Just as we understand that people have different personalities, does it not easily follow that organizations will all have a specific kind of culture?
Lloyd Taylor has distilled down his personal observations and research into a model for understanding organizational cultures with the intent to assist the individual in more effectively working with it.
Taylor borrows the basic diagnostics from "The Character of a Corporation" -- the classic four-quadrant treatment:
Taylor provides some hints on how to determine which culture your organization is most like (and like personality tests, it gets a bit blurry). He is quick to remind the audience, "models are, by definition, wrong, but they are useful." He's just trying to say, don't get too hung up on using the model as a description of the world; just use it as a tool to understand what you
really see.
Key Take-Aways
- Understand what culture you thrive in; look for that in where you work (or choose your next job)
- Take the time to get a read/feel on what kind of organization you're dealing with.
- Consider how you can best harmonize with that culture.
- Warning: we are prone to impute our own perspective/view on others (and then react emotionally)!
- This is the root source of most conflict.
- Understand that as an organization grows, there are necessarily culture shifts.
- To the degree you can shed your self-orientation, you can be successful in organizations; look for ways to help others be successful in what THEY want to accomplish.
References
