Culture Lect 1

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN EDUCATION Fr. Alan Scerri M.Ed (Educational Leadership) University of Malta 1

CULTURE • What is Culture? • Basic Assumptions • Bonding and Commitment among the members • Manifestation of Culture • Culture: result of social interactions • The complexity of the issue • Tony’s Bush 6 types of models • Need for interpretation. 2

• “The socially transmitted pattern of human behaviour that includes thought, speech, action, institutions and artefacts.” (New Penguin English Dictionary) • Culture refers to: – Shared basic assumptions and ways of doing things that a group has learned during the course of its history that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and act. – Culture has at its foundation a value structure that is communicated, shared and enhanced by the members (G. Morgan ,1978) – Values are the dominant idea of the business. 3 (A. Campbell, 1990)

How do members adapt to a new culture? • “Culture must be understood not as something static and unchangeable but as an active living phenomenon through which people interpret and give meaning to the world in which they live” (Morgan 1978). Safeguarding the organisation’s core values

Slowly giving way balanc to new interpretations e due to time and circumstances

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• Engagement among the members entail both diversity as well as homogeneity • People of different age groups, different backgrounds with different personal aspirations come together to engage in a particular practice within an organisation (Wenger, 1998). • It is the stage on which the old and the new, the known and the unknown…… act out their differences and discover their commonalities (Lave and Wenger, 2002) • This gives rise to conflicts and fear of one another and the need to discover what is common that will eventually lead to a

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Moving from periphery to full participation

• this entails not just greater commitment of time, effort and broader responsibilities but a deeper familiarisation with the culture – an increased sense of identity (lave and Wenger, 2002).

a set of basic

assumptions • As new members move towards full participation they undergo a process of identification with the culture of the organisation collaborating in their own way in the enhancement of the group’s culture. They interact with the more experienced members, negotiate new

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• identification with the culture of the organisation does not preclude differences among the members; nonetheless it may give to the members “the will to work through their differences” (Wenger 1998) • the more the members accept the core values and the greater their commitment towards those values the stronger the culture is. It becomes a device against which the members can confront themselves with regards to what is appropriate or not, an organisational philosophy

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Bonding and commitment among the members. • as people within an organisation construct their history they come to share common values, beliefs, understanding and learning. • “reality is not something separate from the knowledge of its members but it is the result of the active effort and involvement of every individual in collectively trying to make sense of it” (Lave and Wenger, 2002; Scott, 2004) • moving from the periphery to full membership is more than just a process of learning or greater commitment of time and responsibility on the part of the new 8

• if the members know what their company stands for, if they know which standards they are to uphold, then they are more likely to feel a stronger sense of belonging as if they are an important part of the organisation. • technology and economic resources, organisational structure, innovation and timing weigh heavily in the success of the basic philosophy, spirit and drive of an organisation. But they are transcended by how

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How does culture manifest itself? • manifestation of culture within organisations highlight certain patterns of behaviour that intrigue the members in eventually embracing them……. This comes about through traditions, ceremonies, customs and rituals that are meaningful to the members. • in moving towards full participation newcomers are given access to mutual engagement with other members within the organisation, the opportunity to participate in their actions and negotiations of the enterprise and access to the language in use. • by the progressive induction of the individual, newcomers are integrated into 10

Culture: result of social interactions

• Culture is an active, living phenomenon through which people jointly participate in the creation and recreation of the realities in which they live – the process of enactment (Morgan, 1997). • Members coming into an organisation bring with them their own patterns of understanding reality as a result of their prior experience….. As the new group is assembled a novel cultural identity is formed adopting modified or brand new assumptions in its critical areas of its experience. • Culture is not an objective, independent existence that imposes itself on human beings. It is an active living phenomenon through which people create and recreate their world…… the “Proactive Process” (Morgan 1998) • This leads us in questioning taken-for-granted 11 assumptions, raising issues of context and

The complexity of the issue • “Any realistic approach to organisational analysis must start from the premise that organisations can be many things at one and the same time” (T. Bush, 1995) • Organisational culture is made up of a multiple of patterns which vary according to the:  size  Structure  Technology  Leadership  the external and internal environment  the members within the organisation. • If reality changes as a consequence the frame through which that realty is being 12

• each member within the organisation approaches events with values and assumptions that constitute their conceptual modes. It is through these mindsets that reality is analysed and interpreted. • the competing spirit among the different models brings about the culture which is eventually adopted by the organisation. • The multiplicity of competing models means that no single model is sufficient to understand and interpret reality within an organisation. • therefore the need of a multiplicity of models that will allow us to get as much as possible a comprehensive picture of reality……. “CONCEPTUAL PLURALISM” 13 (Bolman and Deal, 1997)

T. Bush six models of culture • Formal model • Ambiguity model  Structure  Aims and objectives are  Set objectives; opaque and vague individuals accorded a place in  Fragmentation and the structure loose coupling characterise the  Leadership at the groups within the helm organisation.  Power shared among the professional 14

• Political model  Goals of subunits; conflict arise as each group promotes its goals  Groups (internal and external) may form alliances to press for the adoption of certain policies  Leaders are active participants in the process of negotiation for decision-making.

• Subjective model  Organisations are social constructions – the result of the interaction of members  Organisations are manifestation of the values and beliefs of individuals rather than an established framework constraining the behaviour of its members  Leader exerts control over the members by 15 enunciating

• Collegial model  All members agree on the goals and decisions taken collegially  Power shared among the members  A common set of values held by the members  Aims not imposed but emerge as a result of a participation process

• Cultural model  Goals and values are the hub of the whole discourse  Core values determine the vision which is expressed in a mission statement – an achievable goal to work towards  Leader has the responsibility for sustaining the culture and communicating its core values and beliefs both to the 16 members and the

Type of models Elements of manageme nt

Formal

Political

Subjecti ve

Ambiguit Cultural y

Levels at which goals are determi Relation ned ship

Institutio Institutio Subunit nal nal

Individu al

Unclear

Set by leader

Problem atic. May be imposed by Personal leader

Unpredic Based table on collectiv e values

Collegial

Agreem ent

Conflict

Collegial

Political

Objectiv Objectiv e reality e reality hierarchi Lateral cal

Setting for subunit conflict

between goals and Nature Rational decision of s decision

Garbage can

process Nature of structur e

Construc Problem ted atic through human interacti

Institutio nal or subnit

Rational within a framewo rk of values Physical manifest ation of culture17

Links with environ ment

May be ‘closed’ or ‘open’ Head account able

Style of Head leadersh establish ip es goals and initiates policy

Account ability blurred by shared decision making Head seeks to promote consens us

Unstable external bodies portraye d as interest groups Head is

Source of individu al meaning s

Problem both atic. participa May be nt and perceive mediato d as a r form of control

Source of uncertai nty

Source of values and beliefs

May be Symboli tactical c or unobtrus ive

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An overarching approach • Though each frame offer a different way and a particular perspective of understanding the structure within the organisation, they offer a partial view of reality. • Each model highlights particular aspects while others are pushed into the background. To acquire a thorough picture one needs to make the most informed selection of the multiple truths available.

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• G. Morgan: • Create a “story line” through a diagnostic reading of the situation that cast light on the key features of the situation. (an open, allembracing approach) • Make a critical evaluation of the different interpretations resulting from the diagnosis. • As we read reality through different frames at the same time we become attracted to one line of interpretation rather than another eventually moving towards a

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