Leading Projects In Organizations

SCS 1952

Session 2
Organizational Culture and
Environment

v1 August, 2013
Session Outline
1. Organizational Culture plays one of the largest roles in
achieving project success
2. Creating a Productive Project Team Culture

Learning Objectives
Define culture and understand its role in achieving project success
Review different models and kinds of culture
Understand the relationship between strategy, culture and leadership
Outline different leadership styles based on organization culture

*Please refer to the textbook for details on references and

sources of all information and exhibits
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Readings

Organizational Culture
Arora and Baronikian,
Leadership in Project Management, Second Edition
Chapter 4: Organizational Culture

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1. Organizational Culture plays one of the
largest roles in achieving project success

Culture isnt just one aspect of the game it is

the game. In the end, an organization is nothing
more than the collective capacity of its people to
create value.
- Lou Gerstner

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What Is Organizational Culture?

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Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions, values,
and behaviours that characterize the functioning of an
organization
Schneider defines culture as how we do things around here in
order to succeed
Culture provides order and structure for an organization
It is natural for an
organizations culture
to evolve and shift
over time

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Why is Culture So Important?

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The Organization Culture and Environment
An organizations culture inherits characteristics
from and is a subculture of the national culture
In project management, there are three cultures to
be dealt with simultaneously:
1. The culture of our
organization
2. The culture of the project
client
3. The culture of the Project
Team itself

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Culture and Organizational Behaviour
The culture of an organization is a major
influence on behaviours
Firms that
managed their
cultures well saw
4 times the revenue
increase vs firms
that didnt

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Culture and Leadership
People who work in
a firm with strong
organizational
culture know:
What their
organization expects
How to get the work
done

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Corporate Culture has a Significant Impact
on the Employee Experience

Source: Developing Corporate Culture as

a Competitive Advantage, Golnaz Sadri
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In the Compaq and HP merger, Barbara Braun, the VP for merger
integration at HP said
The easiest thing to do with culture is to simply choose one companys culture
as dominant. However, we believed it was important to get the best of both
HPs engineering culture and Compaqs marketing culture. We wanted to blend
the best of both cultures to create a new culture for the merged company.

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Environment is. . .
The surrounding conditions and influences that impact
on our lives our work, our health, our attitudes, our
relationships, our customs
An environment might be helpful, angry, supportive,
demanding, judgemental, forgiving, risky, creative,
stuck, friendly

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Environmental Influences
Standards and Regulations
International Standards
Organization (ISO), government
regulations, etc.
Internationalization
Working across national
boundaries
Consider time-zones, national
holidays, travel and health
requirements
Cultural, political and legal
differences
Cultural Influences
Beliefs and attitudes
Demographics
Educational
Ethical
Ethnic and religious
Social-Economic-
Environmental Sustainability
Intended and unintended
consequences
Positive and negative impacts
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Schneiders Model of Organizational Culture (1)
Schneiders model of organizational culture is a
powerful tool to categorize and understand cultures
It relates the four core cultures to four core
strategies and four core leadership practices

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Schneiders Model of Organizational Culture (2)

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Schneiders Model of the Four Core Cultures
Related to Strategic Desires
Each organization will have its own ideal
organizational culture based on its:
Central motivators
Drivers
Goals

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Control Culture
Control culture is very much oriented toward the present and
is highly focused
on organizational goal
attainment
Example organizations:
Kelloggs
Procter & Gamble
Exxon
Marriott Hotels

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Collaboration Culture
Collaboration culture is primarily
driven by respecting, gathering
and exploiting the collective
experience and thinking of
participants
This culture is centred on
achieving a unique goal for
a client
Example organizations:
University Health Network
Delta Airlines
Motorola

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Competence Culture
Competence culture
is more task-
oriented and is
focused on the
future or possibility
Example
organizations:
Apple
Intel
ADP
Citicorp

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Cultivation Culture
Cultivation culture ensures the growth and fulfillment of
employees, staff and partners
Focused on values-
centered goal attainment
Example organizations:
Royal Bank of Canada
3M
Celestial Seasonings
Universities

