Oct 19 2009
Reflections for My Mirror, Organizational Learning: #4 – The In’s and Out’s of Culture
We learned through Schein’s text that culture and leadership are intertwined, so what happens when you have a defined culture but very little leadership? This is the situation I find myself in right now. I have explained in past posts that my department has a huge lack of leadership (which has increased even more so since my last post.) My supervisor has not only turned the leadership switch to “off,” but has now moved into the new building, in an office as far away from myself and the other faculty members as possible. It’s quite clear to everyone now how he feels and what his intentions are. So, after our discussion on culture and understanding how it’s learned, I am trying to pin-point where my department stands.
Many things came to mind as I was reading the text and as we were talking during class. I remember when I first came to work here, the culture seemed much ingrained. Many of my co-workers have been in the same positions for 20+ years, so they have seen the School of Dentistry’s culture and climate change drastically. Each dean brings his own ideas on management and teaching practices, and this trickles down through the departments and clinics. The same principles apply to each department, and what each director brings to the table or has instilled in the faculty/staff/employees. It didn’t take me long to realize the culture of the school and the department, because the people I was surrounded by didn’t hide their thoughts and feelings towards the administration. I’m finally to the point, about 2 years later, where I am finally seeing the school through my own eyes and developing my own opinion. I’m also finally comfortable enough to talk about what changes I see that need to happen, and share what I am, and have been, pleased and disappointed with.
We talked about the culture being the memory of the organization. I also think that in a work setting like mine, the culture is also the memory of the department, which makes up the organization. My department has always done things a little differently than the rest of the school because we aren’t as focused on the clinical/teaching aspect. We solely do research, which either intimidates or confuses people. However, with the search for the new Director, everyone in the school seems to be invested in who this person will be and what he/she will be able to do for them. The rest of dental school is finally interested in our culture and climate change and what it will do for the organization. Are the faculty who have been around for 10, 15, 20+ years anxious about this new person, and how he/she will change the culture? It’s so different from the time I stepped foot into my position, where no one outside of my department seemed to care or invest interest in what went on, to now everyone wanting to know what’s going on, what will this person do, what will change?
I’ve walked through the school before and thought to myself, “if these walls could talk…” This makes me think about the memory of an organization – the memories and history of the dental school that make up the culture. Culture is a powerful word. Memory is a very powerful word, too. Understanding it completely seems impossible. I wonder if 20 years from now, if I walked back through the dental school and my department, would the values, beliefs, assumptions that make up the culture be the same?
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I struggle with the same things in the blood bank. We have tons of people in my department that have been there for many years, 4 or 5 of them for 30 plus years! But we also have people who have just graduated from school. Our manager has been with us less than 10 years and only been manager for 3. The long timers have a lot of difficulty with change in the department. I try and see the same situations through their different perspectives, but it is hard. One guy who works in my department just celebrated 40 years and I find it funny that every time something changes he says, if one more thing changes I am outta here, but he never is. I don’t know if I am going to be still working here in 20 0r 30 years but I try to think about what it would be like then and how I am going to react to changes in the culture as I continue to work here. We have a lot of problems, most stemming from cultural perspectives of each different shift. I don’t know the solution but I am hoping Schein can shed some light on it for me.
What an interesting place to be – at the cusp of a new era. The dawn of a new day. The birth of a new evolution of your department & organization’s culture.
I love the phrase if walls could talk. Boy howdy what we could learn. I expect when you finish your M.Ed. you’ll be leaving this job when you find one using your degree. Have you thought about what you, as one of the members of the department, contribution to the department’s memory will be? What have you already instilled? I’m sure you’ve made a cultural impact already of some level.
That’s funny to think about as we’re not the major leaders of our groups yet. But we’re influential members I’m sure. Even if it’s at a lower level. But your perspective looking around, watching how now your department is attracting attention, how it never used to. Maybe you could use this attention to help make some needed changes starting from the grass roots level & up? Who knows?
Just wanted to put my two cents in though unsolicited….
You’re so right. Memory is a very powerful thing for any developing organization or individual. As individuals, we test and retest our suppositions until we can firm up a meaning and consequence with which to refer.
I don’t know if we anthromorphize organizations because they are composed of individuals or because they serve individuals. It seems as if organizations mature the same way people do. Young children in social settings usually reject difference and pass judgment very quickly on those who are different. I’d be interested to see if developmentally immature organizations practice the same kind of instantaneous rejection or judgment on those who do not immediately fit. We know that a shift in culture leaves behind those who do not grow with it. For instance, Schein uses Ken Olson’s forced resignation as an example. I believe a learning organization will value difference as a way to test their abilities and effectiveness on various levels.
Dr. Carter proposed that the culture would remain if you cleared out the building and refilled it with new fluid. I believe that as long as the artifacts, mission, purpose, and espoused values can be archived, this will influence the new culture. It must be so difficult to change culture, to make a non learning organization a learning organization, especially if you are the leader coming into a multi-layered, highly fixed setting. It would require an incredible amount of charisma and a deep understanding of the actual assumptions.