Organisational Culture
Deciding and Creating the
Organisation Culture you Want
Organisational Culture
• As leaders and managers we need to be aware
that our behaviour will directly impact those
around us and we can chose to create the kind
of environment for people to feel good about
themselves, their work and give of their best.
This workshop will help you consider the
positive culture you want and how you can
model it through your actions and
conversations
Introductions
• Will Daniel-Braham
Introductions
• Name …………
• Your role …………
• One thing you want from this
session is …………
• Your favourite thing to do at the
weekend is …………
What is the difference between
the menu and the meal?
Menu and the Meal
Menu
Meal
Words
Symbols
Pictures
Idea
Is what it Is
Reality
Culture and Expectation
People are not upset with what is; rather that it does not meet
their expectation. Consider that you are not ever
disappointed with the thing or person; you are disappointed
with your expectation that it/they would be anything other than
what it is/who they are.
Your ability to handle ‘the way it is’ will directly impact your
ability to handle difficult situations. Things do not always fit
our picture. How you are about that can either get in the way
of your handling situations effectively or support you to work
well with your colleagues, your teams and the people you
work with and alongside.
When one has the ability to determine that the source of your
upset, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, disgruntlement, etc. is in
fact of your own doing, you then have the ability to transform
your relationship to it. You are therefore able to transform
your relationship to both yourself, with your colleagues, your
teams and the people you work with and alongside.
Over to you!
Each 2’s or 3’s:
•Brief
Introductions
•As a group – discuss and
record a definition of
Organisational Culture
•You have 5 minutes
•One minute feedback to the
whole room!
Organisational Culture – a Definition
“The collection of relatively uniform and
enduring values, beliefs, customs, traditions
and practices that are shared by an
organisation’s members, learned by the new
recruits and transmitted from one generation
of employees to the next” Edgar Schein
“The way we do things around here…”
“The way it is”
“The collective programming of the mind”
Culture Defined
What the organisation values,
demonstrated by:
• How people relate to one another.
• How information is communicated.
• How people are led to feel about
their work.
• How the organisation behaves.
Organisational Culture – Why it
matters
• It is a powerful, latent and often unconscious set of
forces
• It determines individual and collective behavior,
thought patterns and values
• Cultural elements impact on strategy, objectives and
operations
• The values of leaders and senior managers are
influenced by their own cultural backgrounds and
shared experiences
It will impact – positively or negatively - on everything
you try to do!
So what is Organisational Culture?
Schein’s Three Levels of Culture
Surface Manifestations and
Artefacts
Edgar Schein - 1985
Espoused Values
Basic Assumptions
Visible structures and
processes
(easy to see, harder
to decipher)
Strategies, goals and
philosophies
(espoused
justifications))
Unconscious, taken for
granted beliefs,
thoughts and
perceptions
(ultimate source of
values and actions)
Surface Manifestations and Artefacts
Are the most visible and accessible form, Visible and
audible behavior patterns and objects:
• Dress Codes
• Formality in relationships
• Working hours
• Meeting etiquette
• Decision making
• Communications
• Social events
• Jargon, uniforms, symbols
• Conflict handling
• Work / Life balance
Organisation Values and Beliefs
Some Examples…
• “Teamwork must be at the heart of all we do”
• “We expect teamwork and collaboration across our
organisation for the benefit of all stakeholders”
• “We treat one another with respect and communicate
openly. We foster collaboration while maintaining
individual accountability. We encourage the best ideas
to surface from anywhere within the organization. We
appreciate the value of multiple perspectives and
diverse expertise.”
Organisation Values and Beliefs
• Are said to provide a common direction and
act as guidelines for behavior
• Often originate from the founders of the
organisation or senior management
• Typically based on moral, societal or religious
precepts learned in childhood and modified
through experience
• Are espoused or alluded to – but are they
really adopted?
Basic Assumptions
• Invisible, preconscious and taken-for-granted
understandings held by individuals with respect to
human behaviour, the nature of reality and the
organisation’s relationship to its environment
• Ultimate strength of an organisation’s culture depends
on the homogeneity of the groups members –
socialisation plays a key role in this
• Working at home?
So that’s easy, then?
