All Hail, Edgar Schein

Friday, March 30, 2007

I’m sure you have read one of those books that made such an impression on you, that you underlined or highlighted every other line. For me, that book is Edgar Schein’s The Corporate Culture Survival Guide. Schein is a professor emeritus at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of the definitive text on organizational culture, Organizational Culture and Leadership. Every so often I go back to these books to pull more insights from his wisdom and in the process gain an even greater appreciation and respect for his practical intellect.

So here are some excerpts from The Corporate Culture Survival Guide and the humble commentary of a most unworthy disciple.

The organization clings to whatever made it a success. The very culture that created the success makes it difficult for members of the organization to perceive changes in the environment that require new responses. Culture becomes a constraint on strategy. (p. 13)

This was startling to me when I first read it because of its simple truth. The only reason why a culture evolves the way it does is because its members come to believe that particular assumptions, behaviors, and norms contribute to its success and so they reinforce and repeat them over time. But when the external environment changes, too often the culture becomes the scapegoat. Leaders bemoan the dysfunctional nature of the culture and describe it as “broken” or “sclerotic.” I’ve heard leaders describe their organizations as “calcified.” But just when these leaders try to “save” the dying organization, they discover that the “patient” is very much alive and kicking and not interested in the cure. I return to the teacher’s wisdom:

Never start with the idea of changing culture. Always start with the issues the organization faces; only when those business issues are clear should you ask yourself whether the culture aids or hinders resolving the issues. Always think initially of the culture as your source of strength. It is the residue of your past successes. Even if some elements of the culture look dysfunctional, remember that they are probably only a few among a large set of others that continue to be strengths. (p. 189)

Thinking back on some of my earlier postings about the American Red Cross and Dr. Healy’s experience with its culture, I am particularly fond of this excerpt from the section on culture dynamics in mature organizations because of its Frankenstein-esque quality.

Whereas leadership created culture in the early stages, culture now creates leaders (his emphasis), in the sense that only those managers who fit the mold are promoted to top positions. In fact, one of the most dangerous aspects of culture at this stage is that it is an unconscious determinant of most of what goes on in the organization, including even the mission and strategy of the organization. (p. 143)

The potential impact of a culture on the organization’s business performance is even more frightening when you consider this insight.

We tend to think that we can separate strategy from culture, but we fail to notice that in most organizations strategic thinking is deeply colored by tacit assumptions about who they are and what their mission is. (p. 33)

This calls to mind the idea of organizational blindness. We outsiders look at organizations groping to find their way in a new competitive landscape or those seemingly caught off-guard, asleep at the wheel (why does K-Mart come to mind?) and we think, “Isn’t it obvious to them?” The reality may be that inside this type of organization and culture, the answer may be “no, it isn’t obvious.”

I’ll leave you with this excerpt that should help all of us to remember that culture is not to be messed with lightly. Show a certain amount of respect, if you please.

If you treat it (culture) as a superficial phenomenon, if you assume that you can manipulate it and change it at will, you are sure to fail. Furthermore, culture controls you more than you control culture. You want it that way, because it is culture that gives meaning and predictability to your daily life. As you learn what works, you develop beliefs and assumptions that eventually drop out of awareness and become tacit rules of how to do things, how to think about things, and how to feel. (p. 25)

All hail, Edgar Schein.