Organizational culture & Change management – Dr.
R.B.L. Sijbom
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, 9. Organizational culture and leadership
Culture can be analyzed at several different levels, with the term level referring to a cultural
phenomenon that is visibile to the observer. These levels range from the very tangible overt
manifestations that you can see and feel to the deeply embedded, unconscious, basic assumptions
that are defined as the essence of culture.
Level 1: Artifacts
At the surface, is the level of artifacts in a culture encompasses
visible and tangible aspects that one can see, hear, and feel
when encountering a new group with an unfamiliar culture.
Some see ‘climate’ as equivalent to culture but is better
thought of as the product of underlying assumption. Observed
behavior and organizational processes also fall under the
artifact level.
While artifacts are easy to observe, they are challenging to
decode accurately. Interpreting artifacts alone can lead to
subjective projections based on personal feelings and reactions
and not what those mean in the given group. To gain a deeper
understanding of a culture, it is essential to interact with
insiders to analyze and learn the espoused values, norms, and
rules guiding the group's behavior, leading to a more profound
level of cultural analysis beyond just surface-level artifacts.
Level 2: Espoused Beliefs and Values
This learning ultimately reflects someone’s original beliefs and values, his or her sense of what ought
to be, as distinct from what is. When a group is formed or faces a new challenge, the initial solutions
proposed reflect individual beliefs and values (what is right or wrong). Individuals who dominate can
be seen as leaders. These proposals or solutions, perceived as the ‘leader's preferences’ are values to
be questioned until the group takes joint action to determine if these are valid. When the outcome has
a shared perception of succes, then the value transformes into a shared value and ultimately into a
share assumption (if it continues to be successful).
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, However, not all beliefs and values undergo this transformation,
- As only those that can be empirically tested and are reliable can become assumptions.
- As some may not be testable at all. Certain values within an organization, related to
environmental elements, aesthetics, or morals, cannot be easily tested using empirical
methods. These subjective values lack clear,
measurable outcomes for validation. In such cases,
consensus through social validation becomes a
method, but is is not automatic.
- As strategy/goals as espoused beliefs may also not
be easily tested as the link between performance
and strategy may be hard to prove (causal
ambiguity imperfectly imitable) except through
social validation.
Social validation means that certain beliefs and values
(B&V) are confirmed only by shared social experience of a
group in how comfortable and anxiety free they are when
they stick to those beliefs and values. When these continue
to provide meaning and comfort through reducing
uncertainty, thus they ‘work’, and the members continue to
reinforce each other’s B&V, causing them to be taken for
granted, the B&V transform into nondiscussible
assumptions even is they may not be correlated to
performance.
As these B&V serve the moral function of guiding members how to deal with certain key situations and
how to behave to reduce uncertainty, they often become embodied in the ideology of the
organizational philosophy.
When these B&V of meaning and comfort of the group are not consistent/congruent with the B&V
that correlate with effective performance, organizations may exhibit espoused values that reflect the
intended behavior but are not manifested in actual behavior.
Example: In US organizations, it is common to espouse teamwork while actually rewarding individual competitiveness.
When analyzing espoused beliefs and values, it is essential to differentiate carefully between those:
- That align with underlying assumptions driving performance – what managers say/practice.
- That form part of the organization's ideology or philosophy – what managers are.
- That are rationalizations or only aspirations for the future – what managers desire.
Here, rationalizations refer to providing logical explanations or justifications for B&V, even if they do
not truly reflect the underlying assumptions or actual practices within the organization, masking
inconsistencies between espoused B&V and observed B&V.
Often espoused B&V are so abstract that they can be mutually contradictory (a company claiming to
be equally concerned with all stakeholders or when it claims both highest quality and lowest cost)
leaving areas unexplained. Therefore, an understanding of the basic underlying assumptions is crucial
for decode the culture beyond surface-level beliefs and values.
Level 3; Basic Underlying Assumptions
When a solution ‘works’ repeatedly, it will be taken for granted and comes to be treated as a reality.
When there is little variety in alternative solutions in a social unit/the culture, these solutions become
basic assumptions (a taken-for-granted-assumption). As this degree of consensus results from the
continuity of success, it shapes behavior, perceiving other as inconceivable making it similar to what
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