Why Organizational Culture Matters

Presented by:
Presented To:
Mark Bodnarczuk
Executive Director EFCOG QA Sub-Committee
October 24, 2006
© Breckenridge Institute, All Rights Reserved
Conceptual Overview
 Culture – The purpose of culture (any culture) is to teach people how
to see the world

 Goal – Stimulate new ways of thinking about QA by showing how

much of what you believe about quality and organizations is itself
cultural – a product of the quality culture in the DOE Complex

 Goal – Deep learning (comes only from unlearning which makes most
people uncomfortable)
Session Overview
 Session 1 – History, Results, Culture Model

 Session 2 – Case Study Intervention and Strategic View

 Session 3 – Six Elements of Work, Organizational Climate

 Session 4 – Cultural Change and Enhancing QA Programs

 Format – Seminar style with six working groups

 Deliverable – Six working groups’ suggestions on ways to enhance

DOE 414.1C and 10CFR830.120 QA programs
Session 1: History, Results, Culture Model
 History – My involvement in QA

 Insight – Appendix A, autopilot quality assurance culture with

paper-paper, instead focus on enterprise-wide business processes
and Criterion 5 (Work Processes)

 External Environment – Governance and the business

environment is the single biggest factor for creating culture, e.g.
why TQM failed in DOE – no business results, no customers, no
consequences for performance (good or bad)
Session 1: History, Results, Culture Model
 Results – Begin and end with results – current quality culture has
an unconscious bias toward process rather than results, safety
over production (Collins’ tyranny of the OR and genius of the AND)

 Red Flag – “That’s not how we do it…” or “The system doesn’t

allow it” (DNFSB) are indicators of cultural norms operating

 Culture – The purpose of culture (any culture) is to teach people

how to see the world – it’s the See, Do, Get, Process™
 Events in
SEE
the World
Current
Reality
Identify AUTOMATIC PILOT Select
GET NEW DO Potential DOING & LEARNING Data
Course of PROCESS
Future
Action
Reality
Impose
Meaning
Cultural Wilderness™
Disrupt the Equilibrium

Deconstruction
(Appreciate Inquiry)

From UNLEARNING
CHANGE Reconstruction
Awareness
to Action PROCESS
See, Do, Get, Process™

Clarify Change
Metaphors
Session 1: History, Results, Culture Model
 Lewin – Geocentric, subway, conflict (Freud, Rogers, Skinner, EO
Wilson)

 See, Do, Get – See is culture, Do is the structures and systems we

build, Get is actual organizational performance

 Org Theory – Jaques: organizational and scientific theory, e.g.

what are the fundamental theories that underlie the work of people
like Collins, Kaplan, NQA-1, DOE 414.1C, QA (history)?

 Culture Model – The three-part organizational theory that’s the

foundation of the BCI™ culture model:

 a) Three circles, b) Outside-in open systems theory, and c)

Cultural Envelope™

 Mapping – Build the connections between: a) the open systems

theory, b) the Cultural Envelope, and c) the three radars
Inside-Out Organizational View
Session 2: Case Study Intervention and
Strategic View
 Results – Small group discussion about results

 Intervention – Anthropologists to intervene is to affect

 Approach – Expert services role, diagnostic role, collaborative role

(small group discussion)

 Case Study – From customer service training to culture

Session 2: Case Study Intervention and
Strategic View
 Border Guards – Small group exercise on building an interaction
map

 Selection Bias – Cognitive conflict and the self-selection bias of

culture – where do you think most QA professionals fit?
 HQ
Local Gov
Federal Gov
Support Long-Term
Finance Employees
ESS&H Government Mindset

Town Field
Testing Production

Program
Recent Hires Technical Services
Industry Mindset Operations
Contractor
Local
Corporate
 18

16

14

12

10
Count

0
ISTJ ESTJ ISTP ISFJ INFP ESTP ISFP ESFJ ENFJ INTP ENTP
Personality Type
 Type 1:Production Type 2: Communicating
Total: 14 27% Total: 5 10%
Se Te Ne Fe
ESTP 3 6% ESTJ 11 22% ENTP 1 2% ESFJ 2 4%
0 0 0% 0 0 0% 0 0 0% ENFJ 2 4%
Type 3: Administrative Type 4: Visionary
Total: 27 53% Total: 5 10%
Si Ti Ni Fi
ISTJ 16 31% ISTP 5 10% 0 0 0% INFP 3 6%
ISFJ 5 10% INTP 1 2% 0 0 0% ISFP 2 4%
Total: 51

Type 1:Production Type 2: Communicating

Total: 1 10% Total: 1 10%
Se Te Ne Fe
ESTP 1 10% 0 0 0% ENTP 1 10% 0 0 0%
0 0 0% 0 0 0% 0 0 0% 0 0 0%
Type 3: Administrative Type 4: Visionary
Total: 7 70% Total: 1 10%
Si Ti Ni Fi
ISTJ 4 40% ISTP 2 20% 0 0 0% INFP 10% 10%
0 0 0% INTP 1 10% 0 0 0% 0 0% 0%
Total: 10
Session 2: Case Study Intervention and
Strategic View
 Strategic View – Establishes organizational purpose, direction,
and ground rules for execution

 Configuration – Six elements of the Strategic View are

interdependent and settle down on a pattern of interaction that
often embodies LOW (Jenga), e.g. changing one changes the
others sometimes in unpredictable ways

