The leader is the organization
There is no excuse
What on earth is the organizational culture?
A lot of organizations check their own health condition with their own diagnostic tool if the end of the year comes. Whatever it’s called, the pulse survey or engagement survey, leaders would be inevitably exposed the term ‘organizational culture’ hundreds of times. What on earth is the organizational climate and why do all leaders get nervous at this result?
Another name of the measurement of organizational climate level is the ‘diagnosis of organizational culture’. The reason why the word ‘culture’ was not used before today is obvious. We not only hardly thought exactly what that organizational culture was but also referred to ‘culture’ at the obscure moment or when we couldn’t explain well.
Among different arguments, I believe the organizational culture is the ways of working and the ways of thinking. It means that how to work and think in the organization is the organizational culture itself. We cannot think the culture is separate from anything among the thought(vision) all members share, value(core value) that all members value, way(process) in which they work, and important decision(strategy and resource distribution) they make based on them.
Lots of organizational members think the vision and core value belong to the area of organizational culture(softer area), and the process, policies and the strategy/resource allocation belong to another area(harder area). Because it is common the vision the organization pursues is separated from the core value it puts stress on at the moment of making the strategic decision.
Who is indeed the person who had the biggest impact on creating the organizational culture and keeping the organization healthy? It is of course leader. The hierarchy is the prerequisite in the organization. The hierarchy gives leaders more rights and responsibilities. Leaders who have those powerful right and responsibility decide the way the organization works through their authority to reward and punish. If members work as their leader wants, they receive the award and if not, they would be punished. In other words, leaders can shape and influence heavily the ways of working and the ways of thinking of the organization
According to Bull's eye Model(People-Centered Organization Culture) by Dr. Charles Krueger, the organizational culture is almost exactly the same as the leadership behaviour of that organization. Because the organizational culture is the way in which the organization works and thinks, and what decides the ways of working is the leader.
The health condition of the organization and the organizational culture are determined by the leader. Anyway, the entity which displays and exercises the greatest impact is the leader. There is no excuse. Is your organization suffering now? Or, are all members of the organization engaged? Never find the cause outside.
This article is translated 'The leader is not the organization itself, no excuse' published in Dec. 2017 at my brunch