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Schneiders Culture Model in terms of
Two Key Dimensions
Each of the four cultures is uniquely defined by:
Kind of input that is important [content]
Judgment and decision-making processes [process]
This leads to the two dimensions of:
Content Represented by vertical
Actuality
axis, with actuality (present focus)
and possibility (future focus ) as poles
Collaboration Control
Process Represented by horizontal axis,
with personal (people focus) and
impersonal (task focus) as poles Personal Impersonal
Cultivation Competence

Possibility 22
Denison Model of Organizational Culture
The Denison model is founded on the shared
beliefs and assumptions of the organization and
has four dimensions:
Adaptability
Mission
Involvement
Consistency

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Hofstede et als Ten Dimensions of
Organizational Culture (1)
Each of these ten
dimensions is
pertinent to the
functioning and
success of a project
team
Organizational culture
tends to play a stronger
role in achieving
success than even
organizational
structure

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Hofstede et als
Ten Dimensions
of Organizational
Culture (2)

Source: Figure 3.9 - Cultural Dimensions of an Organization Supportive of Project Management 25

(Gray & Larson, 2006, p76).
 Alignment Between Strategy, Culture And
Leadership is Critical
The artifacts and
behaviors of the
organization

Cost leadership
versus
How an organization differentiation
designs relationships aligned to culture
between areas or functions and structure

Culture eats strategy for breakfast

Peter Drucker
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Relationship of Schneiders Model to
Strategy and Leadership
For culture to have a
strong, positive effect
on an organization, it
needs to be aligned
with:
Organizational strategy
Leadership style in use

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Schneiders Model of the Four Core
Leadership Practices

A core culture
and leadership
style already exist
in any
organization,
whether these
have developed
organically
or deliberately

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2. Creating a Productive
Project Team Culture

The team culture cannot be left to just

happen. It requires leadership and role
modelling to recognize and instil the right
behaviours

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Project Team Culture
The PM is a major influencer of team culture
The PM must create the right, enabling and
energizing atmosphere for the project
Another important dimension of leadership!
Different types of team culture:
Paternalistic
Individualized
Collaborative

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Aspects of Team Culture and Performance

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Project Team Culture Cultural Architects
Beyond the PM, project teams may have one or
more cultural architects, the people whose
actions are most influential
Cultural architects behaviour will affect:
Accountability
Timeliness
Diligence
Quality work
And other team values
and behaviours

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Tactics to Build a Successful Team Culture
Some tactics to build a successful team culture
include:
Recruiting the right people with the right attitudes
Preparing and using a team charter
Holding well-designed, collaborative team meetings
Having open communication, incorporating active
listening
Ensuring assignment of clear roles and responsibilities
Engaging in ethical decision-making
Promoting a fun, mutually supportive environment

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Team Culture Model
The four major components of the model are:
Project Manager leadership
Organization performance management
Project management processes
Organization/project design
The outer circle in the
model represents the
overall culture of
the organization

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Your Role as the Project Leader

Know the culture and environment in which you

are or will be working and know it well!
You can create, at least to some extent, your own
project culture
What kind of Project Team do you want?

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Some Critical Points for Team Operation

Do we have a way of making decisions that everyone

agrees with? For instance, is it a consensus system or a
majority vote?
Do we know each others strengths (and challenges) and
are we using that knowledge and skills base effectively?
Do we have a strong conflict resolution process?
Do we have a good communication system in place? Are
we using the right medium to deliver needed messages, in
the right way, at the right time, with the right words?

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Chapter Summary (1)
Organizational culture is the set of values, beliefs,
shared assumptions, behavioural norms and
patterns of interaction that, together, characterize
an organization
Organizational culture influences behaviours and
the right culture results in stronger performance
Project leaders should understand and be alert to
the different kinds of organizational culture, each
of which promotes certain priorities and
behaviours

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Chapter Summary (2)
Alignment between culture, strategy and leadership
style is important for a project to be successful
Project team culture can and should be developed
in support of the project and project team, but must
ultimately be in the service of the organizations
core culture
The PM should take a leading role in establishing the
right team culture

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