Culture - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 77

Figure 4-1. We must design for a bi-cultural fit.
In short, the right design is one that fits the company and its customers. A mismatch on either
side results in fatal error. We must use ethnography with our users and stakeholders to search
for a bi-cultural fit. This is tricky since culture is mostly invisible. That's why we should start
with a map.
Mapping Culture
Edgar Schein, professor emeritus at MIT and the father of the study of corporate culture, offers a
useful definition.
Culture is a pattern of shared tacit assumptions that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of
external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and to
be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. xciii
Culture is a powerful, often unconscious set of forces that shape both our individual and collect-
ive behavior. In an organization, culture is reflected in “the way we do things here.” It influen-
ces goals, governance, strategy, planning, hiring, metrics, management, status, and rewards.
And culture is an artifact of history. Organizational culture is rooted in the values of the entre-
preneur. In the early days, as leaders struggle to build the business, the beliefs and behaviors
that lead to success are internalized. Eventually they become taken for granted, invisible, and
non-negotiable.
At this point, it's difficult to decipher the culture without a compass or map. Fortunately, Edgar
Schein's model offers the orientation we need. We can use his Three Levels of Culture to ask
questions about any institution.