Blaming Culture
“Blame the organization culture.” A popular excuse among OD practitioners when facing a peculiar or inexplicable resistance to change. This is a missed opportunity to explain the intricate ways in which culture influences an organization's structure, practices, and operational norms. A few practitioners even add to the confusion by introducing terms like "DNA" or "soul" of the organization. Notice how we can sidestep the fundamental questions away from culture. What defines our organization's culture? How will it impact the change process? How can we finetune our prevailing culture? Failure to dig deeper may render the intervention inadequate.
For organization development (OD) consultants, describing and understanding an organization's culture is crucial yet incredibly complex. The traditional organizational typologies and models we learned in OD 101 vastly oversimplified the rich tapestry of cultures that exist. Attempting to force an organization into simplistic boxes like "hierarchy culture" or "adhocracy culture" is akin to describing a Renaissance painting solely as "red" or "blue."
Typologies of Culture
Here are 4 of the more popular ones: (a) Competing Values Framework[1] ticks 4 main culture types: Clan, Adhocracy, Market, and Hierarchy; (b) Organizational Culture Profile[2] lists 7 cultural dimensions: Innovation, Support, Rules, Outcome Orientation, Decisiveness, Consistency, and Job Security; (c) Deal and Kennedy[3] points to 4 cultural types: Tough-Guy Macho, Work Hard/Play Hard, Bet-Your-Company, and Process; and (d) Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions[4] that surface 4 dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism vs. Collectivism, Masculinity vs. Femininity, and Uncertainty Avoidance), which were later expanded to include two more dimensions (Long-Term Orientation and Indulgence vs. Restraint).
Culture is a Coloring Book
In his ground-breaking perspective in Reinventing Organizations,[5] Frederic Laloux suggested using an imprecise yet illuminating metaphor of color palettes. Like the endless shades, hues, and combinations of color, organization cultures blend various values, assumptions, behaviors and artifacts in intricate ways. OD practitioners must develop an eye for these subtleties to properly diagnose cultures and design interventions.
He posits 3 broad "palettes" of organization paradigms: (a) The Red Palette ("Impulsive-Red"): Cultures based on fear, power, and control; (b) The Amber Palette ("Conformist-Amber"): Cultures of hierarchy, roles, processes; and (c) The Orange Palette ("Achievement-Orange"): Cultures prioritizing profit and meritocracy.
These broad brushstrokes only capture the overall tone or foundation of a culture. Like mixing paints, the real cultural essence emerges by blending various shades within and across palettes. A single organization may contain fiery reds in certain departments, earthy amber-browns in others, with bright streaks of risk-taking orange innovative thinking. Some pockets resist change, clinging to darker hues, while others surge ahead with lighter, more vibrant tones. Masterful OD artists must learn to discern and choreograph these cultural colors.
Using Colors in Diagnosis
Diagnosing organizational culture begins by surveying the full chromatic range. We must pay attention not just to the boldest, most visible colors (artifacts, physical spaces, explicit policies) but also the subtler undertones (unstated assumptions, unwritten rules, shifting moods and energies). Overlooking muted but influential shades leads to incomplete and inaccurate cultural portraits.
Even correctly identifying a culture's palette poses challenges. Differences in individual perception akin to colorblindness emerge, with some insiders utterly blind to certain cultural hues. An overemphasis on measurable "green" (profit) may gradually desensitize people to the warmer tones of trust, care and collaboration. Outdated paradigms retained in legacy processes and habits linger in drab, muddied shades. Sometimes we need to step back and let our eyes re-adjust to notice the vibrant colors trying to emerge.
The Colors of Interventions
Perhaps the greatest difficulty comes in coping with change and transformation. Evolving an organization's culture is a delicate process of blending, shading, layering and editing the color palette over time. Abruptly scraping off old layers and slapping on new tones rarely works. The original paints, however faded, contain cultural memory and meaning. We must learn to gently restore, augment and rearrange existing colors into updated compositions.