Actual Culture
Desired / Preferred Culture
•Politics
•Internal Competition
•Individual Agendas
•Avoidance of Blame
•Indifference
•Initiative
•Co-operation
•Team Work
•Creativity
•Commitment
Culture
Gap
This is what you
have to uncover!
So what is Organisational Culture
built on?
Each group is forming a new company
Each group:
•Discuss and record the
types of things you will need
to consider as you start
working together
•You have 5 minutes!
Culture is formed from…
External Survival Issues
Deeper Assumptions
•Mission, Strategy,
Goals
Internal Integration
Issues
•Language and
Concepts
•Structure, Systems,
Processes
•Group boundaries
and Identity
•Reality and Truth
•Measurement and
correction
•Nature of Authority
and Relationships
•Allocation of Rewards
and Status
•Relationships to
nature
•Human Nature
•Human Relationships
•Time and Space
Culture is transmitted and
embedded by…
Primary Embedding Mechanisms
• What leaders pay attention to,
measure and control
• How leaders react to critical
incidents
• How leaders allocate resources
• Leader’s role modelling and
coaching
• How leaders allocate rewards and
status
• Recruitment, selection,
promotion and exit
Secondary Reinforcement
Mechanisms
• Design and Structure
• Systems and Processes
• Rites and Rituals
• Physical space, facades and
buildings
• Stories about important events
• Creation of heroes
Assessing and Measuring Organisational Culture
Assessing and Measuring Culture
• Culture can be assessed by means of
individual and group interview processes
• Surveys provide quantitative measures across
the organisation
• Use an organisational problem or issue to
help understand if culture helps or hinders
• Beware of sub-cultures!
Organisational Cultural Survey
• Quantitively assesses
culture against four key
organisational traits
• Mission
• Consistency
• Involvement
• Adaptability
Dan Denison
Bill Neale
Interventions
• Mission
– Leadership Development – Executive coaching
– Visioning and Strategy development workshops
• Consistency
– Bottom up Values development
– Communication – two way – listening sessions – forums
– Improve knowledge sharing
• Involvement
– Learning and Development programme aligned to business
goals
– Review performance management and reward systems
• Adaptability
– Encourage innovation – ideas can come from anywhere
‘The Way it is’
What’s the way it is in your organisation that
has you not be as effective as you can be?
The banana
10 chimpansees in a room
1 Banana
Max Barry's electric banana
The banana
In a variation of Max Barry's electric banana, 10 chimps are
placed in a room. There is a ladder in the room.
In the ceiling is a banana hanging from string.
At some point a chimp will figure out how to use the ladder to
get the banana.
But the string is attached to the sprinkler system and soaks all
the chimps. Chimps do not like water.
Max Barry's electric banana
The banana
When this has happened a dozen times or so, the chimps
put two and two together and they stop pulling the
banana on the string.
One of the chimps is the replaced with a new one who
does not know about the banana.
When this chimp tries to get the banana, the other
chimps will then beat the snot out of it. The lessson
learned is ”do not touch the banana”
Max Barry's electric banana
The banana
Max Barry's electric banana
The banana
When all the chimps have been replaced there is not a
single chimp who dares pull the banana on a string.
The banana is no longer attached to the sprinkler but no
chimp will know because no chimp dares pull it.
This is how culture is formed. Even in companies.
”do not touch the banana”
Max Barry's electric banana
The banana
So when you hear someone in a team or a in your
workplace say ”We don’t do that in this
company.” what you should be hearing is:
”Do not touch the banana.”
Challenge the unspoken rules and find a cause of
them. If there is no longer a known cause,
challenge it further.
Max Barry's electric banana
The culture shows the path
• Even though there are some downsides to an
organisational culture there are many more upsides.
• Internally it will show how a new employee can solve a
specific task
• Externally it can show how the company deals with
achieving its goals and deals with their clients.
• It creates a shared understanding of the vision and
goals of the company and promotes cohesion.
Organisation as Context
There is no ‘is’ organisation
Thank You
Will Daniel-Braham
‘Be’ Passion
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Will Daniel-Braham
facebook.com/willdanielbraham
079 5626 6416
[email protected]
www.personalpoweruk.com
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