F E AT U R E

CULTURE

Determine the culture that’s right for your organization | by Jeff Veyera

FINDING THE
PERFECT

FIT
MicroStockHub via Getty Images

24 QP June 2020 ❘ qualityprogress.com

 Just the
Facts
Adapted from his
book Culture Is
Everything, the
author explains
how an organiza-
tion can adopt the
quality culture it
needs to succeed
by identifying
gaps between the
culture it wants
and the culture
it has.

A cultural
dimensions devel-
opment grid helps
an organization
define exactly
what it does
Every so it can be the
most effective
type of organization at
company doing so. Next,
six dimensions of
culture serves a quality culture
a purpose. In a one-​ and 10 cultural
archetypes are
person firm, culture may outlined to help
seem irrelevant: One person the organization
determine what
does it all, so the company culture type of culture
is simply however that person chooses it needs.
to do things. However, as simple as this
company culture seems, it may be ill-suited for
marketplace success. If I am a consultant living in Los
Angeles, serving a client in Bangalore, India, for example,
it wouldn’t be wise to insist on keeping to working hours set
by the time zone in which my office is located. Nor should I rigidly

qualityprogress.com ❘ June 2020 QP 25

 F E AT U R E
CULTURE
hold to American cultural norms for professional interactions.
Not all company cultures set us up for success in the areas nec-
essary for our business to thrive.
As we focus more on the cultures that align most strongly
with process improvement, this becomes clearer still. Compa-
nies founded by the more autocratic among us will struggle
with the notion of empowerment necessary to building a
strong quality culture.
One of the reasons why Toyota has been able to be so
fearless in sharing its Toyota Production System and lean
approaches is that few other companies have proven willing
to embrace the culture that makes such systems so produc-
tive. That type of culture begins with assuring employees
they won’t lose their jobs due to increased productivity.1
Toyota followed W. Edwards Deming’s call to drive out fear
from the workplace as a necessary predicate for true quality
improvement—few other companies have been willing to do
the same.
This tension between the culture a company needs and the
culture it has is a prime driver of transformation and reengi-
neering efforts, which usually are triggered after the market
has rejected the company’s business model. McKinsey & Co.
and other management consulting firms enjoy robust business
transformation service offerings, which begin with the trans-
plantation of a more successful company culture for this reason.
Yet, according to McKinsey, 70% of business transformation
efforts will fail, despite their success being essential to survival.2
What makes for a quality culture?
Considered by many to be the undisputed sacred text of the
quality professional is Joseph M. Juran’s Quality Handbook.
The sixth edition had this to say about desirable aspects of
a company culture vis-à-vis process improvement:
“Some of the more enabling norms are as follows:
“A belief that the quality of a product or process is at least of
equal importance, and probably of greater importance, than the
mere quantity produced. This belief results in decisions favoring
quality: Defective items do not get passed on down the line or
out the door; chronic errors and delays are corrected.
“A fanatical commitment to meeting customer needs. Every-
one knows who his or her customers are (those who receive
the results of their work), and how well he or she is doing
at meeting those needs. (They ask.) Organization members,
if necessary, drop everything and go out of their way to assist
customers in need.
“A fanatical commitment to stretch goals and continuous
improvement. There is always an economic opportunity for
improving products or processes. Organizations who prac-
tice continuous improvement keep up with, or become better
than, competitors.
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TA B L E 1
Cultural dimensions definition
Dimension Definition
How dispersed decision-making authority
regarding process is across the company.
Decision makers Where teammates are empowered, there
will be many decision makers. Where
process control is highly centralized,
there will be few decision makers.
What type of information is prized and
determinative in making decisions within
the organization? Numbers-driven
cultures will score high for quantitative
Decisive information information. Gut-driven cultures will score
