Focus on culture
The cultural web
Deal and Kennedy talk about organisational culture “as the way we do things around here”.
This idea has been built on to develop the concept of the “cultural web” that can be useful in
exploring the key, inter-related features of organisational culture and the values that underpin
that culture. These insights can then be used to think about which aspects may need to
change in the future to meet new challenges.
The
CULTURAL
WEB
Stories &
myths
Rituals &
routines
Symbols
VALUES
Control
systems
Power
structures
Organisational
structures
Stories and myths: These are the anecdotes (true, exaggerated or apochryphal) that are
common currency in the organisation and provide a picture of the culture. For example, in a
baggage handling crisis at an airport the chief executive of British Airways rolled his sleeves
up and helped unload aircraft. This oft-repeated story became a positive metaphor for BA’s
“can-do” approach. In a restructured further education college the principal introduced the
new top team as “the best management team in FE”. This phrase became part of the
college’s vocabulary and was played back powerfully, and negatively by staff, whenever
something went wrong.
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Focus on culture
What are the stories and myths that shape people’s thinking (internally and externally)
about your organisation? What kinds of (true) stories do you want to hear people
talking about?
Symbols: the artefacts, imagery, visual cues and other manifestations of aspects of the
organisational culture. Symbols can be very powerful in pointing to a new world. For
example, a London Borough wanted to lose its municipal and inaccessible image and, as
part of a wider change programme, redesigned its logo – moving from a traditional portcullis
with lions rampant to a simple, colourful tree. This alteration became the focus of a serious
debate within the authority and in the local community about the improvements it signalled in
relationships with service users. In a (different) FE college the principal refurbished his
office to a standard that was well beyond the expectations of most staff and students. His
expensive office furniture established his image as arrogant, flippant and distant –
perceptions that proved difficult to overcome when he needed to mount a major staff
consultation exercise.
What are the symbols that shape people’s thinking (internally and externally) about
your Organisation? (E.g. what words do staff, senior officers, elected members,
partners, service users, voters and the community use to describe the Organisation?)
Do these symbols fit with the values you want to project?
Power structures: Power resides in many different parts of an organisation. For
example, there is the position power that comes with particular roles, expert power derived
from a particular specialist knowledge and social power, which is based on the strengths of
relationships. Some of these different sources of power may overlap – the person with the
senior manager sign on her door may also have a specific expertise. Often, however, the
overlaps are not neat. A staff representative may have very little formal authority but they
are very influential in the organisation because they are held in very high regard by their
colleagues.
Where do the informal sources of power lie in the Organisation? How will you engage
with the people involved to ensure they understand and contribute to the debate about
values and behaviour?
Organisational structure: this links back to the power structures but focuses on the
formalities of the organisational chart. The way the work of the organisation is divided up
and where different functions are positioned in the hierarchy conveys messages about the
relative importance of different activities. For example, a university college introduced a
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Focus on culture
Director of Student Support to the top team, which had previously comprised faculty heads.
This change indicated to everyone that support arrangements were now an important part of
the portfolio of services offered to students.
What does your organisational chart and the ways you allocate responsibilities say
about what is valued in the Organisation? What can be done (without restructuring) to
ensure that ways of working support the realisation of your desired values?
Control systems: this part of the web emphasises the impact of policies, processes and
procedures on the culture of an organisation. Often the way in which finance is planned and
monitored is a key shaper of the ways things get done, with, for example, other operational
decision-making processes becoming designed to match these arrangements. There are,
however, other factors involved. This can include, for example, the decision-making powers
of various committees and how they complement (or not) the day-to-day authority given to
individual managers to get things done.
What are the main features of your control systems? Looked at from a different angle
– how do innovative ideas emerge and how are they handled? How long does it take to
get something changed/improved? How can you make sure systems work to keep on
top of performance – but do not stifle new ideas?
Rituals and routines: these are the things that shape people’s daily experience of the
organisation. The cycle of the local government year is a powerful driver, shaping how
people work. You may have an annual employee awards ceremony – its structure, who and
what gets celebrated, the messages of the keynote speeches – is an important “ritual” that
communicates the values of a organisation. At a more micro level, the ways in which teams
organise their work and how personal events such as birthdays and retirements all contribute
to the rhythm of working life and can indicate what is seen as important in the organisation.
What are the key rituals and routines in your organisation? How can you make sure
that the “rhythm of life” facilitates continuous improvement in staff and user’s
experiences of the Organisation?
Taken together the various features of the web can provide an outline picture of an
organisations culture and point to the values that lie behind them. By starting with the values
the model can be used to identify the implications for the way things are done in the
organisation and provide pointers to the key behaviours people need to put into practice.
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