Cultural Reflection in Management. Lukasz Sulkowski

there are four types of organisational cultures: quality-oriented culture (which values effective planning, accepts changes and is oriented towards solving problems); creative culture (dominated by innovation, entrepreneurship, taking risks and initiating changes); productive culture (characterised by effectiveness, coherence, strict procedures, rituals in action and resistance to changes), and supportive culture (teamwork, cooperation, growth and responding to changes)¹¹¹. The model by T. J. Peters is similar. It distinguishes four types of culture, depending on their influence on innovation, action, control and harmony of the culture in an organisation (Tab. 13).

Tab. 13: Types of culture according to T. J. Peters. Source: Own work based on: Zbiegień-Maciąg L., Kultura w organizacji: Identyfikacja kultur znanych firm, op. cit, pp. 72–75 [based on:] Peters T. J., Management decision, Business Policy in Action, 1993, vol. 31, no. 6.

	Orientation towards employees	Orientation towards work
External orientation	Culture of innovationAn organisational culture oriented towards innovative change, which has a tendency to take risks. Informal, direct contacts prevail. Can be chaotic.	Culture of actionAn organisational culture oriented towards action, achievements, and results. Initiative is what counts the most. Perfect, professional actions are rewarded. An organisation is characterised by the acceptance of changes. There may be problems with delegating responsibilities.
Internal orientation	Culture of harmonyAn organisational culture dominated by deliberation. People and teamwork are most important. External values are accepted only when they correspond to those shared within the organisation. The priorities are cultural values, which influence strategic decisions. Insusceptibility to changes.	Culture of controlAn organisational culture oriented towards strong control. Conservatism and bureaucracy prevail. A very hierarchical structure. Formal contacts and written communication dominate. Reluctance to taking risks. Subordinates strongly oppose all changes. A closed organisation.

      O’Reilly, Chatman and Caldwell (1991) created An organisational Profile Model, which distinguished as many as seven dimensions: innovation, stability, ←62 | 63→respect for people, orientation towards effects, accuracy, orientation towards teamwork, aggressiveness. An organisational profile is a diagnostic tool, which allows one to correlate organisational culture with the personality traits of leaders, management and employees of the given organisation. This makes it possible to define and measure employees’ involvement and loyalty, which then allows for assessment of the effectiveness of the culture¹¹².

      The cultural model which is used to diagnose problems and allows for planning of intervention was designed by D. Denison. It is based on the assumption of coherence between organisational culture and strategy and distinguishes four dimensions, each divided into three operational dimensions:←63 | 64→

      1. Mission is divided into the parameters of strategic direction, strategic aims and the organisation’s vision.

      2. The ability to adapt was described with the use of the creation of changes, orientation towards customers and organisational learning.

      3. Involvement was analysed with the use of empowerment, orientation towards teams and the development of skills.

      4. Coherence consists of the basic values, consistency and integration.

      Diagnosis of a culture leads to the description of a culture model from the point of view of its flexibility, stability and openness, which in turn allows us to foresee its effectiveness.

      For the purpose of his own research, R. A. Cooke devised An Organisational Culture Inventory, which makes it possible to measure the intensity of 12 norms of organisational behaviour, located within three areas: 1) cultural constructivism, 2) passivity and defensiveness, and 3) aggression and defensiveness. This model makes use of normative assumptions and a constructive culture, accepting it as positive and effectiveness-oriented, while the other two types of culture are just the opposite. Constructive cultures are oriented towards social relationships and satisfying the higher needs of the organisation’s members. They value working in groups, which is especially important in the case of complex, creative work. The norms of conservative cultures include achievements, self-fulfilment, encouragement to develop, as well as a sense of belonging and cooperation. Passive and defensive cultures are oriented towards tasks and cooperation with people who do not pose a potential threat to professional status or position. The key element is the defence of one’s position in an organisation with the use of a network of influences, satisfying superiors’ needs, as well as avoiding confrontation and conflict. This type of culture results in lower motivation and a drop in the effectiveness of employees. Norms, with the use of which the passive and defensive culture is operationalised, include striving for approval, conventionalism, dependence and avoidance.

      Aggressive and defensive cultures are oriented towards tasks, competition and individual needs. The key value is power, which can lead to entanglement in internal status conflicts, which results in lower effectiveness. Employees are encouraged to compete, and they strive to strengthen their influence. The most important norms include opposition and criticism of others, fights over power and influence, competitiveness (the aim of which is to defend one’s own position), and perfectionism leading to attachment to the process and details.

      G. Hofstede proposed typical models of organisational culture, characteristic of chosen cultural circles. The two key dimensions in this case are power ←64 | 65→distance and uncertainty avoidance, the combination of which gives rise to a typology of four models of ideal organisational cultures, characteristic of five cultural circles¹¹³:

       Fig. 3: Cultural models of organisation. Source: G. Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991.

      A two-dimensional typology of organisational cultures, which draws on G. Hofstede’s concept, was proposed by C. Hampden-Turner and F. Trompenaars. The combination of these dimensions created four ideal models, described metaphorically as: Incubator, Guided missile, Family and the Eiffel Tower, which are references to the types of organisational culture characteristic of different cultural circles:

       Fig. 4: Types of organisational culture according to Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner. Source: C. Hampden-Turner, A. Trompenaars, Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business, McGraw-Hill, 1997.

      One of the oldest concepts of cultural management includes the notion of organisational climate. A climate is what the employees of a given organisation believe to exist, but is not necessarily what actually is. The author lists four types of organisational climate: autocratic, bureaucratic, innovative and informal. The climate of a given organisation is the result of the dominant form of its ←65 | 66→management’s motivation, which can be oriented to achievement, power, security or a sense of belonging. In consequence, the motivation of power, resulting from the need to exercise influence and to control others, leads to the creation of an autocratic climate, dominated by power and influence, as in the case of R. Harrison’s culture of power. Interpersonal relationships include, on the one hand, domination, and on the other, submission. Promotion is related to fulfilling superiors’ orders without any mistakes. Organisational power focuses on controlling the information flow and increasing the extent of the subordination of others. The motivation of achievements