There are a number of universal truths.
“Water is wet”
“Gravity sucks”
“Shit Happens” – at least according to Forest Gump
“The Springboks are the best rugby team in the world”
Granted, the final truth may invite some debate from a small island in the South Pacific but we’re getting off-track now.
Universal truths are statements, perspectives and opinions that, as the name suggests, are not open to debate or discussion.
Just like the advice to never discuss politics, sports or religion when you go into any bar anywhere in the world, universal truths just…are.
Then why is it so bloody impossible to come to a universal truth about organizational culture?
For the amount of handwringing angst (including by this writer), litres of ink spilt, and articles listed on Al Gore’s Information Superhighway – 185,000,000 but who’s counting – you’d think we would’ve come to a common definition and common perspective on what organizational culture is. And isn’t.
Please take the Survey and prove me wrong.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of smart, insightful passionate folks working in this area. And, if you listen to those folks as I do, there are hundreds of millions of people directly impacted by this organizational culture word.
Not to draw a false equivalency but if NATO had 23 different definitions of “hostilities” and Oncologists had 30 different definitions of cancer, how in the name of all that’s good and holy, could either of those groups ever succeed in their respective roles of keeping Europeans safe and humanity protected from cancer?
In the five or so years since I’ve been bitten by the culture bug, it’s been important that I get some grounding on the topic. And, like any new topic, you start at the basics…a common definition of the term or topic.
To that end, I’ve done some pretty extensive reading across both academic and commercial literature. In simple terms, Academic is work crafted by those with PH and D in their titles and typically originating from universities and centers of higher learning. Commercial includes individuals, organizations, consultancies and the like who exist to help counsel and guide organizations through these treacherous waters. My hair-splitting on those two sources is quite simple or naively ignorant. Academics commit themselves to deep, longitudinal, often controlled research environments. The goal is the research. Commercial commit themselves to helping clients address their culture issues and concerns. The goal is, eermm, commercial.
So how successful have I been after all that reading and accompanying eye strain?
Well, now you might understand the reference to lassoing smoke in the headline.
I’ve been exactly that successful.
Please take the Survey and prove me wrong.
Here is an abridged version of some that I’ve come across in my readings. Some that intellectually and practically make sense to me. One’s that I think could be used as a filter for any organizational culture exercise you might endeavour.
I’ve deliberately not credited the organizations or individuals to avoid any potential bias you Dear Reader may have toward an individual definition or organization.
Here goes:
The shared norms and expectations that govern the way people approach their work and interact with each other. Such norms and expectations shape how organizational members believe they are expected to behave in order to fit in, get things done, and at times simply survive.
Culture is the system of shared beliefs and behaviors that shapes how people work together and how work gets done in an organization. Put simply, culture is “the way we do things here.” Culture is an organization’s personality because these shared beliefs and behaviors influence how people make decisions and react to adversity, conflict, change, failure, and success.
Culture is the way to create influence: the collection of beliefs, mindsets, mental models, values, principles, world views, and attitudes that inform the behaviors driving operational outcomes.
Culture is how things work around here or how the place functions. It’s all about patterns of thinking and relating that tell people how to behave in an organization.
The underlying beliefs, assumptions, values and ways of interacting that contribute to the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.
A culture comes into existence whenever a group of people share the same basic living conditions and so band together to share beliefs about the rules of survival and emotional prosperity. It is an independent self-protective organism that obsessively collects information and attempts to verify these beliefs to first ensure its safety.
The tacit social order of an organization that shapes attitudes and behaviors in wide-ranging and durable ways. Cultural norms define what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted, or rejected within a group.
Culture is the set of important understandings that members of a community share in common. It consists of a basic set of values, ideas, perceptions, preferences, concept of morality, code of conduct etc. which create a distinctiveness among human groups.
Culture is the behaviors and beliefs that are common amongst employees and management at a company and determines how they interact with one another as well as customers and suppliers. Culture often develops organically based on the traits of the management team and the people the company hires.
Those are just a few of the 30 or so definitions that the internet threw up. Granted there are a number of common themes (or words at least) but there’s still way too much variance IMHO.
Those are fascinating Hilton but so what?
Well, if passionate practitioners and celebrated culture consultants can’t agree on a single common definition, what hope is there for anyone else trying to build, nurture, create or transform a culture?
More directly, as everyone’s favourite wild-haired Austrian mathematician would say “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Surely, we can do better.
The First Rule of “Culture Club” is you never talk about “Culture Club”