Facing Management Dogmas: Organizational Culture Can Be Managed

There are countless discussions on managing organizational culture. However, the approach often follows a familiar blueprint: bring in experts from the organizational development field, apply one of many organizational culture methodologies, assess the current state, conduct follow-up analysis, and guide top management in designing the future culture, complete with values and behaviors. They then identify gaps between the current and desired culture and outline a set of actions to bridge the gap and implement the new culture.

Sounds straightforward? Maybe. But in reality, organizations rarely change their cultures in such a linear fashion. This process is much more complex and non-linear.

First and foremost, the notion of "managing" culture contradicts its very nature. Organizational culture is fundamentally an anthropological construct—a set of beliefs, values, assumptions, and behaviors that evolve within an organization over time. Edgar Schein, a renowned expert in the field, defines organizational culture as "a pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, which has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems."

From this definition, it becomes clear that organizational culture is not something that can be directly "managed" in a traditional sense. Rather, it is shaped informally over long periods by the collective experiences of the people within the organization. So, a more accurate perspective would be to say that culture can be influenced or impacted rather than managed.

The degree to which an organization’s culture can be influenced depends on several factors:

• Organizational size – The larger the organization, the more difficult it is to create a significant cultural impact.

• Complexity of the organization – A diverse workforce with various specialties and backgrounds makes cultural alignment more challenging.

• Spatial distribution – When employees are dispersed across locations and have limited interaction, it becomes harder to influence cultural shifts.

Hence, how can organizations effectively impact their culture? The most influential factor is leadership. In smaller organizations, the owner or director plays a defining role, while in larger organizations, it is the CEO and their executive team (CXOs) who set the tone. Organizational culture is a reflection of their perceptions, values, and ways of addressing challenges both within and outside the company.

For a cultural shift to succeed, the desired culture must align with the genuine beliefs and behaviors of the organization’s leaders. Without this alignment, any cultural change initiative is likely to fail. Of course, many other elements contribute to shaping culture – processes, systems, incentives, and communications – but the fundamental prerequisite remains the authenticity of leadership in embodying and reinforcing the desired cultural attributes.

So, whenever you hear that an organization is managing its culture or that consultants have been brought in to transform organizational culture, keep in mind that culture can only be shaped to a degree and only insofar as it aligns with leadership. In other words, true cultural transformation is only possible if the leadership team itself changes. Even then, significant effort is required, as the cultural trajectory is deeply embedded in long-held assumptions, beliefs, values, and behaviors.


Reference:

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.