Organizational Systems and Culture Flashcards

Which of Hofstede's cultural dimensions most directly predicts how an organization's employees respond to a flat, empowerment-based leadership model?

Answer: Power distance

Power distance measures the degree to which less powerful members accept unequal power distribution, directly affecting receptivity to flat, empowering structures.

An executive coach is helping a leader use 'structural tension' to drive culture change. What does this technique involve?

Answer: Creating visible gap between current reality and a compelling future vision

Structural tension, developed by Robert Fritz, uses the creative tension between current state and desired vision as a natural driver of change.

What organizational systems concept explains why a successful culture change initiative at headquarters often fails to replicate in subsidiaries?

Answer: Each subsystem has its own history, feedback loops, and cultural equilibrium

Subsidiaries are distinct subsystems with their own reinforcing dynamics and equilibrium states, meaning interventions that shift one system may not transfer to another.

A coach helping an organization build psychological safety should be aware that this cultural condition is most undermined by:

Answer: Leaders who publicly shame or penalize failure

Amy Edmondson's research shows that leaders who punish failure or dissent are the primary destroyers of psychological safety in organizations.

In the context of organizational culture, what is the significance of 'rites of passage' as described by Trice and Beyer?

Answer: They signal role transitions and reinforce cultural values and expectations

Rites of passage mark significant role or status transitions and simultaneously communicate cultural values, expectations, and what the organization values.

An executive leadership coach applying Kotter's 8-step change model would focus on which step when the organizational culture actively resists a new strategic direction?

Answer: Step 8: Anchor change in the culture

Step 8—anchoring change in culture—addresses the critical need to embed new behaviors into cultural norms, stories, and systems to prevent regression.

Which systems archetype describes an organization where quick-fix solutions repeatedly address symptoms without resolving underlying cultural problems, causing issues to worsen over time?

Answer: Shifting the burden

The 'shifting the burden' archetype occurs when symptomatic solutions reduce pressure to solve the fundamental problem, creating dependency and worsening the underlying dysfunction.