
A Typology of Organisational Cultures - luu
https://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/13/suppl_2/ii22
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Flenser
This reminds me of the organizational paradigms[1] from Reinventing
Organisations [2]

I think they map quite easily as:

Power oriented → Amber "command and control"

Rule oriented → Orange "predict-and-control" (management by objectives)

Performance oriented → Green "culture and empowerment"

[1] See "Exhibit 1" table: [https://www.strategy-
business.com/article/00344?gko=10921](https://www.strategy-
business.com/article/00344?gko=10921) [2]
[https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/](https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/)

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benjaminjosephw
> the kind of conditions that create good information flow tend to be those
> that favour cooperation, creativity, and safety. On the other side,
> conditions that interfere with information flow also tend to decrease
> creativity, create conflict, and make the organisation involved less safe.

Although management and leadership do play an extremely important role in
shaping culture, I wonder whether the kinds of tools and technology an
organisation uses can also have a significant impact.

My guess is that creating transparent data sharing capabilities within an
organisation would undermine the political point scoring that some people
achieve with information hording/hiding. Being able to comment on data and
processes from any part of an organisation would also encourage a culture of
empowerment and orient individuals and teams towards the mission of the
organisation rather than each individual unit. Technology could achieve this
kind of impact if it were broadly adopted across the organisation.

What role do tools like Slack, Salesforce and Airtable have in shaping the
culture of an organisation?

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unixhero
In my profesdional experience, zero; in terms of changing the power structure
of an organisation.

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Juliate
Same. Any tool/infra that threatens the culture/statu-quo from the power
structure will be, at best, impactless, at worst, will trigger a real internal
war that will resolve with layoffs (been there - it ended bad for everyone).

It _has to_ come from the group culture, which is empowered by the good will
of the power structure, that comes from the top (investors, board, executive
managers).

If it's not there, it will never be, change lanes.

Edit to add:

And if it _is_ there, it might go, because it's a fragile equilibrium (any
change of course in the management/board can be a red flag).

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marcosdumay
I have seen much change coming from tools that instead of requiring a
different way to do things, just allows both, but makes the different one more
productive while not impacting the previous one.

Of course, the tools must have some political support. But they do enable
status-quo changes.

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asplake
Great article.

> The most critical issue for organisational safety is the flow of information

Puts me in mind of management cybernetics, viable system model (VSM),
requisite variety, etc. Would recommend a book by a friend of mine, Patrick
Hoverstadt's The Fractal Organisation. Uses VSM to identify organisational
antipatterns, rather like the article but much more fully developed.

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unixhero
Aaah, good old Stafford Beer.

~~~
asplake
Indeed!

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coderintherye
If you liked this, you might enjoy reading up on Graham Allison's
"Bureaucratic Process" model of government: [https://cesran.org/the-
bureaucratic-politics-approach-its-ap...](https://cesran.org/the-bureaucratic-
politics-approach-its-application-its-limitations-and-its-strengths.html)
(this is an intro though the original paper is available in JSTOR and/or can
read his book "Essence of Decision")

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lnsru
I am just curious, what must happen to change pathological culture to a better
one. New leader on top will fight against entrenched middle level managers
backed by buddies of these in upper layers. Anybody bellow will be put in
uncomfortable position and leave sooner or later. I would say, pathological
culture is here to stay and eventually can be changed only by replacing large
chunk of organization.

~~~
lliamander
It's the same general pattern that whether the change is good or bad: a new
leader comes in who starts changing the organizational structure and
communication pathways, and who removes/replaces individuals not on board with
the new direction. It's just that most of the time the net result is negative.

Fixing problems requires knowing what is actually wrong with the organization.
If the problem is that your organization is overcome with bureaucracy, then
the solution start with enabling a subdivision sufficient autonomy to pursue
objectives without being disrupted by meddlers and busy-bodies.

~~~
noahl
If you adopt this article's three-category system (or any system with a finite
number of ordered categories), then I think in the long run the number of
positive and negative changes have to converge toward equality.

If we hear more stories of negative changes, then maybe the negative ones are
more memorable, or people are more likely to comment on them.

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teddyh
Related: [https://bonkersworld.net/organizational-
charts](https://bonkersworld.net/organizational-charts)

Update for Apple: [https://bonkersworld.net/organizational-charts-
update](https://bonkersworld.net/organizational-charts-update)

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awinter-py
I really like the book 'the dictator's army' which is partially about how
information practices affect battlefield effectiveness in militaries, and the
reasons countries knowingly adopt bad practices.

It introduced me to the word 'coup proofing'.

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davidivadavid
My favorite read on the topic: Images of Organization by Gareth Morgan

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Images_of_Organization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Images_of_Organization)

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Merrill
In the study, the organizational performance metric was the safety of patients
undergoing medical procedures.

It's not clear whether the generative culture would be optimal if a different
metric, such as return on investment, had been chosen.

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netcan
This kind of hypothesis would be so easy for aliens to test, but so hard for
humans.

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david_draco
Related: [http://cwsworkshop.org/PARC_site_B/dr-
culture.html](http://cwsworkshop.org/PARC_site_B/dr-culture.html) Common
aspects of workplace culture we could question.

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zeckalpha
(2004)

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Timyjoe
They had very different circumstances: Bill Gates was the son of made parents,
his father was a partner within the firm Preston Gates & Ellis, his mother was
on board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and therefore the United
Way.

Bill got a sweetheart deal from IBM, partially thanks to his mother serving on
the United Way board with Jon Opel, chair of IBM.

Steve Jobs was adopted by Paul Jobs, a mechanic and a carpenter, and Clara
Jobs, who was a payroll clerk for Varian Associates. Neither of his adoptive
parents had the chance to attend college.

Jobs sold his minivan and Wozniak sold his HP scientific calculator to
initially fund development of the Apple I.

If you've got the choice of being born to oldsters with extreme wealth and
connections, I highly recommend it over fundraising.

~~~
leoc
Wrong comment section?

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bencollier49
Seems a bit simplistic. What's it doing in the BMJ?

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KineticLensman
Because many of the the issues discussed have lessons that are relevant in a
medical context; e.g.

> Edmondson’s study provides a striking confirmation, in a medical context, of
> the value of this scheme

It never hurts to remind practitioners of these issues, especially in
organisations where safety has life-or-death consequences.

