The Corporate Culture Survival Guide (J-B Warren Bennis Series)

The father of the corporate culture field and pioneer in organizational psychology on today's changing corporate culture This is the definitive guide to corporate culture for practitioners. Recognized expert Edgar H. Schein explains what culture is and why it's important, how to evaluate your organization's culture, and how to improve it, using straightforward, practical tools based on decades of research and real-world case studies. This new edition reflects the massive changes in the business world over the past ten years, exploring the influence of globalization, new technology, and mergers on culture and organization change. New case examples help illustrate the principals at work and bring focus to emerging issues in international, nonprofit, and government organizations as well as business. Organized around the questions that change agents most often ask, this new edition of the classic book will help anyone from line managers to CEOs assess their culture and make it more effective. Offers a new edition of a classic work with a focus on practitioners Includes new case examples and information on globalization, the effects of technology, and managerial competencies Covers the basics on changing culture and includes a wealth of practical advice THE CORPORATE CULTURE SURVIVAL GUIDE: New and Revised Edition 1 Contents 10 Preface to the New and Revised Edition 12 Acknowledgements 16 The Author 18 Part I: THE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF CULTURE 20 Chapter 1: WHY BOTHER? 22 Leadership and Culture Are Intertwined 22 Subcultures 24 Samples of How the Leadership/Culture Interaction Matters 26 How Culture Matters at Different Stages of Growth 35 Where Does Culture Reside? 37 The Bottom Line 38 Chapter 2: WHAT IS CULTURE ANYWAY? 40 Three Levels of Culture 40 So, How Do We Define Culture? 46 Implications of This Definition 47 The Complexity of Culture: Digital Equipment Corporation 48 The Bottom Line 53 Chapter 3: WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS AND DIMENSIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE? 56 The Popular View: Inventories and Typologies 56 Culture Content, Part One: Surviving in the External Environment 59 Culture Content, Part Two: Integrating the Human Organization 71 The Bottom Line 78 Chapter 4: DEEPER ASSUMPTIONS 80 National and Ethnic Bases of Culture 80 Assumptions About the Relationship of Humans to Nature 82 Assumptions About Human Nature 83 Assumptions About Human Relationships 85 Assumptions About the Nature of Reality and Truth 86 Assumptions About Time 89 Assumptions About Space 91 Dealing with the Unknowable and Uncontrollable 93 The Bottom Line 94 Chapter 5: WHEN AND HOW TO ASSESS YOUR CULTURE 96 Should You Use a Survey? 96 Can You Infer Culture from Self-Analysis? 99 Deciphering Your Company’s Culture: A Four-Hour Exercise 101 Case Examples and Analyses 106 The Bottom Line 120 Part II: THE DYNAMICS OF CULTURE FORMATION, EVOLUTION, AND CHANGE 122 Chapter 6: CULTURAL LEARNING, UNLEARNING, AND TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE 124 A Simplifying Model of Learning, Unlearning, and Transformative Change 124 Disconfirmation 126 Survival Anxiety (or Guilt) and Learning Anxiety 130 Two Principles of Learning and Change 133 How Do You Create Psychological Safety? 134 What Changes? Cognitive Redefinition 136 Imitation and Identification Versus Scanning and Trial and Error 138 Refreezing—Seeking a New Equilibrium 139 The Bottom Line—Implications for Change Managers 140 Chapter 7: CULTURE CREATION, EVOLUTION, AND CHANGE IN START-UP COMPANIES 142 Founding and Early Growth 142 How Founders and Leaders Embed Cultural Elements 149 Culture Learning, Evolution, and Change Mechanisms 151 The Impact of Size and Age— Bureaucratization and the Loss of “Functional Familiarity” 159 Managing Problems of Succession 161 The Bottom Line 164 Chapter 8: CULTURE DYNAMICS IN THE MATURE COMPANY 166 From Ownership to General Management Structures 166 Culture Change Processes in Organizational Mid-Life: Planned and Managed Culture Change Through Parallel Learning Systems 171 The Change Team and Change Steps 174 Structural and Process Interventions 182 Involving the Employees 183 The Bottom Line 186 Chapter 9: MID-LIFE CRISIS AND POTENTIAL DECLINE 188 Changing Dysfunctional Elements in the Core Culture 189 Possible Change Mechanisms 192 Moderate Core Culture Change in Ciba-Geigy 192 Drastic Culture Change in Digital Equipment Corporation 196 Change Leaders and Change Agents 201 The Bottom Line and Change Dynamics Summary 202 Part III: THE REALITIES OF MULTICULTURALISM 206 Chapter 10: WHEN CULTURES MEET 208 The Multi-Culture Problem 208 The Role of Cultural Assessment in Mergers, Acquisitions, and Joint Ventures 211 New Issues in Collaborations and Other Multicultural Organizations 217 Culture Traps (the Illusion That We Understand One Another) 224 The Need for Dialogue at Cultural Boundaries 226 The Dialogue Process 226 The Bottom Line 229 Chapter 11: CULTURAL REALITIES FOR THE SERIOUS CULTURE LEADER 234 Realities About What Culture Is 236 Realities About What Culture Covers 238 Realities About Deciphering Culture 238 Realities About the Process of Culture Change 239 Realities About the Timing of Culture Assessment and Change 242 Realities About Mergers, Acquisitions, Joint Ventures, and Collaborations 242 A Final Thought 243 Notes 244 References 248 Index 252 Why bother? What is culture anyway? What are the elements and dimensions of organizational culture? Deeper assumptions When and how to assess your culture Cultural learning, unlearning, and transformative change Culture creation, evolution, and change in start-up companies Culture dynamics in the mature company Mid-life crisis and potential decline When cultures meet: acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, and other multicultural collaborations Cultural realities for the serious culture leader. As the world is becoming more complex and global, the issues of corporate culture and subculture are more relevant to leadership and organizational performance. This book shows how the management of cultural issues now involves the alignment of national, corporate, and occupational cultures.--[book cover]