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Definition of culture
The word culture has become a useful metaphor to understand prevalent influences within organisations (Schein, 1990:109). Whilst there is no real agreement on the meaning of culture, many different key definitions have been proposed. Some of these definitions are noted below.‘The way things are done around here’, is arguably the most well-known and succinct ‘definition’ of culture (Palmer & Hardy, 2000:118). More comprehensively, Jaques and Clement (1994:266) suggest that: “Corporate culture comprises the established ways of thinking and doing things in the institution and includes the company’s policies, rules, and procedures; its customers and practices; its shared values and belief systems; its traditions and assumptions; and the nature of the language used to communicate throughout the company”. Jaques and Clement (1994:266) imply that culture is fairly fixed, which is at odds with the concepts of learning and adapting to a dynamic environment. Culture reflects the ideologies, shared philosophies, values, beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, expectations and norms of an organisation, according to Kilman, Saxton and Serpa (1985:5); thus, culture emerges over a period of time. Handy (1999:181) suggests that culture is expressed tacitly and underpins daily organisational activities. He notes that the deep-seated beliefs around the organisation of work, the exercising of authority, the way people are rewarded and the way people are controlled are intrinsic aspects of culture in organisations. According to Handy, culture is accessible to leadership and can be altered.
Along similar lines but implying more firmly embedded characteristics, Kotter and Heskett (1992:4) state: “At the deeper and less visible level, culture refers to values that are shared by the people in a group and that tend to persist over time even when group membership changes. At the more visible level, culture represents the behaviour patterns or style of an organisation that new employees are automatically encouraged to follow by their employers”. In this definition, values are the essence of culture, and they are implicit within the daily interactions. Culture can and does change, but usually only incrementally and over a period of time as a reflection of patterns of behaviour. Schein (1985:9) proposes that culture is a “pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered, or developed in learning to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, and that have worked well enough to be considered valid, and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to these problems”. Schein’s view is that culture is group generated and that it is adaptive in order to solve problems, that it constantly evolves based on experiences and that it filters throughout the organisation. The implications for learning are that culture cannot be imposed but rather that it is flexible depending on the conditions and difficulties that groups within the organisation encounter.
Leadership prompted to action by opportunities for growth
The biggest challenge facing leadership in 2005 and going into 2006 was the rapidly expanding horizon of opportunities in a sector that had been in the doldrums for decades resulting in a much reduced pool of expertise. The construction industry is renowned for clearly defined delivery schedules, with penalties for any delays and with very stringent quality requirements. The ‘boom’ in business needed to be supported by specific technical skills (such as those of engineers and artisans), and underpinned by good leadership and management skills in order to keep within schedules and budgets. A regional and global shortage in skills meant that the organisation could only grow in line with skills available.
For senior management the question was how to secure the required expertise to deliver on the construction projects, and then how to retain it within the organisation going forward. From this came the notion of an in-house resource to build skill with a focus on lifelong learning which would then also act as a retention strategy. As reflected in Figure 23, data gathered indicate that leadership sets and pursues strategy and goals which in turn are delivered on by competent and skilled employees. Employees are the means to achieve organisational success. This success raises the bar and adds pressure for leadership to achieve greater things. Leadership, therefore, plays a key role as the interface with the external environment, guiding the organisation to achieve success through people. Development of people is a critical aspect of competitive advantage; however, leadership needs to have a learning mind-set and believe in the value of learning and development.
What the individual sees
On joining the organisation there are a number of things that become apparent to the employee in a short space of time. Firstly the new recruit attends inductions at business unit and corporate levels. At the corporate induction the first hour is facilitated by the Executive Committee team, which include the CEO and CFO, and it is followed by input from various SMEs in the organisation. The session closes with an introduction to and input by the Academy team. Part of the induction, and also what the new employee will see at business unit level, is the pipeline of learning that is offered from the lower levels upward, and also the range of learning from pre-employment across the various avenues of learning. Learning is offered in a number of different formats – from one-day workshops through to programmes lasting over a year. E-learning is also available for learners via the intranet and the Academy website. Figure 46 below is a summary of these aspects.
In the workplace, the individual will also be exposed to colleagues going on a variety of training and will be made aware of the support that the manager and the mentor provides. Though this support is dependent to a large degree on the individual manager and the learning culture of the business unit, there is sufficient support across the organisation for the individual to be exposed to a positive impression of the learning culture. All MDs participate in learning events, from attending presentations and graduations to giving presentations themselves to student groups.The L&D officers are the learning interface at business unit level and they provide information, process nomination forms, and manage learning events in conjunction with the Academy. HR follows up on processes and at a higher level they engage with management and the Academy to ensure organisational goals are met. Individuals are made aware of the activities of the Academy and of those on learning programmes through the intranet and monthly newsletters. Over a period of time the individuals will get beyond just seeing learning events and learning support and will be exposed to learning themselves.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction to the chapter
