INNOVATIVE TH

INKING &

CULTURE CHANGE

S E S S I O N 5

FOSTERING CULTURE CHANGE

D R . P A U L I N E T U R N E R S T R O N GD E P A R T M E N T O F A N T H R O P O L O G Y

U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S A T A U S T I N

INNOVATIVE THINKING AND CULTURE CHANGE:WHERE ARE WE?

Overview & Introductory Exercises (Dr. Art Markman & Rich Gergasko)

Confronting & Reducing Change Apprehension (Dr. Robert Abzug)

Idea Generation & Celebrating Failure (Dr. Art Markman)

Innovation Management & Leadership (Dr. Luis Martins)

⑤ Innovative Thinking & Fostering Culture Change

⑥ Strengthening the Innovation Evaluation Process

reducing change apprehension

idea generation & celebrating failure

innovation management & leadership

TAKING STOCK: WHAT IS YOUR MAIN TAKE-AWAY THUS FAR?

reducing change apprehension

idea generation & celebrating failure

innovation management & leadership

SETTING THE AGENDA:WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRESSING QUESTION?

AMBITIOUS GOALS FOR SESSION 5Learning how to foster culture change through ① understanding the concept of organizational

culture② understanding how organizational culture

relates to organizational structure and behavior

③ understanding how to place structures and behaviors in place that reward innovative thinking and overcome resistance to cultural change.

①WHAT

IS

ORGANIZATIONAL

CULTURE? • Organization as

machine• Organization as

organism• Organization as

culture• Organization as

psychic prison• Organization as

political system• Organization as brain

Gareth Morgan, Images of Organization

Thinkin

g with

meta

phors

THE ORGANIZATION AS MACHINE

Dates to work of Frederick Taylor (1865-1815)The machine metaphor highlights: maximizing efficiency maximizing productivity Premise: Organizations can be engineered to maximize

contribution and minimize costs to society. Employees treated like parts of a well-oiled machine.Discourse: “design,” “control”

BUREAUCRATIC ORGANIZATION:EPITOMIZES VALUES OF MECHANICAL ORGANIZATION

E M P H A S I Z E S

PrecisionSpeedRegularityReliabilityPredictabilityEfficiencyMeasurable results

N O T E S F O R

fixed division of laborhierarchical supervisionset of rules and

regulations governing performance

technical qualificationsmerit-based selection

and promotiondiscipline & control

COSTS OF B

UREAUCRACY?

Max W

eber’

s “iro

n cage”

“erosio

n of human

spirit

and ca

pacity

for s

pontan

eous

actio

n”

STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS OF MACHINE METAPHOR

M E C H A N I S T I C O R G A N I Z A T I O N W O R K S W H E N :

task is straightforward

environment is stable consistency is desired precision is at a

premium human “parts” are

compliant (“docile”)

B U T : taken for granted, hard to

think otherwise may result in mindless

conformity difficulties in adapting to

changing circumstances may lead to maintenance

of the bureaucracy for its own sake

dehumanization, apathy, carelessness

THE ORGANIZATION AS ORGANISMDates to work of Charles Darwin (1809-82)Treats organizations as adaptive organisms with structure of

interrelated parts Directs attention to: dynamics of competition dependence on resources provided by environment adaptation to changing environmentMakes use of general systems theory wholes consisting of interrelated parts that function together to

create emergent (higher order) properties; systems are nested within each other

Discourse: “survival,” “competition,” “environment,” “resources”

ORGANIZATIONS AS ORGANISMS (MORGAN)Challenge to machine metaphor

critique to its focus on efficiency, productivityLiving systems existing in a wider environmentCertain species of organization better adapted to specific

environmental conditions (contingency theory) bureaucratic organizations best adapted to stable, protected

environments tumultuous environments call for more flexible forms of organization

Functional analysis: Organizations may be seen as structures that fulfill individual needs

“MASLO

W

RE-WIRED

”

Pamela

Rudledge,

Psyc

hology T

oday

, 2011

Individual

needs i

n a so

cial c

ontex

t.

