Fortifying Culture

Reader of Marketing at the Said Business School and Templeton College, Oxford University, UK

Behaviors are there for everyone to see, but since causes are hidden from view, we tend to rely on assumptions, in the form of implicit ‘models of human behavior’. This session describes the major models of human behavior that we typically employ in organizational settings as well as in daily life.

People often talk about changing their corporate culture and building a “new culture” within their organization but can you imagine trying to change the culture of the United States or France? Whether your organization’s history is long and stable or short and intense, its culture is complex and deeply ingrained in its people and operations. In order to successfully effect change, corporate culture must be taken seriously. Examining it at all levels uncovers the assumptions that determine the organization’s goals, strategies, and means of action. This knowledge is the stepping stone to promoting change within your organization.

In this session, we explore culture by looking first at the symbols or “artifacts” of culture, then at the claimed or “espoused values” of culture, and finally, probing beneath these layers into the “basic underlying assumptions” of an organization’s culture.

Metaphors—which transfer concepts from one context to another—are typically viewed as a linguistic device used by poets. In this session you will see that metaphor also can be a powerful tool for creating and communicating new approaches to managing, and for understanding the approaches that prevail in your organization today.

An awareness of culture can make a big difference to how you perceive management problems and to how you act on these problems. Understanding cultures can enhance inter-group relationships, and perhaps, even help you get a promotion more quickly.

Whether you are working in a very stable culture, or one which is constantly in transition, we will show you that you can be more effective as a manager if you understand how your culture works.

We know that culture figures prominently in changing an organization. Where it has been, and what it stands for, will significantly determine where it is able to go. You have to manage culture to manage change. And to manage culture you have to understand who plays what role in sustaining, challenging, and shifting that culture. When a culture change program has been launched, it is tempting for leaders to move straight on to other challenges, often taking their eyes off the 'cultural ball', but this is exactly the time when leaders need to be most alert to what is happening on the ground.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) offers an alternative to the problem solving approach that dominates most organizations today. AI focuses on what is already working within an organization and why it works in order to build from strengths that already exist but may be hidden from view.

The famous management writer, Peter Drucker, argued that the task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths, thus making weaknesses irrelevant. One of us, David, has argued that organizations grow toward what they persistently ask questions about. In this session, you will ask questions to reveal the positive core within your organization.