Have you noticed how there can be tremendous value in a good question? And good questions come to us in many ways. Recently, in reviewing the search terms that bring people to this blog, I found two such excellent questions:
- Can a bureaucratic organization have a strong culture?
- Is there less stress in flat modern organizations?
Each of these questions raises the topic of culture. One way of thinking about culture, organizational processes and organization structure is to imagine culture as being analogous to our assumptions, beliefs, and feelings; processes as being analogous to our behavior; and organizational structure and other structures (such as the environment) as more solid aspects of that process, which direct energies and activities to flow in a particular way… So, just as our thoughts give rise to behaviors, we might say that organization culture gives rise to organizational behaviors and structures.
It’s often observed how action or structure follows thought. However, in my experience, it’s less often observed that process or structure also influences our thoughts and feelings. At the level of the individual, how we hold our bodies both reflects how we think and feel, and can also cause us to think and feel in certain ways. For example, it’s difficult to really smile without feeling brighter and better… Similarly, at the level of the organization, other kinds of structures help shape the kinds of culture we create. For example, a long narrow conference room table will tend to shape one kind of meeting and a round table another kind of meeting. The design of buildings (another area I hope to get to in this blog) and organization structure also make a difference.
I personally find this latter insight to be pretty cool because it gives us more tools and options to work with to create the cultures and environments that will really serve us.
So, all this said, I think the answer to the first question is: Yes, many organizations using the traditional bureaucratic form of organization are well-known for having strong, distinctive cultures that have helped them (or, sometimes, hindered them). Two organizations with identical organization structures may have very different cultures! The organization structure is just one part of the picture.
And, with regard to the second question, is there less stress in flat organizations? Assuming that by “stress” we mean the stresses and dysfunctions inherent in a “dominator-type” culture (see my earlier post on Partnership for a definition of the word dominator as it is used in this blog), then flatter organizations can potentially reduce this kind of stress. Of course, based on the above discussion, we can see that we would need to look at the whole picture or system (culture, process, structure … and probably some more factors) to really know.
In summary, yes, it’s definately useful to recognize that we are talking about more than a way of structuring our organizations, but the gestalt of the organization as a whole…