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1、ORGANIZATIONALCULTUREWhatIsOrganizationalCulture?AndWhyShouldWeCare?byMichaelD.WatkinsMAY15,2013If you want to provoke a vigorous debate,start a conversation on organizational culture.Whilethere is universal agreement that(1)it exists,and(2)that it plays a crucial role in shapingbehavior in organiza
2、tions,there is little consensus on what organizational culture actually is,never mind how it influences behavior and whether it is something leaders can change.This is a problem,because without a reasonable definition(or definitions)of culture,we cannothope to understand its connections to other key
3、 elements of the organization,such as structureand incentive systems.Nor can we develop good approaches to analyzing,preserving andtransforming cultures.If we can define what organizational culture is,it gives us a handle on howto diagnose problems and even to design and develop better cultures.Begi
4、nning May 1,2013,I facilitated a discussion around this question on LinkedIn.The morethan 300 responses included rich and varied perspectives and opinions on organizational culture,its meaning and importance.I include several distinctive views below,illustrated by direct quotesfrom the LinkedIn disc
5、ussion thread and then I offer my own synthesis of these views.(Thereoften were multiple postings with similar themes,so these are simply early selections;unfortunately it was not possible to acknowledge everyone who made helpful contributions.)“Culture is how organizations do things.”Robbie Katanga
6、Culture is consistent,observable patterns of behavior in organizations.Aristotle said,“We arewhat we repeatedly do.”This view elevates repeated behavior or habits as the core of culture anddeemphasizes what people feel,think or believe.It also focuses our attention on the forces thatshape behavior i
7、n organizations,and so highlights an important question:are all those forces(including structure,processes,and incentives)“culture”or is culture simply the behavioraloutputs?“In large part,culture is a product of compensation.”Alec HaverstickCulture is powerfully shaped by incentives.The best predic
8、tor of what people will do is what theyare incentivized to do.By incentives,we mean here the full set of incentives monetary rewards,non-monetary rewards such as status,recognition and advancement,and sanctions to whichmembers of the organization are subject.But where do incentives come from?As with
9、 theprevious definition,there are potential chicken-and-egg issues.Are patterns of behavior theproduct of incentives,or have incentives been shaped in fundamental ways by beliefs and valuesthat underpin the culture?“Organizational culture defines a jointly shared description of an organization from
10、within.”Bruce PerronCulture is a process of“sense-making”in organizations.Sense-making has been defined as“acollaborative process of creating shared awareness and understanding out of differentindividuals perspectives and varied interests.”Note that this moves the definition of culturebeyond pattern
11、s of behavior into the realm of jointly-held beliefs and interpretations about“whatis.”It says that a crucial purpose of culture is to help orient its members to“reality”in ways thatprovide a basis for alignment of purpose and shared action.“Organizational culture is the sum of values and rituals wh
12、ich serve as glue to integrate themembers of the organization.”Richard PerrinCulture is a carrier of meaning.Cultures provide not only a shared view of“what is”but also of“why is.”In this view,culture is about“the story”in which people in the organization areembedded,and the values and rituals that
13、reinforce that narrative.It also focuses attention onthe importance of symbols and the need to understand them including the idiosyncraticlanguages used in organizations in order to understand culture.“Organizational culture is civilization in the workplace.”Alan AdlerCulture is a social control sys
14、tem.Here the focus is the role of culture in promoting andreinforcing“right”thinking and behaving,and sanctioning“wrong”thinking and behaving.Keyin this definition of culture is the idea of behavioral“norms”that must be upheld,and associatedsocial sanctions that are imposed on those who dont“stay wi
15、thin the lines.”This view alsofocuses attention on how the evolution of the organization shaped the culture.That is,how havethe existing norms promoted the survival of the organization in the past?Note:implicit in thisevolutionary view is the idea that established cultures can become impediments to
