Where’s the advantage in making organisational culture visible?
Consciously shaping the structure as well as the culture of a company or an organization, that’s the most efficient agent of change. Because this culture determines …
.. how people act or don’t act, how they communicate or don’t, how they think or don’t think. Since its introduction by Edgar Schein in the 1980s, the iceberg model of organisational culture has proved to be an extremely useful metaphor for illustrating how important it is for a company’s management aiming at successfully handling challenges and changes, to have a thorough understanding of the visible as well as the invisible parts of the organisational culture.
The iceberg model illustrates the complexity of culture:
The largest and predominant part of organizational culture is implicit and it is based – not immediately recognisable for the observer – below the official level of awareness. This invisible component is virtually the subconscious or the DNA of organisational culture. These include, in particular, assumptions and beliefs about the intrinsic nature of the company, elements that are difficult to verbalise because they are taken for granted. In the sense of “This is how things are done here”, these assumptions determine the behaviour of employees to a large extent. In particular assumptions on work processes, on seemingly right and wrong ways of working and leading and on the nature and extent of collegiality and competitive spirit within the company can be stumbling blocks for successful change processes. Quite often, these assumptions date back to the founding years of the company.
Using company or organisational culture analysis, we make the entire iceberg visible and shapeable. The analysis is a platform for understanding, and it provides a basis for decision making, e.g. when choosing approaches and measures for change and organisational development.
That’s making a difference.