1.2 Motivation for the research
1.3 Context of this study
1.4 Problem statement, perspectives and objectives of this study
1.5 Importance and benefits of the study
1.6 Research design, methodology and scope
1.7 Theoretical foundation
1.8 Integration through a meso level paradigm
1.9 Assumptions underpinning this study
1.10 Definition of key terms
1.11 Conclusion and outline of the thesis structure
2 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
2.1 Introduction to the research design and methodology
2.2 Research philosophy
2.2.1 Critical realism as a research philosophy
2.3 Positioning the research rationale
2.4 The research design
2.5 Analytic autoethnography and the researcher as insider
2.6 Data collection and analysis
2.7 Plan for case narrative
2.8 Research rigour
2.9 Ethical considerations
2.10 Chapter summary
3 LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 Introduction to the literature review
3.2 Organisational behaviour: a foundational concept in this study
3.4 Organisational learning or the learning organisation?
3.5 Introduction to corporate universities
3.6 Conclusion to the chapter
4 BACKGROUND TO THE CASE STUDY
4.1 Introduction to the major themes in the case study
4.2 Conceptualising human capacity development
4.3 History and formation of the Academy
4.4 Growth of the Academy
4.5 Key measures of organisational success
4.6 Sustainable growth through individual contribution
4.7 Conclusion to the chapter
5 THEME 1: THE ROLE OF ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT IN PROMPTING A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
5.1 Introduction to the first case study element: context as a catalyst
5.2 External environment as a catalyst
5.3 Internal Group Five context as catalyst
5.4 A new ‘people strategy’ for the super cycle
5.5 Steps toward a learning organisation
5.6 Conclusion
6 THEME 2: LEADERSHIP AS A CRITICAL ROLE PLAYER IN CREATING AND SUSTAINING A LEARNING ORGANISATION
6.1 Introduction to the second theme: the role of leadership behaviour
6.2 Leadership prompted to action by opportunities for growth
6.3 Leadership to support learning as a critical success factor
6.4 Strategy and goals
6.5 Competent and skilled employees are needed to execute strategy
6.6 Organisational success is achieved by competent and skilled employees
6.7 Organisational success adds pressure for greater achievement from leadership
6.8 Conclusion to the chapter
7 THEME 3: ACADEMY HAS A KEY ROLE IN DRIVING LEARNING IN THE ORGANISATION
7.1 Introduction to the third theme: Academy as the main ‘learning’ catalyst
7.2 Academy as the vehicle driving learning in the organisation
7.3 The right Academy team is a pre-requisite to meeting business needs
7.4 Winning stakeholder support
7.5 Effective approaches to ensure sustainability
7.6 The need for systems that work
7.7 Effective communication
7.8 Delivery to be in line with organisational strategy
7.9 Conclusion to the chapter
8 THEME 4: INDIVIDUAL AS A RECIPIENT AND BENEFICIARY
8.1 Introduction to the fourth theme: Individual as a recipient and beneficiary
8.2 What the individual sees
8.3 Perspectives – what learners experience
8.4 What does the employee do with the learning?
8.5 Entrenching benefits
8.6 Role of the Academy in individual learning
8.7 Conclusion to the chapter
9 THEME 5: KEY STAKEHOLDERS AND ROLE PLAYERS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LEARNING
9.1 Introduction to the fifth case study element: stakeholders as role players
9.2 Collaborating to achieve a learning organisation
9.3 L&D as a team player and stakeholder
9.4 Line manager as a stakeholder and role player
9.5 Conclusion to the chapter
10 THEME 6: CULTURE AS THE NORMATIVE DOMAIN
10.1 Introduction to sixth and final case study element: organisational culture
10.2 The organisational culture was …
10.3 The organisational culture now …
10.4 Creating reality from the vision: the Academy
10.5 Organisational values
10.6 The role of trust
10.7 Role of leadership in influencing a learning culture
10.8 Role of the Academy in influencing culture
10.9 Learning culture supports further learning
10.10 Concluding thoughts on organisational culture as a norm
10.11 Conclusion to the sixth and final theme of the case study
11 DISCUSSION
11.1 Introduction
11.2 The role of organisational behaviour in this framework
11.3 Organisational context as a catalyst
11.4 Leadership as a critical role player
11.5 Academy has a key role to play in driving learning
11.6 Individual as recipient and beneficiary
11.7 Human resource management as a stakeholder
11.8 Learning and development officers as stakeholders
11.9 Line managers as stakeholders
11.10 Organisational culture as the normative domain
11.11 Implications of the framework themes for organisational behaviour
11.12 Conclusion to this chapter
12 CONCLUSIONS
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Propositions and suggestions for further research
12.3 Contribution and significance of the research
12.4 Limitations that inform the research
12.5 Ethics as an aspect of research
12.6 Final reflections
13 EPILOGUE – MAY 2013
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Schizophrenic positionality
13.3 My background
13.4 My role as initiator and key protagonist
13.5 Views on my role from a business leader perspective
13.6 Building my team
13.7 A personal ‘mini’ OB perspective
13.8 Afterword: final thoughts