Maintaining culture also requires constant realignment, as colored drifts and bleeds are inevitable. The bright pinks of edgy creativity can fade into insipid pastels without continual refreshing. Bursts of energizing reds (passion) must be balanced with steady applications of stabilizing blues (clarity) and purples (meaning). Too much of any one hue leads to loss of cohesion and vibrancy in the larger work.
Finally, we must accept that cultural colors constantly evolve based on changing conditions, contexts and palettes. Like a living masterpiece, vibrant organization cultures never fully dry and harden. The most timeless works somehow transcend their era to reveal deeper, archetypal beauty. Perhaps, the challenge for cultural OD artists is brushing onwards towards more boundless, life-affirming expressions - while drawing from the richest heritage palettes. Such mastery eludes defined models or definitions, yet lives in the practice of those who can embody the full spectrum of possibility.
So, what’s the color of your organization culture?
NOTES:
Forthcoming Events for OD Professionals
1. ODPN Conversations. Coming this year. 3 transformative themes that will redefine how you engage, innovate, and thrive in your organizations.
Theme A: Recharge Your Workforce (March - April)
Leap into the digital era with Organizational Engagement for Our Post-Pandemic World.
(a) Decode the hush-hush whispers of Quiet Resignation and turn them into roars of commitment in April and (b) Master the art of Leveraging Emotions to fuel a passionate and high-performing organizational heartbeat in April.
2. In-person OD Courses led by our OD Experts: (a) Essentials of OD - Ms Milalin Javellana and Ms Tita Puangco and (b) Diagnosing Organizations - Dr Joy Teng-Calleja - June 20.
3. ODLab24 will happen on July 4 to 5 in the City of Smiles, Bacolod City. Save the date. Watch for more announcements in this space.
4. Ed Canela Courses:
1. AI Unveiled: Harnessing the Benefits with Mindful Safeguards, Zonta International in the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Thailand (by Invites Only), 13 April 2024.
2. Webinar on Transformative Leaders: Lead to Learn by Legacy 17, 5-7 May 2024, Lund, Sweden. SAVE THE DATES! Visit: LinkedIn OR Facebook.
3. SAIDI Webinars: (a) AI for HRODProfessionals August 1, 2, and 5 from 9:30 am~4:00 pm for HR/OD Professionals, Trainers, Consultants, Senior Managers, and PhD candidates; (b) 2ndAI for Academics, Sept 5, 6 and 9 from 9:30 am~4:00 pm for Academics, Principals, Teachers, Education Advocates, and CHED/DepED specialists and staff. Contact SAIDI for Early Bird and discounts. E-mail or call: Cynthia Cruz at cecruz@saidi.edu.ph or 8-5545373.
4. 5th Data Analytics for MSMEs. 3 Saturdays (July, 2024) In-Person hands-on at the University of the Philippines Institute for Small Scale Industries (UPISSI) REGISTER NOW. REACH US AT: University of the Philippines Institute for Small-Scale Industries Room 401, Fourth Floor, E. Virata Hall, E. Jacinto Street, UP Campus, Diliman Quezon City, Philippines 1101 Trunk Line: 8981-8500 loc. 4054 or connect to our Facebook site.
5. UP ISSI AI Appreciation Course for MSMEs (COPE). April 25, 2024, 2:00 to 4:00 pm webinar. Contact Joanna Rose T. Laddaran (jtladdaran@up.edu.ph). Join us for FREE.
[1] Robert E. Quinn and John Rohrbaugh (1983). A spatial model of effectiveness criteria: Towards a competing values approach to organizational analysis. Management Science, 29(3), 363-377.
[2] Charles W. L. Hill and Gareth R. Jones (2001). Strategic management: An integrated approach. Houghton Mifflin.
[3] Terrence E. Deal and Allan A. Kennedy (1982). Corporate cultures: The rites and rituals of corporate life. Addison-Wesley.
[4] Geert Hofstede (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Sage Publications.
[5] Laloux, Frederic. Reinventing organizations. Nelson Parker, 2014.