What is Culture?

Basically, organizational culture is the personality of the organization. Culture is comprised of the
assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of organization members and their
behaviors. Members of an organization soon come to sense the particular culture of an
organization. Culture is one of those terms that's difficult to express distinctly, but everyone
knows it when they sense it. For example, the culture of a large, for-profit corporation is quite
different than that of a hospital which is quite different than that of a university. You can tell the
culture of an organization by looking at the arrangement of furniture, what they brag about, what
members wear, etc. -- similar to what you can use to get a feeling about someone's personality.

Corporate culture can be looked at as a system. Inputs include feedback from, e.g., society,
professions, laws, stories, heroes, values on competition or service, etc. The process is based on
our assumptions, values and norms, e.g., our values on money, time, facilities, space and people.
Outputs or effects of our culture are, e.g., organizational behaviors, technologies, strategies,
image, products, services, appearance, etc.

The concept of culture is particularly important when attempting to manage organization-wide

change. Practitioners are coming to realize that, despite the best-laid plans, organizational
change must include not only changing structures and processes, but also changing the
corporate culture as well.

There's been a great deal of literature generated over the past decade about the concept of
organizational culture -- particularly in regard to learning how to change organizational culture.
Organizational change efforts are rumored to fail the vast majority of the time. Usually, this failure
is credited to lack of understanding about the strong role of culture and the role it plays in
organizations. That's one of the reasons that many strategic planners now place as much
emphasis on identifying strategic values as they do mission and vision.

Some Types of Culture

There are different types of culture just like there are different types of personality. Researcher
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld identified the following four types of cultures.
Academy Culture

Employees are highly skilled and tend to stay in the organization, while working their way up the
ranks. The organization provides a stable environment in which employees can development and
exercise their skills. Examples are universities, hospitals, large corporations, etc.
Baseball Team Culture

Employees are "free agents" who have highly prized skills. They are in high demand and can
rather easily get jobs elsewhere. This type of culture exists in fast-paced, high-risk organizations,
such as investment banking, advertising, etc.
Club Culture

The most important requirement for employees in this culture is to fit into the group. Usually
employees start at the bottom and stay with the organization. The organization promotes from
within and highly values seniority. Examples are the military, some law firms, etc.
Fortress Culture

Employees don't know if they'll be laid off or not. These organizations often undergo massive
reorganization. There are many opportunities for those with timely, specialized skills. Examples
are savings and loans, large car companies, etc.

Additional Links
What is a Corporate Culture?
Interpersonal Interaction Model
What is Corporate Culture? - Corporate culture is one of those focus areas that are not always
fully understood.
Deviant Organization Culture
Cultural Change by Dr. David Potter
About Conducting Culture Assessments
4 Reasons Culture is So Important to Your Nonprofit
How to Build a High-Impact Learning Culture
Culture Trumps Strategy, Every Time - Nilofer Merchant - The Conversation - Harvard Business
Review

Also see
Cultural Change
Employee Wellness -- Diversity
Organizational Change

Return to Overview of Organizations

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Organisational Cultures

The infoKit on 'Creating a Managed Learning Environment' pays a lot of attention to

Understanding your Organisation and defines the following types of organisational culture:

Collegiate
 * There is a dual structure of administrative and academic management which results in
parallel committee structures which can act as a black hole for decision making.
* Unclear reporting lines and poor coordination, strong local cultures, agendas and identifiers.
* Academic status is perceived as higher than support or administrative functions.
* There are strong subject-specific allegiances with academics often feeling a stronger alliance
to their subject area and external networks than the institutional mission.
* Decision making occurs through committees, which can be slow and lack cohesion.
* Activities tend to be driven from the ground, primarily linked to local interests.
* Classic structure of old universities particularly those with more of a research focus.

Bureaucratic

* Characterised by strong central management and top-down decision making.

* The hierarchy of control and decision making is clearly established in the administrative and
management structures of the institutions.
* Management roles are clearly defined as career progressions, heads of department, deans
etc are appointed through an interview process to tenured positions.
* Central management have strong control over the direction of the strategic priorities for the
institution.
* Commonly found in FE colleges and new universities.

Innovative

* Institutions with flexible structures geared to respond and adapt quickly to external factors
and influences.
* Strong culture of change and innovation with frequent changes in directions of activities and
focus of interest.
* Often characterised by a matrix structure of responsibilities by both subject area and
functional activity (where the latter will often be structured around the identified strategic
priorities).
* Typically activities focused around particular projects and associated project teams.
* Characteristic of some new universities and colleges but also present within the old
universities within the sub-structure of the institution through enterprise centres and research
centres which are externally funded.

Enterprise

* More closely aligned to traditional businesses and industry approaches.

* Acutely aware of financial mechanism and processes and alert to external opportunities.
* Traditional management roles and structures with clear demarcation of responsibilities and
hierarchical decision making processes.
* Clear business objectives and plans based on detailed market analysis and needs.
* More common in America, particularly in some of the newer institutions which are focused on
distance education.

This definition by Professor Grainne Conole can be mapped onto the work of McNay (1995) to
identify some features of each type of organisation that are useful to consider when trying to
implement change:
Factor Collegiate Bureaucratic Innovative Enterprise
Dominant value Freedom Equity Loyalty Competence
Role of central authorities Permissive Regulatory Directive Supportive
Handy's organisational culture Person Role Power Task
Dominant unit Department/individual Faculty/committees Institution/senior management
team Sub-unit/project teams
Decision arenas Informal groups networks Committees and administrative briefings
 Working parties and Senior Management team Project teams
Management style Consensual Formal/'rational' Political/tactical Devolved
leadership
Timeframe Long Cyclic Short/mid term Instant
Environmental fit Evolution Stability Crisis Turbulence
Nature of change Organic innovation Reactive adaptation Proactive
transformation Tactical flexibility
External referents Invisible college Regulatory bodies Policy makers as
opinion leaders Clients/sponsors
Internal referents The discipline The rules The plans Market
strength/students
Basis for evaluation Peer assessment Audit of procedures Performance indicators
Repeat business
Student status Apprentice academic Statistic Unit of resource Customer
Administrator roles: servant of... The community The committee The chief executive The
client, internal and external

Some of those who have effected change in the education sector have noted a few lessons
related to the