Understanding Organizational Culture: Identifying and Balancing Handy's Gods, Summaries of Ethics

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Charles Handy 1

Organizing the Culture

Robert Heller’s

Masterclasses

Organizing the Culture The culture of an organization — the way it works and what I people believe about it — has a major effect on performance and overall results. Identify the dominant culture of your organization, using the Handy-based questionnaires set out in this masterclass. Then seek to balance the cultural mix to obtain maximum effectiveness from everyone. UNDERSTANDING THE CULTURES Handy identified four cultural patterns, each characterized by a different Greek god. Most organizations are dominated by one of the three cultural patterns below. The fourth culture, ruled by Dionysus, is that of the individual, and its followers are not interested in organization or in organized cultures. THE THREE TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE 1 Power - ruled by Zeus 2 Role - ruled by Apollo 3 Task - ruled by Athena Each Handy culture has its particular strengths. The personal power of Zeus-dominance can work wonderfully well even in large companies — given the right father figure. But larger companies also require the order and control that Apollo’s role culture embodies, with its emphasis on systems, routines, and predictability. In today’s fast-moving environment both Zeus and Apollo find the Athenian task-orientated approach increasingly essential. FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE Achieving the right balance between Handy’s gods involves countering the excesses that all three cultures can easily develop — respectively, autocracy, bureaucracy, and disintegration. A successful mix will also embrace individualistic Dionysus. The combination of all four gods satisfies Handy’s definition of good management. For this you must use Zeus to provide purpose and direction, Apollo to look after the steady-state needs, Athena to keep the organization moving forward, and Dionysus to supply the vital spark of creativity.

2. Defining the Roles Handy represents the highly organized, systematic Apollonian role culture as a Greek temple with each pillar representing a function or division, and control resting with the senior executives at the top. Is this your organizational picture? Organization man To discover if your organization is ruled by Apollo, answer Yes or No to the following set of propositions. Are they or are they not the organization’s typical values, beliefs, and forms of behaviour?

• A good boss is impersonal and correct.
• A good subordinate is responsible and reliable.
• A good member gives first priority to duties, responsibilities, and customary standards.
• People who do well here are conscientious, responsible, and loyal.
• The organization treats individuals as if they are under contract.
• People are controlled and influenced impersonally by enforcing procedures and standards.
• It is legitimate to control others if you have formal responsibility.
• Tasks are assigned here on functions and responsibility.
• Competition is for high formal status. ANALYSIS
  • Nine “Yes” answers: a classic “organization man” culture, dominated by Apollo and the Apollonians.
  • Nine “Nos”: the culture is remarkably free from systems and controls.
  • Three or fewer “Yes” answers: the culture is not generally bureaucratic.
  • Three or fewer “Nos”: a definite inclination towards bureaucracy.

COUNTERING THE EXCESSES The potential excesses of an Apollonian role culture are dehumanized behaviours and the creation of a power lid bureaucracy. Countering these excesses requires finding ways of injecting individualism into what is essentially a collective culture. One way of forcing a general cultural change is to alter the reward system. Apollonians love rigid pay-scales tied to rigid hierarchies, under peculiar rules, such as “nobody can be promoted more than two grades at a time” or “lower grades cannot be placed over higher grades”. Do not reward people simply for coming to work. Give exceptional rewards for exceptional performance, and make the rewards psychic (celebrations, congratulations, etc.) as well as real (money and promotion). CHANGING SPECIFIC BEHAVIOURS You can change the culture of an organization only by changing the behaviour of individual members. There are eight specific Apollonian behaviours that together lead to a dehumanized and bureaucratic organization. Each one has an antidote, which, if routinely employed, will decrease these unhelpful tendencies. WAYS TO CHANGE APOLLONIAN BEHAVIOURS 1 Refusing to entertain contradictory/unorthodox views. Empower official Cassandras to oppose the consensus. 2 Ignoring evidence that argues against chosen policies. Require proposers to provide a full list of pros and cons. 3 Taking decisions that are unethical or inhumane. Publish a code of ethics and appoint an ombudsman. 4 Seeing opponents and colleagues as stereotypes rather than individuals. Arrange face-to-face meetings supervised by an impartial facilitator. 5 Pressurizing people to conform to group opinions. Reward individual initiatives and demand new ideas. 6 Forming cliques that keep themselves to themselves. Send outsiders into groups as co-opted members. 7 Leaving people in groups no option but unanimity. Solicit everybody’s opinion in rotation. 8 Continuing with policies that have been proved false.

4. Injecting Creativity Any culture, however many its defects, can succeed with just one great idea, so powerful that it transcends those defects. Creative self-oriented Dionysian individuals can provide such ideas. Does your organization contain enough of these people? CREATIVE DIONYSUS Dionysus has nothing to do with organization, but he has a lot to do with culture. God of the non-organization, his disciples are primarily individual and creative thinkers, who find it very difficult to work in large, highly structured, Apollo-ruled organizations. No organization can do without this type, however, if it is to deal successfully with the exceptional situations where the normal responses have failed to provide a result. In these circumstances only the quick, individualistic thinking of Dionysian types is likely to provide a solution. Are you such a Dionysian individual? Do you:

• Give your subordinates stimulating work?
• Respect the needs and values of others?
• Give priority to individuals and their needs?
• Excel in personal relationships?
• Treat colleagues as interesting and valuable people?
• Get deeply interested in and excited by your work?
• Manage with the full consent of others?
• Make all appointments strictly on merit?
• Compete primarily to heal your own best standards? WORKING WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION The attributes and behaviours of a Dionysian individual would be applauded by all of Dandy’s three organizational cultures: the autocrat, the bureaucrat, and the task-master would all say that they want managers to fit this excellent pattern. But saying and doing are not the same thing. In organizations of every culture, you will find lip-service to the Dionysian ideal, coupled with actions, procedures, and interactions that make Dionysian behaviour difficult in practice. Do not despair. Bear in mind that, while cultures are collective, the collective is made up of individuals. Live up to your best Dionysian ideals at all times.