16、survivalwhen there are substantial environmental changes.“Culture is the organizations immune system.”Michael WatkinsCulture is a form of protection that has evolved from situational pressures.It prevents“wrongthinking”and“wrong people”from entering the organization in the first place.It says thator
17、ganizational culture functions much like the human immune system in preventing viruses andbacteria from taking hold and damaging the body.The problem,of course,is that organizationalimmune systems also can attack agents of needed change,and this has important implications foron-boarding and integrat
18、ing people into organizations.In the discussion,there were also some important observations pushing against the view ofculture as something that it is unitary and static,and toward a view that cultures are multiple,overlapping,and dynamic.“Organizational culture is shaped by the main culture of the
19、society we live in,albeit withgreater emphasis on particular parts of it.”Elizabeth SkringarOrganizational culture is shaped by and overlaps with other cultures especially the broaderculture of the societies in which it operates.This observation highlights the challenges that globalorganizations fac
20、e in establishing and maintaining a unified culture when operating in thecontext of multiple national,regional and local cultures.How should leaders strike the rightbalance between promoting“one culture”in the organization,while still allowing for influencesof local cultures?“It over simplifies the
21、situation in large organizations to assume there is only one culture andits risky for new leaders to ignore the sub-cultures.”Rolf WinklerThe cultures of organizations are never monolithic.There are many factors that drive internalvariations in the culture of business functions(e.g.finance vs.market
22、ing)and units(e.g.a fast-moving consumer products division vs.a pharmaceuticals division of a diversified firm).Acompanys history of acquisition also figures importantly in defining its culture and sub-cultures.Depending on how acquisition and integration are managed,the legacy cultures of acquired
23、unitscan persist for surprisingly long periods of time.“An organization is a living culture that can adapt to the reality as fast as possible.”AbdiOsman JamaFinally,cultures are dynamic.They shift,incrementally and constantly,in response to externaland internal changes.So,trying to assess organizati
24、onal culture is complicated by the reality thatyou are trying to hit a moving target.But it also opens the possibility that culture change can bemanaged as a continuous process rather than through big shifts(often in response to crises).Likewise,it highlights the idea that a stable“destination”may n
25、ever indeed should never bereached.The culture of the organization should always be learning and developing.These perspectives provide the kind of holistic,nuanced view of organizational culture that isneeded by leaders in order to truly understand their organizations and to have any hope ofchanging
26、 them for the better.MichaelD.WatkinsisthechairmanofGenesisAdvisers,aprofessoratIMD,andtheauthoroftheexpandededitionofTheFirst90Days(HarvardBusinessReviewPress,2013).RelatedTopics:LEADERSHIPThisarticleisaboutORGANIZATIONALCULTUREFOLLOWTHISTOPICCommentsLeaveaCommentLeaveaCommentPOSTREPLY008COMMENTSAr
27、indomBorahadayagoMichael,Ifullyagreewithyouwhenyousaythatculturesaredynamic.Butisculturereallysocomplexlikehittingamovingtargetfromat1000yardssay?Idontthinkso.Thatisbecause,fromthemovingtargetanalogy,youhavenoideaofwhatitis.Youjustknowthatitisyourpreywhichismoving.Ipensationswillhavetobemadeforitssi
28、ze.Butinthecaseofculture,todaysmulticulturalworldwillsupportonlysaladbowlcultures.Therefore,alotofcomplexityiseliminatedaswealreadyknowthatdualismetc.wontfit.Thustheassumptionswhichdirectlycontributetocomplexityarelimited,andthetaskbecomeslesscomplex.Whatdoyouthink?POSTINGGUIDELINESWehopetheconversa
29、tionsthattakeplaceonHBR.orgwillbeenergetic,constructive,andthought-provoking.Tocomment,readersmustsigninorregister.Andtoensurethequalityofthediscussion,ourmoderatingteamwillreviewallcommentsandmayeditthemforclarity,length,andrelevance.Commentsthatareoverlypromotional,mean-spirited,oroff-topicmaybedeletedperthemoderatorsjudgment.AllpostingsbecomethepropertyofHarvardBusinessPublishing.JOINTHECONVERSATION