Management advocates Johnson and Scholes said that a culture paradigm interconnects six elements, namely, stories and myths, rituals and routines, symbols, organizational structure, control systems and power structures. For the culture in an organization to change, leaders must understand the interplay among these elements in the workplace. In terms of stories and myths, the question is more about how people within the company look at events and people inside and outside it. As such, if people within the organization look at certain persons as heroes or villains, then such classification will influence general corporate behavior. Most expectedly, employees and managers will tend to emulate leadership styles of their heroes and despise those of their villains. For instance, those who admire the audacious yet brash the management styles of US President Donald Trump or Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will likely exhibit similar behavior in the company. In the process, those under or within their sphere of influence will do just the same.
On the other hand, rituals and routines determine the usual corporate response to a particular situation. These can be positive or negative, as in the case of the unwritten doctrine in the Army of “obey first before you complain.” Whenever a direct order is given, a soldier instinctively complies, regardless of the order’s propriety.
Symbols, like a corporate dress code, somehow impact the disposition of the people wearing it. For example, the prescribed dress code in the Ateneo Law School reflects its business-like branding as opposed to other law schools’ casual attire. Thus, students who are required to observe a formal dress code would normally exude regimented behavior within the classroom or inside the campus. The symbolism brought about by these rituals and routines, plus how certain public figures are perceived as heroes or villains, greatly influence how management would behave given any situation. In terms of structure, a strict hierarchal organization endorses the power model of leadership where compliance and obedience are rewarded, whereas, a relatively flat organization encourages a servant leadership model where collaboration and participatory decision-making are given more significance. When I worked in a software development company in the USA, the organization was relatively flat and employees were free to communicate across departments. While the company was organized into commercial, administration and product development groups with respective group heads, most people were treated like partners instead of team members.
In terms of control systems, every company has internal policies when it comes to office hours, for instance. Companies that still impose the usual 9-to-5 working works as measured by bundy clocks, will reinforce time-bound productivity, punctuality and physical presence at the workplace. Whereas, companies with work-from-home arrangements with flexible office hours, implicitly promote result-driven performance and unsupervised yet responsible work ethic.
And, finally, in terms of power structures, significant decision-making powers within an organization usually fall under the CEO or the Board. While in some companies, the hierarchal structure is practically ignored when key or “indispensable” personnel, like Lebron James, for example, in the NBA, are tacitly allowed to make, or at least influence, important decisions affecting the entire organization. For any meaningful and transformational change in the workplace to happen, leaders must not drive change in their companies simply because others in the industry are doing it. They must drive change because they understand the uniqueness of their company in terms of the stories and myths, rituals and routines, symbols, organizational structure, control systems, and power structures. In Philippine Airlines (PAL), a recent employee engagement survey (EES) revealed key drivers (e.g., Organizational Values) and key areas for opportunities (e.g., Workload). During its most recent strategic planning, focus groups, which were externally facilitated, managed to generate priority strategies to maximize revenue and reduce costs. These strategies together with the EES would definitely help PAL identify its current cultural domain, the “What Currently Is” (WCI). The next logical step is for leadership to think about “What Should Be” (WSB)—ideally, and plot out the differences between the WCI and the WSB and make an action plan. It would be futile to make an action plan to change the organizational culture without knowing the differences between these two points. At the very least, the action plan must identify the key issues to be addressed, the specific persons responsible to execute, timelines to allow measurable progress and, most important, a media plan to communicate the plan to both external and internal stakeholders. Transformational change requires trust, transparency, time and team effort (4Ts). Whether the change required is for a company or for an individual, game changing transformation will need an acceptance and in-depth understanding of WCI and WSB. The aforementioned 4Ts are also reflected in the Bible as Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” In the Christian world, WCI is the fact that mankind is inherently sinful as influenced by worldly behaviors and standards, and WSB is the aspiration that mankind ought to renew the mind in order to be transformed. And the transformation is not about switching from immoral to holy behavior. Rather, it is more about changing the way one thinks; for the way we think reflects the way we feel and the way we feel often dictates the actions that we are bound to take, which then reflects our basis of decision-making, whether from worldly or from godly standards. For instance, from a worldly perspective, death is seen with much sadness as the end of one’s life. But, with a renewed mind, death should be taken with a bit of gladness knowing that it is the beginning of eternal life.
As author Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Change your thoughts and you change the world.” Whether in business or in life, we simply cannot and should not conform to what the world has to offer. The journey from WCI to WSB can be a stressful and difficult process. But with a renewed mind resulting to 4Ts from a godly point of view, culture change can only be for the better!
For questions and comments, please e-mail me at sbmison@gmail.com.