Symbolic Perspective

Front 1

What is culture?

Back 1

it is taken-for-granted beliefs that shape action, communication, thinking, emotion

Front 2

What is sense making?

Back 2

Making sense when expectations break down

Front 3

What is the assumptions of the symbolic frame?

Back 3

o Most important: what something means, not what happens
o Activity and meaning are loosely coupled – multiple
interpretations.
o Symbols are created to resolve confusion (uncertainty and ambiguity), develop and maintain a meaningful sense of shared direction and purpose, and anchor hope and belief.
o What is expressed is more important than what is produced.
o Culture unites and provides the organizational “superglue”.

Front 4

What are the three humiliations of mankind?

Back 4

1. We are not the center of the world
2. We are not the crown of creation
3. We are not masters in our own mind

Front 5

What is the archaic frame?

Back 5

The belief that humans are time-binding naked apes, evolved from hunter-gatherer tribes

Front 6

Name eight organizational symbols.

Back 6

1. Myths
2. Visions
3. Values
4. Rituals
5. Ceremonies
6. Function
7. Heroes and heroines
8. Stories and fairytales

Front 7

Explain myths briefly.

Back 7

o Story behind the story, often relate to founders/founding stories
o Function of Myths: deliver the symbols that carry the human being into the
future, in contrast to images that bind him to the past (Campbell 1949

Front 8

Explain visions briefly.

Back 8

The image of the future, based on core ideology/purpose

Front 9

Explain values briefly.

Back 9

o What the organization stands for – qualities worthy of esteem and commitment
o A value is a (1) belief (2) pertaining to desirable end states or modes of conduct, that (3) transcends specific situations, (4) guides selection or evaluation of behavior, people, and events, and (5) is ordered by importance relative to other values to form a system of value priorities

Front 10

Explain rituals briefly.

Back 10

o Routine with a purpose that has more meaning than at first evident
o Connects Individual or group to something “mystical”
o Gives structure and meaning: anchor us to a center while freeing us to dive into
life
o Initiation rituals: introduce newcomers into communal membership; ritual
marks the transition.
o Initiation ritual: Test for “fitness”; reinforcement of culture

Front 11

Explain ceremonies briefly.

Back 11

o Episodiccharacter
o Times of transition or special occasions

Front 12

Explain function briefly.

Back 12

o Socialize
o Stabilize
o Reassure
o Convey message to external constituencies (performed publicly)

Front 13

Explain heroes and heroines briefly.

Back 13

o CEOs as cultural heroes, icons of the organizational culture
o Living logos, exemplify and reinforce core values

Front 14

Explain stories and fairytales briefly.

Back 14

o Grant Comfort, reassurance, direction, and hope
o Perpetuate values and keep feats of heroes and heroines alive

Front 15

What is the functions of storytelling?

Back 15

o Important ideas are mapped and stored
o Sensemaking and transmission of knowledge
o Generation of commitment o Social control
o Guide action and strategy by providing precedents for times of crisis or change
o Act as maps, helping people make sense of unfamiliar situations by linking them to familiar ones -> understanding the unfamiliar in terms of familiar terms and making the unexpectable manageable

Front 16

Name the different types of stories.

Back 16

Comic, tragic, epic, romantic

Front 17

Describe epic stories.

Back 17

o Focus on Agency: Missions, contests, crises successfully overcome: success or failure as primary design element
o Generate pride and admiration; sense of duty to emulate the hero or maintain the tradition established
o Overall character or integrity cannot be doubt
o Organizations have their own corporate mythology, reinforcing the companies values and strengthening its culture

Front 18

How can culture be formatted?

Back 18

o Spontaneous in unstructured group or formal
o Personal visions, goals, beliefs, values, assumptions about how things should be done
o Behavior must be successful (group accomplishes task; survives; members feel good about it)
o Beliefs etc. are confirmed an shared and “right”, group enacts beliefs etc.
o Beliefs etc. drop out of awareness and become for taken for granted
o Beliefs etc. become part of the group identity: thinking, feeling, acting
o Beliefs etc. are nonnegotiable = “assumptions”
o Accumulated shared learning of a group
o Violation causes feels of unease, anxiety or anger

Front 19

Name some characteristics of organizational/group culture.

