Johnson & Scholes' Cultural Web
By describing the distinctive rituals, stories, symbols, power and organisational structures and control systems that can contribute to the organizations worldview one can more clearly characterize an organisation's culture
Johnson and Scholes (1988) described a cultural web, identifying a number of elements that can be used to describe or influence Organizational Culture:
The Paradigm: What the organization is about; what it does; its mission; its values
- Control Systems: The processes in place to monitor what is going on. Role cultures would have vast rulebooks. There would be more reliance on individualism in a power culture.
- Organizational Structures: Reporting lines, hierarchies, and the way that work flows through the business.
- Power Structures: Who makes the decisions, how widely spread is power, and on what is power based?
- Symbols: These include organizational logos and designs, but also extend to symbols of power such as parking spaces and executive washrooms.
- Rituals and Routines: Management meetings, board reports and so on may become more habitual than necessary.
- Stories and Myths: build up about people and events, and convey a message about what is valued within the organization.
These elements may overlap. Power structures may depend on control systems, which may exploit the very rituals that generate stories.
The imporatnt aspect from the Cultural Web for strategic decision-making is that of coherence. The greater level of coherence the greater likely addvantage ot the organization in competitive markets. Strong cultures are a potent source of competitive advantage becuase they are do difficult to imitate. On the other hand forms can be trapped by their coherent cultures into routines that impair the devlopement of new strategies and lead to terminal decline in the long-run.
Compare and contrast with McKinsey's 7's
See also: Strategy Framework,
