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CHAPTER 11
FUTURE PULL Understanding the Culture in Culture Change by LaVrene Norton
man body encounters unexpected challenges, ev- ery cell can support the whole system in its own special way. (Land & Jarman, 1992, p. 174)
A human cell’s powerful purpose is to enable, in its own unique way, a person to reach his or her growth potential. Like cells, we individuals working in long- term care also have a powerful purpose to motivate us: that of enabling older adults and disabled people to lead meaningful, fulfilling lives. Unfortunately, the language used to publicly state our purpose is “to pro- vide quality care.” With its emphasis more on cold, clinical outcomes than on the person, this language drives us into a more institutional direction. The aim of this chapter is to help organizations articulate their true purpose, discover their cultural reality, and begin to create a shared vision and a blueprint for achieving it. Before you can change your organization’s culture you need to understand what organizational culture is, what your organization’s culture is, what you and the other stakeholders want it to be, and what you need to do to make it happen.
It requires both organizational and individual transformation: After you decide what you want, you have to learn what adjustments to make in your orga- nization’s current culture to begin achieving it. Equally important, you must learn what changes are needed in you to enable the transition. Listening and learning is integral to both.
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE?
We at Action Pact define an organization’s culture by its values (operative and presumed), beliefs (con- scious intentions and subliminal), and habits (e.g., pol- icies, procedures, stated expectations). Our definition of culture encompasses not only our perceived pur- pose and vision for the future but also the process of how decisions are made, how power is distributed, the myths and realities of how an organization functions, the influence that individuals and departments have on the whole, and how all these are reflected in the social and physical environment for customers and workers. Only through a deep and honest examination of each of these elements can you understand your organization’s culture. Let’s begin with how decisions are made.
HOW DECISIONS ARE MADE
When Action Pact assesses the culture of a long- term care organization, one of the first things we determine is the process by which decisions are made. Typically, we find many variations of top-down management style that generally fit into the follow- ing categories.
AUTHORITARIAN
The executive leader basically says, “Do it my way,” in a leadership style often based on the false premise that leaders are born, not made. Peter M. Senge, author and director of the Center for Organizational Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management, calls this the “hero-CEO” myth in which “leaders are the few special people blessed with the capability for command and influence. They have (allegedly) become leaders pre- cisely because of their unique mix of skill, ambition, vision, charisma and no small amount of hubris... This idealization of great leadership leads to an endless search for heroic figures who can come in to rescue the rest of us” (Senge et al., 1999, p. 11).
All initiatives come from the executive lead- ers. Leadership development among others is stifled throughout the organization. “New ideas do not spring forth from people at the front lines because they are too intimidated to stick their necks out. Energies are not released to create new products or new ways to meet customer needs because people are too busy compet- ing with one another to please their bosses” (Senge et al., 1999, p. 11).
Actually, Action Pact runs into fewer instances of the strictly authoritarian model, perhaps because such organizational leaders are less likely to be interested in culture change.
PATERNALISTIC AUTHORITARIAN
Here the leader promotes a friendlier hierarchy, asking others, “Please tell me what you think of this decision I’m about to make” (probably in expectation of the accolades he or she will assuredly receive).
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT TEAMS
Still top-down, this model has several variations where anywhere from a handful of executives to the
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