Identifying Workplace Culture

All organizations have cultures. Knowing that of your own workplace is as important to your advancement as is a map to a traveler.

And yet you can find people who wander about for years as if in a maze. They fail to gain promotion and the chief reason is they have a personal style that makes them mavericks or pariahs. They may be highly competent. They simply don't fit in.

Some common types of workplace cultures are:

Chaotic: The emphasis is on freedom and creativity. There are few controls. The atmosphere is egalitarian and people who don't speak up and contribute can be quickly written off. Conflict is not discouraged; in fact, it is desired. Bureaucracy is disdained. Communication is direct, blunt, and sometimes profane. The organization chart looks like a spider's web where the spider used LSD. If you desire order and predictability, flee.

Collegial: The emphasis is on pragmatism. There is a hierarchy but the top people bungee-jump into the lower levels to gain information. There is a fear of filters and a desire to make decisions that have the benefit of all perspectives. The members are energetic and subject to burn-out since this culture requires a great deal of tending. There are meetings upon meetings. If you prefer a more formal approach, you may be able to adjust your style as well as that of co-workers to make the workplace more acceptable. If you prefer the chaotic, you may feel restricted.

Formalistic: The emphasis is on order. There is a strict hierarchy and decisions are processed accordingly. The emphasis is on producing the best decisions and to do so, more time is devoted to formal analysis than in the collegial systems. The people, such as chiefs of staff, who sit at information choke points possess enormous power since they can determine who gets near the top decision makers. This is not a good fit for those who prefer the chaotic or collegial approaches.

Autocratic: The emphasis is on pleasing the top decision makers, even at the expense of efficiency and effectiveness. Most, if not all, major decisions come from the top. As a result, lower levels engage in upwards delegation in order to avoid overstepping their authority. Independence is punished and dependency is rewarded. Decisions may be made rapidly but without adequate information.

All organizations can slip into any of these modes on various occasions and yet they will revert to their natural form. It is difficult to find a purely autocratic organization but easy to find autocratic/formalistic or autocratic/collegial blends. The autocratic/chaotic blend is the sign of a truly dysfunctional organization.