Here’s Why It’s So Hard To Change A Culture: our summary

Here’s Why It’s So Hard To Change A Culture

URL
https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-is-it-so-hard-to-change-a-culture/#more-33857

Key Takeaway

Changing organizational culture is challenging because it requires shifting deeply ingrained norms and rituals that underlie behaviors, not just altering behaviors themselves.

Author and Publication

Author: Greg Satell
Publication date: August 18, 2024

Summary

• Culture is fundamental to an organization’s success, as stated by Lou Gerstner regarding IBM’s turnaround.
• Three essential elements of culture are norms, rituals, and behaviors.
• Norms are core beliefs that underlie behaviors and are enforced both formally and socially.
• Organizational norms greatly influence how companies operate (e.g., Amazon’s writing culture, Netflix’s explicit norms).
• Rituals encode norms and can be a source of power within organizations.
• Every organization has rituals that encode norms of behavior, governance, and power.
• Behaviors are complex and context-dependent, influenced by norms and rituals.
• Best practices can be useful but cannot be separated from their cultural context.
• Organizations often cling to rituals that support embedded norms, even if they seem nonsensical.
• Changing behaviors requires changing the underlying norms and rituals.
• Culture is deeply rooted in norms and rituals, which must be addressed to effect change.
• Attempts to change culture often fail because they focus on altering behaviors without addressing the underlying norms and rituals.
• Understanding the cultural context is crucial for successful organizational change.
• Power dynamics within organizations are often tied to control over norms and rituals.
• Transformation initiatives that ignore the complexities of culture are likely to fail.

Relationship between norms, rituals, and behaviors

 the relationship between norms, rituals, and behaviors in organizational culture can be explained as follows:

1. Hierarchical Relationship:
   • Norms are the foundation, forming the underlying beliefs and values
   • Rituals encode and reinforce these norms
   • Behaviors are the visible manifestations influenced by norms and rituals
2. Causal Chain:
   • Norms -> Rituals -> Behaviors
     This suggests that to change behaviors, one must address the underlying norms and rituals
3. Reinforcement Loop:
   • Norms inform rituals
   • Rituals reinforce and perpetuate norms
   • Behaviors reflect and further reinforce both norms and rituals
4. Cultural Embedding:
   • Norms are often unconscious, like “water to fish”
   • Rituals make norms tangible and observable
   • Behaviors are the practical expression of cultural norms and rituals
5. Change Resistance:
   • Altering behaviors alone is insufficient for cultural change
   • Sustainable change requires shifting norms and adapting rituals
   • The interconnectedness of these elements makes culture change challenging
6. Power Dynamics:
   • Control over rituals can influence norms
   • Norms shape acceptable behaviors
   • Power within organizations is often tied to the ability to influence norms and rituals
7. Contextual Interpretation:
   • Norms provide the context for understanding rituals and behaviors
   • Rituals give meaning to behaviors within a specific cultural framework
   • Behaviors can be misinterpreted without understanding the underlying norms and rituals

Link Analysis

The most important URL from this article is:
https://digitaltonto.com/2024/why-is-it-so-hard-to-change-a-culture/#more-33857

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