 Core Beliefs-Values – Exploring and characterizing seemingly

contradictory, yet mutually held tacit assumptions, unquestioned
beliefs that exist in an Essential Tension™ (both and thinking)

 Self Assessment – Small group exercise: a self assessment of

your organization
Interdependent Configuration
Session 3: Six Elements of Work,
Organizational Climate
 Execution – Shows an organization’s approach to execution –
implementing the Strategic View (windows into culture)

 QA – These are the elements that are closest to DOE 414.1C and
10CFR830.120

 Configuration – Elements of the Six Elements of Work are

interdependent and settle down on a pattern of interaction that often
embody LOW (Jenga)

 Core Beliefs-Values – Exploring and characterizing seemingly

contradictory, yet mutually held tacit assumptions, unquestioned
beliefs that exist in an Essential Tension™ (both and thinking)

 Self Assessment – Small group exercise: a self assessment of your

organization
Interdependent Configuration
Session 3: Six Elements of Work,
Organizational Climate
 Climate – The most easily recognizable aspects of organizational
culture (closest window into culture)

 Qualitative – The opinions and perceptions are dependent on

organizational strata, personality, disciplinary background, and
experience

 Individual-Collective Paradox™ – Teasing apart the difference

between individual values and personality (Border Guards) and
collective, social beliefs and values (culture)

 Configuration – Elements of the six elements are interdependent

and settle down on a pattern of interaction that often embody LOW
(Jenga)

 Core Beliefs-Values – Exploring and characterizing seemingly

contradictory, yet mutually held tacit assumptions, unquestioned
beliefs that exist in an Essential Tension™ (both and thinking)
Interdependent Configuration
Session 4: Cultural Change and Enhancing QA
Programs
 Overall Score – Small group exercise: complete the overall
organizational score sheet

 Quantitative Analysis – Use advanced analytics to identify root

causes and cause and effect relationships within each dimension
(factor analysis), then between the 18 perspectives in all three
dimensions (regression analysis, structural equation modeling)

 Gap Analysis – Establish how wide the gap is between the formal
and informal structures, systems, and culture by examining objective
evidence and day-to-day operations and interactions

 Qualitative Analysis – Explore and characterize the underlying core

beliefs and values (tacit unquestioned assumptions) that explain the
true (informal) motivations of the scores (data mining on verbatim
comments, and a portfolio of formal and informal communications)
Session 4: Cultural Change and Enhancing QA
Programs
 Now What – It’s easy to “talk” about culture change, but very, very
difficult to do, e.g. 18 months to 2 years per layer of management

 Cliff Notes Culture Change – Small group exercise using the nine-
step improvement process that

 Harnessing Process™ – A single diagram that codifies the principles

and practices presented into a long-term cultural change process
 Harnessing Process™
Structure and Systems
Cultural Elements Surface Traits Embedding Process
Underlying Assumptions Formal Rules of the Game Concretize Change
Informal Rules of the Game New Organizational Reality
Gyroscope
Organizational Climate Senior Team Develop Hedgehog and Deploy (GMTs)
Management Philosophy HA Strata Templates
Deconstruct

Strategic View
Openness to Change Squandered Energy MoR (Development and Just Culture)
Constructive Conflict Managers Accountable for Staff’s Results
Just Culture, Creativity, Tradition Build Change Into Perform Appraisals
Six Elements of Work
Core Beliefs and Values Monday-Friday E-Mails
Financial Management
Cultural Barriers On-Site Sessions
Collective Memory (Level 1)
Collective Memory (Level 2) Primary Embedding Mechanisms
Redesign Structures and Systems (Org Energy) Secondary Embedding Mechanisms
Stop Doing List
Reconstruct

Redesign Cultural Elements (Psych Energy)

Redesign Embedding Process Org-Wide Communication Plan
Align Structures, Systems, Culture, and Embedding Advanced Analytics
Step-By-Step Implementing Plan and Budget Financial Analysis

Defining New Results (Org and Psych)

Change
Define

Clarifying the Change Metaphor

Transition to A Ceremonial Ending Transition to

Awareness
To Action

Organization-Wide Implementing the Plan Organization-Wide

Implementation Organization-Wide Embedding Mechanisms Implementation

Understand Change-Transition
Navigating the Manage Survival-Learning Anxiety Navigating the
Cultural Wilderness™ Focus on the Gyroscope and Be a Trim Tab™ Cultural Wilderness™
Commitment to Stockdale Paradox
Obtain New

Monitor and Measure Results

New Do

Course Correct - Continue Embedding Mechanisms

Results
Session 4: Small Group Deliverable
 Line Managers – Use material to help line managers “see”
themselves, working associates, and the overall organization
differently with the goal of improving results

 Intervention-Approach – Use material to improve intervention style

and approach (expert, diagnostic, collaborative)

 Enhancing QAP – Use material to make your QA program less

focused on paper and process and more focused on obtaining
improved results
Conceptual Review
 Culture – The purpose of culture (any culture) is to teach people how
to see the world

 Goal – Stimulate new ways of thinking about QA by showing how

much of what you believe about quality and organizations is itself
cultural – a product of the quality culture in the DOE Complex

 Goal – Deep learning (comes only from unlearning which makes most
people uncomfortable)
 Where do
we go from
here?

The Complex needs a

new quality culture

The Complex needs a

new theoretical
foundation for quality

Today’s material could

be a starting place to
rethink these things

Photos provided by: © 2006 Annie Crawley, www.anniecrawley.com