Org Culture Leadership Leadership, Learning

Org Culture Leadership

Leadership, Learning and the Dimensions of Organizational Culture

Organizational theory and academic business discourse examine, amongst a host of other key organizational principles, the formal idea that leadership is an essential part of effective management, or, for that matter, an essential part of comprising an effective contribution to any working team. However, like many academic concepts which do not easily make the leap into real world applicability, this theoretical conception of leadership is just that, and in practice, this type of educational content and perspective is actually quite a bit less relevant than the curricula of formal education might argue. (Koskella, 2002; 1) While leadership is unquestionably an inborn talent that can be honed and improved, it is nonetheless an individualized talent and therefore both rarified and special. Such is to say that the dually important aspects of experience and ability are those which cannot be taught in an academic context. Especially in the organizational sense, one must gather and sharpen these respective qualities, suggesting that leadership theory bears only a passing relationship to those instincts and principles which one must know or of which one must be capable in order to function successfully in an organizational leadership role.

Of the functions and qualities attributed to managerial competency in the theoretical setting, perhaps leadership is an organizational and theoretical term most difficult to discern from the overall roles prescribed by a position in the fold of a company's management core. But in fact, leadership is a concept unto itself, that is necessary for sound management but is not exclusive to the purview of such positions. Indeed, it is a quality which can often mean the difference between effective management or authoritative impotence. However, on a humanist level taken apart from a discussion of management roles and corporate hierarchy, leadership is an ability which, either inborn or, developed through hard work and ingenuity, presents the members of the organization with a paragon to forging action toward rational and collective goals. While it is the responsibility of managerial personnel to issue directives, instructions and clarifications on goal-orientation, it is only a leader who can find ways to motivate the members of his organization. This is to make the overarching argument that the presence of a positive leadership model is a central part of defining the organizational culture which permeates a business context. Likewise, a negative model of leadership will have a damaging impact on the organizational culture. This dynamic reinforces the claim made by Schein (1992), "that leadership and culture are conceptually intertwined."

We will explore Schein's claims on two distinct levels hereafter. The first of these applies Bloom's Taxonomy to the intertwining relationship between leadership and organizational culture, with the model of education helping us to better understand the ways in which leadership will facilitate the learning of organizational culture. The second level of exploration will center on the Dimensions of Organizational Culture and will support the argument that these dimensions are driven by the orientation of the organization's leadership.

Bloom's Taxonomy:

According to Bloom's Taxonomy, there are six distinct levels at which learning occurs. Within the scope of these six levels, we can gain a greater understanding of the way that leadership will impart a cultural tenor within an organization and the way that personnel learn and adopt this culture. An evaluation of organizational cultural within the scope of these six levels can help us to understand the distinct role played by leadership in shaping behaviors, morale, motivation and procedural conditions for all members of an organization.

Learning Organizational Culture:

Indeed, Trice and Beyer (1993) report that the characteristics of organizational culture are found in the ideologies that influence the individual and group actions within the organization such as their beliefs, values, and norms, as well as their behaviors. Schein (1992) highlights that there are three levels of culture: "artifacts, espoused values, and the basic underlying assumptions" (p.17). Culture is what identifies the organization and determines its strategies and practices. Those strategies and practices are often accepted by the organization's members and taught to new comers upon their joining the organization. Indeed, Schein denotes that organizational culture is something which is learned, and that this process of inducing the cues provided by other members of an organization is conducted on a distinct learning curve. It is thus that familiarity and experience will play roles in the way that individuals learn to conduct themselves within the context of an organization.

Khasawneh (2005) states that learning is key to organizational development and competitiveness in that organizations should use learning to increase creativity and achieve their objectives and goals. Therefore organizations have to develop a learning-supportive culture. A learning-supportive culture emphasizes the acquisition and sharing of knowledge and rewards its members for doing so. To develop a learning culture is to create a set of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that support learning throughout all organization's levels. If the organization has a an "expansive learning environment" that does not restrict learning development to higher management only and an assumption that learning is central to all functions of the organization, then knowledge is likely to be shared freely between and across different departments and employees (Fuller & Unwin, 2004). Additionally, Lopez et al. (2004) state that a learning culture should have shared core assumptions that managing change should be a proactive process, that leaders should trust and respect employees, that the organization places value on teamwork, and that employees are trustworthy and will benefit the organization when empowered thusly.