Back 19

o Constantly enacted and created by our interactions
o Set of structures, routines, rules, and norms that guide and constrain behavior
o Invisible: an abstraction; but concrete behavioral and attitudinal consequences
o Leadership creates culture, management/administration acts within culture

Front 20

Name some shared properties of definitions.

Back 20

o Structural stability: shared, stable, defines group; group identity; org. phenom.
o Depth: unconscious, less tangible and visible
o Breadth: covers all of the groups functioning; pervasive;
o Patterning/Integration: rituals, climate, values, behavior form a coherent whole

Front 21

Name three levels of culture.

Back 21

1. Observable behavior and artifacts: Visible organization structures and processes
2. Espoused: Strategies, goals, philosophies
3. Basic underlying assumptions: Unconscious, taken-for-granted beliefs, perceptions, thoughts, and feelings

Front 22

How can culture be created? Primary embedding mechanisms.

Back 22

o What leaders pay attention to, measure and control on a regularbasis
o How leaders react to critical incidents and organizational crisis
o How leaders allocate resources
o Role modeling, coaching, teaching
o How leaders allocate rewards and status
o How leaders recruit, select, promote, and excommunicate

Front 23

Name some secondary articulation and reinforcement when enforcing culture.

Back 23

o Organizational design and structure
o Organizational systems and procedures
o Rites and rituals of the organization
o Design of physical space, facades, and buildings
o Stories about important events and people
o Formal statements of organizational philosophy, creeds, and charters

Front 24

Describe unfreeze/disconfirmation.

Back 24

o Create disequilibrium/disturbance so that the system can change
1. Disconfirming data: goals are not met, processes don’t accomplish their purpose (sales ↓, customers ↓, complaints, employee turnover ↑ etc.)
2. Connection of the data to core assumptions. Creates survival anxiety or guilt:
Unless we change, something bad will happen
3. Psychological safety: Giving up what was right and connected to identity (perceive, think, feel, do) creates also anxiety. “Achievable” and motivating vision; relationship management

Front 25

Name three ways of change.

Back 25

o Cognitive restructuring: learning new concepts and redefine old concepts
o Learning processes: Imitation and identification vs. trial-and-error
o Learning anxiety must be decreased, survival anxiety not increased, psychological
safety established

Front 26

Describe about psychological safety.

Back 26

o Compelling new vision: believe in the new future
o Formal and informal training for new skills and groups
o Involvement of the learner
o Positive role models: see new behaviors, attitudes etc.
o Supportive groups: share experience (success, frustration), jointly learn
o Structures, reward system etc. in alliance with new vision

Front 27

Describe refreeze.

Back 27

o Produce and reinforce confirming data
o Use the processes for creating and reinforcing culture

Front 28

Name the conceptual properties.

Back 28

o Placing stimuli into a framework in order to understand, explain etc.
o Retroactive account to explain surprise
o Occurs when predictions/expectations break down
o Reciprocal interaction of information seeking, meaning ascription, action o Authoring, interpretation, creation, discovery
o Problems do not present themselves – they have to constructed from the materials of problematic situations which are puzzling, troubling, uncertain
o Problem setting , formulating the right question

Front 29

What are the seven properties of sense-making.

Back 29

1. Grounded in identity construction
2. Retrospective
3. Enactive of sensible environment
4. Social
5. Ongoing
6. Focused on and by extracted cues
7. Driven by plausibility rather than accuracy

Front 30

Describe the characteristics of seven properties of sense-making

Back 30

o Grounded in identity construction: Who you are defines what you see (and vice versa)
o Retrospective: Creation of meaning that has occurred; reflective practice
o Enactive of sensible environment: We create the environment that we react to
o Social: people are contingent on other people, thinking/communicating intertwined
o Ongoing: Continuous flow of experience/always in the middle of projects
o Focused on and by extracted cues: extract cues that brings people into action
o Driven by plausibility rather than accuracy: Sufficient for action, accuracy takes