According to Mark Frigo in his article “Culture Change for the Analytical Mind” the problem with culture is that it may be observable, but it is too fuzzy to submit to measurement or in-depth analysis. Culture, he states, is an output of the organizational system: you can’t change the culture without changing the system. In breaking down this system Frigo defines organizational DNA with four components much like biological DNA: Decision Rights (or the underlying mechanics of how and who makes decisions beyond the lines of the org chart); Information (what metrics are used to gauge performance and knowledge transfer); Motivators (the objectives and incentives driving people); and Structure (the org model). Make adjustments in these areas and you’ve managed culture change with actionable adjustments.
Interesting approach and new to us. We’ll check out Frigo’s link to what he calls an Org DNA Profiler (r) on behalf of our clients and see what this theory may offer…
Senior NEPA Project Manager at ICF International (Anchorage, AK) paper by Martin Ruef is a nice example of Brayden’s point. In that paper Ruef amptetts to explain a macro-level outcome (i.e. boom and bust cycles of foundings and exits in organizational populations and industries) using fairly intuitive (at the individual level) mechanisms related to the timing of organizational entrances and how this timing is affected by forward looking strategies of organizational entrepreneurs. A nice exemplar of how to go about studying the upwards arrow of Coleman’s boat.]]>