WestJet
What Is an Organization’s Culture?
What’s Culture?
Definition by Edgar Schein: a property of an independently defined social unit
A unit whose members have a significant number of common experiences in successfully addressing external and internal problems
Common experience -> shared view on world view and problem solving
Shared view -> basic assumptions on responses to external and internal problems that the group have collectively tackled
Culture is only found where there is a definable group with a significant history of togetherness
Culture is dynamic: can evolve with new experiences
“burning platform” syndrome – team repeatedly fail to solve problems using the old way and eventually members question the old method
Managed evolution – more organized and deliberate shift in culture
Direct significant effort toward understanding the present culture’s antecedents
Find or create a set of new programs for the organization that demand different patterns of solving
Culture vs. Artifacts of Culture
Culture: a pattern of basic assumptions developed by a group as it learns to deal with problems
These assumptions worked well enough multiple times and thus taught to new members
Artifacts: visible manifestation of culture in social and physical work environment (tangible and intangible)
Physical space, tech output, artistic production
Dress code, work hours, fringe benefits, parties
DON’T label an organization as “formal” or “informal” based on artifacts
The Antecedents of Culture
Team first encounters a problem
Then members deliberate on how to get the job done
What methods to use
What criteria to include
Team is likely to repeat methods that worked
Methods of problem-solving become the culture only when they are adopted by assumption rather than explicit deliberation and decision
i.e. Culture is comprised of processes and adopted criteria
Shared criteria for decision making = organztional priority; moral, normative, and functional
What’s Culture?
Definition by Edgar Schein: a property of an independently defined social unit
A unit whose members have a significant number of common experiences in successfully addressing external and internal problems
Common experience -> shared view on world view and problem solving
Shared view -> basic assumptions on responses to external and internal problems that the group have collectively tackled
Culture is only found where there is a definable group with a significant history of togetherness
Culture is dynamic: can evolve with new experiences
“burning platform” syndrome – team repeatedly fail to solve problems using the old way and eventually members question the old method
Managed evolution – more organized and deliberate shift in culture
Direct significant effort toward understanding the present culture’s antecedents
Find or create a set of new programs for the organization that demand different patterns of solving
Culture vs. Artifacts of Culture
Culture: a pattern of basic assumptions developed by a group as it learns to deal with problems
These assumptions worked well enough multiple times and thus taught to new members
Artifacts: visible manifestation of culture in social and physical work environment (tangible and intangible)
Physical space, tech output, artistic production
Dress code, work hours, fringe benefits, parties
DON’T label an organization as “formal” or “informal” based on artifacts
The Antecedents of Culture
Team first encounters a problem
Then members deliberate on how to get the job done
What methods to use
What criteria to include
Team is likely to repeat methods that worked
Methods of problem-solving become the culture only when they are adopted by assumption rather than explicit deliberation and decision
i.e. Culture is comprised of processes and adopted criteria
Shared criteria for decision making = organztional priority; moral, normative, and functional