Resources for coaching, teambuilding
and managing corporate culture

Free Coaching Resources - Book Reviews

"Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture:
Based on the Competing Values Framework. "

By Kim S. Cameron and Robert E. Quinn

(Addison-Wesley Series on Organization Development, 1999 ISBN 0-201-33871-8)

Reviewed by Matt M. Starcevich, Ph.D.

This is a "how-to" book. How to assess the current organization culture that exists. How to determine the preferred culture to best achieve the strategic direction of the organization. How to close the gap with actual managerial behaviors that reinforce the desired organization culture. This is a must read for those concerned about organization culture.

Why be concerned about organization culture? The authors cite numerous studies reporting that the most frequent reason give for failure of most planned organizational changes was a neglect of the organization’s culture. As many as three quarters of reengineering, total quality management, strategic planning and downsizing efforts have failed entirely or have created problems serious enough that the survival of the organization was threatened. In a 1992 study by Coopers & Lybrand of 100 companies with failed or troubled mergers, 85% of the executive polled said that differences in management style and practices were the major problem. On a more positive note the major distinguishing feature that differentiates the extraordinarily successful firms from others, their most important competitive advantage, is their organizational culture. Successful companies have developed something special that supersedes corporate strategy, market presence, or technological advantage—a distinctive culture. Organization culture needs to be managed.

The purpose of this book is to assist individuals in better understanding an effective way to diagnose and change culture in order to enhance organizational performance. They provide two important pieces to the illusive and ignored world or organizational culture—a framework and methodology for understanding and implementation of change.

The Framework:

The Competing Values Framework was developed from research on the major indicator of effective organizations. Two dimensions form four quadrants, each representing a distinct set of organizational effectiveness indicators or core values:

The Hierarchy Culture key values center on maintaining efficient, reliable, fast, smooth-flowing production (e.g., McDonalds). The Market Culture core values are competitiveness and productivity (e.g., General Electric). The Clan Culture is like an extended family where shared values and goals, cohesion, participativeness, individuality, and a sense of we-ness exist. (e.g., People Express). The Adhocracy Culture is temporary characterized by a dynamic, entrepreneurial and creative workplace (e.g., NASA). These four culture types serve as the foundation for the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) that has been used in more than a thousand organizations and found to predict organizational performance. It consists of six questions. Each question has four alternatives corresponding to the four cultures. This simple instrument can be used to asses the current and preferred culture of and organization and evaluate the alignment with the competitive environment facing the firm.

The Methodology:

The next section of the book is devoted to the following six step interactive process for diagnosing and changing organization culture:

The last chapter is critical in the change process: implementation of behaviors by individuals in the organization that reinforce and are consistent with the new culture. Managerial behaviors—skills and competencies of managers—that need to change and reinforce the culture change process. The Management Skills Assessment Instrument (MSAI) is based on the same framework as the organizational culture profile and can be used to identify which skills and competencies managers must develop or improve in order to enhance the culture change effort. Twelve managerial competencies, three for each of the four culture types are evaluated. This is critical—for culture change to occur, the actions of manager must change (i.e., they must "walk the talk). Based on data from themselves, peers, subordinates and superiors, managers can see their strengths, gaps and determine a course of action to support the desired culture.

The authors state "we do not stake a claim for the one-best-way with our framework or our methodology, but we do advocate this approach as a critically important strategy in the organization’s repertoire for changing culture and improving performance". I believe they are modest since this approach is practical, timely, involving, quantitative and qualitative, manageable, and valid. What more could you ask for? This is an important book for internal and external change agents.

Order today

Contact Matt Starcevich at matt@coachingandmentoring.com
Copyright 1999 Center for Coaching & Mentoring, Inc., update: March 07, 2007