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Hull University Business School

Connected Thinking!

Business Strategies 2019

Dr. Giles A. Hindle

600552

Culture and Politics: Week 9 Session A

Dr. Giles A. Hindle E: [email protected] T: +44 1482 463 457

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Introduction

» We need to think about the context in which strategy is being conducted.

» We work with organizations and businesses as business managers.

» We need to have good quality theory in order to have effective practice.

» In this lecture we will examine culture and politics in more depth.

Social Systems

» Throughout a strategy study there needs to be constant finding out about the social aspect in which the work is being done

» This is because the feel of a situation can be just as important as hard facts and logic and derives from the meanings people attribute to themselves and other people

» These features of the situation stem from the social processes in operation there

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Culture:

" A corporation's culture is the collection of beliefs, expectations and values shared by the corporation's members and transmitted from one generation of employees to another".

T L Wheelen & J D Hunger, 'Strategic Management and Business Policy', Addison-Wesley, 1998.

Therefore, culture is

» something that is shared by all, or almost all members of some social group

» something that the older members of the group try to pass on to the younger members

» something (morals, laws and customs) that shapes the behaviour of individuals, and structures one's perception of the world.

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Social system Analysis

» Based upon Vickers “appreciative system” (Checkland):

ROLES

VALUES

NORMS Continually

changing

interaction

Roles, Norms & Values?

» Roles:

– a social position recognized as significant by people in the problem situation

• defined by the institution or informally by behavior

» Norms:

– expected behavior in a problem situation (may be associated with a particular role)

» Values:

– beliefs about what is ´good` or ´bad` performance by someone occupying a particular role

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Finding out about culture

» Finding out about culture can be difficult for a number of reasons:

– Direct questions may receive official ´myths` of the situation, not what is really happening

– Participants may not want to admit what their real norms and values are (deviation)

– People may not want the culture to change and there not want to help you in the analysis

» Analyst needs to open a ´mental file` for analysis 2 and keep adding to it as the project moves forward

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THE CULTURAL WEB: USEFUL QUESTIONS

» Stories

– What core belief do the stories in my place reflect?

– How pervasive are these beliefs (through the levels of the organisation)?

– Do stories relate to: strengths or weaknesses? successes or failures?

– conformity or mavericks? Who are the heroes and villains?

– What norms do the mavericks deviate from?

» Routines and rituals

– Which routines are emphasised in my organisation?

– What behaviour do routines encourage? Which would look odd if changed?

– What are the key rituals? What core beliefs do they reflect?

– What do training programs emphasise?

– How easy are the rituals/routines to change?

» Organisational structures

– How mechanistic/organic are the structures in my organisation?

– How flat/hierarchical are the structures? How formal/informal are they?

– Do structures encourage collaboration or competition?

– What types of power structure do they support?

» Control systems

– What is most closely monitored/controlled in my organisation?

– Is emphasis on reward or punishment? Are there many/few controls?

– Are controls related to history or current strategies?

» Power structures

– What are the core beliefs of the leadership in my organisation?

– How strongly held are these beliefs (idealists or pragmatists)?

– How is power distributed in the organisation?

– What are the main blockages to change?

» Symbols

– What language and jargon are used in my place of work?

– How internal or accessible are they?

– What aspects of strategy are highlighted in publicity?

– What status symbols are there? Are there particular symbols which denote the organisation?

» Overall

– What is the dominant culture? How easy is this to change?

THE CULTURAL WEB: USEFUL QUESTIONS

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Political System Analysis

» Any human situation will have a political dimension- we need to know about it

» Politics?

– a process by which differing interests reach accommodation within the situation

– the processes by which order is maintained and power is managed within the situation

» Power?

– power will affect the process of managing relationships between people

Finding out about politics

» “How is power expressed in the situation?”:

– how is power obtained, used, protected, preserved, passed on and through what mechanisms

» Commodities of power?

– formal role-based authority (being the boss)

– intellectual authority

– personal charisma

– internal or external reputation

– access to information / important people

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Finding out about politics

» Finding out about the politics of the situation is even more difficult than the cultural analysis

– people will be reluctant to answer direct questions about what is happening in the situation

– politics tends to be carried out in private or ´behind closed doors` so it may be impossible to bring these issues out into the open

– people may be unable to express important facts about future development because they are secret

– people who ´know` something may not wish to let that information out to others