Management Culture & Organizational Learning Date:   Wednesday , September 30, 2009 Organizational learning is increasingly recognized as a key capability for competitive advantage. For the last couple of decades, there has been enormous debate and discussion on various related subjects such as learning organization, organizational learning, knowledge management, and competency development. The meaning, methodology, and measurement of all these approaches have all been the focus of these discussions. Organizations have also spent substantial amounts of money towards accomplishing a culture of learning, but the outcome of these investments is a huge suspect. Part of the problem also has to do with not being clear with results and outcome organizations wanted to see. Measuring organizational learning is difficult, though not impossible. More importantly, many of these initiatives had a cultural aspect in them, and when this aspect is not paid due attention, the results are bound to be disappointing. Edgar Schein needs no introduction to those who are interested in the exciting field of organizational culture. His seminal work is read and practiced by many leaders and organizations worldwide. In 1996, Schein published some exceptional work in the area of organizational learning and helped organizations understand the impact of what he then called as ‘the three cultures of management’ that had tremendous impact on organizational learning. Organizational learning, according to him, is an imperative for innovations to occur and even more importantly for them to survive and proliferate. Failure to generate organizational learning was often attributed to a) resistance to change; b) human nature; and c) leadership failure. Schein believes that the more fundamental reason why organizational learning does not happen is because of the fact that three distinct management cultures that come to characterize organizations are not often aligned. Cultures and Subcultures in Organizations Before we proceed to understand the three cultures that consume all organizations, let us define what we mean by culture here. In this context, a culture is a set of basic tacit assumptions about how the world is and ought to be that a group of people share and which, in turn, determines perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and to some degree their behavior. This culture manifests itself at three different levels. At the deepest level, it is manifested as tacit assumptions; at a slightly higher level, it takes the shape of espoused values that reflect what a group of people wish to be and the way they want to present themselves publicly; and at the next higher level, it is day-to-day behavior that represents a compromise among the espoused values and deeper assumptions based on the immediate requirements of the situation. Cultures, as understood above, derive from the histories and experiences of organizations for a long time. Thus IBM, Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, and such other companies that have had several years of success will likely have an organizational culture that pretty much drives how their employees feel, think, and act. Shared assumptions are typically formed around the functional units of an organization. They are often based on the employees’ educational backgrounds or their organizational experiences; more often it is the latter than the former. We refer to these as ‘stove pipes’ or ‘silos’. It is for this reason that many organizations have challenges in bringing about cross-functional teams to work on projects. And then there is also a hierarchy-based culture in organizations. Three Management Cultures that Characterize Organizations Problems associated with organizational learning can be related to the lack of alignment with three cultures as researched and reported by Schein. These are, a) the operator culture; b) the engineering culture; and c) the executive culture. The operator culture: This term has its origin from the traditional industries where the assembly line and trained operators delivered the product. In modern organizations, however, the information technology has transformed the way the output is produced. The operator culture is based on human interactions and most of the business units within an organization do recognize that communication, trust, and teamwork are essential to getting the work done efficiently. As it may seem, quite understandably, the fact remains that in most organizations the incentive system or the day-to-day management system may not support these assumptions. As a result, any effort at sharing knowledge, information, and learning is scuttled. The engineering culture: In the broader sense of the term, this culture refers to a way of working whereby the members of the team believe that there is an engineering solution to every problem and that human intervention is best kept to a minimal level. Here the concept of ideal world would be one of elegant machines and processes that work in perfect precision and harmony without human intervention. The executive culture: This culture consists of a set of implicit assumptions that the senior managers worldwide share. This executive worldview is built around the need to maintain an organization’s financial health and is understandably preoccupied with boards, investors, and capital markets. This culture is also characterized by the world view of the senior managers that include: a) data from people in the organization is not reliable so they must trust their own judgment; b) the organization must be a team, but the accountability has to rest on the individual; and c) willingness to experiment and take risks in the organization should be extended to only those things that permit the senior manager to stay in control of. Interaction Between these Cultures is Dysfunctional When organizations try to learn in a generative way, they are required to reinvent themselves since technologies and environmental conditions have changed rather dramatically. This leads to a collusion of the above three cultures, and as a result organizational learning never happens. Organizations will not learn effectively until and unless they recognize, and perhaps confront, the implications of these three occupational cultures. Organizational learning is facilitated when managers and senior managers recognize the subtle but strong influence of these three cultures, their underlying assumptions, and how they come in the way of human interactions in sharing and learning. The solution lies in recognizing the differences in the assumptions of these cultures, articulating them, and building a unified culture around the strengths of all the three occupational cultures. This demands, to begin with, that the concept of culture itself is taken seriously by the managers. Then begins a discovery around how many such occupational cultures exist in the organization, although managers would like to believe that there is only one culture that is built around the articulated organizational values. The reality is that every organization has the above three cultures, and with some effort it is not all that difficult to discern them. As they often say in the medical profession, the problem diagnosed right is half cured already. This holds well also for the organizational problems around creating a conducive environment for learning. Managers hold the key to making this happen. Until then, investments in creating a learning environment will go through the black hole. The author is Executive Vice President & Chief People Officer, Symphony Services. He can be reached at mahalingam.c@symphonysv.com