The self-organizing patterning of interaction that we think of as organizational culture is dynamic and always evolving. Although at any given instant it might be thought of as having a discernible pattern, this is only an abstraction of the intricacies of the ongoing process.
The diagram above has proven useful in stimulating more in-depth conversations about the nature and impact of what I call “deep culture”, the dynamic which creates expectancy that things will progress in certain ways and not in others. In using this, the important thing is to look for underlying patterns in the conversations that are generated by this reflection.
In one instance, the power of underlying assumptions to channel thinking and behaviour was vividly demonstrated. A group of managers of a newly formed business unit were reflecting on the underlying assumptions within their parent organization, as a preliminary to looking at their own practice. Each of three sub-groups explored four of the 12 categories and, following consolidation of their outputs and further conversations, the team identified a number of recurring themes that they felt reflected key aspects of the prevailing culture.
Most of the key words and phrases that the managers used to represent these six main themes were expressed negatively. That is, they were described in terms of things to avoid rather than things to aspire to. These included a cluster of sub-themes around people’s required behaviour, which comprised self-confident, no negatives, no problems just challenges, and not saying no. In that organization, at that time, being seen to be negative was perceived to be “career limiting.” However, when the senior manager involved wrote to me with his summary of the output, he began his e-mail by commenting as follows: “I felt it important to capture the assumptions in positive terms.” In relation to the acceptability or otherwise of negativity within the parent organisation, for example, he translated the above, largely negative, descriptors as follows: “Having a confident, positive, can-do attitude.”
Despite his genuine desire to expose and engage with the shadow-side issues, he felt compelled to present the output in a culturally acceptable ‘self-confident, no negatives, no problems, ‘can’t say no’ sort of way. It is in this way that people’s ongoing interactions become channelled – imperceptibly – along established ‘pathways’ of thought and action.
As always, the value of using an exercise such as this rests on the conversations that arise out of it. Cultural patterns are formed, continuously iterated and potentially changed through local conversations and everyday interactions. This approach uses that same medium to uncover the patterns that currently shape organizational sense-making-cum-action-taking. The insights gained can then be used to explore if and how these patterns might be shifted for organizational benefit.
This was frist posted on LinkedIn
Comments