Culture
Beginning, Growth and
everything in between
Group Formation
 What
are we here for?
 What is the goal?
 What is my role?
 Learning environment
Individual Intentions to Group
Consequences
 The
act that happens after an initial act is
a group response.
 The group has acted and aware of
having acted as a group.
 Even though individual members bring
prior cultural learning to the new situation,
by definition, the group starts out with no
culture of it’s own.
 Initial sharing launches the group
Perceptions/Feelings/
Interventions
 Some
of the deepest and most shared
experiences occur within the first few
hours of group life, who we are, what our
mission is, and how we will work.


Everyone’s perceptions/feelings has equal
value
Create group neutrality
 Collectively
not acting is a powerful group
decision. “Plop”

Not willing to grant a level of authority to a
given member to tell the group what to do.
Stages of Evolution
 Group

Formation
Unconscious assumption leader knows
 Lead
to frustration
 Dependence

Process development, common language
 Group

Building
Norms Around Intimacy
 Fusion


Assumption
Need to feel merged/deny internal differences
Norms in Learning and Experience
 Positive
problem solving
 Anxiety avoidance
Stages of Evolution
 Group


Evolution of mutual
acceptance
Work assumption
 Group

Work
Maturity
Strong group share
= Strong group
culture
Culture Beginnings
3



Sources
Founders – beliefs, values, and assumptions
Learning experiences from new members of
evolving organizations
New beliefs, values and assumptions from
new members and leaders
Sam Steinberg
 Founder

Impact on the culture
 Embedded
 New

conflicts
Leadership
New direction
 Mixed
messages
Fred Smithfield
 Founder

Serial Entrepreneur
 No

 New

corporate culture
Did not embed his beliefs or values or any
conflicts
leadership
Created culture
 Each
business different culture
Ken Olsen
 Founder

Clear assumptions
 Small

Organized
 Growth

Disorganized
Similar Organizations
different cultures
Wonzniak/Jobs
 Founders


Technical
individualistic
Watson
 Founder


Clear
image
Sales /
marketing
Packard/Hewlett
 Founders

Two types


Technical
Business
How Leaders Embed Beliefs,
Values, and Assumptions
o
“Charisma”
o
o
o
o
Ability to capture attention and
communicate in a vivid clear manner
Leaders who have it are rare
Not a reliable mechanism of embedding
Those without charisma still have hope
Embedding Mechanisms
o
Primary Embedding Mechanisms
o What leaders pay attention to, measure, and control on a regular
basis
o How leaders react to critical incidents and organizational crisis
o How leaders allocate resources
o Deliberate role modeling, teaching, and coaching
o How leaders allocate rewards and status
o
Secondary Articulation and Reinforcement Mechanisms
o Organizational design and structure
o Organizational systems and procedures
o Rites and rituals of the organization
o Design of physical space, facades, and buildings
o Stories about important events and people
o Formal statements of organizational philosophy, creeds and charters
What Leaders Pay Attention
to, Measure and Control
o
o
o
What leaders pay attention to
Inconsistency wastes time and energy
Consistency signals what is really
important
Leader Reactions to Critical
Incidents and Organizational
Crisis
o
o
o
Dealing with a crisis reveals underlying
assumptions
Emotional involvement increases learning
intensity and motivates new learning
What is a crisis?
Deliberate Role Modeling,
How Leaders
Allocate Resources Teaching and Coaching
o
How budgets are
created reveals
leaders assumptions
and beliefs
o
o
Leaders own
behavior has great
value for
communicating
assumptions and
values
Informal messages
tend to be
powerful
How Leaders
Select, Promote
and
Excommunicate
How Leaders
Allocate Rewards
and Status
o
o
Consistent rewards
and punishments
carry message
Consistent reward,
promotion and
status system
ensures values and
assumptions
o
o
Process of
selecting new
members of the
organization
embeds
assumptions
Tend to find
candidates who
resemble present
members
Secondary Articulation and
Reinforcement
Mechanisms
o
o
o
o
o
o
Organizational Design and Structure
Organizational Systems and Procedures
Rites and Rituals of the Organization
Design of Physical Space, Facades, and
Buildings
Stories About Important Events and
People
Formal Statements of Philosophy, Creeds,
and Charters
Differentiation and the
Growth of Subcultures
 Functional
/ Occupational Differentiation
 Geographical decentralization
 Differentiation by product, market, or
technology
 Divisionalization
 Differentiation by hierarchical level
Functional / Occupational
differentiation
 Personalities
 Education
 Socialization
Geographical
Differentiation
 Customers

Needs and wants

Different
 Local


labor
Costs
Ethics
 Location



Raw materials
Source of energy
suppliers
Differentiation by Product,
Market, or Technology
 Culture



Customers
Technologies
Products
Divisionalization
 Functions



Products
Market
Geographical units
Differentiation by
Hierarchical level
 Levels



/ Subculture
Executives
Middle Management
Supervisors
Natural Process and Steering
Culture Change Mechanisms
The Organizational Concept Organizational Stage
 Founding
and Early
Growth
 Midlife
 Maturity and
Decline
Founding and Early Growth
Incremental change through general and
specific evolution
Insight
Promotion of hybrids within the culture
Implications
At This Stage
The primary culture creators
are still present
2. The culture helps the
organization define itself and
make its way into potentially
hostile environments
3. Many elements of the
culture have been learned as
defenses against anxiety as the
organization struggles to build
and maintain itself
1.
Founder’s Assumptions
Incremental Change Through
Evolution
General Evolution
 Diversification
 Growing
Complexity
 Creative Syntheses
 Higher Levels


Differentiation
Integration
Specific Evolution
 Adaptation
of
Specific Parts to
Particular
Environments
 The Impact of
Cultural Diversity on
the Core Culture
 Options
1
2
3
Insight
1.
Give up the
mechanism
2.
Design compensatory
mechanisms
3.
Break the company
down
Managed Evolution
Through Hybrids
Systematic Promotion of
Insiders
Cultural Deviant
Midlife
Systematic Promotion, Technological
Seduction, and Outsiders
Conservatives
Founding principles
working?
Radicals
Enhance power
position?
The Problems of Succession
Missing
What is it doing for the organization?
Philosophy and ideology
Outsiders and Their Influence
Success or Failure?
Organizational Maturity and
Potential Decline
Basic Assumptions Become Strongly Held
Organizations Develop Espoused
Values and Ideas
Out of Line With the Actual
Assumptions
These make cultural change difficult
Culture Change Triggers
Scandal
Turnarounds
Myth
Mergers and acquisitions Destruction and rebirth
Conclusion
Leaders armed with the knowledge can have
success with culture change