INDIVIDUAL NEEDS & ORGANIZATIONAL MEANS

N E E D S self-actualization > > > > > >

esteem (ego) > > > > > > > >

belonging/love (social) > > >

safety/security > > > > > > > physiological > > > > > > > >

O R G A N I Z A T I O N A L M E A N S job a major expressive

dimension of employee’s life, complete employee commitment

scope for achievement & autonomy, enhancing personal identity, recognition

opportunities for satisfying & spontaneous interactions

pension, tenure, career paths

salary, wages

STRENGTHS OF ORGANISM METAPHOR Emphasis on relationship between organism and environment Reorientation towards systematic attention to needs that

must be satisfied for organization to survive Attention to the balance of internal processes Attention to different “species” of organizations, hence range

of options Focus on “ecological” relationships among organizations Successful organizations “evolve” appropriate structures and

processes for dealing with the challenges of their external environments

Emphasis on innovation

LIMITATIONS OF ORGANISM METAPHOR Assumption of functional unity: may

underestimate dysfunction and conflict May overemphasize the role of

organizationals in leading fulfilling lives May naturalize and legitimate current

organization of society

THE ORGANIZATION AS CULTURE Application of work of Clifford Geertz (1926-2006) and

others Derived from “cultivation,” signifying socialization

into a particular way of life Culture as a pattern of symbols, meanings, & values Culture as a way of creating identities & a sense of

belonging Culture may be both overt and tacit (taken for

granted) Culture as ideology, concealing domination and

exploitation (Karl Marx, 1820-95)

THE ORGANIZATION AS CULTURE Geertz

“man is an animal suspended in webs of meaning he himself has spun”

Edgar Schein, Organizational Culture & Leadership pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has . . . developed in learning to cope with its problems of external

adaptation & internal integration and that have worked well enough to be considered valid & therefore to be taught to new members as the

correct way to perceive, think & feel in relation to these problems

② HOW ARE CULTURE, STRUCTURE & BEHAVIOR RELATED IN ORGANIZATIONS?

Edgar Schein: Assumptions are

manifest in values that guide behavior

In turn, culturally influenced behavior produces artifacts that realize cultural values and assumptions

Artifacts

Values

Assumptions

HOW LEADERS EMBED & TRANSMIT ASSUMPTIONS (SCHEIN)

Embedding mechanisms:Visible artifacts of the organizational culture

Create “climate” of organizationPart of everyday routinesConflict within mechanisms can form basis of subcultures & countercultures

PRIMARY EMBEDDING MECHANISMSWhat leaders pay attention to, measure, and controlHow leaders react to critical incidents & organizational crisesHow leaders allocate resourcesDeliberate role modeling, teaching, & coachingHow leaders allocate rewards and statusHow leaders recruit, select, promote, & excommunicate

SECONDARY EMBEDDING MECHANISMS

Work only when consistent with primary embedding mechanisms

When institutionalized, constrain future leaders

Organizational design & structure

Organizational systems & procedures

Rites & rituals

Physical design/structure

Narratives

Formal statements or philosophy, creeds, & charters

THE ORGANIZATION AS PSYCHIC PRISON

Application of the work of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) and Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Organizations as scenes of unconscious processes: desire anxiety stress repressionOrganizations as shared illusionsHelps understand emotional aspects of organizations,

conflict & resistance to changeDiscourse: “irrational,” “resistance,” “stress”

ORGANIZATIONS AS SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY

Relationship among interests, conflict, and power

MODES OF POLITICAL RULE IN ORGANIZATIONS:SYSTEMS OF LEGITIMACY

autocracy absolute power held by

individual or small group “We’ll do it this way.”

bureaucracy rule of law based on

formal (“rational”) allocation of responsibilities

“We’re supposed to do it this way.”

technocracy rule exercised through

expertise “It’s best to do it this

way.”

codetermination joint management of

mutual interests “How shall we do it?”

representative democracy

rule by representatives of stakeholders

“How shall we do it?”direct democracy

communal decision-making How shall we do it?”

