Ron Westrum typology of organization culture categorizes organizations based on internal flow of information.
Pathological organizations are power oriented. They are characterized by high amount of fear and threat. People hoard, distort and withhold the information for political reasons.
– responsibilities are shrinked
– failure leads to scapegoating
– novelty is crushed
Bureaucratic organizations are rules oriented. Organization protect departments and people in departments fight to maintain their “turf”. Processes are forced into rigid rules and regulations. Things have to be done “by the book”.
– responsibilities are narrow
– failure leads to justice
– novelty leads to problems
Generative organizations are focused on the mission. Everything is subordinated to good performance.
– risk are shared
– failure leads to inquiry (how to prevent it in the future)
– novelty is implemented and encouraged
In generative organizations people collaborate more, the level of trust is higher, the mission is the priority and the hierarchy is less important.
Information flows easily and makes the organization function efficiently.
High level of trust enable information flow while the availability of the information improves quality of decision-making.
Decisions are easily reversed in they turn out to be wrong. Problems are rapidly resolved thanks to openness and fast feedback.
Internal research at Google that involved 200 teams discovered that in high performing teams “who is on a team matters less than how the team members interact, structure their work and view their contributions”.