Exploring_Strategy_10th_Edition(3) Page No 167

Please answer Question No.2 & 4

DEBATE KEY DEBATE Understanding organisational culture If organisational culture is so important an influence on strategy, then understanding what it is and its influences are of key importance. But is this possible? There are many tools and techniques for analysing strongly ordered and superficial view on culture'. organisational cultures. Denison Consulting.' based The need is for a more careful interpretation and a in Ann Arbour, Michigan, employs the Denison model recognition of variations within a culture. to help clients diagnose their cultures. Consensualising culture. 'Shared meanings do not Denison argues that there are four key cultural necessarily imply consensus and harmony...an traits that affect performance measures such as pro organisation may be characterised by shared ideas fitability, sales growth, quality, and market value. and beliefs about the significance of self interest, Founder Dan Denison explained: fierce internal competition and a view of corporate "Generally speaking, an organisation's sense of life as fairly harsh and jungle-like. Mission and its Adaptability can forecast its growth Totalising culture. Assuming that a culture can be rate fairly well. A growth company sets its vision on captured once and for all' when it is the shared external markets, and is sensitive to the changes in meanings on a specific topic that is of interest to the market. Its actions are informed by the market pay attention to such as core competences or the and it clearly understands the significance of its future of an industry. existence in the market. If a corporation has strong Involvement and consistency, and the company Unifying culture 'Equating cultural boundaries culture is very "internal," the company may not with formal or legal ones, as implied by terms such grow quickly, but performance indicators such as as corporate culture or national culture. quality and efficiency are typically pretty good. Alvesson grants, however, that there are sometimes Innovative companies always get high scores in pragmatic reasons... for simplifications and the aspects of Adaptability and involvement. A com expression of something accessible - which often pany with a strong Mission and consistency will have leads to some of the sins above... My point is, steady performance over a long time period.' however, that the traps and temptations should be These traits are further broken down into 60 items, handled with great care and care taken that they are measured via a five point Likert scale in a survey that not "privileged". managers can complete. The results produce a pic sources ture of the culture. Denison argues that the highest- 1. www.denisonconsulting.com 2. Xuejun YI. The yin and yang of corporate culture. Harvard performing firms are those that score high on all four Business Review. China, January 2008. Pp. 70-82. of the key traits. It also suggests that survey results 3. M. Avesson, Understanding Organisational Culture, Sage, 2002, can be used to identify the weaknesses in an organ- Pp. 186-9. isation's culture, track changes in the culture and benchmark against other companies. Questions However, Mats Alvesson suggests that there is a tendency to simplify and trivialise what organisa 1 Which of Alvesson's 'sins' apply to the tional culture means. Managers often fall victim to Denison model? 'sins' that include: 2 To what extent do Alvesson's sins apply to the cultural web? Reifying culture. Seeing culture as something "thing like that, for example, directly links to per 3 If, as Alvesson suggests, pragmatically some formance or can be readily managed. What really of the sins are difficult to avoid, how can matters is the meaning shared by a collective and managers avoid 'privileging' them? that is a more complex idea. 4 Undertake a cultural analysis of an organisa- tion. To what extent did you find yourself Essentialising culture: Describing culture in terms of a few essential traits. The danger is a 100 committing any of the 'sins? DEBATE KEY DEBATE Understanding organisational culture If organisational culture is so important an influence on strategy, then understanding what it is and its influences are of key importance. But is this possible? There are many tools and techniques for analysing strongly ordered and superficial view on culture'. organisational cultures. Denison Consulting.' based The need is for a more careful interpretation and a in Ann Arbour, Michigan, employs the Denison model recognition of variations within a culture. to help clients diagnose their cultures. Consensualising culture. 'Shared meanings do not Denison argues that there are four key cultural necessarily imply consensus and harmony...an traits that affect performance measures such as pro organisation may be characterised by shared ideas fitability, sales growth, quality, and market value. and beliefs about the significance of self interest, Founder Dan Denison explained: fierce internal competition and a view of corporate "Generally speaking, an organisation's sense of life as fairly harsh and jungle-like. Mission and its Adaptability can forecast its growth Totalising culture. Assuming that a culture can be rate fairly well. A growth company sets its vision on captured once and for all' when it is the shared external markets, and is sensitive to the changes in meanings on a specific topic that is of interest to the market. Its actions are informed by the market pay attention to such as core competences or the and it clearly understands the significance of its future of an industry. existence in the market. If a corporation has strong Involvement and consistency, and the company Unifying culture 'Equating cultural boundaries culture is very "internal," the company may not with formal or legal ones, as implied by terms such grow quickly, but performance indicators such as as corporate culture or national culture. quality and efficiency are typically pretty good. Alvesson grants, however, that there are sometimes Innovative companies always get high scores in pragmatic reasons... for simplifications and the aspects of Adaptability and involvement. A com expression of something accessible - which often pany with a strong Mission and consistency will have leads to some of the sins above... My point is, steady performance over a long time period.' however, that the traps and temptations should be These traits are further broken down into 60 items, handled with great care and care taken that they are measured via a five point Likert scale in a survey that not "privileged". managers can complete. The results produce a pic sources ture of the culture. Denison argues that the highest- 1. www.denisonconsulting.com 2. Xuejun YI. The yin and yang of corporate culture. Harvard performing firms are those that score high on all four Business Review. China, January 2008. Pp. 70-82. of the key traits. It also suggests that survey results 3. M. Avesson, Understanding Organisational Culture, Sage, 2002, can be used to identify the weaknesses in an organ- Pp. 186-9. isation's culture, track changes in the culture and benchmark against other companies. Questions However, Mats Alvesson suggests that there is a tendency to simplify and trivialise what organisa 1 Which of Alvesson's 'sins' apply to the tional culture means. Managers often fall victim to Denison model? 'sins' that include: 2 To what extent do Alvesson's sins apply to the cultural web? Reifying culture. Seeing culture as something "thing like that, for example, directly links to per 3 If, as Alvesson suggests, pragmatically some formance or can be readily managed. What really of the sins are difficult to avoid, how can matters is the meaning shared by a collective and managers avoid 'privileging' them? that is a more complex idea. 4 Undertake a cultural analysis of an organisa- tion. To what extent did you find yourself Essentialising culture: Describing culture in terms of a few essential traits. The danger is a 100 committing any of the 'sins