has changed or disappeared and, therefore, may not make sense on face value.

Demystifying organization culture is also aided by understanding its structure. There are three levels or layers that comprise culture.

• The observable and overt: behaviors, language, rules, norms, rituals, artifacts, creations, customs, jargon and acronyms
• Underlying values: beliefs about how things are or should be and what’s important
• Fundamental assumptions: beliefs or philosophies about “reality” that are taken for granted and operating largely unquestioned and unconsciously

Values often start out as the belief of an individual, usually the founder or someone in a leadership role, which may or may not be shared by some in the group or organization. Values gradually become assumptions when behavior (action, strategy, process) that emerged or was developed based on the value is effective in solving a problem, a group of people collectively perceives it as successful, and a connection is made between the value and the outcome. Eventually, if the solution continues to be successful, both the value and the behavior are taken for granted and become widely held beliefs about what it true, how things operate, or “reality.”

A metaphor for the structure of culture that I’ve found helpful is that of the Lily Pond (see Figure 1). On the surface of the pond, clearly visible are many lily pads and their characteristic blossoms. Some are in full bloom, some are just buds, and others are dead or dying, i.e. no longer healthy. Under the surface and less visible are the stems. Depending on the light conditions and the clarity of the water, they will be easier or more difficult to see. At the bottom of the pond is the muck, generally not visible from the surface, but this is what feeds and nourishes the pads and flowers, through the roots and stems. Similarly, in an organization culture, those elements which are more visible, observable, and concrete are on the surface; values, ideals, and operating principles that are consciously held but more abstract are the connectors and conduits; and that which is both part of and feeds the system is on the bottom, operating in both implicit and abstract ways to determine behavior.

Figure 1: The Lily Pond Model of Culture

In an organization context, the lower levels of this model account for and help explain the levels above them (see Figure 2) (Schein, 2004; Scorzoni, 1982). So if you want to understand what’s at the bottom of things, begin asking the question “why?” about each level. Values explain behaviors, and assumptions explain values.

Figure 2: How Levels of Culture Interact

Because this is both a system and a structure, it’s important to pay attention to all three levels and the specific relationships among them. Different organizations may have similar espoused values that are manifested or get acted out in different ways, or conversely, behaviors and norms that appear to be similar but occur for very different reasons or are the result of divergent values and beliefs. No two organizations are alike, and even parts of large organizations that share a common core culture may vary at the level of specifics or emphasis.

It’s also important to remember that an actual organization culture is not as neat or “organized” as this model may make it seem. There are often discrepancies between the espoused values and beliefs and the actual, apparently corresponding behaviors, norms, and expectations. Because some aspects of culture operate outside conscious awareness and may not even be known or revealed to newcomers, the disconnects can be noticeable but difficult to understand or account for. The solution to a problem that is a primary feature and function of culture may no longer be working, and for other cultural reasons, discussing this or pointing it out may be proscribed.

In order for an organization to succeed, it must be able to do two things: create and maintain an adaptive relationship with its external environment and develop and evolve an organization infrastructure that enables it to perform the work necessary to satisfy its purpose, mission, and goals. This means it must offer a necessary product or service in a financially viable way and maintain a social system capable of integrating the people, processes, interactions, meaning making, and work required to insure its survival. The purpose of organization culture is to define and integrate the myriad solutions to this complex network of technical and social problems and challenges. It’s the glue that holds the enterprise together, offering commonly held and understood, accepted, and (usually) successful ways of thinking, meaning making, and acting that allow and facilitate relatively smooth interactions and relationships—a system that combines definitions of how things are done and the rules of the road. Thus it is important that the prevailing culture be transmitted to all members quickly and easily. Anyone who lives in a system long enough eventually learns its culture. This happens in families, communities, and organization, and the process is called socialization or enculturation. In a business organization, learning the values, beliefs, and practices quickly and intentionally is an advantage to the organization and the individual, because it maintains the integration and integrity of the system, helps the organization continue to function based on shared values, enables the individual to make a contribution more quickly and easily, and reduces the anxiety that is inevitable in new situations.

Cultures become outmoded or dysfunctional when the rules and ways are no longer effective in solving the environmental problems of the organization and/or when the culture is at odds with the closely help personal values of employees. We see that occurring more frequently these days as there have been dramatic shifts in the external environment in which organizations operate; executives, boards, and other stakeholders have demanded major changes in organization culture as a way to impact results; and employees are increasingly unhappy and dissatisfied with the organizations they work for, their jobs, and the way they are treated.

Conclusion: The life, look, feel, and success of organizations are all intimately and inseparably tied to their cultures. Awareness and understanding of the culture are helpful for all employees as they contribute to the accomplishment of goals and make their way through the complex maze of contemporary organizations. It’s a critical competency for managers, leaders, and executives who are charged with the responsibility of developing strategy; managing resources, interdependencies, and change; and achieving results. Failure to attend to and evolve culture leaves organizations vulnerable in ways they may not recognize, putting the companies, the economy, employees, and themselves at risk.

Resources:

Deal, T.E. & Kennedy, A.A. (2000). Corporate cultures: The rites and rituals of corporate life. New York: Basic Books.

Deal and Kennedy were the first to coin the term “corporate (or organization) culture,” and this is a good source for understanding culture, its impact on and role in organizations, and how to study and understand it.

Schein, E.H. (2003). DEC is dead, long live DEC: The lasting legacy of Digital Equipment Corporation. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

This volume, which details the rise and fall of DEC, is also an extraordinary case study of organization culture, its nature and effects, and intractability.

Schein, E.H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership, 3rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Ed Schein is a leading expert on corporate culture, and this book is a thorough and easily understood overview of the dynamics of organization culture.

Scorzoni, J. (1982). Understanding Digital Equipment Corporation’s organizational culture. Unpublished manuscript.

Credit for the Lily Pond Model goes to former colleague John Scorzoni and possibly others who helped develop, and/or document it. We at DEC devoted a lot of attention to culture, its effects, and how to understand, transmit, and modify it. This paper was part of that effort. John—if you or others who contributed to furthering our individual and collective understanding are reading this, thank you!!