The Culture-Climate Change Cycle suggests that as with humans, organizations have historical or hereditary
factors they were “born” with and developmental factors acquired from experiences in life. Historical factors
include the early history and characteristics of the organization including the culture and behavior of the sector
or category the organization was born into. This means a logging company will have different historical traits
than a women’s shelter or a financial institution. A combination of historical and developmental factors is what
creates "corporate culture" - which is different from "corporate climate."
Historical factors also include the regulatory environment that an organization was born into including all the laws, regulations,
and government codes and rules that apply to it. A new business line or branch born into or adopted by an existing organization
inherits the current historical influences including the mission, vision and values of the existing organization. This is why many
organizations run into trouble when they create new, specialized departments or branches that try and be “different” from the
deeply rooted factors that are influencing the Culture-Climate Change Cycle. It is also why mergers and acquisitions in the
corporate world often run into “clashes of culture” when the adopted corporation finds that its Culture-Climate Change Cycle is
significantly at odds with its new parent’s historical and developmental factors.
Another set of historical factors that an organization possess is the overall style and structure of its leadership and management,
usually well entrenched in the sector the organization is part of. A good example is the military or paramilitary organizations like
police forces where command and control structures and reporting relationships are very well established, including systems of
reward and punishment.
There are many forms of leadership including transactional (do what I say I will reward you), transformational (I’ll give you the
tools and mentoring to succeed), situational (crisis events calling for dynamic and very directed approaches), what Max Dupree
calls “servant” leadership wherein the leader sees service to others as their calling, and the “great man theory” of leadership
wherein leaders have larger-than-life, dynamic and inspirational personalities. Finally, part of an organization’s historical factors
includes its relationship to long prevailing public expectations. For example financial institutions have a high degree of fiduciary
responsibility and health care organizations have a high trust factor.
Historical factors also include what Dawkins refers to as memes – the concepts, ideas, beliefs, and behaviors than humans
pass on to others through interaction and mimicry. An important point is that memes are very different from what we know as
genes – the body’s instructions for reproduction that are embedded in our DNA. While both memes and genes are replicators,
memes – unlike genes – relate to the selective imitation of activities or ideas that do not necessarily benefit the individual, group,
or a species.
What provide fuel for memetic replication can be emotions of greed, envy, self-interest or any one of many other factors that can
prove to be either very useful or very destructive to individuals and groups. When looking at how memes have moved through
organizational evolutionary life it is obvious that a major memetic hereditary strain is the continuing and sometimes unconscious
influence of management and organizational structure dating back to the Industrial Revolution but in particular to Frederick Taylor
and his highly influential Scientific Management model (1911) and Weber’s model of bureaucracy (1946). My point is that
regardless of the best intentions of leaders and managers, self-organization, creativity, “out of the box thinking” and emergence is
severely restricted in an organization heavily imbued with memetic carry-overs from the days of mechanistic, command and
control structures.
factors they were “born” with and developmental factors acquired from experiences in life. Historical factors
include the early history and characteristics of the organization including the culture and behavior of the sector
or category the organization was born into. This means a logging company will have different historical traits
than a women’s shelter or a financial institution. A combination of historical and developmental factors is what
creates "corporate culture" - which is different from "corporate climate."
Historical factors also include the regulatory environment that an organization was born into including all the laws, regulations,
and government codes and rules that apply to it. A new business line or branch born into or adopted by an existing organization
inherits the current historical influences including the mission, vision and values of the existing organization. This is why many
organizations run into trouble when they create new, specialized departments or branches that try and be “different” from the
deeply rooted factors that are influencing the Culture-Climate Change Cycle. It is also why mergers and acquisitions in the
corporate world often run into “clashes of culture” when the adopted corporation finds that its Culture-Climate Change Cycle is
significantly at odds with its new parent’s historical and developmental factors.
Another set of historical factors that an organization possess is the overall style and structure of its leadership and management,
usually well entrenched in the sector the organization is part of. A good example is the military or paramilitary organizations like
police forces where command and control structures and reporting relationships are very well established, including systems of
reward and punishment.
There are many forms of leadership including transactional (do what I say I will reward you), transformational (I’ll give you the
tools and mentoring to succeed), situational (crisis events calling for dynamic and very directed approaches), what Max Dupree
calls “servant” leadership wherein the leader sees service to others as their calling, and the “great man theory” of leadership
wherein leaders have larger-than-life, dynamic and inspirational personalities. Finally, part of an organization’s historical factors
includes its relationship to long prevailing public expectations. For example financial institutions have a high degree of fiduciary
responsibility and health care organizations have a high trust factor.
Historical factors also include what Dawkins refers to as memes – the concepts, ideas, beliefs, and behaviors than humans
pass on to others through interaction and mimicry. An important point is that memes are very different from what we know as
genes – the body’s instructions for reproduction that are embedded in our DNA. While both memes and genes are replicators,
memes – unlike genes – relate to the selective imitation of activities or ideas that do not necessarily benefit the individual, group,
or a species.
What provide fuel for memetic replication can be emotions of greed, envy, self-interest or any one of many other factors that can
prove to be either very useful or very destructive to individuals and groups. When looking at how memes have moved through
organizational evolutionary life it is obvious that a major memetic hereditary strain is the continuing and sometimes unconscious
influence of management and organizational structure dating back to the Industrial Revolution but in particular to Frederick Taylor
and his highly influential Scientific Management model (1911) and Weber’s model of bureaucracy (1946). My point is that
regardless of the best intentions of leaders and managers, self-organization, creativity, “out of the box thinking” and emergence is
severely restricted in an organization heavily imbued with memetic carry-overs from the days of mechanistic, command and
control structures.
Culture-Climate Change Cycle historical factors
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