Remembering Organizational Culture:

Cultural assumptions have a major impact on the stage of remembering where learning organizational culture is concerned. Assumptions influence the quantity, frequency, and type of learning that occurs within the organization. They also influence the way leaders and social units manage and promote learning across their organizations. It is manifested in the beliefs and practices that result from such assumptions. Therefore, Watkins (2003) suggests that leaders should create mechanisms that encourage employees to get involved and provide their feedback without fear of reprisal. Leaders should also introduce learning opportunities in teamwork, and have learning resources widely accessible across the organization levels. Additionally, leaders should create a "systems thinking" that enables organization members to participate in policy making, as well as have a system in place that rewards learning and creativity. These are all methods which denote am emphasis on recall of cultural values, with positive association helping to train personnel toward automatic reflection of these values.

Understanding Organizational Culture:

One of the most important ways in which organizational culture is learned is through the expression and demonstration of value systems on the part of leadership. In other words, once personnel have been familiarized with the practical implications of knowing and recalling cultural norms, adoption of the principles implied there within will demand a more nuanced recognition of that which is 'meant' by the culture's norms. To this point, Schein provides the fundamental assertion that in many organizational settings, the focus is heavily trained on cultural aspects with the understanding that all additional positives will emerge there from. Accordingly, he remarks that "in this context, managers speak of developing the 'right kind of culture,' a 'culture of quality' or a 'culture of customer service,' suggesting that culture has to do with certain values that managers are trying to inculcate in their organizations." (Schein, 7) This is to argue that leadership can incubate and direct a certain type of culture in which desired personnel behaviors and performance outcomes become a matter of inherency. When we speak of the creation of a company culture that is driven by ethical imperatives, for instance, it will not simply be enough for members of the organization to learn and remember conduct codes. There must be a more permeating understanding of these codes and the cause for their preeminence. This will emerge in an organization where leadership and personnel are programmed to share a value system that is inherently driven toward ethical priorities. These ethical priorities will be borne on the common grounds of industry, external culture and internal health.

Applying Organizational Culture:

Of course, education as to the semantic basis for certain cultural realities may not alone be sufficient. Absent of either the demonstration by leadership of participation with cultural norms or the selection of personnel capable of carrying out anticipated norms, a culture may not reflect that which is intended by its code of conduct. The process of application must also accord for the practical particulars of achieving a unified culture. This is driven by proper personnel recruitment. This is an efficiency of recruitment which must of course impact the initiation of leadership roles in an organization as well. Certainly, this is a condition where Simon is concerned with the positive capability and orientation of the suitable leadership candidate. At the core of his argument is Simon's position that "an extremely important function of authority is to secure decisions of a high quality of rationality and effectiveness. It had long been recognized that specialization is of fundamental importance to administrative efficiency, and it is hardly necessary to repeat here the stock examples which show how specialization may increase productivity." (Simon, 188) the fundamental perspective here is that leadership and the ability to apply actions based on culturally driven decisions are central to helping members of the organization learn in a concrete manner how best to accord with the reigning culture.

In order for this to occur though, there must be a certain initial scrutiny and selectiveness where leadership and personnel are concerned, endorsing an organization-wide emphasis on the quality of personnel. This implicitly brings us to consideration of the application phase in terms of learning organizational culture, which is inevitably associated to all actionable aspects of an organization's structure and operations. The correlation between recruitment, personnel makeup and leadership personalities is perhaps threaded by the common string of day-to-day responsibility within an organizational culture. And quite certainly, we see the stamp of organizational culture on so many of the most important applicable indicators. Schein, to this end, points out that "researchers have supported some of these views by reporting findings that cultural 'strength' or certain kinds of cultures correlate with economic performance." (Schein, 7) This means that at the stage of application, leadership and personnel must become increasingly focused on the way that established norms connect to genuine performance realities.

