6.1 Strategy and organisational culture Flashcards
To be able to understand the culture of an organisation requires us to consider its _________.
History
A frequently occurring definition of the word “culture” with many different citations is ___________________
“the way we do things around here”
Schein believes there are three distinct levels of culture that operate unconsciously to create the organisation’s culture, drawn as a pyramid. What are these?
1) Underlying assumptions
2) Values
3) Artefacts
Johnson argues that much of emergent strategy is based on incremental change which develops from organisational changes and detected four phases of change collectively called “Strategic Drift”. What are these four stages?
1) Incremental strategic change
2) Strategic drift
3) Flux
4) Transformation or death
Johnson believes there are three cultural frames in which an individual operates. What are they?
1) Geographic - national and regional influences
2) Organisational field - the sector or industry
3) Organisation - the mix of subcultures and divisions within an organisation
What are Harrison and Handy’s four cultural types?
1) Power orientation - the attempt to dominate the operating environment
2) Role orientation - a focus on legality, legitimacy and responsibility
3) Task orientation - the highest value always being achieving the goals
4) Person orientation - serving the needs of members
What are Deal and Kennedy’s four organisational cultures?
1) Macho, tough-guy culture
2) Process culture
3) Work and play hard culture
4) Bet your company culture
Johnson draws a daisy to show interactions between stories, symbols, power structures, organisational structures, control systems and rituals to create a “current paradigm”. What is the name of this description?
“The Cultural Web”
The culture is the lifeblood of the organisation. It helps us to identify how things happen, and how and why people behave in particular ways. It is possible for the majority of employees to be driven by an overriding and often unchallenged set of values. This is described as a ____________ culture.
dominant
Give two examples of companies that have failed to respond to technological change as a result of a weak culture.
IBM
Kodak
Who said “culture eats strategy for breakfast”?
Mark Fields, President of the Ford Motor Company (2006)
The Culture Coalition Project identifies a list of areas which require constant vigilance to ensure alignment of strategy with the culture of the organisation. Name three of the six areas.
Silo thinking Dominant chief executive Leadership arrogance Lack of openness to challenge Lack of diversity Hierarchical attitude
Carter’s organisational model suggests that the culture is best developed and sustained through a recognition of the ___________ structures within an organisation, which can be described as the fault lines that run underneath the surface of the earth.
power
Thaler and Sunstein suggest that a change of culture will often happen most effectively if started with a _______ to help move another person in a different direction.
nudge
Gert Hofstede found five major dimensions that exist within national culture:
1) P____ d_______ - the distribution of power
2) U___________ a_________ - the extent to which people are threatened by unusual situations
3) I__________ vs c_____________ - the differing roles of individuals and groups
4) M_________ vs f__________ - the differing perspectives of and beliefs about gender
5) C__________ d_______ - does the organisation and its society embrace change or focus on the past?
1) Power distance - the distribution of power
2) Uncertainty avoidance - the extent to which people are threatened by unusual situations
3) Individualism vs collectivism - the differing roles of individuals and groups
4) Masculinity vs femininity - the differing perspectives of and beliefs about gender
5) Confucian dynamism - does the organisation and its society embrace change or focus on the past?