CULTURES, COUNTERCULTURES, CULTURAL CHANGE• The official culture is dominant or hegemonic• Countercultures (counterhegemonic cultures)

may develop overt opposition to official organizational values

• Countercultures may counterbalance negative aspects of the dominant culture

• The struggle between hegemonic and counterhegemonic forces leads to cultural change (Antonio Gramsci, Italian neo-Marxist theorist,1891-1937)

EVALUATING THE POLITICAL METAPHORS T R E N G T H S

Accepts reality and inevitability of organizational politics

Recognizes its constructive role

Places power at the center of organizational analysis

Questions the neutrality of organizational reality

Overcomes limitations of idea that organizations are functionally integrated systems (machines or organisms)

L I M I T A T I O N S

May lead to increased politicization of an organization

Can breed cynicism and distrust

May fail to take adequately into account overarching structures of domination

THE BRAIN METAPHORImages of the brain an elusive metaphor!

① Organizations as Information Processing Processing Systems

② Organizations as Complex Learning Systems

③ Organizations as Holographic Systems with Centralized and Decentralized Elements

ORGANIZATIONS AS COMPLEX LEARNING SYSTEMS

Cybernetics self-regulating behavior, negative feedback loops simple cybernetic systems

1. Systems must have capacity to sense and monitor significant aspects of the environment

2. They must be able to relate this information to the operating norms that guide system behavior.

3. They must be able to detect significant deviations from the norms4. they must be able to initiate corrective action when discrepancies

are detected complex systems

detect and correct errors in operating norms self-questioning ability, learning to learn

ORGANIZATIONS AS COMPLEX LEARNING SYSTEMS

How Can Organizations Learn to Learn? learning organizations (Chris Argyris action learning (Reg Revans)

Double-loop learning questioning whether operating norms are appropriate barriers

bureaucratic fragmentation of information flow reward systems that reinforce single-loop learning systems of bureaucratic acountability “defensive routines”

ORGANIZATIONS AS COMPLEX LEARNING SYSTEMS

Guidelines for Learning OrganizationsDevelop a learning orientation, capacities that allow them to: scan and anticipate change in environment

creation of insight and knowledge (e.g., of customers) develop ability to question, challenge, and change operating norms &

assumptions framing and reframing (TQM, in theory)

encouraging “emergent” organization Japanese ringi, collective decision-making process avoidance of undersirable system states: limits as well as intentions

WHAT MIGHT A LEARNING ORGANIZATION LOOK LIKE? (SCHEIN)① Proactivity② Commitment to learning to learn③ Positive assumptions about human nature④ Belief that environment can be managed⑤ Commitment to truth through pragmatism and inquiry⑥ Positive orientation toward the future ⑦ Commitment to full and open task-relevant communication⑧ Commitment to systematic thinking⑨ Belief that cultural analysis is a valid set of lenses for

understanding and improving the world⑩ Commitment to cultural diversity

STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF BRAIN METAPHOR

S T R E N G T H S

Dovetails with “knowledge economy”

Powerful way of thinking about implications of IT and its support for developing learning organizations

Allows us to rethink key management principles

L I M I T A T I O N S

No coherent image of the brain

Resistance to indeterminance

③ WHAT STRUCTURES & BEHAVIORS REWARD INNOVATION AND OVERCOME RESISTANCE TO CHANGE?

• What ways of thinking about organizations structures and cultures best leads to innovation? Does it help to use the organic metaphor? The brain metaphor?

• What does it mean specifically to think outside of the box in your organization? In your particular role in the organization?

• What specific forms of resistance do innovations encounter?• How can employee diversity lead to innovation? What does

it take for that to happen?• To what extent is your organization a learning organization?

How could it become more of one?