Analyzing Organizational Culture:

Learning organizational culture is a process which must be enforced not just through understanding and habit but also through a critical reflection of the individual strands comprising said culture. Schein (1992) explains that there are visible and invisible levels of organizational culture which are due for analysis. The visible levels are the observable behavior, symbols, architecture, and dress code that differentiate organizations' members. The invisible levels are the underlying values, assumptions, beliefs, and feelings of the organization's members. As the Schein text denotes, "if the group's survival is threatened because elements of its culture have become maladapted, it is ultimately the function of leadership to recognize and do something about the situation" (Schein, 1992, p.5), therefore Schein (2004) emphasizes that it is leaders should pay attention to the two levels of culture, especially the latter. According to the author, the invisible levels of culture are the driving force behind the visible levels. They represent the deepest level of culture and are taken for granted by every organization's member. Proper organizational analysis will therefore reveal the underlying forces contributing to the organization's more apparent identifying features.

Evaluating Organizational Culture:

To better evaluate their organizations and rebalance them support new practices and values, leaders must understand that organizations could have more than one culture. Schein (1992) also notes that even in the case where an organization has only one culture, it is always a possibility that different subcultures emerge within different groups of the organization. Those subcultures may not necessarily represent the organizational culture. Being wary of the different types of culture will also help leaders of organizations understand how their strategies could have different impacts within their organizations. To this end, Schein observes the following:

"Cultures and leadership are two sides of the same coin in that leaders first create cultures when they create groups and organizations. Once cultures exist, they determine the criteria for leadership and thus determine who will or will not be a leader. But if cultures become dysfunctional, it is the unique function of leadership to perceive the functional and dysfunctional elements of the existing culture and to manage cultural evolution and change in such a way that the group can survive in a changing environment" (Schein, 1992, p. 15).

When cultures and subcultures are not compatible with the organization's strategies, they can create several problems for leaders that can be difficult to manage (Brown, 1998). Therefore, leaders must be in a position to fully and accurately evaluate the culture of their organization at its different levels including the assumptions, beliefs, and practices. (Bowditch & Buono, 1994). Indeed, in order to effect positive maintenance or change, leaders must identify the type of culture already present and the type which they might aspire to create. As they make such evaluations, leaders must also be wary of the complexity of the relationship between culture and performance, and that it will take more than simply altering the behavior of the organization to achieve results. Indeed, attempting to shift cultural norms or to create a new cultural umbrella -- with creation being a 7th stage of learning added to more current diagrams of Bloom's Taxonomy -- means that each of the stages discussed here above must be incorporated into the leadership strategy.

The Dimensions of Organizational Culture:

Psychological Dimensions:

More than efficiency, which denotes a manager distinguished by sensible use of time, concise delegation and technical proficiency, effectiveness denotes a leader who yields these properties from a staff. In relation, organizational leadership must therefore be devoted in a large part to the administration of morale and motivation. Indeed, the ability to effect these psychological responses in personnel is a quality which can often mean the difference between effective administration or authoritative impotence. While it is the responsibility of administrative personnel to issue directives, instructions and clarifications on goal-orientation, it is only a leader who can find ways to motivate the members of his organization. To some theorists, this is a process which is defined according to the psychological dimension of leadership, which has a driving impact on the cultural tenor for an organization and its members.

For instance, Arnold, Cooper, and Robertson (1995) consider stress to be an individual's physiological response to the forces created by his environment. Piderit (2000) indicates that organization's members' attitudes towards a culture and its leadership can be seen in their cognitions, reactions, and emotional tendency towards the process. This means that active and willing participation in the perpetuation of a company's norms will require a positive psychological response to the propose culture. Simon determines that in order to forge a positive cultural atmosphere, it is absolutely necessary to create an environment which is positive and accommodating to the needs of personnel. Simon contends that "the construction of an efficient administrative organization is a problem in social psychology. It is a task of setting up an operative staff and superimposing on that staff a supervisory staff capable of influencing the operative group toward a pattern of coordinated and effective behavior." (Simon, 2) in other words, available research posits the idea that the tenor provided by leadership will have a determinant psychological impact on the behaviors and practices which become culturally normative within an organizational context.

