Thinking out loud here.
During the past two days, I have laid out posts related to –
- In spite of clear work instructions, does culture trump output?
- In spite of personality inputs, does culture trump output?
If you learn anything about me, you know that I am a structure guy.
- For those who think their organizational challenges revolve around personality, I tell you, it’s not a personality problem.
- For those who think they have a communication problem, it’s not a communication problem, it’s a structure problem.
Structure is the defined accountability and authority in working relationships, both managerial relationships and cross-functional working relationships. Structure is the context, in which we work.
Culture is that set of beliefs that drive our required behaviors in the work that we do together. Culture is the context, in which we work.
So, I am beginning to wonder if organizational structure and culture are inextricably tied together. Does structure equal culture? Does culture equal structure? Do the warm and fuzzy concepts of culture have a science underneath defined by levels of work and structure?
I believe so.
I believe that culture is also structure. Culture/values define how people in a organization are supposed to behave, that structure. The organization structure defines how people are connected and what each person is responsible for. Now you have how people are to behave, and what they do.
I think you defined it very cleary when you said the relationship between culture and structure is inextricably tired together. Infact, I would go as far as to say they these two things are like yin and yang and must fit and work together in order to have a functional organization. This is to say, you cannot have a culture of strong work ethic without the structure to support it… just as well as you cannot have a strong structure in place but people that do not have it in them to work within those parameters.
I have also seen many times in the past where culture is interpreted in different ways depending on which strata level you are dealing with… I like to refer to this as perceived culture vs real culture. It’s interesting how some companies can perceive their culture to be a certain way… but once you start working there… it’s very different.