high for qualitative information. Where
both are present, select the type that
the decision makers will use to come to
a final conclusion.
How decision-making authority is defined.
In hierarchical organizations such as the
military, rank or positional authority
Decision authority
determines who decides. In start-up
or virtual organizations, credibility
and knowledge are determinative.
How often process change is desired
in a company. This ranges from static
Pace of change environments, in which the status quo is
to be protected, to dynamic workplaces,
in which the status quo is to be disrupted.
How large a desired change may be
and still be supported by most in
an organization. This may run from
Magnitude of change tiny, incremental improvements to
fundamental redesigns of how we work.
This represents the appetite for change.
Where the impetus for change comes
from. In externally focused cultures, it
comes from outside (usually customer,
Driver of change
sometimes market or regulatory). In
internally focused cultures, it comes
from within the company.
“A customer-oriented code of conduct and code of ethics.
This code is published, taught in new employee orientations,
and taken into consideration in performance ratings and in
distributing rewards. Everyone is expected at all times to
behave and make decisions in accordance with the code.
The code is enforced, if needed, by managers at all levels.
The code applies to everyone, even board members—perhaps
 especially to them considering their power to influence
everyone else.
“A belief in continuous adaptive change is not only good
but necessary. To remain alive, organizations must develop
a system for discovering social, governmental, international,
or technological trends that could impact the organization.
In addition, organizations will need to create and to main-
tain structures and processes that enable a quick, effective
response to these newly-discovered trends.”3
Michael L. George describes the cultural fertile ground for
Six Sigma in his book Lean Six Sigma:
“Customer centricity: The knowledge of what the customer
values most is the start of value-stream analysis.
“Financial results: No project or effort is undertaken unless
there is evidence indicating how much shareholder value will be
created. The goal is for each black belt to deliver an average of
$500,000 of improved operating profit per year.
“Management engagement: The CEO, executives, and
managers are engaged in Six Sigma. They have designated
responsibilities for overseeing and guiding Six Sigma projects
to make sure those projects stay focused on organizational
priorities.
“Resource commitment: A significant number, typically 1%
to 3% of the organization’s staff, is devoted to Six Sigma efforts
full-time and other employees are expected to participate
regularly on projects.
“Execution infrastructure: The hierarchy of specific roles
(such as black belts and master black belts) provides ways
This tension between the culture a company needs
and the culture it has is a prime driver of transformation
and reengineering efforts.
iStock.com/MicroStockHub
to integrate Six Sigma projects into the ‘real work’ of the organi-
zation and sustain the rate of improvement.”4
Lean practitioners are particularly interested in the cultural
foundations for process improvement. The Lean Handbook
(edited by Anthony Manos and Chad Vincent) identifies basic
principles necessary to undertake a lean journey, as well as
more advanced principles required to sustain a lean culture:
“Basic principles: safety, standards, leadership, empowerment,
and collaboration.
“Advanced principles: systemic thinking, constancy of pur-
pose, social responsibility.”5
While there are similarities in the cultural recipes articulated
earlier, there are also stark differences. Beyond the general
dimensions defined in Table 1, additional and more specific
dimensions must be defined to enable the specific methods
for process improvement to be deployed. Attempting to roll
out lean Six Sigma without standardized work will prove to be
an exercise in frustration.
Non-quality-related cultural dimensions
It’s time for another thought experiment.
Think about your current company. You are going to
refound it to make it into the most effective organization
in history at doing whatever it is your customer wants it
to do. You’ll do this by systematically answering a series
of important questions, as shown in Table 2 (p. 28). Table
3 (p. 28) is a real-world example that illustrates the points
in Table 2.
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 F E AT U R E
CULTURE

