This presentation looks into 13 dimensions of 4 organizational cultures and compares them to highlight the potential challenges faced by a Business Analyst who has to transition from one culture type to the next.

1. 1
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Four Major Organizational Cultures and the
Challenges faced by Business Analysts who
Transition Between them

2. Introduction
• This presentation looks into 13
dimensions of 4 organizational cultures
and compares them to determine the
potential challenges faced by a Business
Analyst who has to transition from one
culture type to the next.
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3. Introduction
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• Organizational culture
encompasses norms and
expectations that influence
the way members of an
organization think and
behave.
• Values (what is important)
and beliefs (how things are
supposed to work) are
central components of
culture.
• Culture is normative and is
deep and transcendent.
Culture changes very slowly.

4. Introduction
• Kurstedt [1] elaborates on the following 4 main
organizational culture types proposed by Deal
and Kennedy:
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Tough-guy, macho culture
Work hard/play hard culture
Bet-your-company culture
Process culture

5. The Four Culture Types
• Deal and Kennedy’s 4
culture types are
organized according
to two dimensions:
– The amount of risk
routinely encountered
by the organization’s
line of business
– The Speed of feedback
received by the
organization on the
effectiveness of its
actions and decisions
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Risk Level
Feedback Speed

6. The Four Culture Types and Examples
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture:
Capital Goods, Defense,
, Biomedical, R&D
Departments
Tough-Guy, Macho
Culture:
Marketing
Departments,
Entertainment
Low Risk Process culture:
Banks, Insurance,
Government
Work-Hard / Play-Hard
Culture:
Sales

7. “Cultural message” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “We’ re going to
get it right because we
can’t run the risk of an
error”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture:
“We’re backing up the winners
because they’ve come through for
us before. It’s the stars who
produce results ”
Low Risk Process culture: ‘We’ll
show great patience while
the process works itself
out. The right process will
solve every problem”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“It is our energy and togetherness
that makes this whole engine go”

8. FOCUS Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Deliberateness
and Stamina”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture:
“Speed, not endurance”
Low Risk Process culture:
“Protectiveness and
caution”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Persistence”

9. “Team Structure” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Team Players
needing stability and
relying on experience”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture:
“Individualists needing instant
feedback”
Low Risk Process culture:
“Individualists needing
predictableness by
putting order in work
(protecting the system’s
integrity)”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Team players needing volume (or)
active people needing quick,
tangible feedback”

10. “Primary Value” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “The future”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture:
“Employees”
Low Risk Process culture:
“Technical perfection”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Customers”

11. Perspective Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Bet your
company”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture:
“Bet your careers”
Low Risk Process culture: “Cover
our rear”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Bet your sales”

12. “Primary culture element” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Business
meetings”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture:
“Heroes”
Low Risk Process culture: “Red
tape (patterns and
procedures). (or)
Reorganization and titles
and formalities”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Rites & Rituals”

13. “What people do” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Find a bet and
engineer it. Or find a
problem and outlast it”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture: “Find
a mountain and climb it”
Low Risk Process culture: “Find a
process and document it,
(form exceeds substance)
live in an artificial world-
the real world ceases to
exist”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Find a need and fill it”

14. “Measure of worth” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Long-term
significant contribution”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture: “High
stakes”
Low Risk Process culture:
“Survival”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“High volume”

15. “Weakness” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Short-term
environmental changes
affect stability. Hard time
moving quickly.”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture: “Quick
feedback diverts resources from
long-term. Difficult time
marshalling forces”
Low Risk Process culture:
“Vulnerability to political
whim. Stymied by any
major change in the
external environment”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Volume displaces quality.
Potential for superficiality”

16. “Range of view” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Long-term”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture:
“Short-term”
Low Risk Process culture: “Long-
term”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Short-term”

17. “Who wins the race” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “The race is to
the sure”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture: “The
race is to the quick”
Low Risk Process culture: “The
race is to the sure”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“The race is to the quick”

18. “Response of symbolic manager”
Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Make sure all
the basis are covered”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture: “Back
the stars”
Low Risk Process culture: “Manage
through the process”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Take advantage of the frenetic
pace”

19. “Problem solving approach” Dimension
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Slow Feedback Fast Feedback
High Risk Bet-Your-Company
Culture: “Orchestrate the
problem-solving task-force
approach to reinforce a sense of
deliberateness in the decision-
making process”
Tough-Guy, Macho Culture:
“Deliberately set up competing
teams”
Low Risk Process culture: “Cultivate
outside contacts assuring
awareness in adequate time to
solve it. Allow the process to
manage itself toward a solution.
Often the solution chosen will
be the design of a new process”
Work-Hard / Play- Hard Culture:
“Be an active and relentless driver
of the problem-solving group”

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References:
• Kurstedt, H. (2000), Management Systems Theory, Applications, and Design,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - ISE Department,
Blacksburg VA. PP 1332-1339
We have developed a qualitative and quantitative model that describes how difficult it
becomes to switch between Cultural Types over long periods of time.
CONTACT DIDIER for more information.