Culture Lect 1

CULTURE • • • • • • • •

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

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.

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• “The socially transmitted pattern of human behaviour that includes thought, speech, action, institutions and artefacts.” (New Penguin English Dictionary) • Culture refers to:

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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).

– 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. (A. Campbell, 1990)

Safeguarding the organisation’s core values

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Slowly giving way to new interpretations 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 collective accord among the members. 5

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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 meaning and eventually modify or develop new assumptions ( Schein, 1992; Wenger, 1998) 6

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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 members can adhere to especially in moments of difficulty.

Bonding and commitment among the members.

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• 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 strongly the people in the organisation believe in its basic precepts and how faithful they carry them out.

• 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 comers. It is a process where what has been established for many years and what is novel come together to form a shared history with its hopes and fears. 8

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 the community, engage in its practice and eventually, in their own way perpetuate it (Berger and Luckmann, 1966).

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Culture: result of social interactions

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The complexity of the issue

• 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 assumptions, raising issues of context and meaning and bringing to the fore underlying values. 11

• “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: ¾ size ¾ Structure ¾ Technology ¾ Leadership ¾ the external and internal environment ¾ the members within the organisation. • If reality changes as a consequence the frame through which that realty is being interpreted also needs to undergo change.

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• 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” (Bolman and Deal, 1997) • Different circumstances dictate that different ways of understanding realty should be applied.

T. Bush six models of culture • Formal model ¾ Structure ¾ Set objectives; individuals accorded a place in the structure ¾ Leadership at the helm ¾ Power shared among the professional

• Ambiguity model ¾ Aims and objectives are opaque and vague ¾ Fragmentation and loose coupling characterise the groups within the organisation.

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• Political model ¾ Goals of subunits; conflict arise as each group promotes its goals ¾ Groups (internal and external) may form alliances to press for the adoption of certain policies ¾ Leaders are active participants in the process of negotiation for decisionmaking.

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• Collegial model ¾ All members agree on the goals and decisions taken collegially ¾ Power shared among the members ¾ A common set of values held by the members ¾ Aims not imposed but emerge as a result of a participation process

• Subjective model ¾ Organisations are social constructions – the result of the interaction of members ¾ Organisations are manifestation of the values and beliefs of individuals rather than an established framework constraining the behaviour of its members ¾ Leader exerts control over the members by enunciating institutional policies which are in line with the personal interests of the members.

• Cultural model ¾ Goals and values are the hub of the whole discourse ¾ Core values determine the vision which is expressed in a mission statement – an achievable goal to work towards ¾ Leader has the responsibility for sustaining the culture and communicating its core values and beliefs both to the members and the external stakeholders.

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Type of models Elements of management

Formal

Collegial

Political

Subjective

Ambiguity

Cultural

Levels at Institutiona Institutiona Subunit which l l goals are determined

Individual

Unclear

Institutiona l or subnit

Relationshi p between goals and decisions

Set by leader

Agreement

Conflict

Problemati Unpredicta c. May be ble imposed by leader

Based on collective values

Nature of decision process

Rational

Collegial

Political

Personal

Garbage can

Rational within a framework of values

Nature of structure

Objective Objective reality reality hierarchical Lateral

Setting for subunit conflict

Constructe d through human interaction

Problemati c

Physical manifestati on of culture 17

Links with environme nt

May be ‘closed’ or ‘open’ Head accountabl e

Accountabi lity blurred by shared decision making

Style of leadership

Head establishes goals and initiates policy

Head seeks Head is to promote both consensus participant and mediator

Unstable external bodies portrayed as interest groups

Source of individual meanings

Source of uncertainty

Source of values and beliefs

Problemati c. May be perceived as a form of control

May be tactical or unobtrusiv e

Symbolic

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An overarching approach

• G. Morgan: A. 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) B. 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 comprehensive and objective interpretation of reality.

• 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. 19

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