Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
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• Justifying Concepts (involves “the process of determining if the newly created concepts are<br />
truly worthwhile <strong>for</strong> the organization <strong>and</strong> society; it is primarily the role of top management<br />
to <strong>for</strong>mulate the justification criteria in the <strong>for</strong>m of organizational intention, which is<br />
expressed in terms of strategy <strong>and</strong> vision.”);<br />
• Building an Archetype (as a kind of tangible incarnation of a concept in the <strong>for</strong>m of a<br />
‘prototype’, as in the case of a new product or ‘mock-up’, that should be developed by<br />
collective ef<strong>for</strong>ts; “attention to detail is the key to managing this complex process”); <strong>and</strong><br />
• Cross-Levelling of Knowledge (when “the new concept, which has been created, justified<br />
<strong>and</strong> modelled, moves into the new cycle of knowledge creation at a different ontological<br />
level. This interactive <strong>and</strong> spiral process takes place both intra-organizationally <strong>and</strong> interorganizationally.).<br />
Nonaka <strong>and</strong> Takeuchi also present a specific model of organizational design that, in their opinion,<br />
provides a structural basis <strong>for</strong> organizational knowledge creation. They call it ‘hypertext<br />
organization’. It is made up of interconnected layers of contexts: the ‘business system’ <strong>for</strong> routine<br />
operations, which may be shaped like a hierarchical pyramid; the ‘project-teams’ layer, where<br />
multiple teams engage in knowledge-creating activities; <strong>and</strong> the ‘knowledge-base’ layer, where<br />
organizational knowledge is re-categorized <strong>and</strong> re-contextualized. “This layer does not exist as an<br />
actual organizational entity, but is embedded in corporate vision, organizational culture, or<br />
technology. Corporate vision <strong>and</strong> organizational culture tap tacit knowledge, whereas technology<br />
taps the explicit knowledge generated in the other two layers.” (Nonaka <strong>and</strong> Takeuchi, 1995)<br />
We already paid a lot of attention to the first two layers – to solid structures (hierarchical or not)<br />
<strong>and</strong> to interrelations, like in teamwork (whether in task<strong>for</strong>ces or more permanent entities). Let us<br />
move on to the more subtle issues related to the ‘third layer’.<br />
Developing organizational culture<br />
<strong>Organizational</strong> culture comprises the attitudes, values, beliefs, norms <strong>and</strong> customs of an<br />
organization. The word culture, from the Latin cultus, cultura, with its root meaning ‘to cultivate’,<br />
generally refers to patterns of human activity <strong>and</strong> the symbolic structures that give such activity<br />
significance. Values are comprised of ideas about what in life seems important. They guide the<br />
rest of the culture. Norms consist of expectations about how people will behave in different<br />
situations. Each culture has different methods, called sanctions, <strong>for</strong> en<strong>for</strong>cing its norms. Norms<br />
that a society en<strong>for</strong>ces <strong>for</strong>mally have the status of laws. (www.en.wikipedia.org)<br />
Clutterbuck <strong>and</strong> Grainer (1990) describe culture as “a set of behavioural <strong>and</strong> attitudinal norms, to<br />
which most of all members of organization subscribe, either consciously or unconsciously…” (Cited<br />
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