To the same point, Schein's addresses with the importance of decision-making in the process of defining and maintaining a psychologically positive organizational culture. Inded, he acknowledges that this is part and parcel to the process by which leadership garners, courts, and maintains an effective interest on the part of personnel in upholding key decisions. As Schein argues based on his experience in one of his ethnographic immersion projects, "to reach a decision . . . one had to convince others of the validity of one's idea and be able to defend it against every conceivable argument. This caused high levels of confrontation and fighting that I observed in these groups, but once an idea had stood up to this level of debate and survived, it could then be moved forward and implemented because everyone was now convinced it was the right thing to do." (Schein, 43)

This denotes a fundamental psychological benefit to creating an organizational culture in which conflict is managed, open discourse is fostered and members of the staff are allowed to feel that they have taken a direct part in the decision-making process. The psychological impact of this type of working atmosphere may be tantamount to the fluid exchange of ideas, the tendency of personnel to take initiative in their work and the creation of an environment ripe for innovation

Social Dimensions:

The internal culture of any industry, agency or organization is to a significant degree molded by the communication, interpersonal interaction and reflection of shared interests. These features comprise a social context through which leadership and personnel will engage a certain reciprocity. This is to say that in order for a leader to purport an expected set of cultural norms, it will be necessary for a social context to exist which facilitates any such expectations.

As the text states in its primary argument, "culture is an abstraction, yet the forces that are created in social and organizational situations that derive from culture are powerful. If we don't understand the operation of these forces, we become victim to them." (Schein, 3) Here, Schein is arguing that the effective organizational administration will be responsible for establishing and maintaining a positive organizational culture, within which personnel as levels below administration are themselves capable of making correct or competent decisions. This is to indicate that there are unmistakable social imperatives in play which drive members to seek coalescence with the approach taken by Schein is particularly distinguishable, with his ethnographic immersion into varying organizational cultures providing an illuminating discussion on the way that differing sociological characteristics encourage different modes of organizational behavior and commitment. His evaluation of organizational theories takes on added relevance based on its practical application to real-world social situations. For instance, he provides at one point, some insights into the manner in which the orientation and makeup of organizational leadership can create cultural crises impacting future outcomes. In his immersion into one culture, he observed in one instance that "most of the managers in the room had grown up under those strong leaders and had enjoyed that period of their history very much. Now, however, all the founders had either retired, left, or died, and the divisions were led by general managers who did not have the same charisma the founders had." (Schein, 350) the outcome was a waning sense of unity and security throughout the organization, demonstrating the close correlation between the suitability of leadership and the degree to which this leadership defined the social schema defining one dimension of organizational culture.

Here, we are also referred to the idea previously stated that the ability to weather conflict and achieve resolution is far more constructive than simply avoiding conflict altogether. Its inevitability illustrates that the strong leader must fundamentally demonstrate the ability to yield meaningful and organizationally-informed decisions, especially in the face of the likely challenges that are inherent to effective administration. Indeed, the capacity of a leader to effectively receive such collective support as to positively impact the overall organizational culture will hinge very much on how well that leaders perceives and addresses the social needs constructed by the organization's personnel.

Behavioral Dimensions:

Behavior is a general term for the practical ways that tasks are accomplished, that directives are given, that policies are enacted and to which individuals are expected to comport with one another. This is a dimension of organizational culture that proceeds from the decisions made at the administrative level and the effectiveness with which these decisions are disseminated from leadership on down. Simon (1997) takes the perspective that decision-making is a central part of effective organizational administration. He argues that the administrative leadership of an organization will be defined not just by how well it implements policy or leads on a day-to-day basis but on how it has rendered the decisions that shape the future and likely outcomes for the organization. Simon's primary argument and the basic premise of his text is that "although any practical activity involves both 'deciding' and 'doing,' it has not commonly been recognized that a theory of administration should be concerned with the processes of decision as well as with the processes of action." (Simon, 1) Thus, it is understood that Simon's text is primarily concerned with demonstrating the importance of competent decision-making as the basis for effective organizational stewardship. This an illustration of the way that leadership can shape the behavioral realities present in an organization, with the resolute orientation of an organizational leader providing the blueprint for action in any number of different organizational areas and allowing personnel to take an active part in defining the behavioral dimension of the organization's culture.