What culture isn’t, according to anthropologists

When did culture become a buzzword in entrepreneurship?

If you spend any time consuming entrepreneurial content - scrolling Linkedin, listening to our startup podcast or visiting our events - you’ve no doubt noticed how the word “culture” has started to permeate every conversation.

But if we dig a little deeper and ask those who speak about the importance of culture to explain what they mean by it, we often hear other buzzwords like values, beliefs and rituals. Or perhaps something like “culture is the way we do things around here”.

For many, these high-level definitions will do the trick and it’s certainly better than nothing at all BUT if we turn to the actual study of culture in anthropology (kinda like Indiana Jones or Avatar vibes) we learn that culture “is” a lot more than is often translated into practice in organizations.

Consider for example that 55% of all Fortune 100 companies list integrity as a core value. What value does integrity as a value really serve?! Is your company culture really just a bunch of generic values you’ve listed?

One of my favourite cultural critiques comes from Dr. Michael McDougall and his research and applied work. Michael takes an anthropological approach in his paper about culture myths in team and organizational psychology and revamps the often lifeless and over generalized versions of "culture" that organizations try to stamp onto their systems.

I found the three myths he outlined really thought provoking and wanted to share them with you in this newsletter so, let’s go!

Myth 1: culture is ONLY defined and characterized by what is shared

As I mentioned briefly above, culture is often defined through elements that group members hold in common, such as values, shared beliefs, expectations, and practices. Given the importance of shared elements then culture is often described using metaphors like "singing from the same hymn sheet".

By this regard, successful cultures are those where everyone is aligned with a single vision.

Meanwhile, according to Michael, consensus isn't all that culture is and this definition that relies on alignment risks framing culture as a way to control others and ignores the possibility for contestation, ambiguity and variability of interpretation. On top of that, this shared-version of culture tends to especially impact marginalized voices where anything not shared is often viewed as counter-culture or a temporary "blip" to be managed out of the system.

Myth 2: culture is something a group “has”, like a variable that can be measured, manipulated, and changed

A lot of founders talk about culture as a clear, discoverable entity that exists "out there" in the environment. It is often operationalized like a scientific variable that can be isolated, regulated, and mechanically manipulated by leaders to achieve specific outcomes.

The problem with this is that this myth presents culture as a possession or a tool rather than the essence of the group itself. Michael argues that there is no such thing as a cultural lever for performance enhancement. Rather, culture IS something a group IS. By this logic, you can’t fix a culture because culture is something that permeates the group’s entire existence. Furthermore, your strategy, leadership, and power structures are not separate from your culture, they are the culture. You cannot separate the group from the cultural system it inhabits, it’s all entwined together.

[This dismantles the quote often falsely attributed to Peter Drucker; culture doesn’t eat strategy for breakfast because strategy IS culture.]

Myth 3: culture change requires a shift from an old to an entirely new culture, a desire to go from A to B

When companies are going through periods of change their process is often described as waving adieu to the old culture and designing new pillars. This approach assumes something like a clean break where a problematic, singular "old" culture is replaced by a positive, "heroic" set of new values.

Although this is attractive and exciting, it’s also very misleading. The nature of culture is such that it evolves over time and as it evolves it retains elements of the past. Change, especially when it comes to people and their interactions never happens over night so although you might have replaced your old values with new ones on your walls, how this actually gets integrated into the textures of your organizational life is a different story.

Quick n’ Dirty: so what is culture really?

If you accept that culture is a living system of collective understandings, it becomes really hard to just hang up agreed upon values on your walls and call it a day.

Michael argues that a group is a culture, culture permeates a group's entire existence and cannot be treated as a moveable "thing" that a group has. Culture is a negotiated, continuously practiced way of life in which members constantly produce and reproduce meanings over time. While culture is expressed through social acts, rituals, and language like team drills, meetings, "banter", these practices do not constitute culture on their own; they only carry meaning within the broader cultural setting that gives them emotional resonance and coherence. Thus, your conceptualization of culture SHOULD INCLUDE contestation, ambiguity, and subcultures that may resist dominant values. Finally, remember that cultures carry historically rooted elements and traditions that cannot simply be discarded in favour of something "new."

How would you answer: what do you mean by culture? Would it be a different answer if I asked your new hires? Let me know, I read everything.

Reference:

McDougall, M., Ronkainen, N., Richardson, D., Littlewood, M., & Nesti, M. (2020). Three team and organisational culture myths and their consequences for sport psychology research and practice. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 13(1), 147-162.