TA B L E 2 TA B L E 3

Cultural dimensions Cultural dimensions

development grid development grid example
To take wood waste streams and
Why does your company What does your company transform them into profitable
exist? exist to do? consumer products

1. Develop new products from

wood waste stream components
2. Procure reliable sources of
wood waste
List three to five skills List three to five skills 3. E fficiently manufacture consumer
required to be the best required to be the best products from wood waste
in the world at doing this. in the world at doing this. 4. Consistently fulfill customer
demand for these products
5. C ontinually innovate to improve
service and profits

1. Innovative
If one team were able to If one team were able to 2. Productive
be the best in the world be the best in the world 3. Collaborative
at all of these skills, list at all of these skills, list 4. Customer-focused
three to eight adjectives three to eight adjectives 5. Humble
to describe one or to describe one or 6. Relentless
more of its members. more of its members. 7. Data-driven

1. Innovation
2. Productivity
Make these adjectives into Make these adjectives into 3. Collaboration
nouns. These are the core nouns. These are the core 4. Customer focus
dimensions of the culture dimensions of the culture 5. Humility
your company needs. your company needs. 6. Relentlessness
7. Data focus

This method can be used to apply the principles of “culture
is everything” more broadly and in non-process improvement
contexts. For process improvement applications, however,
we can simply take the six cultural dimensions in Table 1,
as defined, and order off the archetypes menu in Table 4.
One company I worked for came to a crossroads during my
tenure there. Margins were under attack and rapidly dimin-
ishing while a combination of new entrants to the market
and competitors’ vertical integrations made it harder each
year to hold on to even fewer profitable customers. Moreover,
the customers’ expectations regarding service levels increased
steadily year over year. This company, well over a century old,
needed a new company culture to survive because the behav-
iors, which had previously nurtured it, had grown toxic over
time. But which type of culture did it need?
The pressing need to eliminate waste and improve fulfillment
pointed toward a lean culture. Unfortunately, the company’s
culture was not well aligned with a lean culture. For example,
while each facility was able to run its operation as it wished,
the general manager made all the decisions.
Moreover, the company culture was change-averse, with deci-
sions being made arbitrarily and with little collaboration and a lot
of tribal knowledge. In such aristocratic cultures, large-scale trans-
formations are impossible without leadership being completely in
lockstep. In this case, leadership was split into various camps.
Several attempts were made to transform the company, includ-
ing acquiring different lines of business with better margins and
different cultures, hiring and firing several CEOs and company
officers, centralizing some functions to reduce the power of the
general managers, implementing new information systems and
outsourcing noncore functions. The culture has largely remained
unchanged, and company performance has suffered.
This situation is all too common today, especially as leadership
turns over.

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 TA B L E 4

Cultural archetypes
This article was adapted Archetype Definition
from Culture Is Everything
(Quality Press, 2020). A culture with extremely decentralized
The book shows you Anarchic decision making and constant, significant
change; akin to a brand-new startup.
how to diagnose your
company’s culture in
A culture at the opposite end of anarchic
terms of its suitability in each dimension; distinguished by a
Aristocratic
for your preferred quality strong, traditional hierarchy that is resistant
to change.
improvement approach. It also offers
guidance on how to tailor your approach to that
culture or change the culture to better suit your A culture in which change happens slowly,
but it occurs in an orderly fashion when it
approach. Culture Is Everything is available from Compliant does—and tends toward sweeping change
Quality Press at asq.org/quality-press. on these occasions.

A culture that is designed and redesigned

Engineering based on the expertise of an elite few.

In retrospect, it would have been better to invest time and A culture in which everyone plays a part in
Lean incremental improvement of the company.
resources either in:
++ Making the existing aristocratic culture more functional
A culture that is a meritocracy, based chiefly
by choosing one faction or another and purging the rest. on the technical competency and ability
++ Going deep in a culture closer to the end state the company Operations to drive results of the members—resistant
to change but focused on customer (and
would need to reach to survive the bruising market condi- sometimes regulatory) requirements.
tions and winnow out anyone who wasn’t a true believer in
that culture.
A culture undergoing large amounts of change
The first option has lower short-term but greater long-term Revolutionary driven by an elite.
risk than the second. Either would have been preferred over
the strategic paralysis that ensued. A culture featuring strong leadership control
This example underscores the need for clarity of vision and Six Sigma combined with continuous incremental
improvement driven by data.
strategic realism in determining which culture your company
needs. Only top leadership can decide, and in doing so, must
A culture that is loosely controlled
prioritize personal career interests firmly beneath the compa- Tribalist (lots of tribes and chiefs) and highly
ny’s health. The “what” must be established before the “who” resistant to change.
can even be considered because culture is simply a tool to help
the company do what must be done. The best culture allows for A culture that is internally focused,
Turnaround undergoing frequent, substantial change,
what must be done to happen most naturally and without the guided by a few insiders.
need for constant vigilance and oppressive audit practices.6
After you have a firm grasp of what your culture must
be, you must unflinchingly inquire about the current culture.
Unless you are unusually fortunate, you will uncover significant Jeff Veyera is director of manufacturing
gaps between the culture in which you operate today and the projects at Lignetics in Louisville, CO.
one that will suit what your company must do tomorrow. He received a bachelor’s degree in
engineering from the U.S. Air Force
NOTES AND REFERENCES Academy. A senior member of ASQ,
References listed in this article can be found on the article’s webpage Veyera is the author of Culture Is
at qualityprogress.com. Everything (Quality Press, 2020).

qualityprogress.com ❘ June 2020 QP 29

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